The U.S. Postal Service's list of possible post office closures continues to shrink, with just 162 facilities still under consideration, according to an agency spokesman.

The Postal Service filed an updated list today with the Postal Regulatory Commission, the independent body that regulates postal operations. The new list contains six fewer names than the previous list, which was released in December.

More than 3,300 facilities — nearly 10 percent of the postal network — were under consideration when the closure process started last summer. The proposed closures have received a lot of criticism from members of Congress and from postal unions, who view the cuts as undermining the Postal Service's competitive advantage.

Postal officials say most of the cuts target urban and suburban areas, where there are too many post offices in close proximity to one another.

"We will continue to provide easy access, but changes to our retail network are essential to our ability to continue to provide … fairly priced postal services," said Dean Granholm, the Postal Service's vice president for delivery and post office operations, in a written statement.

Most of the proposed closures are located in a few states: 25 in Ohio, 24 in California, 14 in Florida and 11 in New York.

The Postal Service says the list is subject to more changes over the next few months. The agency isn't sure when it expects to issue a final list, though it hopes to begin closing post offices this winter.