Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between mail clerks and general clerks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a general clerk has an average salary of $33,254, which is higher than the $30,383 average annual salary of a mail clerk.
The top three skills for a mail clerk include customer service, delivery sequence and place packages. The most important skills for a general clerk are customer service, data entry, and office procedures.
| Mail Clerk | General Clerk | |
| Yearly salary | $30,383 | $33,254 |
| Hourly rate | $14.61 | $15.99 |
| Growth rate | -6% | -5% |
| Number of jobs | 80,560 | 141,570 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 33% |
| Average age | 45 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | 2 |
A mail clerk is responsible for sorting and processing mails for the business. Mail clerks' duties include maintenance of mailing supplies by regularly monitoring inventory, forwarding incoming mails and safe packages to appropriate departments, labeling outgoing mails with secured packaging, keeping records of acknowledged mails, and returning misdirected mails to the correct recipient. A mail clerk must be detail-oriented, as well as having strong organizational and multi-tasking skills to arrange deliveries, operate mailing machines, and categorize efficiently.
General clerks are responsible for a variety of miscellaneous and administrative tasks within an organization. These include answering and transferring calls, sorting and delivering incoming emails, and scheduling appointments. They are also responsible for providing information to clients and staff members, preparing and processing bills and office documents, and performing data entry tasks. General clerks are often employed in almost all industries. This position typically requires a high school diploma and basic knowledge of computer applications such as spreadsheet software and word processing.
Mail clerks and general clerks have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Mail Clerk | General Clerk | |
| Average salary | $30,383 | $33,254 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $41,000 | Between $26,000 And $40,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Columbia University in the City of New York | National Grid plc |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Government |
There are a few differences between a mail clerk and a general clerk in terms of educational background:
| Mail Clerk | General Clerk | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between mail clerks' and general clerks' demographics:
| Mail Clerk | General Clerk | |
| Average age | 45 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.7% Female, 49.3% | Male, 33.1% Female, 66.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.1% Unknown, 3.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.3% Asian, 6.1% White, 61.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 20.1% Asian, 9.2% White, 53.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 6% |