mailman

People often overlook the "people in our neighborhood" as Mister Rogers would call them. Their presence is so common that we don't always notice them until they're gone for a day or two. These are people like school bus drivers, sanitation workers, delivery drivers, and postal workers. Of course people know they exist and that they're there to do a job but because their presence is sort of in the background of daily life we may not give their jobs much thought.

There's the thought that "someone has to do it" when it comes to the service they provide but sometimes that "someone" is you. Or at least it could be you, especially after hearing how much one of those jobs pays. It's a common misconception that work like sanitation or postal service is menial and low paying, but the truth is that this essential work can be quite lucrative in the right circumstances.

A mailman that works for the U.S. Postal Service decided to share his paycheck with social media in an attempt to help the post office recruit more mail carriers.

The post office continues to have a shortage in mail carriers in certain areas, especially in rural settings. This shortage causes delays in receiving mail and longer hours for current mail carriers. While the post office has been working to fill in the gaps by doing more hiring, it still isn't enough with the large number of USPS workers that are nearing retirement. It seems to be a constant struggle to keep an adequate amount of mail carriers throughout the areas that need them most.

The pay is good and you get to drive this sweet truck around! Photo by Joel Moysuh on Unsplash

One of the barriers to people applying to the Postal Service may be that they don't know they're hiring since some people may see mail carriers as background characters.

Another concern may be that people are not sure if they can make a livable wage working for the post office, but that's where Lukas' video can help fill in the blanks.

In response to viewers not believing he actually made six figures, the Missouri mailman and TikTok creator shares a screenshot of his paycheck showing he brings home $4,423.09 every other week, which averages out to just over $100K a year.

Being fully transparent, Lukas shares that his paycheck includes 23 hours of overtime due to the extra hours he has to work from being short staffed.

Nothing warms the heart more than a mail carrier being truly embraced by their community. Giphy

"On one of my previous videos somebody said, 'prove it' on one of my checks, so here's one of my last checks. As you can see, the overtime hours, plus my normal pay all equals up to $4,423...so, and that's for two weeks of work. I'm working too much but if you were to multiply that by 26 weeks that's over $100,000. We need help and the post office pays well," he says.

Lukas reiterates throughout his video that the post office is hiring and they need help desperately but the comments were mixed on if working at the post office was a good move.

"I mean he’s technically making 25.00 hourly and $38 for each hour of OT. You’re forgetting the minimum wage in majority of states is 7.25," one person writes.

"Post office is recession safe. Been there 30 years," another commenter shares.

Someone else chimes in, "been working at the post office for 5 years just made regular. it is not easy when you start but once you know how to do it it's a BREEZE."

US Mail is not for sale, says the postal workers union. Photo by Ethan Hoover on Unsplash

A former postal worker reveals, "I worked there 6 years and had no life. Worked 12 + hrs for 7 days a week. I wasted most of my 20s working. NO THANK YOU!!!!, before adding. "When I started years ago it was $15 an hr when I left it was $25."

To be fair, while Lukas is doing well for himself (and working quite hard for the money), a lot of the mail carrier shortages are being caused in part by wages that don't cover the cost of living in certain areas. So there's definitely room for improvement, and the American Postal Workers Union is fighting for higher pay and better hours all the time.

Did you know that the postal service is a staggering 250 years old? For a good chunk of the last several of those years, politicians and corporations have been obsessed with the idea of privatizing the whole operation and siphoning as much profit out of it as possible.

Just imagine how many billions of dollars private companies could make by charging way higher prices for shipping! The idea may be salivating to investors and billionaires, but not to regular folks who just want to be able to affordably and reliably mail letters and packages.

The American Postal Workers Union has been actively and aggressively fighting against this potentially catastrophic change. Not only would it hurt regular Americans, but mail carriers like Lukas who have carved out a solid and honest career doing essential community work.

The post office seems to be much like any other job. Some people have a great experience working there while others do not, but if someone is looking for a chance at a new career that offers retirement benefits, it sounds like USPS could be a place to land.

This article originally appeared in January. It has been updated.