Community Helpers: Mail Carriers

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Mail carriers are very important community helpers.

• Do you know what mail carriers do to help their community?

Yes! Mail carriers deliver mail. They deliver mail to homes all over the world.

In the United States of America, mail carriers can deliver mail in many ways. Some mail carriers walk or ride a bike to deliver mail. These mail carriers usually have mail routes that have houses that are close together.

Some mail carriers must drive. If the houses or buildings are too far apart, the mail carrier will drive to deliver the mail from one house to the next house.

• How does your mail carrier deliver mail?

Mail can get from place to place in many ways.

First, the mail starts with the sender.

For example, if your aunt wanted to send you a birthday party invitation in the mail, she would have to put the invitation inside of an envelope. She would seal the envelope and write her address in the top left corner and your address in the middle of the envelope.

People write their own addresses in the top left corner so the mail carriers know where to bring it if they can't find who the mail is being sent to. This also helps people who are receiving mail find out who the mail is from before they open the envelope.

The address in the middle of the envelope is written so the mail carriers know where to deliver the mail.

Once the addresses are written on an envelope, the sender (your aunt) will put a stamp in the top right corner. This is how the mail carriers know the sender paid for the mail to be delivered.

You can get stamps at the store or the post office.

• Can you see the stamps on the envelope below?

This is how an envelope would look if you sent mail to another person:

Once the envelope is ready to go, the sender needs to put it in the mailbox.

The mail carrier will pick up the mail from the mailbox.

• What is your mailbox like?
• Do you have one at the end of your driveway or a lock-box at the end of your community?
• Is your mailbox located in the post office?

After the mail is taken out of the mailbox, the mail carriers bring it back to the post office. The post office is where all the mail is sorted.

Once all the mail is sorted, it is given out to many different mail carriers.

Some mail carriers bring their mail to other post offices so the letters and packages can be sent to other states.

Some mail carriers bring their letters and packages to airports, where the mail will be delivered to other parts of the country — or even other countries — by plane.

Finally, when the mail carrier that works closest to your home gets the mail, he or she will deliver it to your mailbox.

• Did you learn about how mail carriers help your community?

Say out loud how mail carriers deliver mail from one place to another. Then, move on to the Got It? section to take a virtual field trip to a post office.