What does a United States Postal Service (USPS) worker do?

 

There are many different jobs and careers available in the United States Postal Service (USPS), from sorting and delivering mail to managerial positions. The Postal Service is the third largest civilian employer in the US, employing approximately 502,400 workers in 2016. It also operates one of the largest civilian vehicle fleets in the world.

Career options include delivery and operations, including letter carriers, mail handlers, and tractor-trailer operators.

You are currently viewing What does a United States Postal Service (USPS) worker do?

There are many different jobs and careers available in the United States Postal Service (USPS), from sorting and delivering mail to managerial positions. The Postal Service is the third largest civilian employer in the US, employing approximately 502,400 workers in 2016. It also operates one of the largest civilian vehicle fleets in the world.

Career options include delivery and operations, including letter carriers, mail handlers, and tractor-trailer operators.

Postal Worker Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities may depend on whether the employee is working as a clerk, carrier, or in another area, but some common postal duties for clerks and carriers include:

Collect mail from post office boxes, offices, and other locations.Accept incoming mail at the post office.Sort mail by zip code and other criteria, either manually or with the help of a computer.Deliver mail, obtaining signatures for receipt when necessary.Sells postal supplies.

The USPS also has many career options in accounting, business, finance, human resources, legal, and marketing.

Postal Worker Salary

Salaries are competitive with many private sector jobs, and when combined with the benefits the USPS offers, this is an attractive employer. Postal machine operators, processors, and sorters tend to be the highest paid.

Median Annual Salary: $58,760 ($28.25/hour)Top 10% Annual Salary: Over $62,520 ($30.06/hour)Bottom 10% Annual Salary: Less than $35,960 ($17.29/hour)

The post office offers a variety of benefits, including dental, vision, health and life insurance, flexible spending accounts, long-term care insurance, retirement savings plans, generous vacation and sick leave , and many types of educational assistance, including career. Development and training. All in all, this can be a pretty attractive compensation package.

Education, training and certification

The Post Office does not have particularly strict educational requirements and offers a variety of training programs.

Education: A high school diploma is required and post-secondary education is encouraged.Training Programs: The Management Essentials program is an 18-month paid internship program for entry-level workers to gain professional experience in a variety of positions. Interns gain knowledge of the USPS through monthly trainings with the organization's top executives, and rotate through various departments. Interns are offered jobs upon successful completion of the program. The Postal Service also has a 10-week Summer Internship Program for college juniors and seniors. Interns work on a particular project related to the USPS in this program.Professional Development – ​​After being hired, the USPS offers many other opportunities for employees to develop professionally, including a New Supervisor Program designed to help employees gain experience while learning management skills. The Leadership Programs focus on different aspects and levels of managerial development for individuals who have demonstrated potential in the areas of management and executive leadership.

You should likewise be 18 years of age at the hour of the arrangement, or 16 years of age in the event that you have a secondary school certificate. You should be a US resident, Extremely durable Inhabitant, or a resident of American Samoa or another US domain. You should have late work history (this can't be your most memorable work) and have a protected driving record in the event that you are going after an administrator job. You should pass a lawbreaker historical verification, a medication screen, and a clinical assessment. You should have a decent order of the English language and be enrolled with the Specific Help, if material.

Postal Worker Skills and Competencies

Some innate and acquired skills and attributes can help you succeed in this job:

People Skills – You will be dealing extensively with the public, whether in a carrier or administrative position, so you need to be friendly, polite, and patient.Physical fitness: Mail carriers must walk a lot and sometimes over considerable distances. They must also carry heavy packages, so this job requires strength and stamina.

Job outlook

Unfortunately, job prospects for postal workers, both employees and carriers, are not good. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics expects job growth to slow by about 13% in the decade from 2016 to 2026, primarily due to the fact that Americans are relying more on email and automated bill payment and except for "postal mail" services.

Work environment

Mail carriers spend their days primarily outdoors, either on foot or in USPS vans and trucks. They don't get a break when inclement weather hits. You'll remember this saying, commemorated at the entrance to a New York post office: Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor darkness of night prevent these messengers from quickly completing their assigned rounds. This can mean dealing with dangerous paths and footsteps.

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