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Customs Brokers

Prepare customs documentation and ensure that shipments meet all applicable laws to facilitate the import and export of goods. Determine and track duties and taxes payable and process payments on behalf of client. Sign documents under a power of attorney. Represent clients in meetings with customs officials and apply for duty refunds and tariff reclassifications. Coordinate transportation and storage of imported goods.

$80,730 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).

now
78%

of the working time. Estimate.

Kinds of work
  • 93%
  • 7%
  • 0%
12%

Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.

Half the desk work within reach
Already

On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.

Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030

0%25%50%75%100%2027202820292030NowDesk work: 93% of the time
Chosen to Ceiling: the share
DateNow
NowEnd of 2030

What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .

At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.

How far this has come

With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 69%. Today's estimate: 78%.

0%25%50%75%100%2023202420252026GPT-4, March 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4 Turbo (Nov 2023), November 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4o, May 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (June 2024), June 2024: 0% within reacho1-preview, September 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (Oct 2024), October 2024: 0% within reacho1, December 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.7 Sonnet, February 2025: 2% within reacho3, April 2025: 11% within reachGPT-5, August 2025: 16% within reachGemini 3 Pro, November 2025: 25% within reachClaude Opus 4.5, November 2025: 25% within reachGPT-5.2, December 2025: 32% within reachClaude Opus 4.6, February 2026: 34% within reachClaude Mythos Preview (early), April 2026: 69% within reachToday (estimate), September 2026: 78% within reach
Each step is a new best model measured by METR, four in five; the dashed end is today's estimate. Point at a dot for the model.

A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.

The tasks

Sorted by . 23 tasks from .

TaskKind
Clear goods through customs and to their destinations for clients.Done hourly or more by most who do it. 21%1.3 h25 min to 4.2 h69%Half by now
Prepare and process import and export documentation according to customs regulations, laws, or procedures.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task.11%50 min17 min to 2.5 h87%Half by now
Obtain line releases for frequent shippers of low-risk commodities, high-volume entries, or multiple-container loads.Done daily by most who do it. 9%1.1 h25 min to 2.1 h95%Half by now
Classify goods according to tariff coding system.Done several times a day by most who do it. 7%38 min13 min to 2.5 h86%Half by now
Request or compile necessary import documentation, such as customs invoices, certificates of origin, and cargo-control documents.Done hourly or more by most who do it. 7%38 min13 min to 1.7 h95%Half by now
Calculate duty and tariff payments owed on shipments.Done hourly or more by most who do it. 6%25 min8 min to 1.3 h97%Half by now
Prepare papers for shippers to appeal duty charges.Done more than yearly by most who do it. 6%1.7 h25 min to 5 h51%Half by now
Arrange for transportation, warehousing, or product distribution of imported or exported products.Done daily by most who do it. 5%50 min17 min to 2.5 h87%Half by now
Advise customers on import and export restrictions, tariff systems, insurance requirements, quotas, or other customs-related matters.Done daily by most who do it. 4%38 min13 min to 2.5 hStays with people
Contract with freight forwarders for destination services.Done daily by most who do it. 3%38 min13 min to 1.7 h95%Half by now
Post bonds for the products being imported or assist clients in obtaining bonds.Done several times a day by most who do it. 3%38 min13 min to 1.3 h98%Half by now
Confer with officials in various agencies to facilitate clearance of goods through customs and quarantine.Done daily by most who do it. 3%38 min17 min to 2.5 hStays with people

Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.

Jobs that share skills with this one

From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

Where this job works

The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.

Where the most of these jobs are

The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.