A postal worker is one who works for a post office, such as a mail carrier. In the U.S., postal workers are represented by the National Postal Mail Handlers Union - NPMHU 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. Small-town post office and town hall in Lockhart, Alabama A post office is a facility (in most countries, a government one) where the public can purchase postage stamps for mailing correspondence or merchandise, and also drop off or pick up packages or other special-delivery items. ... A British pillar box The postal system is a system by which written documents typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages containing other matter, are delivered to destinations around the world. ... ... The AFL-CIO is the largest labor union federation in the United States. ... The Canadian Union of Postal Workers or CUPW (pronounced Cup W) is a public sector trade union representing postal workers employed at Canada Post. ... The Communication Workers Union is the main trade union in the United Kingdom for people working for telephone, cable and postal delivery companies, with 300,000 members. ...

The US Postal Service employs around 875,000 people. The bulk of these work as:

• Service Clerks - Sell stamps and postage, help people pickup 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 maintain and operate the sorting machines.
• Mail Carriers - Deliver the mail. In densely populated areas this is done on foot. In urban areas the carriers often use a mail truck and in rural areas carriers drive their own vehicles.

Most postal worker in the US make between $36,000 and $43,000 per year. The number of postal workers is expected to decline very slightly in the future as automation and electronic communication become more prevalent.

The phrase wasn't very often used until a spate of workplace violence incidents by postal workers in the late 1980s made headlines. The incidents also led to the coining of the phrase going postal. // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... Memorial of the 1986 post office incident in Edmond, OK. This article is about the violent social phenomenon. ...

Postal workers in fiction

• Postman Pat
• Mr. McFeely
• Newman (the Seinfeld character)

Postman Pat is a BBC stop motion animated childrens television series aimed at pre-school children, concerning the adventures of Pat, a postman in the (fictional) Yorkshire village of Greendale (inspired by the real valley of Longsleddale). ... Mister Rogers Neighborhood was a childrens television show hosted by Fred Rogers which was produced by Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania public broadcaster WQED-TV and Fred Rogers not-for-profit production company Family Communications, Inc. ... Newman is a secondary character on the television show Seinfeld. ... Seinfeld is a television sitcom, considered to be one of the most popular and influential of the 1990s in the U.S., to the point where it is often cited as epitomizing the self-obsessed and ironic culture of the decade. ...

U.S. Postal Unions

National Postal Mail Handlers Union - NPMHU

• Alabama- NPMHU State Local 317
• California

American Postal Workers Union

• Alabama
• California

References

Occupational Analysis for US Postal Workers