The U.S. Postal Service is aiming to break even in its operating performance by 2030 through its "Delivering for America" plan, which features a combination of cost and revenue improvement strategies and regulatory and legislative actions. In the interim, however, competition for jobs in the Postal Service is strong and comparatively few postal employees leave their jobs for other occupations before normal retirement age. Adding to challenges for employment growth are financial problems the Postal Service has encountered in recent years, and occasional Congressional discussions about making the USPS a private enterprise. Discussions range from breaking up the four classes of mail to selling the entire enterprise to a private firm. However, the public's resistance to private postal service has restricted any major change in the Post Office.
The pandemic was expected to cause a slight increase in revenue due to the increase in e-commerce because of business lockdowns and social distancing requirements. In December 2020, the U.S. Postal Service was valued at $73 billion, with 34,100 businesses employing a total of 644,000 people. The postal service industry overall declined by nearly 3 percent from 2022 to 2023, and had dipped by about 1.3 percent each year from 2018 to 2023, according to IBISWorld. Post pandemic, there has been a decline in the number of U.S. Postal Service employees but an uptick in its total revenue. As of November 2024, the U.S. Postal service reported annual operating revenue of $78.2 billion, with a total of 525,469 people employed in its 33,904 businesses.
The couriers and local delivery services market was valued at about $163.4 billion in 2023, representing market size growth of 1.7 percent compared to 2022, and about 5.3 percent growth from 2018 to 2023, according to a report by IBISWorld. The growth and expansion of e-commerce sales in the coming years will contribute to continued growth for couriers and local delivery services in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Labor projects that employment of postal service workers will decline by 4 percent through 2033, due in part to a drop in first-class mail from increased use of online bill paying and e-mail replacing letters for personal and business correspondence. Automation and improved mail-sorting procedures as well as consolidation of delivery routes and growing widespread use of cluster mailboxes that cut down on the number of door-to-door deliveries, all of which allow mail carriers to be more efficient, is expected to result in a 20 percent decline in carrier jobs through 2028. Employment of mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators is expected to decline by 1 percent through 2033, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The decline is also due to improved technologies, including the increased use of automated materials handling equipment and optical character readers, barcode sorters, and other automated sorting equipment.
Because competition for jobs in the Postal Service is strong and comparatively few postal employees leave their jobs for other occupations before normal retirement age, employment opportunities will be limited in coming years
Competition for jobs in the private delivery industry is not as tight as it is with the government Postal Service. Stronger economic conditions benefited package delivery services during the second half of the 2010s, prompting industry leaders to increase the size of their respective workforces. Between 2015 and 2020, United Parcel Service added approximately 37,000 new employees. FedEx welcomed about 90,000 additional team members and DHL's employee base increased by roughly 55,000 people. Collectively, Fedex, UPS, and DHL employ nearly 1.62 million people.
Employment opportunities will be available with private companies for drivers to handle increased package shipments going over ground rather than by air. The U.S. Department of Labor projects employment growth for delivery truck drivers and related sales workers to be 9 percent, which is much faster than the average for all occupations, through 2033. The continued growth of e-commerce and need for local delivery services will add up to a projected 183,800 new job openings each year through 2033 for delivery truck drivers and related workers.
Private companies are also more likely to consider hiring those without work experience or with only summer job experience. It is easiest to move up from inside the company, rather than applying for a middle management position after gaining work experience elsewhere. Moving into the private delivery service becomes much more difficult as position rank increases.
As private firms expand into international delivery, employment abroad becomes an option for management staff. Although ground delivery staff may be hired from the host country, the development and management staff may be selected from U.S. employees. The international market is increasing rapidly and will develop new opportunities for hiring.