# Will postal service mail carriers be replaced by AI? Updated October 2026 Postal service mail carriers score 26 of 100 for AI exposure. 69% of their task time still needs a person. AI can do 13% today and speed up another 18%. - **13%** AI can do it - **18%** AI helps - **69%** Needs a person Low exposure Lower than 69% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 21 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 3 of them today, speeds up 4 and leaves 14 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Complete forms that notify publishers of address changes. Filling notification forms from address data is routine digital work. | 70% AI can do it | | Record address changes and redirect mail for those addresses. Entering address changes and redirects is structured data entry. | 68% AI can do it | | Maintain accurate records of deliveries. Delivery records are largely scanner-generated, routine logging remains. | 62% AI can do it | | Answer customers' questions about postal services and regulations. AI can answer regulation questions, but live customer interaction stays human. | 45% AI helps | | Return incorrectly addressed mail to senders. AI can flag bad addresses, but physical return handling remains. | 35% AI helps | ## How postal service mail carriers compare All occupations (923) Office and administrative support (51) **Postal service mail carriers score 26**, marked by the dark line. Each dot is a score, darker where more occupations share it. The short marks show the averages, 37 for all occupations and 57 for office and administrative support. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $60,550 a year, May 2025 People employed 328,820 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs \-0.3% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Walk or drive a fixed route with the Delivery Routing System DRS sequence - Log scans and exceptions in the Automated Data Collection System ADCS - Clock in and out on the Electronic Time Clock ETC accurately - Handle cash and receipts at hand-over with clean paperwork - Recognize hazards and dogs safely on foot or in a postal vehicle - Explain change of address forms to customers face to face ## Safer roles nearby 2 related occupations with lower scores. - [Mail clerks25 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/mail-clerks/) - [Mail sorters20 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/mail-sorters/) ## Questions about postal service mail carriers and AI Will AI replace postal service mail carriers? Partly. About 2 in 10 of a postal service mail carrier's working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly completing address change notification forms and recording address changes and redirects. Delivering mail on foot or by vehicle, and collecting it from post offices and relay boxes, stays with people because it is physical work along a route. Which tasks of postal service mail carriers is AI taking over? Form completion and data entry are the most exposed. Notification forms to publishers score 70 on exposure and record address changes score 68, because both turn address data into routine digital entries. Delivery record logging also scores 62, since scanners already generate most of those records. Which tasks of postal service mail carriers stay human? Route delivery and transport stay human, with exposure scores of 2 and 3. Walking or driving to homes and businesses, driving collected mail back to the post office, and bundling mail for transport all need a person physically moving through the route. These tasks make up most of the job's weight, at 69 percent of task weight staying human. How can postal service mail carriers stay valuable as AI takes over paperwork? Focus on the parts of the route that need a person. Get faster at sequencing stops in the Delivery Routing System DRS, and keep scan and exception records clean in the Automated Data Collection System ADCS. Learn to explain change of address cards face to face, since handing out physical forms stays human work. ## Related jobs - [Postal service clerks38 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/postal-service-clerks/) - [Couriers35 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/couriers/) - [Shipping clerks47 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/shipping-clerks/) - [Freight agents49 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/freight-agents/) ## Next steps for postal service mail carriers - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your actual tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV and see which of your tasks AI can do. [Check your job](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-exposure-checker/) [Check your CV](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/cv-checker/) ### Check which roles in your team AI can take on We map your team's tasks, show what AI can do today and build the automations that pay back first. [Book an AI audit](https://www.aigentcy.com/audit/) ## Related topics - [**Jobs AI can't replace**Cement masons score lowest, at 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-cant-replace/) - [**Jobs most at risk from AI**Proofreaders score highest, at 76.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-most-exposed-to-ai/) - [**High-paying jobs with low AI exposure**Radiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Cement masons need little prior training and score 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**For natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-speeds-up/) - [**AI and jobs in Malta**15 iGaming roles graded task by task.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/malta/) - [**Skills that keep work human**The skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/skills/) - [**Jobs A to Z**Every job we publish, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 occupation groups.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industries/) - [**Write a CV screening software can read**How applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cv-screening-guide/) - [**AI for businesses**The tasks to automate first in each team and industry.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/) - [**How we score AI exposure**The grading, the weights and every source.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/) Occupation data from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and modified by Aigentcy. O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Wage, employment and projection data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. EU occupation names from ESCO, European Commission. AI usage signals from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY) and Microsoft Research (CC BY 4.0). [Methodology and sources](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/). Scores © Aigentcy. Quote them with a link to the page.