Couriers and Messengers

• Summary

• Details

Work Activities

• Collect, seal, and stamp outgoing mail, using postage meters and envelope sealers.
• Plan and follow the most efficient routes for delivering goods.
• Perform general office or clerical work, such as filing materials, operating duplicating machines, or running errands.
• Obtain signatures and payments, or arrange for recipients to make payments.
• Receive messages or materials to be delivered, and information on recipients, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, and delivery instructions, communicated via telephone, two-way radio, or in person.
• Load vehicles with listed goods, ensuring goods are loaded correctly and taking precautions with hazardous goods.
• Sort items to be delivered according to the delivery route.
• Perform general office or clerical work, such as filing materials, operating duplicating machines, or running errands.
• Unload and sort items collected along delivery routes.
• Record information, such as items received and delivered and recipients' responses to messages.
• Check with home offices after completed deliveries to confirm deliveries and collections and to receive instructions for other deliveries.
• Deliver messages and items, such as newspapers, documents, and packages, between establishment departments and to other establishments and private homes.
• Walk, ride bicycles, drive vehicles, or use public conveyances to reach destinations to deliver messages or materials.
• Use telephone to deliver verbal messages.
• Deliver and pick up medical records, lab specimens, and medications to and from hospitals and other medical facilities.
• Perform routine maintenance on delivery vehicles, such as monitoring fluid levels and replenishing fuel.

Skills

• Complex Problem Solving
  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
• Operations Monitoring
  • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
• Programming
  • Writing computer programs.
• Technology Design
  • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
• Science
  • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
• Monitoring
  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
• Writing
  • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
• Operation and Control
  • Using equipment or systems.
• Management of Financial Resources
  • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
• Negotiation
  • Bringing people together to solve differences.
• Reading Comprehension
  • Reading work-related information.
• Speaking
  • Talking to others.
• Critical Thinking
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
• Active Learning
  • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
• Learning Strategies
  • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
• Social Perceptiveness
  • Understanding people's reactions.
• Coordination
  • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
• Instructing
  • Teaching people how to do something.
• Judgment and Decision Making
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
• Repairing
  • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
• Troubleshooting
  • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
• Active Listening
  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
• Persuasion
  • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
• Quality Control Analysis
  • Testing how well a product or service works.
• Operations Analysis
  • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
• Equipment Maintenance
  • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
• Systems Analysis
  • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
• Systems Evaluation
  • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
• Time Management
  • Managing your time and the time of other people.
• Management of Material Resources
  • Managing equipment and materials.
• Management of Personnel Resources
  • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
• Mathematics
  • Using math to solve problems.
• Service Orientation
  • Looking for ways to help people.
• Installation
  • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
• Equipment Selection
  • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

Abilities

• Fluency of Ideas
  • Coming up with lots of ideas.
• Mathematical Reasoning
  • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
• Spatial Orientation
  • Knowing where things are around you.
• Response Orientation
  • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
• Wrist-Finger Speed
  • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
• Perceptual Speed
  • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
• Inductive Reasoning
  • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
• Hearing Sensitivity
  • Telling the difference between sounds.
• Speech Clarity
  • Speaking clearly.
• Auditory Attention
  • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
• Sound Localization
  • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
• Dynamic Strength
  • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
• Gross Body Coordination
  • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
• Extent Flexibility
  • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Written Expression
  • Communicating by writing.
• Flexibility of Closure
  • Seeing hidden patterns.
• Finger Dexterity
  • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
• Control Precision
  • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
• Originality
  • Creating new and original ideas.
• Visualization
  • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
• Oral Comprehension
  • Listening and understanding what people say.
• Speed of Closure
  • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
• Peripheral Vision
  • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
• Speech Recognition
  • Recognizing spoken words.
• Depth Perception
  • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
• Visual Color Discrimination
  • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
• Near Vision
  • Seeing details up close.
• Time Sharing
  • Doing two or more things at the same time.
• Multilimb Coordination
  • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
• Reaction Time
  • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
• Selective Attention
  • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
• Gross Body Equilibrium
  • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
• Rate Control
  • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
• Speed of Limb Movement
  • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
• Static Strength
  • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
• Explosive Strength
  • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
• Oral Expression
  • Communicating by speaking.
• Number Facility
  • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
• Deductive Reasoning
  • Using rules to solve problems.
• Information Ordering
  • Ordering or arranging things.
• Category Flexibility
  • Grouping things in different ways.
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Keeping your arm or hand steady.
• Trunk Strength
  • Using your lower back and stomach.
• Far Vision
  • Seeing details that are far away.
• Dynamic Flexibility
  • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Written Comprehension
  • Reading and understanding what is written.
• Manual Dexterity
  • Holding or moving items with your hands.
• Problem Sensitivity
  • Noticing when problems happen.
• Memorization
  • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
• Glare Sensitivity
  • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
• Night Vision
  • Seeing at night or under low light.
• Stamina
  • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

Knowledge

• Public Safety and Security
  • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Law and Government
  • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Engineering and Technology
  • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• History and Archeology
  • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
• Physics
  • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
• Sales and Marketing
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Building and Construction
  • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• Communications and Media
  • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Therapy and Counseling
  • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• Telecommunications
  • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
• Customer and Personal Service
  • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Mechanical
  • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Mathematics
  • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Administration and Management
  • Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Design
  • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Education and Training
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Geography
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
• Fine Arts
  • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
• Transportation
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• Philosophy and Theology
  • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
• English Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
• Sociology and Anthropology
  • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
• Computers and Electronics
  • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Biology
  • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Foreign Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
• Production and Processing
  • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Food Production
  • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
• Chemistry
  • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
• Medicine and Dentistry
  • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• Personnel and Human Resources
  • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Administrative
  • Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
• Psychology
  • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Economics and Accounting
  • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

Education

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

Less than 1 month on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

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Education and Training Opportunities

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Pay

Washington Annual Salary

44170/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

21.24/hr

Washington Employment Trends

Currently Employed

4,170

Yearly Projected Openings

520

Personality

Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines. They do well at jobs that need:

• Dependability
• Attention to Detail
• Integrity

Tools

• Addressing machines
• Automobiles or cars
• Bar code reader equipment
• Bicycles
• Cash or ticket boxes
• Deposit bags
• Forklifts
• Franking or postage machines
• Global positioning system GPS receiver
• Hard hats
• Hazardous waste container
• Ladders
• Laser fax machine
• Light trucks or sport utility vehicles
• Mail sealing machines
• Minivans or vans
• Mopeds
• Motorcycles
• Pallet trucks
• Paper shredding machines or accessories
• Personal computers
• Photocopiers
• Radio frequency identification devices
• Restraint straps or buckles or supplies
• Safety glasses
• Scanners
• Scissor lift or lift table
• Stamp affixers
• Tablet computers
• Two way radios

Technology

• Electronic mail software
• Office suite software
• Route navigation software
• Spreadsheet software
• Word processing software