Mail Carrier Salary

Mail carriers have many names depending on where you live or what you call them. Some of the most common phrases are things such as mail carriers, mailman, postman, postwoman, letter carrierand some people will refer to mail carriers as posties.  A mail carrier is a person who works for either the state or local government and who delivers mail and packages to residences as well as businesses all over the world.  A mail carrier can be found delivering our mail to our homes, buildings, store fronts and much more. These men and woman work three hundred and sixty days a year delivering mail and picking up mail.  You will find that there are three different types of mail carriers. These mail carriers can be found working in the city as city mail carriers, rural areas, as rural mail carriers or throughout our highway systems as Highway Contract Router carriers.  Depending on who a mail carrier works for will heavily play on what a mail carrier's salary will be.  In this article I will discuss mail carrier salary and the different jobs that they can choose from.

City Mail Carriers

When discussing a city mail carrier salary, you will find that they are paid hourly and they do have the potential to receive overtime pay,  City mail carriers are given routes everyday that they come into work that must be completed by the end of their work day. These routes will typically be anywhere between eight hours or less for the mail carrier to complete. If a mail carrier completes their route before their eight hours is up then management may give them another route to fill to help take up the rest of their time. There are a lot of tools associated with the work load of a mail carrier from their hours, routes, workload and more. City mail carriers are observed through programs and more to ensure that they are getting their jobs done in the correct amount of time and that mail carriers are staying on the routes that they have been given.  You will find that there have been many arguments between mail carriers and management over hours, pay, overtime and routes. Many mail carriers have a problem with route adjustments coming from a machine rather then from a person.  Mail carriers have always questioned if there is accuracy in the count of their hours, routes and more.  You will find that city mail carriers will generally be found working more urban routes that are high in density yet low in miles.  These routes are typically either walked or you will find that they will be on a vehicle. Typically the average city mail carriers salary is roughly around twenty to twenty five dollars an hour. 

Rural Mail Carriers

When discussing a rural mail carriers salary you will find that it is uses the mail carriers evaluated hours and typically builds overtime into the salary as well.  Since those who work in rural areas will find that it takes longer to get mail out to these areas they will have to have there mail counted and then they will use a set formula that will allow them to compute how much the mail carrier will get paid for each day that they work until the route is completed.  Once the dollar amount has been set, people can bid for the job and the job will be awarded to the lowest bidder.  Once the bidder has been chosen they themselves can walk the route or they can higher someone else to walk the route and complete it.  You will find that rural mail carriers typically have a route that is high in mileage but low in density, essentially completely opposite that of a city mail carrier.  You will also find that rural mail carriers generally do not have to wear a postal service uniform and they do not have to drive a postal service mail truck. Since these jobs are more sporadic and generally deliver mail at less cost then normal, they are aloud these luxuries. You will find that this is a growing field of work since there is less urbanization going on and more people are moving to rural areas. 

Highway Contract Route Carriers

Highway contract route mail carrier salary is another one that is a lot like the rural mail carrier.  These men and woman can be found working in areas that are on the outskirts of towns and cities. They work routes with a density that is one customer per mile or less.  These routes can be found in or around extremely small towns and on the outskirts of towns. These mail carriers are also allowed to wear regular clothes as well as drive their own vehicles. 

When discussing the mail carriers salary for both the rural and the highway carriers you will find that they roughly make anywhere between ten to seventeen dollars an hour.  These individuals will have to go through bidding wars to get the job and whoever bids the lowest will receive the job.  Typically the highway mail carrier will get paid lower the the rural mail carrier and this is because their routes are even more sporadic and much more outspread, along with being extremely sporadic. 

The three differnet mail carriers that I have discussed also go through differnet hiring processes. Typically the city mail carrier will be hired as a part time flexible employee with benefits. They will generally always be able to pick up forty hours a week and this is quite a desirable position with applicants that are always waiting for a position to open up.  For rural carriers you will find that they will be hired but with no benefits or they will be stuck in bidding wars just like the highway contract route carrier and will have to wait for the bid to be answered.