This is the reason for the USPS’ financial problems.
US Postal Service (USPS) employees earn an average salary of approximately $64,000–$68,000 per year as of 2026, with typical roles ranging from $44,000 to over $98,000 depending on position and location.
City mail carriers often have median wages around $57,000–$58,000.
Specialized or management roles pay significantly more.
Some of the lower status mail sorters ——no skills necessary
——earn as much as $100,000 plus............. with overtime.
“Overstaffing” is also a problem.
Need to keep those extra employees around for election season to help with the mail-in ballots.
Umm... no
the annual average wage for USPS workers is hardly the problem
people are complaining about 64K-68K when AI Gemini sez, in part:
“the median for full-time, year-round workers is $63,360.”
Put another way. the mid-range of the USPS wages that you cited, $66,000, is only 4.1% above the USA median annual earnings for a full-time worker.
The U.S. median annual household income is $83,730.
The median annual earnings for all individual workers is $51,370
the median for full-time, year-round workers is $63,360.
Breakdown by Worker TypeAll workers (15+ with earnings): $51,370Full-time, year-round workers: $63,360
Complaining about overstaffing vs. griping about $100000 with OT pay. I don’t miss my time in that environment.
Overstaffing would be a big problem. I also noticed that postal employees also make a good deal more than I did as a skilled mechanic in the years I worked. Retired now, so it’s a little hard comparing apples to oranges.