Postal service mail carriers sort and deliver mail for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Deliver mail on established route by vehicle or on foot. Includes postal service mail carriers employed by USPS contractors.

 

 

  • Scan labels on letters or parcels to confirm receipt.
  • Obtain signed receipts for registered, certified, and insured mail, collect associated charges, and complete any necessary paperwork.
  • Return to the post office with mail collected from homes, businesses, and public mailboxes.
  • Sort mail for delivery, arranging it in delivery sequence.
  • Deliver mail to residences and business establishments along specified routes by walking or driving, using a combination of satchels, carts, cars, and small trucks.
  • Meet schedules for the collection and return of mail.
  • Sign for cash-on-delivery and registered mail before leaving the post office.
  • Hold mail for customers who are away from delivery locations.
  • Turn in money and receipts collected along mail routes.
  • Leave notices telling patrons where to collect mail that could not be delivered.
  • Maintain accurate records of deliveries.
  • Bundle mail in preparation for delivery or transportation to relay boxes.
  • Record address changes and redirect mail for those addresses.
  • Return incorrectly addressed mail to senders.
  • Answer customers' questions about postal services and regulations.
  • Provide customers with change of address cards and other forms.
  • Report any unusual circumstances concerning mail delivery, including the condition of street letter boxes.
  • Register, certify, and insure parcels and letters.
  • Enter change of address orders into computers that process forwarding address stickers.
  • Travel to post offices to pick up the mail for routes or pick up mail from postal relay boxes.
  • Sell stamps and money orders.
  • Complete forms that notify publishers of address changes.
Work Context
  • Outdoors, Exposed to Weather — 92% responded "Every day".
  • In an Enclosed Vehicle or Equipment — 88% responded "Every day".
  • Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions — 70% responded "Continually or almost continually".
  • Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 65% responded "Extremely important".
  • Importance of Repeating Same Tasks — 51% responded "Extremely important".
  • Face-to-Face Discussions — 62% responded "Every day".
  • Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls — 74% responded "Continually or almost continually".
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Work Activities
  • Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment — Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or water craft.
  • Performing General Physical Activities — Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials.
  • Handling and Moving Objects — Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
  • Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
  • Communicating with Persons Outside Organization — Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
Detailed Work Activities
  • Obtain written authorization to perform activities.
  • Collect deposits, payments or fees.
  • Sort mail.
  • Deliver items.
  • Route mail to correct destinations.
  • Collect deposits, payments or fees.
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Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service
  • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
English Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Public Safety and Security
  • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Sales and Marketing
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Skills

Active Listening
  • Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking
  • Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Critical Thinking
  • Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Social Perceptiveness
  • Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Abilities

Near Vision
  • The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Information Ordering
  • The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Oral Comprehension
  • The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Speech Recognition
  • The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
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Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Achievement/Effort
  • Persistence
  • Initiative
  • Leadership
  • Cooperation
  • Concern for Others
  • Social Orientation
  • Self Control
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Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • Delivery operations information system DOIS Hot Technology
Operating system software
  • Microsoft Windows Hot Technology
Data base user interface and query software
  • Address Management System AMS
  • Automated Data Collection System ADCS
  • End of Run Report EOR
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