Many American consumers received an early Christmas present last week when the United States Postal Service announced it was delaying its plans to close many rural offices and some of its processing centers.

This hits close to home as Lawrence County has five rural offices that could be on the chopping block as well as the Ironton post office that could face some changes.

The postponement came in part after several U.S. Senators got involved, including Ohio’s Sherrod Brown. The intention is that this delay will provide more time to look at a variety of options to cut expenses and other ways to generate more revenue for the floundering agency that is losing billions of dollars each year.

The cynics can say this is only a political move that pushes the tough decisions beyond many of the 2012 primary elections. That may be true but that hardly appears to be the primary motivation.

The glass half-full viewpoint is that this will allow more time for better analysis and objective proposals to address the worst problems including a pension program that cannot be sustained.

In recent years the U.S. Postal Service has lost much of its market share to the Internet and private carriers. Making the proposed changes that, in many cases, would delay mail by at least a day or more seems to be counterproductive.

Taking a step back was the right move — as long as everyone involved makes a strong commitment to looking at all possibilities and finding a solution that keeps a fundamental component of our society functioning rain or shine.