# Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators

US SOC code 43-5053. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/43-5053

Also called: Mail sorter, Mail handler, Mail processor, Processing machine operator, Mail handler assistant.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **105,200** US postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators, with median pay of **$58,470** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the highest was **224,250**, in May 2003. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/fast-mail-2.html) of **5,800** from 1890, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era in this work: Advanced flat-mail OCR + Automated Package Processing System + ECIP edge AI, 2000 to 2020.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to decline 5.3% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=43-5053&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **12.5%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

## Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1864
- Latest US employment: 105,200 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [4]
- Latest US median pay: $58,470 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [9]
- Outlook: -5.3% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [24]

### In other countries

The latest figure each country's statistics agency publishes for this job. Each uses its own occupation definition, survey basis and currency, so the numbers are not directly comparable with each other or with the US figures.

- **Canada** (NOC 74100)
  - Employment, 2020: 23,075. Source: Statistics Canada Census 2021 [7]. Statistics Canada Census of Population 2021: number of persons with employment income in NOC 74100 Mail and parcel sorters and related occupations, Canada, reference year 2020. A recipients basis (anyone with employment income during the year), slightly broader than a point-in-time employed count. Statistics Canada Open Licence.
  - Median pay, 2020: C$62,000. Source: Statistics Canada Census 2021 [12]. Statistics Canada Census of Population 2021 (Table 98-10-0586): median employment income for NOC 74100 Mail and parcel sorters and related occupations, Canada, reference year 2020, full-year full-time workers (the basis comparable to the US OEWS full-time median). Statistics Canada Open Licence.

### All 29 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1890 | 5,800 (estimate) | n/a | Est., National Archives [1] |
| 1907 | 14,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., National Archives [1] |
| 1920 | n/a | $2,067 (estimate) | Est., National Archives [8] |
| 1946 | 22,546 (estimate) | $3,550 (estimate) | Est., National Archives [1] |
| 1970 | 130,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., USPS [2] |
| 2000 | 205,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., O\*NET 43-5053.00 [3] |
| 2003 | 224,250 | $39,070 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [4] |
| 2004 | 214,400 | $39,430 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [4] |
| 2005 | 208,600 | $43,420 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [4] |
| 2006 | 203,110 | $43,900 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [4] |
| 2007 | 201,430 | $43,700 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [4] |
| 2008 | 185,770 | $50,020 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [4] |
| 2009 | 162,940 | $52,520 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [4] |
| 2010 | 145,690 | $53,080 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [4] |
| 2011 | 139,700 | $53,080 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [4] |
| 2012 | 134,230 | $53,090 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [4] |
| 2013 | 121,580 | $53,830 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [4] |
| 2014 | 121,590 | $54,520 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [4] |
| 2015 | 109,930 | $56,740 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [4] |
| 2016 | 110,770 | $56,220 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [4] |
| 2017 | 111,960 | $57,260 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [4] |
| 2018 | 103,830 | $58,770 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [4] |
| 2019 | 102,390 | $60,140 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [4] |
| 2020 | 105,400 | $53,140 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [4] |
| 2021 | 112,130 | $48,550 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [4] |
| 2022 | 119,530 | $49,130 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [4] |
| 2023 | 116,540 | $53,440 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [4] |
| 2024 | 111,930 | $56,530 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [4] |
| 2025 | 105,200 | $58,470 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [4] |

## Sources (85)

### Employment series

1. [National Archives -- "The Fast Mail: A History of the U.S. Railway Mail Service" (Prologue, Fall 2005)](https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/fast-mail-2.html), National Archives / Prologue Magazine
2. [USPS -- Number of Postal Employees Since 1926 (historical career employment table)](https://about.usps.com/who/profile/history/employees-since-1926.htm), United States Postal Service
3. [O\*NET 43-5053.00 -- Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/43-5053.00), O\*NET / BLS
4. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
5. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2006, Table 97-563-XCB2006069 (Wage and salary statistics by occupation, NOC-S 2006), income reference year 2005](https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&PID=96285), Statistics Canada
6. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016, Table 98-400-X2016356 (Occupation by employment income statistics, NOC 2016), income reference year 2015](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/98-400-X2016356), Statistics Canada
7. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021, Table 98-10-0586 (Employment income statistics by occupation unit group, NOC 2021), income reference year 2020](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810058601), Statistics Canada

### Wage series

8. [National Archives -- "The Fast Mail: A History of the U.S. Railway Mail Service" (Prologue, Fall 2005)](https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/fast-mail-2.html), National Archives / Prologue Magazine
9. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
10. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2006, Table 97-563-XCB2006069 (Wage and salary statistics by occupation, NOC-S 2006), income reference year 2005](https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&PID=96285), Statistics Canada
11. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016, Table 98-400-X2016356 (Occupation by employment income statistics, NOC 2016), income reference year 2015](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/98-400-X2016356), Statistics Canada
12. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021, Table 98-10-0586 (Employment income statistics by occupation unit group, NOC 2021), income reference year 2020](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810058601), Statistics Canada

