GAYLORD, MI -- US Postal Service employees have been left wondering what's next and if they'll have a job as the Postmaster General gets ready to lay out his plan for postal reform.

The head of the postal service told congress the system is broken and if changes aren't made, mail might not be delivered this winter.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe says the postal service is facing a $10-billion deficit.

Donahoe has proposed some changes to save money, including no Saturday service, laying off 120,000 employees, closing 3,700 post offices, and reducing in the number of distribution centers by closing 360 sites.

"This is of great concern, and it's going to be a big concern for Northern Michigan," said John Marcotte, the President of the Michigan Postal Workers Union.

Marcotte says right now, the 1,500 postal employees in Northern Michigan have sweaty palms.

“In today's fast-paced world, slowing down the post office, that's a death spiral, if we slow down, it's only a matter of time, and we're done," he said.

Marcotte blames the post office's financial horror on a bad economy and $5.5-billion that must go into a pre-pay account for retirees every year

He says it's not clear what will happen yet, but one real possibility is the Gaylord and Traverse City Processing Centers could be chopped, and if both are closed, 300 people would be jobless. 

"300 middle-class jobs gone, and there isn't very many of those here," said Marcotte.

"We’re not planning to go away, we're just trying to make it a leaner system to make it more cost efficient for everybody," said Carole Singer, the Manager of Postal Operations for Northern Michigan.

Singer says a contract signed recently between the post office and union employees doesn't allow lay-offs, but that might change to help the deficit.

“There has to be some type of plan, and we're waiting to hear that," said Singer.

One of the major concerns with the distribution centers possibly closing is how long it will take you to get your mail.  Right now, if you send locally, it takes about a day, but if distribution centers consolidate, that number could change to two or three days.

Adam Montgomery works at a crematory and says this could be a problem.

“Ashes, ashes right, and we don't really want those floating around the post officer to post office, we like to get them to where they go as fast as we can," said Montgomery.

But for others, like Rosemary Koronka, she'd rather see the system reformed than go away completely.

“We would be lost without the post office," said Koronka.

And for now, postal employees will wait.

The Postmaster General is expected to have a complete list of post offices and distribution centers that could be closed sometime next week.