Mail Handler
Job overview
Mail handlers' main tasks are the processing and delivery of mail (letters etc sent by post).
What do people do in this job?
Mail handlers (delivery duties) collect all the letters of their delivery walk and take them to their own sorting-trays where they arrange the mail into streets and house number order.
They put the mail into a postbag and then set off to deliver the mail in their delivery walk.
Mail handlers walk, cycle or use a motorcycle.
They sort letters into delivery walks.
Mail handlers either sort mail or prepare mail for sorting by the mail-sorting machines.
Mail is sorted manually first according to national destinations, or to mail centres or post offices in the same country.
Preparing mail for machine sorting involves coding postal addresses and codes into a computer that creates bar codes on the mail item for high speed machine sorting.
What kinds of people are suitable for this job?
Mail handlers (delivery duties) should be friendly and enjoy coming into contact with people.
They must be trustworthy and neat and physically fit to walk or cycle or ride a motorbike through their delivery route.
Mail handlers on sorting duties must be physically fit to stand for long periods, and be able to work with others as a team.
Mail handlers (sorting duties) are often required to work night shifts.
What qualifications are needed?
There are no specific qualifications, apart from the ability to read and, on occasion, decipher illegible handwriting.
In a country where several languages are spoken, knowledge of more than one of them is an advantage.
