Postal Delivery Officer

A Postal Delivery Officer collects, sorts, and delivers mail and parcels to residential and business addresses across an assigned postal route in Australia. Working for Australia Post or contracted delivery services, they operate delivery vehicles, manage customer interactions, and ensure timely and accurate distribution of postal items according to delivery schedules and service standards.

Sort incoming mail and parcels by delivery route using Australia Post sorting systems and barcode scanning technology. Load mail and parcels into delivery vehicles in sequence order to optimise collection and delivery efficiency. Operate postal delivery vehicles (vans or motorbikes) along assigned routes in compliance with road safety regulations and vehicle maintenance schedules. Navigate delivery routes using GPS tracking systems and Australia Post route management software to meet service delivery targets. Deliver mail and parcels to residential letterboxes, business addresses, and post office boxes, adhering to delivery protocols. Obtain customer signatures for registered mail, parcel post, and items requiring proof of delivery using handheld devices. Handle customer enquiries regarding mail delivery, lost items, and service issues, documenting issues for escalation. Collect outgoing mail from street posting boxes and business premises, logging collection times and item counts.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate II or III (ABS skill level 4). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

Physical toll is real. You're walking 10-15 km daily in all weather, lifting heavy parcels, and repeating the same route. Your knees, back and shoulders take a battering. Peak seasons mean longer hours with no extra pay. Pay caps out quickly, so earning more means moving into management, not staying on delivery.

Regional and remote areas use fewer staff or contract local drivers. Work is concentrated in metro suburbs and city fringes. Delivery routes only exist where there's enough mail to deliver.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 5612, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracycore
• Customer Needs Assessmentcore
• Customer Order Trackingcore
• Delivery Schedulingcore
• Dispatch Documentationcore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Workload Self-Managementcore
• Act reliably
• Active Listening
• Complaint Handling
• Confidentiality and Privacy Compliance
• Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
• Data Entry and Accuracy
• Multitasking
• Returns Processing
• Risk Identification

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

What Postal Delivery Officer workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 30 October 2026