As a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier, you deliver mail and parcels along an assigned route — sorting at the local office each morning, then covering the route through the day's deliveries — across walking, mounted, and curbside route types USPS operates.
USPS-letter-carrier work runs on assigned routes across the postal-delivery network — casing mail at the local office in the morning, loading the vehicle or satchel, covering the route through residential, commercial, or rural stops, completing the delivery and pickup work the route requires. Routes completed on time and delivery accuracy anchor the operating measures.
The harder part is often the weather-and-physical reality that letter-carrier work involves — carriers walk or drive routes in all conditions, year-round, and the cumulative physical demand builds across years. Variance across carriers is real: city carriers (CCAs and career carriers) handle dense urban-and-suburban routes; rural carriers handle mounted-vehicle routes with extended distances; some specialty carrier positions handle parcel-heavy or business-route work.
It fits people physically up for sustained walking and lifting work, comfortable outdoors across varied conditions, and reliable through repetitive route rhythms. USPS training and career-carrier progression anchor advancement. The trade-off is the long-term physical wear of route work, balanced against postal-employment stability, benefits, and pension structure that anchor the career.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Admin & Office roles →As a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier, you deliver mail and parcels along an assigned route — sorting at the local office each morning, then covering the route through the day's deliveries — across walking, mounted, and curbside route types USPS operates.
Median pay for a USPS Letter Carrier (United States Postal Service Letter Carrier) is about $57K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $42K to $77K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Social Perceptiveness, Speaking, and Time Management.
Most people in this role hold a high school diploma.
Employment in this field is projected to decline about 3.5% through 2034, with roughly 336,040 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Special Delivery Messenger, Rural Mail Carrier, and City Letter Carrier.
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