Postal worker

A postal worker is one who works for a post office, such as a mail carrier. In the U.S., postal workers are represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO, National Postal Mail Handlers Union - NPMHU, the National Association of Rural Letter Carriers and the American Postal Workers Union, part of the AFL-CIO. In Canada, they are represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and in the United Kingdom by the Communication Workers Union.

The US Postal Service employs around 584,000 people.^[1] The bulk of these work as:

• Service clerks - Sell stamps and postage, help people pick up packages and assist with other services such as passports.
• Mail sorters - Physically sort the mail to go to the correct place. As automation has become more common, some of these people now operate the sorting machines.
• Mail carriers - Deliver the mail. In densely populated areas this is done on foot. In urban areas the carriers often use a mail truck and in rural areas carriers drive their own vehicles.
• Vehicle Operator - Drive the truck/vehicle carrying mails/pallets and dispatch from one place to another.

The phrase was not very often used until a spate of workplace violence incidents by postal workers in the late 1980s made headlines. The incidents also led to the coining of the phrase "going postal".

Notable postal workers[]

• Charles Bukowski, writer and poet
• John Prine, American country folk singer-songwriter

Postal workers in fiction[]

• The Postman
• Postman Pat
• Mr. McFeely
• Cliff Clavin
• Jacob Singer
• Newman (Seinfeld character)
• The Postman Always Rings Twice

See also[]

• United States Postal Service creed

References[]

External links[]

• [1]
• Alabama- NPMHU State Local 317
• American Postal Workers Union