USPS Rural Carrier Assistant Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post provides detailed information on the USPS rural carrier assistant job description, including the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities they commonly perform.

It also highlights the major requirements that you may be asked to fulfill to be hired for the USPS rural carrier assistant role by most employers/recruiters.

What Does a USPS Rural Carrier Assistant Do?

A USPS rural carrier assistant is responsible for transporting mail on the rural carrier route.

The USPS rural carrier assistant job description involves handling, delivering, and verifying the contents of the mail matter in accordance with applicable regulations and procedures.

It also entails following all safety practices pertaining to handling, delivering, and canceling mail matter to ensure efficient operation of the route and safe participation in postal delivery activities by other carriers or employees.

USPS rural carrier assistants assist in customer satisfaction by providing prompt, reliable, and courteous service.

In order to ensure on-time mail delivery, it is necessary that the USPS rural carrier assistant keeps accurate delivery time records using an approved method.

They follow instructions for the efficient operation of their routes.

The rural carrier assistant keeps each postal facility within their assigned area of delivery under continuous surveillance, and to complete a postal quality control (PQC) report “A”, form.

Their duties involve keeping in close contact with and cooperate fully with customers and postal personnel.

Additionally, they ensure that the public mail is protected from the elements, and that the area around postal facilities is clean and free from hazards.

The USPS rural carrier assistant work description also involves ensuring that the correct postage is affixed to each item, unless it is marked “FREE DELIVERY” or “MAIL MATTER ORDINARY”.

It also includes delivering first class mail and periodicals under the general standards of the postal service.

They ensure that mail delivered is accurately addressed.

USPS Rural Carrier Assistant Job Description Sample/Example/Template

The USPS rural carrier assistant job description consists of the following tasks, duties, and responsibilities:

• Transports mail between the Post Office and rural postal customers
• Carries mail and supplies on foot, or in a mail truck, to and from vehicles, buildings or carriers’ routes within a designated area
• Prepares mail for distribution by placing it in sacks according to its destination; distributing sacks to post offices or stations; canceling, stamping, and tagging sacks; counting, weighing, and computing postage; recording receipt of money order and registered mail fees
• Counts mail by hand, meter, or computer; collects revenue for items mailed
• Sorts and distributes incoming or outgoing mail in building lobbies, or in trucks for local delivery
• Maintains a log of hours worked, vehicle mileage, or weight and measure of parcels handled during a specified period
• Keeps a record of all money received and deposited for remittance to a postmaster
• Assembles, or repairs required supply items, such as boxes, barrels, shipping papers, and sacks
• Makes trip on foot, or in any other way, to distribute mail to various delivery points within a rural area where the carrier travels with a mail truck or horse and buggy, horse trailer, or motor vehicle with a postal utility bed and hitch rack containing mail sacks or supplies for all customers within the designated area; collects from customers money orders and other forms of cash payment
• Delivers or distributes mail to the specified delivery points within the designated area
• Inspects equipment and vehicles in possession of carriers, such as electrical, heating, and lighting systems to ascertain if they are in proper working order; notifies supervising office of any defect found
• Takes care of animals used by carriers when delivering mail on horseback or during delivery of mail to customers living in rural areas; cleans animal stables and turns animals loose at end of route.

USPS Rural Carrier Assistant Job Description for Resume

If you have worked before as a USPS rural carrier assistant or are presently working in that role and are preparing a new resume or CV, then you can make an impressive Professional Experience section for your resume by applying the sample USPS rural carrier assistant job description presented above.

You can highlight the duties and responsibilities you have performed or are currently carrying out as a USPS rural carrier assistant in your resume’s Professional Experience by utilizing the ones contained in the above USPS rural carrier assistant job description example.

This will show to the recruiter/employer that you have been successful performing the USPS rural carrier assistant duties and responsibilities, which can greatly enhance your chances of being hired for the new job that you are seeking, especially if it requires someone with some work experience as a USPS rural carrier assistant.  

USPS Rural Carrier Assistant Requirements: Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success

If you are seeking the USPS rural carrier assistant job, here are important requirements that most employers/recruiters may want you to fulfill to be hired:

• At least 21 years of age on or before the closing date of this announcement
• Must be a U.S. citizen. Noncitizen applicants must be eligible for and have been granted or be under pending application for citizenship at time of appointment, if applicable), and meet all other qualifications and eligibility requirements (i.e., must be fingerprinted to satisfy citizenship requirements)
• Ability to pass a pre-employment drug screening to include testing for use of tobacco products
• Must be able to lift, carry, and balance loads of 70 pounds or more
• Possess a valid state motor vehicle operator’s license
• Willingness to take random drug test in accordance with USPS policy
• Proficient in reading, writing, conversational English, and math
• High school graduate or equivalent with a typing knowledge equivalent to at least 30 words per minute. Experience may substitute for education on a year-for-year basis, but the number of required years of experience can never exceed 50 years of age
• Ability to pass an examination on the most recent revisions in postal law and postal regulations (which may change during the course of the examination) to become Postal Service certified
• Must have completed a mail handler course of study.

USPS Rural Carrier Assistant Salary

According to Salary.com, the national average salary for a USPS rural carrier assistant in the United States ranges from $26,134 to $41,186 per year.

Conclusion

The USPS rural carrier assistant is a very important part of the rural mail service. This position requires the ability to work with nature, with all types of weather, and in different seasons.

USPS rural carrier assistants work in the rain or snow and have to be able to focus attention solely on the task at hand.

This post is helpful to individuals interested in the USPS rural carrier assistant career. They will be able to learn all they need to know about the duties commonly performed by the USPS rural carrier assistant to decide if that’s the job they want to do.

It is also useful to recruiters/employers in making a detailed job description for the USPS rural carrier assistant position, for use in hiring competent individuals for the role.

USPS Mail Carrier Resources

Here are valuable resources you can access to improve your knowledge about the USPS mail carrier industry and develop your career:

Professional Organizations

Useful Blogs

Helpful Books