Mailroom assistant vs office specialist

The differences between mailroom assistants and office specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an office specialist has an average salary of $33,477, which is higher than the $29,118 average annual salary of a mailroom assistant.

The top three skills for a mailroom assistant include office equipment, data entry and HR. The most important skills for an office specialist are customer service, data entry, and patients.

Mailroom assistant vs office specialist overview

	Mailroom Assistant	Office Specialist
Yearly salary	$29,118	$33,477
Hourly rate	$14.00	$16.09
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	13,048	98,760
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Average age	45	47
Years of experience	-	2

What does a mailroom assistant do?

Mailroom assistants receive incoming mail and then process, sort, and distribute it to the proper recipients. They may maintain mailroom supply inventories and sort office mail and messages. It is part of their responsibilities to check outgoing mail by preparing it for delivery, including distribution of packages and logging. Moreover, they usually operate mailroom tools such as envelope openers, postage meters, mail sorting machines, mail sealers, fold-and-insert machines, labeling machines, and scanners.

What does an office specialist do?

An office specialist is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support the organization's daily operations. Office specialists must be highly organizational, as well as having excellent time-management skills to handle work units. They have duties including data entry procedures, greeting visitors, responding to customers' inquiries through phone calls and e-mails, and filing and sorting documents. Office specialists are responsible for creating meeting reports, scheduling appointments, evaluating financial statements, coordinating with other staff for event planning, and assisting the senior management with complex functions.

Mailroom assistant vs office specialist salary

Mailroom assistants and office specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Mailroom Assistant	Office Specialist
Average salary	$29,118	$33,477
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $35,000	Between $25,000 And $43,000
Highest paying City	Walnut Creek, CA	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	Hawaii	Massachusetts
Best paying company	University of California	Brookhaven National Laboratory
Best paying industry	Government	Finance

Differences between mailroom assistant and office specialist education

There are a few differences between a mailroom assistant and an office specialist in terms of educational background:

	Mailroom Assistant	Office Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	Western Carolina University

Mailroom assistant vs office specialist demographics

Here are the differences between mailroom assistants' and office specialists' demographics:

	Mailroom Assistant	Office Specialist
Average age	45	47
Gender ratio	Male, 54.1% Female, 45.9%	Male, 18.3% Female, 81.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 8.1% White, 60.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 8.1% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 19.8% Asian, 8.4% White, 57.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%
LGBT Percentage	7%	6%

Differences between mailroom assistant and office specialist duties and responsibilities

Mailroom assistant example responsibilities.

Manage files, prepare lobby monitor presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint.
Present cases for equipment upgrades by use of ROI tools and specification advantages.
Help implement and maintain USPS standards, policies, and procedures in mail management.
Create new division for NCOA processes for outside customers that increase revenue there as well.
Pick up, sort, and deliver all USPS mail including time and authorization sensitive correspondence.
Distribute incoming FedEx and DHL packages to employees on assign floors as well as processing and shipping outgoing FedEx and DHL.

Show more

Office specialist example responsibilities.

Provide support for enrolling patients into health coverage programs and manage sensitive patient information to ensure accuracy and confidentiality.
Manage and maintain patients' medical records by utilizing computer applications management database processing system to ensure county compliance.
Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Provide assistance to office staff including preparing and proofreading memos and grants, transcribing meeting minutes for staff and answering phones.
Perform multiple bookkeeping duties including departmental payroll, print financial reports and other financial material as needed.
Communicate HIPAA compliance to staff, field and outside agencies.

Show more

Mailroom assistant vs office specialist skills

Common mailroom assistant skills

Office Equipment, 27%
Data Entry, 15%
HR, 14%
Mail Room, 8%
USPS, 5%
Customer Service, 5%

Common office specialist skills

Customer Service, 18%
Data Entry, 10%
Patients, 9%
Office Equipment, 6%
Phone Calls, 6%
Word Processing, 4%

Mailroom Assistant vs. similar jobs

Mailroom Assistant related careers

Mailroom Assistant related jobs

What similar roles do

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse office and administrative jobs

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z