### Tool eras

13. [National Archives -- "The Fast Mail: A History of the U.S. Railway Mail Service" (Prologue, Fall 2005)](https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/fast-mail-2.html), National Archives / Prologue Magazine
14. [Brewminate -- "Systems at Work: A History of the Post Office in Pictures since 1808"](https://brewminate.com/systems-at-work-a-history-of-the-post-office-in-pictures-since-1808/), Brewminate
15. [Wikipedia -- Mail sorter (history of semiautomatic sorting)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_sorter), Wikipedia
16. [GAO Report GGD-95-89BR -- "Postal Service: Automation Is Taking Longer and Producing Less Than Expected" (1995)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-95-89BR/html/GAOREPORTS-GGD-95-89BR.htm), Government Accountability Office
17. [Wikipedia -- Delivery Bar Code Sorter (DBCS deployment history)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delivery_Bar_Code_Sorter), Wikipedia
18. [Government Executive -- "USPS Has Shed 250K Employees in the Past 20 Years" (2015)](https://www.govexec.com/management/2015/11/heres-how-postal-service-shed-250000-employees-1995/123484/), Government Executive
19. [USPS 2002 Comprehensive Statement -- Optical Character Readers (AFSM 100 deployment)](https://about.usps.com/strategic-planning/cs02/2e3.htm), United States Postal Service
20. [FedScoop -- "USPS considering 30 edge AI applications to automate mail processing" (ECIP program)](https://fedscoop.com/usps-considering-30-edge-ai-applications-to-automate-mail-processing/), FedScoop
21. [USPS OIG -- "Planning and Deployment of the Matrix Regional Sorter" (September 2024)](https://www.uspsoig.gov/reports/audit-reports/planning-and-deployment-matrix-regional-sorter), USPS Office of Inspector General
22. [USPS Employee News -- "The next generation of sorters is here" (PILS, August 2025)](https://news.usps.com/2025/08/04/the-next-generation-of-sorters-is-here/), United States Postal Service
23. [Federal News Network -- "Over 10,000 USPS employees take early retirement" (August 2025)](https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2025/08/over-10000-usps-employees-take-early-retirement-offer-meeting-target-to-shrink-workforce/), Federal News Network

### Forecasts and exposure studies

24. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 43-5053 Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators (2025: 101.2 thousand; 2035: 95.9 thousand; -5.3%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=43-5053&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
25. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 43-5053.00, human-rated β 0.125)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

26. [Wikipedia -- Railway post office (US history and establishment)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_post_office), Wikipedia
27. [Kids Kiddle -- "Railway post office facts for kids" (citing RPO safety statistics)](https://kids.kiddle.co/Railway_post_office), Kiddle / Wikipedia-derived
28. [USPS History -- Brief History of the United States Postal Service (ZIP code introduction 1963)](https://www.historyassociates.com/usps-history/), History Associates / USPS
29. [AFL-CIO -- "The Great Postal Strike of 1970" (strike history and outcome)](https://aflcio.org/about-us/history/labor-history-events/great-postal-strike), AFL-CIO
30. [USPS -- Number of Postal Employees Since 1926 (1988 peak: 779,083 career employees)](https://about.usps.com/who/profile/history/employees-since-1926.htm), United States Postal Service
31. [USPS -- "The Postal Service in the 21st Century" (OIG historical overview, mail volume decline)](https://stories.uspsoig.gov/the-postal-service-in-the-21st-century/index.html), USPS Office of Inspector General
32. [Federal News Network -- "Over 10,000 USPS employees take early retirement offer, meeting target to shrink workforce" (August 2025)](https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2025/08/over-10000-usps-employees-take-early-retirement-offer-meeting-target-to-shrink-workforce/), Federal News Network

### Predecessors & successors

33. [National Archives -- "The Fast Mail: A History of the U.S. Railway Mail Service" (Prologue, Fall 2005)](https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/fast-mail-2.html), National Archives / Prologue Magazine

### Present-day analysis

- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook -- Postal Service Workers (2024)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/office-and-administrative-support/postal-service-workers.htm), accessed 2026-06-05
- [BLS OEWS May 2023 -- Postal Service Mail Sorters (43-5053)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes435053.htm), accessed 2026-06-05
- [Federal News Network -- Over 10,000 USPS employees take early retirement, August 2025](https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2025/08/over-10000-usps-employees-take-early-retirement-offer-meeting-target-to-shrink-workforce/), accessed 2026-06-05
- [FedScoop -- USPS considering 30 edge AI applications to automate mail processing](https://fedscoop.com/usps-considering-30-edge-ai-applications-to-automate-mail-processing/), accessed 2026-06-05
- [USPS Employee News -- The next generation of sorters is here (PILS, Aug 2025)](https://news.usps.com/2025/08/04/the-next-generation-of-sorters-is-here/), accessed 2026-06-05
- [USPS OIG -- Planning and Deployment of the Matrix Regional Sorter (Sep 2024)](https://www.uspsoig.gov/reports/audit-reports/planning-and-deployment-matrix-regional-sorter), accessed 2026-06-05
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 -- GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-06-05
- [O\*NET 30.3 -- 43-5053.00 Postal Service Mail Sorters](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/43-5053.00), accessed 2026-06-05

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.