A postal worker is one who works for a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
, such as a
mail
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...
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
The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is a trade union, labor union in the United States. It represents over 200,000 employees and retirees of the United States Postal Service who belong to the Clerk, Maintenance, Motor Vehicle, and Support S ...
, part of the AFL–CIO. In
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, they are represented by the
Canadian Union of Postal Workers and in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
by the
Communication Workers Union.
The US Postal Service employs around 584,000 people.
Postal Employees Stats at a Glance
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 area
An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...
s the carriers often use a mail truck and drive and walk different parts of their routes. In rural areas, carriers drive to most of their stops.
*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 mid-1990s made headlines; the incidents led to the coining of the phrase " going postal".
Notable postal workers
*Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...
, writer and poet
* John Prine, American country folk singer-songwriter
Postal workers in fiction
*The Postman
''The Postman'' is a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction novel by David Brin. It is about a man wandering the desolate Oregon countryside who finds a United States Postal Service uniform, which h ...
* Postman Pat
* Mr. McFeely
* Cliff Clavin
* Jacob Singer
* Newman (''Seinfeld
''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...
'' character)
*'' The Postman Always Rings Twice''
See also
* United States Postal Service creed
References
External links
Alabama- NPMHU State Local 317American Postal Workers Union
{{DEFAULTSORT:Postal Worker
Government occupations
United States Postal Service