What Postal Service Workers Do

Postal Service workers sell postal products and collect, sort, and deliver mail. 

Duties

Postal Service workers typically do the following:

• Collect letters and parcels
• Sort incoming letters and parcels
• Sell stamps and other postal products to customers
• Get customer signatures for registered, certified, and insured mail
• Operate various types of postal equipment
• Distribute incoming mail from postal trucks

Postal Service workers receive and process mail for delivery to homes, businesses, and post office boxes. Workers are classified based on the type of work they perform.

Postal Service mail carriers deliver mail to homes and businesses in cities, towns, and rural areas. Most travel established routes, delivering and collecting mail. Mail carriers cover their routes on foot, by vehicle, or by a combination of both. Some mail carriers collect money for postage due and COD (cash-on-delivery). Others, particularly in rural areas, sell postal products such as stamps and money orders. All carriers, however, must be able to answer customers’ questions about postal regulations and services and, upon request, provide change-of-address cards and other postal forms. 

Postal Service clerks sell stamps, money orders, postal stationary, mailing envelopes, and boxes in post offices throughout the country. These workers register, certify, and insure mail, calculate and collect postage, and answer questions about other postal matters.

Postal Service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators prepare incoming and outgoing mail for distribution at post offices and mail processing centers. They load and unload postal trucks and move mail around mail processing centers. They also operate, and occasionally adjust and repair, mail processing, sorting, and canceling machinery.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition