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Boston Career Explorer

Office and Administrative Support

Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators

Prepare incoming and outgoing mail for distribution for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Examine, sort, and route mail. Load, operate, and occasionally adjust and repair mail processing, sorting, and canceling machinery. Keep records of shipments, pouches, and sacks, and perform other duties related to mail handling within the postal service. Includes postal service mail sorters and processors employed by USPS contractors.

Also called: Automation Clerk, Computer Forwarding System Markup Clerk (CFS Markup Clerk), Distribution Clerk, Flat Sorting Machine Clerk (FSM Clerk), Mail Handler, Mail Handler Equipment Operator

Median pay in Greater Boston
$59,490
$28.60/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
1,480
Massachusetts 2024–2034
−5.6%
340 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
No formal educational credential
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
$47,440$52,670$59,490$75,030$75,280

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

What you’d do

  • Clear jams in sorting equipment.
  • Operate various types of equipment, such as computer scanning equipment, addressographs, mimeographs, optical character readers, and bar-code sorters.
  • Sort odd-sized mail by hand, sort mail that other workers have been unable to sort, and segregate items requiring special handling.

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 exposure18 of 100

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

  • AIOE 10
  • Language-model AIOE 17
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 27

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

This job has lower AI exposure, and observed AI use is little or none. Much of the work is physical: running machines, clearing jams, and hand-sorting odd-sized mail. AI tools may help a little with scanning and routing, but they are not likely to replace the hands-on handling and machine care.

Likely to change

  • Scanning and bar-code sorting support
  • Routing and record-keeping on machines

Still relies on people

  • Clearing jams and fixing sorting equipment
  • Hand-sorting odd-sized or special-handling mail

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.

  • Industrial Machinery Mechanics

    Clearing jams and adjusting sorting machines carry over to repairing industrial equipment, which offers higher pay ($75,200 in Boston) and faster projected growth in Massachusetts.

    Pay difference
    +$15,710 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +17.1%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

  • Maintenance and Repair Workers, General

    Your experience keeping machines running transfers to routine maintenance and testing of equipment, with similar starting pay and growing demand in Massachusetts.

    Pay difference
    +$180 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +5.2%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

  • Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines

    Troubleshooting and repairing machinery builds on your equipment skills and leads to heavy equipment repair work with a Boston median pay of $76,770.

    Pay difference
    +$17,280 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +4.9%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

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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