Postal Service Mail Carriers

100% (Imminent Risk)

Imminent Risk (81-100%): Occupations in this level have an extremely high likelihood of being automated in the near future. These jobs consist primarily of repetitive, predictable tasks with little need for human judgment.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

User poll

Sentiment

The following graph is included wherever there is a substantial amount of votes to render meaningful data. These visual representations display user poll results over time, providing a significant indication of sentiment trends.

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2023, the median annual wage for 'Postal Service Mail Carriers' was $56,330, or $27 per hour

'Postal Service Mail Carriers' were paid 17.2% higher than the national median wage, which stood at $48,060

Wages over time

Comments

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genya 8 months ago

while other postal jobs are at higher risk of automation, it would be extremely difficult to automate the actual task of delivering on the street. while there are repetitive aspects to the job, there are simply far too many complicated, ever-changing variables for a machine to replicate the work. from working in all weather conditions, to driving in unpredictable traffic and road conditions, to specific customer and delivery needs that require complex thinking. a lot of problem-solving and risk-assessment involved in the job that cannot be easily replicated by automated technology. consider even a variable that is small and simple like a mailbox being moved or replaced in a new spot - an issue that would be easy for a human to problem-solve, but nearly-impossible for any artificial intelligence we could conceive in the foreseeable future.

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mbailey (No chance) 10 months ago

Will there be less, yes. Will it be replaced by robots in 20 years? NO WAY.

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Nate (No chance) 12 months ago

Clerk work might get automated, but delivering mail can not be automated in the next 20 years. They can't even get self driving right, walking up to a house is way beyond what a robot can do let alone sort and place mail. New technology might be invited to aid a carrier in delivering, but will not be replaced.

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Philip Low (Highly likely) 1 year ago

its a highly repetitive job and easy to replicate although some delivery areas will be automated faster than others

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Jacob Green (Low) 1 year ago

Being a mail carrier is harder than than it might seem. There is more to it than just putting things in boxes. We deliver in severe weather conditions like blizzards where am AI would have shard time seeing the road.

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grinch (Uncertain) 1 year ago

Doubt all jobs would suddenly be cut especially because of unions etc. In my country the roads are really rubbish and weather can be especially nasty, not to mention the import costs would likely be high for such technology. Maybe further in future I could see less and less postmen but I highly doubt this would happen for a long time, in any case if this happens then sign me up for the dole and I will live in my parents basement like an incel while watching the world go to ruin.

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Jack (No chance) 2 years ago

Not feasible in rural areas where requirements and routes are variable and non-standard.

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J (Low) 2 years ago

I work for USPS as a letter carrier. I can’t imagine management being able to maintain robots when they can hardly update equipment and vehicles as is.

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Sujoi (Highly likely) 3 years ago

As the development of autonomous drones and self-driving cars continues to improve, the role of the postal man will greatly shrink. I believe that even in the span of a single decade, the job will be considerably automated.

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3 years ago

Not sure but it's a lot of hurdles to overcome. Drones flying around with big boxes everywhere. Sounds cool but realistically in our modern society even is it going to be too much liability? If something falls or destroys packages and people's property then people of course will try and steal from them.

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Dennis 4 years ago

Even rural mail carriers?

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Charlie(No chance) (No chance) 4 years ago

I doubt postal mail carriers will be replaced by robots because of strong labor unions.

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Angus (Highly likely) 4 years ago

There is already post delivery robots in Brisbane suburbs in Queensland, Australia

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NO (Moderate) 5 years ago

Drone based delivery

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Nancy 2 years ago

There is human quality to this job that can't be replaced.

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Tony (Moderate) 5 years ago

It's pretty likely that we will find ways to deliver physical mail to people using machines in the next 20 years. :/

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Jak Aser (Uncertain) 5 years ago

Depends on a few things:
how much does it takes to develop an autodriven car.
how much it costs.
how much it takes to develop an auto-driven drone.
how to make it to get it directly to your home or mailbox, specially big packages.
how to make it less costly than a human delivering the package.
we have been waiting to the electric car like.... 40 years. it was said we would have it by the year 2000 and... still to many costs.

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Patrik (Uncertain) 5 years ago

Machines already sort most mail, only needs refinement. Selfdriving cars are on the horizon. We only need to combine the two.

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Nilay (Highly likely) 5 years ago

This job will be taken over due to the coming of drone delivery.

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Steve Jennings (Highly likely) 6 years ago

Small robots would be faster and more efficient

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THE DUDE 2 years ago

Yeah until kids on the street light them on fire, break them etc. imagine the repair cost of a couple 100,000 robots. Better off paying people that actually care about customers. You think a mail delivery robot would save an elderly woman from a house fire or notify police of a burglary.

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