Postal Service Clerk 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.
Postal Service Clerk is Also Know as
In different settings, Postal Service Clerk is titled as
- Bulk Mail Technician
- Clerk
- Distribution Clerk
- Part Time Flexible Clerk (PTF Clerk)
- Postal Clerk
- Sales and Distribution Clerk
- Sales and Service Associate (SSA)
- Window Clerk
Education and Training of Postal Service Clerk
Postal Service Clerk is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Postal Service Clerk
Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.
Education Required for Postal Service Clerk
These occupations usually require a high school diploma.
Degrees Related to Postal Service Clerk
Training Required for Postal Service Clerk
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Postal Service Clerk in different industries are
- Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service
- Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks
- Postal Service Mail Carriers
- Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators
- Order Clerks
- Postmasters and Mail Superintendents
- Stockers and Order Fillers
- Couriers and Messengers
- Cargo and Freight Agents
- Office Clerks, General
- Cashiers
- Billing and Posting Clerks
- Counter and Rental Clerks
- Procurement Clerks
- Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks
- Freight Forwarders
- Light Truck Drivers
- Tellers
- Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service
- File Clerks
What Do Postal Service Clerk do?
- Keep money drawers in order, and record and balance daily transactions.
- Weigh letters and parcels, compute mailing costs based on type, weight, and destination, and affix correct postage.
- Obtain signatures from recipients of registered or special delivery mail.
- Register, certify, and insure letters and parcels.
- Sell and collect payment for products such as stamps, prepaid mail envelopes, and money orders.
- Check mail to ensure correct postage and that packages and letters are in proper condition for mailing.
- Answer questions regarding mail regulations and procedures, postage rates, and post office boxes.
- Complete forms regarding changes of address, or theft or loss of mail, or for special services such as registered or priority mail.
- Provide assistance to the public in complying with federal regulations of Postal Service and other federal agencies.
- Sort incoming and outgoing mail, according to type and destination, by hand or by operating electronic mail-sorting and scanning devices.
- Cash money orders.
- Rent post office boxes to customers.
- Put undelivered parcels away, retrieve them when customers come to claim them, and complete any related documentation.
- Provide customers with assistance in filing claims for mail theft, or lost or damaged mail.
- Respond to complaints regarding mail theft, delivery problems, and lost or damaged mail, filling out forms and making appropriate referrals for investigation.
- Receive letters and parcels, and place mail into bags.
- Feed mail into postage canceling devices or hand stamp mail to cancel postage.
- Transport mail from one work station to another.
- Set postage meters, and calibrate them to ensure correct operation.
- Post announcements or government information on public bulletin boards.
- Order retail items and other supplies for office use.
Qualities of Good Postal Service Clerk
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Tools Used by Postal Service Clerk
- Automated mail processing equipment
- Barcode scanners
- Barcode sorters
- Bin stackers
- Doubles detectors
- Electronic mail sorting devices
- General purpose mail containers
- Hand stamps
- Hand trucks
- Mail bags
- Mail scales
- Mail transport carts
- Money drawers
- Optical character readers
- Packaging tape dispensers
- Point of sale workstations
- Postage meters
- Security device removers
- Security devices
- Sorting machines
- Stamp cancelers
- Warehouse dollies
Technology Skills required for Postal Service Clerk
- Budgeting software
- Delivery operations information system DOIS
- Electronic Time Clock ETC
- Inventory tracking software
- Microsoft Windows
- NCR Advanced Store
- Point of sale POS software
- Time and Attendance Collection System TACS