FlightWay / Careers / Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators

Government

Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators

Prepare incoming and outgoing mail for distribution for the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Sector: Government
Preparation: Zone 2 — some preparation needed
O*NET code: 43-5053.00

What you'll actually do

The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.

Handling and Moving Objects

a regular part of the work — rated 70/100 for importance.
Performing General Physical Activities

a regular part of the work — rated 70/100 for importance.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

a regular part of the work — rated 69/100 for importance.
Getting Information

a regular part of the work — rated 63/100 for importance.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships

a regular part of the work — rated 58/100 for importance.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events

part of the mix — rated 55/100 for importance.

Prepare incoming and outgoing mail for distribution for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Examine, sort, and route mail. Load, operate, and occasionally adjust and repair mail processing, sorting, and canceling machinery. Keep records of shipments, pouches, and sacks, and perform other duties related to mail handling within the postal service. Includes postal service mail sorters and processors 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

Monitoring

Needed at a basic working level (39/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.
Coordination

Needed at a basic working level (41/100), and rated 50/100 for importance.
Reading Comprehension

Needed at a basic working level (39/100), and rated 50/100 for importance.
Critical Thinking

Needed at a basic working level (37/100), and rated 50/100 for importance.
Speaking

Needed at a basic working level (37/100), and rated 50/100 for importance.

Knowledge

English Language

Needed at a basic working level (33/100), and rated 51/100 for importance.
Production and Processing

Needed at an introductory level (21/100), and rated 37/100 for importance.
Customer and Personal Service

Needed at an introductory level (20/100), and rated 35/100 for importance.
Administrative

Needed at an introductory level (29/100), and rated 31/100 for importance.

Abilities

Near Vision

Needed at a solid working level (54/100), and rated 69/100 for importance.
Manual Dexterity

Needed at a solid working level (46/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.
Static Strength

Needed at a solid working level (48/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.
Multilimb Coordination

Needed at a solid working level (46/100), and rated 53/100 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”

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 Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators. 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 every Government career →

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Occupational 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.