A mail handler is a person who assists in the process of making sure that letters and packages arrive safely at their intended destination. There are a number of duties that he or she might perform. The most common duties involve sorting and organizing mail, as well as loading mail into transportation vehicles and moving it from place to place. Much of what a mail handler does happens behind the scenes. Most people who interact with professionals who work for mail services interact with a letter carrier, delivery person, or sales agent.
There is a network of mail handlers that take care of mail from the time that it is deposited in a mail box or dropped off at a post office to the time that it is handed over to a mail delivery person. Depending on the size of a post office, the handler may have to manage quite a few tasks or he might focus on a specific task. For those who work at very large, busy post offices, the work may become quite repetitive. The amount of work that is required of a mail handler may increase on a seasonal basis.
It is common for a mail handler to have a set of responsibilities that does not require him to ever interact with customers, a feature that suits some people quite well. There are, however, some handlers who work at the front desk of a post office. These individuals do have to offer a level of customer service in addition to helping to sort mail as it comes in to the office. Customer service duties include providing customers with the information that they need and helping them to properly package their mail. In addition to selling postage, they are also responsible for selling products such as packaging materials.
One potential drawback to the job is that it can require hard physical labor. In addition to sorting an organizing mail, a mail handler might also have to lift and move heavy packages or heavy tubs of mail as part of his daily work. Most mail services have a cap on package weights and procedures for properly handling overweight and oversized packages in order to protect their mail handlers. Even with these rules and regulations in place, it is often important for a mail handler to be in good physical shape to be able to perform all of his duties.
