How USPS Sorts Mail

This is how the United States Postal Service sorts though 700 million pieces of mail a week.

[Naturexl]

Anybody else watching this because you are waiting for mail or a package?

[Shortyjored]

Props to whomever invented this complex machine to do such complex task.

[franklamagna]

The volume of mail in a USPS sorting facility is unimaginable. Some sort as much as a million pieces a day. Different machines for different types of parcels. UPS and Fed Ex have similar machines, but nowhere near the volume. There are instances where a package gets delayed because of a barcode misread. Overall, it's the best value for money of the three services. It all looks like chaos, but when your letter carrier arrives at your door, you never think of the process it takes to make it happen.

[demariosreefaquarium]

Omg I started out as a mailhandler and then transitioned to a clerk. Those are OCR machines that process millions of pieces of letters. I stood there for 8 hrs daily, which took a toll on the back and legs. It was more like chasing letters to place in bins. Then, if you had a jam which stopped the whole system, just had to be careful not to manhandle it and tear the letter apart. During tax season was f crazy we had to do mandatory overtime. Some days I didn't even want to look in my own mailbox after a shift. My last station was the James A Farley facility in Manhattan nyc. After 28 years, I called it quits as I incorporated my 6 yrs in the military, which made it 34 years of service. Think twice how that letter got to your mailbox 📬 and how many hands touched it. Thank God I left prior to the pandemic cause usps lost a lot of employees. 😔

[lynng]

All those machines moving fast and my shit still never gets delivered on time.

[eyescreamcake]

And then it goes directly into the recycling bin.

[oliviaoh]

Cool! Big thanks to the mailmen and women!

[wesleyhelm]

I worked for the PO for over 23 years ..there is a lot more to this then what you showed...

[skatarest]

Let me tell you exactly how it works in Tomball, Texas. Step 1: order a rare 2012 NAMM Charvel guitar ($3, 000). Step 2: Pray to god that the Pawn Shop owner down the street who just singed for (NOT MY NAME) your said $3, 000 insured and signature required package. Step 3: Receive no email, text, call back or anything about the reported situation. I was actually told "We have no idea who singed for your package." Step 4: Pray to god whoever has your rare 1 of a kind guitar is decent enough to do the USPS job for them. I was lucky on that part.

[samrothstein]

I worked in the PO for a minute and that's just one aspect of sorting. They didn't show you the manual sorting that the carrier does at the station or how he/she has to rubber-band the bundles and pack the carriage. I saw coworkers with MBA's that couldn't sort their load within 2 hours, it's a skill and the way you deliver the mail, the scan codes in certain buildings..Check the behind the scenes video but this was a very systematic mechanical automated view but not the last step.

[KM-vyic]

Thanks for losing my package for 2 weeks after I ordered it with 2 day shipping :D

[amandalynn]

What Insider doesn't tell you is that before the mail is loaded into the truck, there is a slue of steps made by the mail carrier first. And it's not as simple as they make it look. In fact, they only showed a snippet of what happens in the plant and not the process of how your mail actually gets to you via your mail carrier.

[ericcarter]

They use a machine that tries at best to recognize hand writing, then if its succeeds it gets a florescent label on the back of it, which then the machines scans to sort. If it didn't recognize the handwriting, its pulled aside for inspection, then gets the florescent label. Its all sorting and transporting, via the bar codes until the mailman goes to deliver it, and most of the time the trucks are sorted so that they can easily deliver it. Then, finally they read the address and put it in your mailbox.

[ozzyfromspace]

The USPS uses a form of machine learning built on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR). They have lots of data and they do an incredible job!

I hope to work with them someday.

[raffyv]

everyone hating on packages / letters being late or damaged but it’s not our fault lol
we run big volumes of mail & sometimes stuffs happens the machine isn’t perfect

[AlchemistxBankai]

How does the letters get sorted? I don't understand how the machine can read the address.

[essebug]

That's just how they sort it! There are many more steps until it actually gets to your home. More then anyone who is not a postal employee could imagine 😊

[Africanfrogs]

It’s insane how much mail is sorted and in time

[ruuneney]

While that's sort of accurate as to the start of the process for letter mail, it is a gross oversimplification of the actual sorting process. And of course doesn't even mention sortation of parcels and flats (large envelopes & magazines)

[sunriseshine-tory-]

1:24 LOL! I know that episode of blues clues 😂