US postal carriers have different routes depending on their location and type of route. City carriers walk more, while rural carriers use vehicles. Couriers sort mail by postal code and route, and often operate the same routes every day. City couriers may park in a central location to avoid accidents. Rural carriers base their routes on vehicles and walk very little.
In the United States, there are three types of postal carriers, each of which travels different distances each day, depending on their location and the type of route they work on. Those who work in a city walk more, because they tend to have small and localized routes. Highway and rural contract route carriers walk less, because their routes are usually covered by motor vehicles. Urban and Rural Couriers are official, unionized employees of the United States Postal Service. The carriers of the motorway contract routes are private contractors.
All couriers start their day by arriving at a sorting facility to collect mail for their routes. Sorting structures sort mail first by postal code, then by carrier routes. Within a postcode, there may be up to 15 routes, depending on density. People who do individual delivery further sort their mail, organizing it in the most effective way for their route. Many couriers operate the same routes every day and become familiar with their postal customers.
City couriers have walking and driving routes. In the case of a driving route, the mail is loaded into a post office vehicle and driven away. Many cities require couriers to park in one central location and deliver mail from there before moving to another centralized location, to avoid stopping and starting mail vehicles at each destination on the route. This reduces the potential for road traffic accidents and runaway postal vehicles. Those on riding routes alternate several miles (km) of walking with riding each day and can return to the post facility for another load.
People delivering on walking routes usually cover the area closest to the mail sorting facility. In a large city with multiple postal facilities, there may be a large number of walking routes. These people load their mail into shoulder bags or small wheeled hand carts and can travel up to 16 km round-trip to complete postal deliveries.
Rural road and highway contract line carriers base their routes almost entirely on their vehicles, which may be privately owned cars specially modified for postal work or official postal vehicles. They walk very little on their daily commute, as most rural homes place their mailboxes near the road for easy access. These couriers are required to do some walking and heavy lifting while loading mail for the day’s itinerary.
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