Welcome to the second blog of “US Postal Office Jobs Under the Spotlight” series (hyperlink to blog titled, “US Postal Office Jobs: The Mail Carriers”) and today, we will be reviewing:

The profession of postal service clerks

The employees working as postal service clerks are categorized as postal service workers. If you want to pursue your career in the US mailing service industry as a service clerk, you will have to clear Postal Exam 473E.

The Job Responsibilities of a US Postal Service Clerk

A US postal service clerk is responsible for performing different types of on-job duties and currently, there are about 350 mail processing plants that staff these federal workers.

• Retailing Duties: These are the front desk postal service clerks who have primary duties of selling stamps, stamped postcards and stamped envelopes.

• Mail Processing Duties: US postal service clerks assigned with mail processing duties have to receive and postmark the mails received from customers. They are also responsible for sorting these mails, compiling the ones together which are meant to be delivered on the same route.

• Filing and Administrative Duties: Filing customer complaints and filling out required investigative forms also constitute the part of a service clerk’s postal service job responsibilities.  

• Substituting a Mail Carrier: Primarily, a postal service clerk has to perform in-house job operations. But, if the need arises, they may also have to serve as a substitute for mail carriers, executing deliveries on specified routes.

The bottom line is, hires employed for the US postal job has to ensure that the day-to-day operations of the unit are streamlined and efficiently performed all the while providing satisfactory customer service.

Educational Requirements

For candidates applying for the US postal office job, it is important that they have a high school diploma. There are no requirements for post secondary education.

The Essential Skills for the Job

A US postal service clerk requires following skills to excel at the job:

• Be able to think critically, without letting the workload suppress their thought process.

• The candidate should possess active listening skills, which can help them especially when interacting with customers at the front desk operations.

• The individual should have strong assessment skills to monitor their performances and the output of the structured system on whole. This would help the employee to identify the weak points and work out solution to increase the efficiency of the routine operations.

The Problems and Risks Faced By US Postal Service Clerks

Health risks are the primary problems that a US postal service clerk is exposed to while performing on-job duties. These are listed as follows:

• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Carpal tunnel syndrome is a disease that affects the nerve in the wrist and commonly experienced by service clerks who have to manually sort out mails and parcels.

• Respiratory Problems: These are experienced when an individual is exposed to fine paper dust during mail processing activities. Employees may end up developing asthma.

• Back Problems: Service clerks facilitating the customers at the front desk, spend most of their time in a static position while sitting on a chair. This lead to back problems in the employees.    

US postal service clerks are important members of the employed workforce. It is because of them that the citizens of United States are conveniently facilitated with their mailing needs. We pay our respect to all US postal service clerks and want to appreciate you for your dedication and commitment.

Do you think we missed out on something important while producing this blog? What sub topics would you like to see covered in our future blogs? Which questions do you want to be answered? Please let us know in the comments section below.