Will AI replace Postal Service Mail Carriers?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
34/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 51% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 49% of the work
What the job involves
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.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(10)
- Scan labels on letters or parcels to confirm receipt.
- Return to the post office with mail collected from homes, businesses, and public mailboxes.
- Sign for cash-on-delivery and registered mail before leaving the post office.
- Leave notices telling patrons where to collect mail that could not be delivered.
- Record address changes and redirect mail for those addresses.
and 5 more
Out of reach(11)
- Obtain signed receipts for registered, certified, and insured mail, collect associated charges, and complete any necessary paperwork.
- 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.
- Hold mail for customers who are away from delivery locations.
- Turn in money and receipts collected along mail routes.
and 6 more
Also called
Mail Carrier · Rural Mail Carrier · Letter Carrier · Carrier · Rural Letter Carrier · City Letter Carrier · City Mail Carrier · Rural Carrier Associate (RCA)
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