The future of Wheeling's post office has caught the attention of West Virginia's two U.S. senators.

On Tuesday, sens. Robert C. Byrd and John D. Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., issued a joint letter to the Postal Service's Western Pennsylvania District Manager, Charles P. McCreadie.

In their letter, they expressed concern over the announcement that the postal service is conducting an area mail processing study that could lead to some of the Wheeling post office's services being consolidated into the Pittsburgh Processing and Distribution Center.

Byrd and Rockefeller both said that this consolidation could result in job losses - possibly up to 30 - and service delays for Northern Panhandle residents.

"Communities located in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia would suffer from delays in delivery as a result of mail being transported to and processed by the Pittsburgh facility," the letter states. "Citizens and businesses in West Virginia depend on the reliability of the U.S. Postal Service for the delivery of time-sensitive information and documentation, which could be jeopardized by consolidation.

It is clear that the consolidation would also have a detrimental impact on postal employees in Wheeling due to the loss of dozens of jobs associated with Wheeling's mail processing functions.

During this recession, these jobs mean everything to a community that has already been harmed by thousands of layoffs by local manufacturers.

"We also question the economic benefit that the U.S. Postal Service would realize through this consolidation. The Wheeling Post Office has established itself as one of the most efficient facilities in the Western Pennsylvania district. For the year leading up to the announcement of the AMP study, the Wheeling post office canceled over 85 percent of its mail by 8 a.m. ... whereas the Pittsburgh facility canceled slightly more than 60 percent. Additionally, the Wheeling facility processed more mail per day on the (Delivery Bar Code Sorter) and the (Delivery Input Output Sub-System) machines than any other facility in the Western Pennsylvania district."

According to information from the American Postal Workers Union Wheeling-Area Local, such a decision would impact mail service for everyone with a "260" ZIP code.

That includes customers from Marshall, Ohio, Brooke and Hancock counties in the Northern Panhandle.

Union leader Don Bentz said the U.S. Postal Service is citing "efficiency" in considering the move to Pittsburgh.

However, he too believes the change would be inefficient.

Postal service spokesman Tad Kelley has said a decision on the possible consolidation is months away.

He said the postal service is facing major changes resulting from serious hardships, as in the past year alone, the service has lost $6.5 billion in revenue.

"When an agency faces this type of shortfall, it needs to look internally to capture savings to maintain the service to the customer," Kelley said. "We wouldn't do anything that wouldn't benefit the postal service and its employees. The postal service has a proud history of finding positions for employees who have been impacted."