Office & Administrative Support
Couriers and Messengers
Also called: Courier, Delivery Driver, Driver, Lab Courier (Laboratory Courier)
US median pay
$39,200
per year, 2025
Job growth 2025–35
+8%
faster than average
Openings a year (US)
23,800
228,900 employed
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Preparation 2/5 · Some preparation
What this job is
Pick up and deliver messages, documents, packages, and other items between offices or departments within an establishment or directly to other business concerns, traveling by foot, bicycle, motorcycle, automobile, or public conveyance.
What they do day to day
- Deliver and pick up medical records, lab specimens, and medications to and from hospitals and other medical facilities.
- Walk, ride bicycles, drive vehicles, or use public conveyances to reach destinations to deliver messages or materials.
- Load vehicles with listed goods, ensuring goods are loaded correctly and taking precautions with hazardous goods.
- Receive messages or materials to be delivered, and information on recipients, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, and delivery instructions, communicated via telephone, two-way radio, or in person.
- Deliver messages and items, such as newspapers, documents, and packages, between establishment departments and to other establishments and private homes.
- Record information, such as items received and delivered and recipients' responses to messages.
- Unload and sort items collected along delivery routes.
- Sort items to be delivered according to the delivery route.
- Plan and follow the most efficient routes for delivering goods.
- Perform routine maintenance on delivery vehicles, such as monitoring fluid levels and replenishing fuel.
Skills and knowledge that matter most
Skills
- Time Management3.2/5
- Service Orientation3.0/5
- Judgment and Decision Making2.9/5
- Social Perceptiveness2.8/5
- Coordination2.8/5
- Operation and Control2.6/5
- Complex Problem Solving2.6/5
- Operations Monitoring2.5/5
Knowledge
- Transportation3.4/5
- Customer and Personal Service3.4/5
- English Language3.0/5
- Public Safety and Security2.7/5
- Law and Government2.5/5
- Production and Processing2.3/5
Importance rated by people working in the job (1 = not important, 5 = extremely important).
Education and preparation
Preparation level 2 of 5 — Some preparation. Usually a high school diploma; some previous work experience or training helps.
Typical entry education (BLS): High school diploma or equivalent.
Who this job suits
Mostly Conventional
Organising data, details and procedures
Realistic
Hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
Based on the Holland (RIASEC) interest profile for this occupation.