Will AI replace Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
14/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 25% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 20% of the work
What the job involves
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.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(5)
- Verify that items are addressed correctly, marked with the proper postage, and in suitable condition for processing.
- Determine manner in which mail is to be sent, and prepare it for delivery to mailing facilities.
- Answer inquiries regarding shipping or mailing policies.
- Read production orders to determine types and sizes of items scheduled for printing and mailing.
- Mail merchandise samples or promotional literature in response to requests.
Out of reach(24)
- Sort and route incoming mail, and collect outgoing mail, using carts as necessary.
- Weigh packages or letters to determine postage needed, using weighing scales and rate charts.
- Seal or open envelopes, by hand or by using machines.
- Affix postage to packages or letters by hand, or stamp materials, using postage meters.
- Clear jams in sortation equipment.
and 19 more
Also called
Mail Sorter · Mailroom Clerk · Inserter Operator · Mail Clerk · Mail Processor · Addressograph Operator · Advertising Inserter · Canceling Machine Operator
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics