Couriers and messengers pick up and deliver messages, documents, packages, and other items between offices or departments within an establishment or directly to other business concerns, traveling by foot, bicycle, motorcycle, automobile, or public conveyance.

  • Deliver and pick up medical records, lab specimens, and medications to and from hospitals and other medical facilities.
  • Obtain signatures and payments, or arrange for recipients to make payments.
  • Record information, such as items received and delivered and recipients' responses to messages.
  • 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.
  • Walk, ride bicycles, drive vehicles, or use public conveyances to reach destinations to deliver messages or materials.
  • Sort items to be delivered according to the delivery route.
  • Deliver messages and items, such as newspapers, documents, and packages, between establishment departments and to other establishments and private homes.
  • Unload and sort items collected along delivery routes.
  • Plan and follow the most efficient routes for delivering goods.
  • Check with home offices after completed deliveries to confirm deliveries and collections and to receive instructions for other deliveries.
  • Perform routine maintenance on delivery vehicles, such as monitoring fluid levels and replenishing fuel.
  • Collect, seal, and stamp outgoing mail, using postage meters and envelope sealers.
  • Use telephone to deliver verbal messages.
  • Perform general office or clerical work, such as filing materials, operating duplicating machines, or running errands.
  • Unload goods from large trucks, and load them onto smaller delivery vehicles.
  • Open, sort, and distribute incoming mail.
Work Context
  • Telephone — 98% responded "Every day".
  • Freedom to Make Decisions — 80% responded "A lot of freedom".
  • Face-to-Face Discussions — 75% responded "Every day".
  • Time Pressure — 75% responded "Every day".
  • Contact With Others — 70% responded "Constant contact with others".
  • Electronic Mail — 68% responded "Every day".
  • Spend Time Sitting — 66% responded "More than half the time".
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Work Activities
  • Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
  • Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment — Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or water craft.
  • Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
  • Handling and Moving Objects — Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
  • Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
  • Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
  • Performing General Physical Activities — Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials.
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Detailed Work Activities
  • Deliver items.
  • Operate vehicles or material-moving equipment.
  • Load materials or equipment.
  • Unload materials or equipment.
  • Relay information between personnel.
  • Analyze shipping information to make routing decisions.
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Knowledge

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.
Transportation
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
English Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Skills

Active Listening
  • Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking
  • Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Time Management
  • Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Reading Comprehension
  • Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
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Abilities

Oral Comprehension
  • The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression
  • The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Multilimb Coordination
  • The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Near Vision
  • The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
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Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Achievement/Effort
  • Persistence
  • Initiative
  • Leadership
  • Cooperation
  • Concern for Others
  • Social Orientation
  • Self Control
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Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Spreadsheet software
  • Microsoft Excel Hot Technology
Office suite software
  • Microsoft Office Hot Technology
Word processing software
  • Microsoft Word Hot Technology
Route navigation software
  • Route mapping software