FlightWay / Careers / Postal Service Clerks
Government
Postal Service Clerks
Perform any combination of tasks in a United States Postal Service (USPS) post office, such as receive letters and parcels; sell postage and revenue stamps, postal cards, and stamped envelopes; fill out and sell money orders; place mail in pigeon holes of mail rack or in bags; and examine mail for correct postage.
- Sector: Government
- Preparation: Zone 2 — some preparation needed
- O*NET code: 43-5051.00
What you'll actually do
The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.
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Performing for or Working Directly with the Public
a major part of the work — rated 75/100 for importance.
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Getting Information
a major part of the work — rated 75/100 for importance.
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Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
a major part of the work — rated 74/100 for importance.
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Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards
a major part of the work — rated 71/100 for importance.
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Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
a major part of the work — rated 71/100 for importance.
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Handling and Moving Objects
a regular part of the work — rated 68/100 for importance.
Perform any combination of tasks in a United States Postal Service (USPS) post office, such as receive letters and parcels; sell postage and revenue stamps, postal cards, and stamped envelopes; fill out and sell money orders; place mail in pigeon holes of mail rack or in bags; and examine mail for correct postage. Includes postal service clerks employed by USPS contractors.
What it takes
Two numbers per line: the level the work expects, and how important it is to doing the job well. Both are O*NET ratings, already on a 0–100 scale.
Skills
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Active Listening
Needed at a basic working level (45/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.
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Speaking
Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.
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Reading Comprehension
Needed at a basic working level (45/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.
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Service Orientation
Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.
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Critical Thinking
Needed at a solid working level (46/100), and rated 50/100 for importance.
Knowledge
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Customer and Personal Service
Needed at a solid working level (59/100), and rated 74/100 for importance.
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English Language
Needed at a solid working level (49/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.
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Mathematics
Needed at a solid working level (45/100), and rated 59/100 for importance.
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Sales and Marketing
Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 51/100 for importance.
Abilities
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Oral Comprehension
Needed at a solid working level (54/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
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Oral Expression
Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
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Near Vision
Needed at a solid working level (52/100), and rated 63/100 for importance.
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Written Comprehension
Needed at a solid working level (46/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.
How people get in
O*NET places this occupation in Zone 2 — some preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.
Education
A high-school diploma is the usual starting point.
Experience
Some prior work experience helps but is rarely required.
Training
Expect a few months to a year of on-the-job training.
How the work tends to run
Each line below is read off a single O*NET activity rating for this occupation — named, so you can disagree with it.
- The work is physical — you are on your feet and handling things, not sitting still.From “Performing General Physical Activities”
- You are in front of the public, so the job is partly performance.From “Performing for or Working Directly with the Public”
- Rules and standards are checkable and someone checks them.From “Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards”
How FlightWay scores your fit against this
No black box. Here is the whole method, factor by factor.
- 1. You answer a short quiz
- Your answers build a profile across the same 161 O*NET dimensions this page is describing — skills, knowledge, abilities and work activities. Same axes, so the comparison is like-for-like.
- 2. We correlate the two profiles
- Fit is a mean-centered cosine — a correlation between the SHAPE of your profile and the shape of Postal Service Clerks. Centering matters: raw similarity between any two occupations sits at 0.70–0.85 because all work shares a common profile, so without it every career would look like a match.
- 3. The number you see is personality fit only
- "Would I want this work" and "am I ready for this work" are different questions, and averaging them answers neither. So readiness — what your résumé, coursework and projects prove — is scored separately and shown next to fit, never blended into it.
- 4. Every factor is visible
- You can open any match and see which dimensions pushed it up and which pulled it down. If you disagree with the number, you can see exactly where it came from.
More in Government
See your fit for Postal Service Clerks
Ten questions, about 90 seconds. You get your match against Postal Service Clerks and 782+ other real careers — with the reasoning shown.
Take the quiz Open in FlightWayOccupational data on this page comes from the O*NET 30.3 Database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. FlightWay is not endorsed by, and USDOL/ETA is not responsible for, anything built on that data — see our terms. What is ours is the comparison, the score and the plan.