Drive a van or light truck, run a route, and get paid without a degree or a license exam.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $44,860 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $30,800 at the lower end to about $80,310 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
Up to 1 year after high school, on the usual route.
$30 to $250 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no license to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Good demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$44,860
Bottom tenth
$30,800
Top tenth
$80,310
The national median is $44,860 a year, the bottom tenth earn $30,800 or less and the top tenth $80,310 or more (2025 federal wage survey). 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.
$14.81 to $17.92 an hour
The bottom tenth and bottom quarter of light truck drivers, 2025, where first-year couriers usually sit
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.
$21.21 an hour to start
A City Carrier Assistant with the Postal Service, from March 2026
Once you convert to a career city carrier, pay starts at $52,510 a year and the top step is $83,226. Union parcel routes also climb on a progression written into the contract, and people stay for decades.
Roughly, all in
$30 to $250
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.
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. Many employers will pay for the training.
Hazardous materials endorsement
Opens fuel, chemicals and medical waste routes.
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.
The federal career profile counts 1,068,500 light truck drivers in 2025 and expects about 107,200 openings a year to 2035, most of them to replace people who leave.
In the federal survey of light truck drivers, 25% said the job needs less than a high school diploma. Only 1% said it needs a two year degree.
That one number decides whether you need a commercial driver's license. A normal delivery van weighs far less, which is why a job that clearly involves driving a truck needs nothing more than the license you already have.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Road first, then the rest of the field. See every career in transport.
Last checked October 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. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
Tell us about this page. A person reads every message.
No email app on this device? Use Gmail instead: report a mistake in Gmail or say what you like in Gmail.