---
title: "Mail Clerk and Mail Machine Operator, Except Postal Service"
description: "Prepare incoming and outgoing mail for distribution. Time-stamp, open, read, sort, and route incoming mail; and address, seal, stamp, fold, stuff, and…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/mail-clerk-and-mail-machine-operator"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Mail Clerk and Mail Machine Operator, Except Postal Service

**Category:** Office and Administrative Support · **SOC code:** 43-9051 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 43-9051.00

Prepare incoming and outgoing mail for distribution. Time-stamp, open, read, sort, and route incoming mail; and address, seal, stamp, fold, stuff, and affix postage to outgoing mail or packages. Duties may also include keeping necessary records and completed forms.

Also advertised as: Insert Operator; Inserter Operator; Mail Clerk; Mail Handler; Mail Machine Operator; Mail Processor; Mail Sorter; Mailing Equipment Operator.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $39,280 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $18.89/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $30,780 to $54,820, with the middle half between $35,470 and $46,450
- **Total US employment:** 55,230
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -7.2% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 4,700 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 45/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 55,230 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $30,780 |
| 25th | $35,470 |
| 50th (median) | $39,280 |
| 75th | $46,450 |
| 90th | $54,820 |
| Mean (average) | $41,650 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $49,240 | $44,804 | 310 |
| MA | $48,860 | $46,200 | 1,050 |
| WA | $46,380 | $43,341 | 1,360 |
| VT | $45,380 | $46,326 | 120 |
| UT | $45,150 | $45,669 | 460 |
| MN | $44,840 | $45,467 | 1,170 |
| ME | $44,780 | $46,141 | 160 |
| CA | $44,410 | $40,110 | 4,710 |
| CT | $43,970 | $42,438 | 680 |
| NJ | $43,700 | $40,164 | 2,210 |
| OR | $43,450 | $42,037 | 370 |
| CO | $43,430 | $42,144 | 880 |
| NY | $42,020 | $38,936 | 5,990 |
| NH | $41,060 | $39,418 | 280 |
| NV | $40,520 | $40,529 | 420 |

36 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 51 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/mail-clerk-and-mail-machine-operator/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/mail-clerk-and-mail-machine-operator.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 57,800 in the 2025–2035 base year to 53,600 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 4,100 jobs, or -7.2%. Declining: -7.2% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 4,700 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 48.4% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 45.4% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 6.2% |

## What the work involves

- Sort and route incoming mail, and collect outgoing mail, using carts as necessary.
- Determine manner in which mail is to be sent, and prepare it for delivery to mailing facilities.
- Answer inquiries regarding shipping or mailing policies.
- Affix postage to packages or letters by hand, or stamp materials, using postage meters.
- Weigh packages or letters to determine postage needed, using weighing scales and rate charts.
- Verify that items are addressed correctly, marked with the proper postage, and in suitable condition for processing.
- Seal or open envelopes, by hand or by using machines.
- Remove containers of sorted mail or parcels and transfer them to designated areas according to established procedures.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Near Vision — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Information Ordering — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Category Flexibility — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Conventional (C), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 6.46 |
| R — Realistic | 4.01 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.14 |
| S — Social | 2.01 |
| I — Investigative | 1.00 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 85.6 |
| ISFJ | 84.5 |
| ESTJ | 83.0 |
| ESFJ | 73.2 |
| ISTP | 54.8 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ISFJ, ESTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Postal Service Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postal-service-clerk) — median $62,130
- [Postal Service Mail Sorter, Processor, and Processing Machine Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postal-service-mail-sorter-processor-and-processing-machine-operator) — median $58,470
- [Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/shipping-receiving-and-inventory-clerk) — median $45,260
- [Postal Service Mail Carrier](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postal-service-mail-carrier) — median $60,550
- [Courier and Messenger](https://nuecareer.com/careers/courier-and-messenger) — median $39,200
- [Data Entry Keyer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/data-entry-keyer) — median $41,340
- [Stocker and Order Filler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/stocker-and-order-filler) — median $37,330
- [Office Machine Operator, Except Computer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/office-machine-operator) — median $40,960
- [Laborer and Freight, Stock, and Material Mover, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/laborer-and-freight-stock-and-material-mover-hand) — median $40,240
- [Order Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/order-clerk) — median $46,170

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/mail-clerk-and-mail-machine-operator