Weigh packages or letters to determine postage needed, using weighing scales and rate charts.

“Weigh packages or letters to determine postage needed, using weighing scales and rate charts.” is a supplemental task performed by Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service. Among the occupation's 29 rated tasks, workers place it 28th by importance (#2 most important).

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment. in Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T3.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Wrap packages or bundles by hand, or by using tying machines. · importance 4.5
• Verify that items are addressed correctly, marked with the proper postage, and in suitable condition for processing. · importance 4.3
• Inspect mail machine output for defects and determine how to eliminate causes of any defects. · importance 4.3
• Remove containers of sorted mail or parcels and transfer them to designated areas according to established procedures. · importance 4.3
• Sort and route incoming mail, and collect outgoing mail, using carts as necessary. · importance 4.2
• Remove from machines printed materials, such as labeled articles, postmarked envelopes or tape, and folded sheets. · importance 4.2
• Affix postage to packages or letters by hand, or stamp materials, using postage meters. · importance 4.2
• Determine manner in which mail is to be sent, and prepare it for delivery to mailing facilities. · importance 4.2
• Release packages or letters to customers upon presentation of written notices or other identification. · importance 4.2
• Operate computer-controlled keyboards or voice recognition equipment to direct items according to established routing schemes. · importance 4.1
• Accept and check containers of mail or parcels from large volume mailers, couriers, and contractors. · importance 4.1
• Lift and unload containers of mail or parcels onto equipment for transportation to sortation stations. · importance 4.0
• Answer inquiries regarding shipping or mailing policies. · importance 4.0
• Contact delivery or courier services to arrange delivery of letters and parcels. · importance 4.0

See all tasks on the Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-13265,
  title  = {Weigh packages or letters to determine postage needed, using weighing scales and rate charts.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-13265}
}