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The U.S. Postal Service will cut 7,500 managers and shut seven district offices, responding to record losses and declining mail volume as more people communicate by e-mail and texts and pay bills online.

The reduction in postmasters, supervisors and other employees represents a 20% cut in middle-management jobs—people not involved in actual physical moving of mail.

The cuts come as part of the agency's previously disclosed plan to close as many as 2,000 post offices and consolidate regional mail-processing centers in the next 12 months.

Besides the fundamental changes in the way the public communicates, the Postal Service is overwhelmed by burdensome retiree health-benefit costs, according to U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

"It's critical that we adjust our work force to match America's changing communication trends, as mail volumes continue to decline," he said in a statement. "At every step and with every change, our focus remains on our customers and continuing to provide outstanding customer service."

District offices, which oversee and provide services to groups of post offices, will close in Columbus, Ohio; Albuquerque, N.M.; Billings, Mont.; Macon, Ga.; Providence, R.I.; Troy, Mich.; and Carol Stream, Ill., the Postal Service said.