Drive a van or light truck, run a route, and get paid without a degree or a license exam.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$44,860
Part time or new
$30,800
Union parcel driver
$80,310
The national median is $44,860 a year, and the bottom tenth start near $30,800. The federal survey files this under Light Truck Drivers, meaning anything under 26,001 pounds, so it covers van couriers, parts drivers and food delivery in one group.
About $16 to $21 an hour
Contractor delivery driver or courier, first year
Pay is usually hourly and the hours are not always full time. A lot of people start on a contract route where the company pays a delivery service partner, not you directly.
$80,310 a year
Parcel drivers on a union contract, after several years of progression
The big parcel carriers with union contracts pay far more than app-based delivery, with top hourly rates above $40 after a progression that takes four years or so. Those routes are hard to get into and people stay for decades.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a regular driver's license fee, which is all most delivery jobs require. The high end adds a medical examiner's certificate, needed only if the vehicle is heavy or you cross state lines. There is no tuition, no exam fee and no licensing board, and training is rare and paid when it happens at all. The real barrier is insurance: many employers will not hire a driver under 21 or with recent tickets, and if you use your own vehicle, fuel, wear and commercial cover come out of what you earn.
This is one of the cheapest careers in the country to enter. There is no tuition, no exam fee and no licensing board. The real barrier is insurance: many employers will not hire a driver under 21 or with recent tickets.
Health coverage and a pension
Union parcel routes and postal jobs. App-based gig work has neither.
Overtime
Peak season from October to December means long days and time and a half.
Fuel and vehicle paid for
On an employer route. On gig work you pay for your own gas, tires and repairs.
Route seniority
Stay long enough and you bid on the route you want instead of the one you are given.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
There is no school for this. You need a license, a record and a hiring season.
Get a regular driver's license
Age 16 to 18
Your ordinary state license is enough for a van. Keep the record clean from day one, because it is the whole hiring test.
Wait until employers will insure you
Up to a few years
Many delivery companies set a minimum age of 21, and some want a year of licensed driving behind you.
Apply in hiring season
Weeks
Parcel carriers hire heavily from September for the holiday peak. Seasonal work is the normal way in.
Learn the route
1 to 2 weeks
A few days riding with an experienced driver, then your own route with a scanner and a stop list.
Move up if you want to
1 to 5 years
Seasonal to permanent, then to a union route, a bigger truck with a commercial driver's license, or a dispatch job.
Driver education
Cheaper insurance and an earlier license in most states.
Physical education
You will lift packages and climb in and out of a van 150 times a day.
Math
Cash on delivery, weights and route timing.
Auto shop
Knowing what a noise means keeps you from being stranded.
A CDL (commercial driver's license) is only required once the vehicle gets heavy. California, like every state, sets the line at a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 pounds, or any vehicle carrying hazardous materials or more than 10 passengers. A normal delivery van sits well under that, so your ordinary license covers it. If you drive something heavier than 10,001 pounds across state lines you usually also need a federal medical examiner's certificate, which is a physical exam rather than a test.
Parcel carriers
The large national networks and their contracted delivery partners. The best pay is here, on the union side.
United States Postal Service
Hires City Carrier Assistants and Rural Carrier Associates, which convert to career positions with federal benefits.
Wholesale and parts delivery
Auto parts, food service, medical supplies. Steadier hours and no holiday peak madness.
App-based gig delivery
Fastest to start and the worst deal. You are a contractor paying your own fuel, repairs and self-employment tax.
Things you don't need, but that help.
A CDL (commercial driver's license)
Moves you into heavier trucks and a much higher pay scale. Many employers will pay for the training.
Hazardous materials endorsement
Fuel, chemicals and medical waste routes pay a premium.
Forklift certification
A one day course that makes you useful at the depot as well as on the road.
Bilingual ability
Worth real money on urban routes and in dispatch.
A spotless driving record
Two tickets can cost you the job. Insurance decides, not your manager.
Physical fitness
Heavy packages, stairs, and up and down out of the van hundreds of times a day.
Local knowledge
Drivers who know their neighborhood finish an hour earlier than drivers who follow the screen.
Patience with people
Angry customers, blocked driveways and dogs. All of it is part of the day.
The United States Postal Service hires letter carriers directly, starting as a City Carrier Assistant or a Rural Carrier Associate. The first year or two are hard: irregular hours, working every day the route needs covering and lower pay. But those positions convert into career federal jobs with health coverage, a pension and the federal retirement system, which almost nothing else in delivery offers. If you want to do this work for thirty years, this is the version worth queuing for.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Start at the depot before dawn. Load your van in stop order, scan the manifest, check tires and lights. Then the route: 120 to 200 stops, most of them under a minute, a few of them a long walk or three flights of stairs. Lunch is eaten in the van. The last two hours are the hardest because the clock says you should already be done. Back to the depot, hand in undelivered parcels and the scanner, and go home.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Large parcel companies plan routes that favor right turns, because waiting to cross oncoming traffic burns fuel and causes crashes. Route software at one major carrier has been doing this since the 2000s and the company credits it with saving millions of gallons of fuel a year.
Moving a package across the country by plane and truck is cheap per item. Driving it to one front door is the single costliest leg of the trip, which is why so much money and technology is aimed at this job.
That one number decides whether you need a commercial driver's license. Delivery vans are built to sit just under it, which is why a job that clearly involves driving a truck needs nothing more than the license you already have.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise.