Office and Administrative Support · Holland code CR

Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service

Prepare incoming and outgoing mail for distribution. Time-stamp, open, read, sort, and route incoming mail; and address, seal, stamp, fold, stuff, and affix postage to outgoing mail or packages. Duties may also include keeping necessary records and completed forms.

Also called: Mail Clerk, Mail Machine Operator, Mail Sorter, Postal Clerk, Insert Operator, Inserter Operator, Mail Handler, Mail Processor.

O*NET 43-9051.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $39,280; Middle half earn $35,470 to $46,450. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED); 48% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 2 of 5; Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Lift and unload containers of mail or parcels onto equipment for transportation to sortation stations.
Verify that items are addressed correctly, marked with the proper postage, and in suitable condition for processing.
Read production orders to determine types and sizes of items scheduled for printing and mailing.
Clear jams in sortation equipment.
Place incoming or outgoing letters or packages into sacks or bins based on destination or type, and place identifying tags on sacks or bins.
Release packages or letters to customers upon presentation of written notices or other identification.
Remove containers of sorted mail or parcels and transfer them to designated areas according to established procedures.
Adjust guides, rollers, loose card inserters, weighing machines, and tying arms, using rules and hand tools.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension3.0 / 5
Speaking3.0 / 5
Critical Thinking3.0 / 5
Monitoring3.0 / 5
Active Listening2.9 / 5
Writing2.9 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service3.9 / 5
English Language3.4 / 5
Mathematics3.0 / 5
Law and Government2.5 / 5
Education and Training2.5 / 5
Administrative2.5 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic50
Investigative0
Artistic0
Social17
Enterprising19
Conventional91

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

office clerk · DE Büroassistent/Büroassistentin · FR employé de bureau/employée de bureau
post office counter clerk · DE Postschalterbediensteter/Postschalterbedienstete · FR guichetier en bureau de poste/guichetière en bureau de poste
mail clerk · DE Postabfertiger/Postabfertigerin · FR employé au courrier/employée au courrier
postman/postwoman · DE Postbote/Postbotin · FR facteur/factrice
proofreader · DE Korrekturleser/Korrekturleserin · FR correcteur/correctrice
foreign language correspondence clerk · DE Fremdsprachenkorrespondent/Fremdsprachenkorrespondentin · FR employé chargé de la correspondance en langues étrangères/employée chargée de la correspondance en langues étrangères

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Sales administrators (4151)85,100 employed
Printers (5422)18,000 employed
Bank and post office clerks (4123)66,300 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Clerical support workers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Clerical support workers, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€40,035
Austria	€38,296
Germany	€37,844
Netherlands	€35,854
Sweden	€33,483
Ireland	€32,144
Italy	€29,311
France	€25,943
Spain	€22,026
Portugal	€12,602
Poland	€10,250

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the lower third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.82. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (43-9051).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test