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Boston Career Explorer

Office and Administrative Support

Couriers and Messengers

Pick up and deliver messages, documents, packages, and other items between offices or departments within an establishment or directly to other business concerns, traveling by foot, bicycle, motorcycle, automobile, or public conveyance.

Also called: Courier, Delivery Driver, Driver, Lab Courier (Laboratory Courier), Mail Carrier, Mailroom Courier

Compare with my current job (Taxi Drivers)
Median pay in Greater Boston
$43,830
$21.07/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
1,070
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+13.4%
480 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
High school diploma or equivalent
plus Short-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$37,080$38,640$43,830$48,370$60,800

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Deliver and pick up medical records, lab specimens, and medications to and from hospitals and other medical facilities.
  • Walk, ride bicycles, drive vehicles, or use public conveyances to reach destinations to deliver messages or materials.
  • Load vehicles with listed goods, ensuring goods are loaded correctly and taking precautions with hazardous goods.
  • Receive messages or materials to be delivered, and information on recipients, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, and delivery instructions, communicated via telephone, two-way radio, or in person.
  • Deliver messages and items, such as newspapers, documents, and packages, between establishment departments and to other establishments and private homes.
  • Record information, such as items received and delivered and recipients' responses to messages.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure24 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 18
  • Language-model AIOE 20
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 33

Observed AI use today: Some (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure is lower for this job, and observed AI use is some. Tools may help with taking delivery instructions, planning routes, and tracking items. Walking, riding, or driving to places, loading vehicles, and carefully handling items like lab specimens are hands-on work that AI tools do not do.

Likely to change

  • Receiving delivery details and recipient information
  • Planning routes and tracking deliveries

Still relies on people

  • Physically delivering items to homes and offices
  • Loading vehicles and handling sensitive items carefully

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

Related jobs that build on what you already do.

  • Light Truck Drivers

    Driving delivery routes and following traffic rules carry over. Boston pay is $49,630, with fast projected growth of 14.6% and short on-the-job training.

    Pay difference
    +$5,800 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +14.6%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

  • Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

    Loading, delivery, and travel skills carry over. Boston pay is $64,010, with lower AI exposure, but you need a postsecondary training award.

    Pay difference
    +$20,180 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +8.5%
    To get started
    Postsecondary nondegree award

  • Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators

    Moving and loading materials carries over. Growth is projected at 21.7%, with short on-the-job training and very low AI exposure.

    Pay difference
    +$3,970 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +21.7%
    To get started
    No formal educational credential

Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

No college programs near Boston map to this job. Many people enter through on-the-job training or apprenticeship.

Talk to a career coach at the Office of Workforce Development about apprenticeships and City partner programs.

Related occupations

Talk to a career coach

A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.

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