Baby Boomers Carry the Brunt of eCommerce Delivery

Think about your local letter carrier. Is he or she young, or a bit on the older side? We’d be willing to bet the latter. USPS letter carrier positions are mostly occupied by members of the baby boomer generation, and due to the explosive growth of Amazon (and eCommerce as a whole), letter carriers are now delivering more packages than ever. Thus, there’s no question that baby boomers carry the brunt of eCommerce delivery. Without them, eCommerce wouldn’t be where it is today…so let’s give them a well-deserved shout out!

Why The Average Age of Letter Carriers Keeps Increasing

Interestingly enough, postal carriers can be as young as sixteen years old with a high school diploma. However, you’re not likely to find a teenager sauntering up to your door with your mail. Letter carrier jobs aren’t a very sexy position, and young people tend to gravitate towards more technological, less labor-intensive jobs. Not to mention the litany of Instagram models and fashion bloggers out there (does the world really need more Instagram models?).

As a result of this phenomenon, the average age of letter carriers will keep getting higher, since there aren’t enough young people coming in to accept new positions.

eCommerce is Making Things Tougher for Letter Carriers

Simply put, letters carriers have a tough gig. Thanks to eCommerce companies such as Amazon, there are now more packages circulating in the US Postal Service system than ever before, and the burden of delivering these packages fall onto baby boomers’ shoulders. Nearly every letter carrier spends countless hours completing their routes to deliver our mail and packages on time. Some of these packages can get pretty heavy, which makes hauling them around and delivering them a very labor intensive job.

What Will Happen When Baby Boomers Retire from Letter Carrier Positions?

That’s the million dollar question. Hopefully, we’ll find a solution to keep the entire system from falling apart. eCommerce is only going to get bigger over time, and consequently, so will the need for parcel delivery. Our prediction? USPS will begin finding ways to incentivize young people to join their workforce. On the other hand, the robots could take over the world, and the letter carrier position will all but disappear. We’ll see which scenario plays out first.