View source for Postal worker

{{Short description|Person who works for a post office}}
{{Globalize|article|USA|2name=the United States|date=September 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
[[File:San Francisco Postal Workers (2551051332).jpg|thumb|Postal workers in [[San Francisco]], 1890]]
A '''postal worker''' is one who works for a [[post office]], such as a [[mail]] carrier. In the [[United States|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 (UK)|Communication Workers Union]].

The US Postal Service employs around 584,000 people.<ref>[http://www.lunewsviews.com/postal-employees-stats-at-a-glance.htm Postal Employees Stats at a Glance] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131110549/http://lunewsviews.com/postal-employees-stats-at-a-glance.htm |date=31 January 2009}}</ref> 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 sorter]]s – 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]]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]], writer and poet
*[[John Prine]], American [[country folk]] singer-songwriter

==Postal workers in fiction==
*[[The Postman]]
*[[Postman Pat]]
*[[Mr. McFeely]]
*[[Cliff Clavin]]
*[[Jacob's Ladder (1990 film)|Jacob Singer]]
*[[Newman (Seinfeld)|Newman]] (''[[Seinfeld]]'' character)
*''[[The Postman Always Rings Twice (novel)|The Postman Always Rings Twice]]''

==See also==
*[[United States Postal Service creed]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/employees-1926-2010.pdf]
*[http://npmhu317.rocket-city.us/ Alabama- NPMHU State Local 317]
*[https://www.apwu.org American Postal Workers Union]

{{United States Postal Service}}
{{Postal system}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Government occupations]]
[[Category:United States Postal Service]]