AKRON, Ohio -- Rumors are circulating that more than 400 U.S. Postal Service employees in Akron may soon be out of a job.

NewsChannel5 reported that the Postal Service says that there are no current plans to close the encoding center site, but that could change.

The employees at the encoding center work to decipher handwriting on cards and letters. They then assist in placing a bar code on those pieces of mail, which enables them to get to their destination quickly and efficiently.

The center has been operating for 11 years, but now workers are worried that it won't be open much longer.

"Sometimes I hear it's going to close, sometimes I hear it isn't -- basically, it varies day to day," said worker Jesse Lamovsky.

Officials with the Postal Service say they know of no plans to close the center at the present time, but that is not a certainty.

"You have to remember that when the facilities first came on line mid-1990s, they were designed as temporary facilities until we got caught up on the use of automation," said Postal Service spokesman Victor Dubina.

Over the last 10 years, automation has come into use more and more. Now, eight out of 10 letters that would have once come through the encoding center can now be read directly at the post office by computer.

As a result, the Postal Service has already closed roughly two-thirds of the encoding centers they once had.

Workers in Akron say they won't let the rumors get the best of them.

"There's no definites. They said they'd make an announcement at the end of the summer if there are any further closings. Other than that, they don't let us know until it happens," said worker Thomas Baxter.

Only 70 of the 417 workers at the Akron facility are what the postal service calls career employees.

When other encoding centers have closed, career employees were the only workers who were reassigned to other postal positions.