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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Postmasters and Mail Superintendents?
Task-level automation exposure for Postmasters and Mail Superintendents: 13 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
51%
weighted task index
13 of 13 tasks scored
Median Salary
$96,660 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
13,810 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
-0.3%
employment change
900 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 51 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$59,340 – $102,880
Highest medians
Florida $102,880
Puerto Rico $101,580
California $101,150
New Jersey $101,100
Rhode Island $99,900
Lowest medians
Alaska $59,340
Wyoming $88,040
Montana $88,920
Nevada $89,770
Vermont $89,890
State figures come from the 11-9131 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 51%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 0%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 34%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 10%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 11/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
13 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 39%
5 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 53%
7 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 7%
1 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Constituent Tasks
#20842 · Core · 75% automatable
Monitor employees' work schedules and attendance for payroll purposes.
decision support — Generate schedules from constraints; human resolves conflicts
Prepare staff schedules or work assignments.
#5260 · Core · 35% automatable
Organize and supervise activities, such as the processing of incoming and outgoing mail.
interpersonal — Directing organizational operations carries accountability
Direct organizational operations, projects, or services.
#5262 · Core · 45% automatable
Resolve customer complaints.
interpersonal — Complaint resolution needs authority and rapport
Resolve customer complaints or problems.
#5264 · Core · 75% automatable
Prepare employee work schedules.
decision support — Generate schedules from constraints; human resolves conflicts
Prepare staff schedules or work assignments.
#5261 · Core · 35% automatable
Direct and coordinate operational, management, and supportive services of one or a number of postal facilities.
interpersonal — Directing admin services is supervisory accountability
Direct administrative or support services. Direct organizational operations, projects, or services.
#5263 · Core · 43% automatable
Hire and train employees, and evaluate their performance.
decision support — Performance review aided; accountability and context human
Evaluate employee performance. Conduct employee training programs. Hire personnel.
#5265 · Core · 82% automatable
Prepare and submit detailed and summary reports of post office activities to designated supervisors.
text generation — Status/progress reports from tracked data
Prepare operational progress or status reports.
#5266 · Core · 22% automatable
Negotiate labor disputes.
interpersonal — Labor dispute negotiation needs authority and presence
Negotiate labor disputes.
#5270 · Supplemental · 38% automatable
Select and train postmasters and managers of associate postal units.
interpersonal — Program design aided, delivery and engagement are human
Conduct employee training programs. Hire personnel.
#5269 · Supplemental · 72% automatable
Inform the public of available services, and of postal laws and regulations.
interpersonal — Scripted info delivery, but live rapport and accountability matter
Provide basic information to guests, visitors, or clients.
#5268 · Supplemental · 35% automatable
Issue and cash money orders.
physical manipulation — In-person payment handling; some digital automation
Collect payments for goods or services.
#5267 · Supplemental · 35% automatable
Collect rents for post office boxes.
physical manipulation — In-person payment handling; some digital automation
Collect payments for goods or services.
#5271 · Supplemental · 60% automatable
Confer with suppliers to obtain bids for proposed purchases and to requisition supplies, disbursing funds according to federal regulations.
text generation — Information exchange coordination largely automatable
Coordinate with external parties to exchange information.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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