No post office in Chilton County should be listed among the 3,653 that are being closed nationwide.

The Postal Service announced Tuesday it will study and consider closing 1 in 10 of its local branches, offices and stations out of 31,871 across the country.

Most of the offices that face review are in rural areas and have low volumes of business. Fifty-two branches in Alabama may be closed.

The possible closings are said to have been the result of customers conducting their postal business online, on their phones and at shopping destinations.

The economy’s recession also resulted in a decline in advertising mail, and the agency lost $8 billion last year, according to a United States Postal Service press release.

One of the potential replacement options the Postal Service has come up with for communities who are affected by the closings and communities currently without postal retail offices is the Village Post Office.

Village Post Offices are approved third-party retailers that would be operated by local businesses, such as grocery stores, pharmacies and other appropriate retailers.

The third parties would offer popular postal products and services such as flat-rate packaging and stamps.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

“Stamps, money orders and flat rate priority mail packages are the major sellers here,” said Rena Crumpton, postal worker at the Clanton Post Office. “We also get a lot of customers who collect stamps and customers who come in for passports.”

Post Offices in Chilton County include Enterprise, Clanton, Jemison, Maplesville, Thorsby and Verbena branches.