(Harrisburg) -- The U.S. Postal Service expects to have a decision by early next year on the fates of its mail processing and distribution centers in Lancaster and Reading. The Postal Service is in the midst of studying the effectiveness of more than half of the 487 facilities across the country. It's part of a larger effort to cut some $3 billion in costs to avert bankruptcy as competition increases. Ray Daiutolo Sr., a regional spokesman for the agency, says more than 154 jobs could be at stake at the two midstate centers. "If the decision is made to go forward with the studies and implement the consolidations in the studies that are being done in both of those facilities," he says, "At the end, when it's all said and done, you could have a positional impact of about 110 in Lancaster and approximately 54 in Reading." Daiutolo says both of the studies are ongoing and a final determination has not been reached as to the future of the Lancaster and Reading facilites. A seperate study is looking at the viability of the some 3,700 post offices in the system.