Order Clerks
In short: today's best AI models could do about 55% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 45% of the time, stays with people.
Receive and process incoming orders for materials, merchandise, classified ads, or services such as repairs, installations, or rental of facilities. Generally receives orders via mail, phone, fax, or other electronic means. Duties include informing customers of receipt, prices, shipping dates, and delays; preparing contracts; and handling complaints.
75,200 people do this job in the US. $46,170 a year.
Reviewed on October 1, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on11 h
- A person checks AI's work11 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people18 h
Order Clerks, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 11 hours, 11 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 18 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Compile order statistics (about 5 h); Prepare invoices and shipping documents (about 2 h, a person checks); Handle customer complaints (about 2 h, a person checks).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 21%
- 34%
- 41%
- 0%
- 5%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 55% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
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, 12%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 50%. Today's estimate: 55%.
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.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.032% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 275th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 2 of its 19 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.014% to 0.013% (released February and March 2025); 0.015% to 0.025% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.034% to 0.032% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.014% | 491 of 708 | 4 of 19 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.013% | 478 of 703 | 3 of 19 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.015% | 401 of 655 | 2 of 19 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.018% | 403 of 672 | 3 of 19 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.025% | 362 of 677 | 4 of 19 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.034% | 270 of 434 | 2 of 19 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.032% | 275 of 447 | 2 of 19 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates almost none of this job's working time as physical work, so robots do not reach it.
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
45% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Handle customer complaints, the conversation, 11%
- Recommend merchandise to customers, the conversation, 8%
- Sell additional merchandise, the conversation, 7%
- Expedite and trace shipments, the conversation, 5%
- Take customer details for orders, the conversation, 5%
- Inspect outgoing orders, the hands-on work, 4%
What becomes checking the machine
26% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it. Another 28% is desk work that is small if wrong, which can be handed over with lighter checks.
- Prepare invoices and shipping documents, costly if wrong, 6%
- Handle customer complaints, costly if wrong, 5%
- Verify customer and order details, costly if wrong, 4%
- Inspect outgoing orders, costly if wrong, 4%
- Compute order charges, costly if wrong, 4%
- Take customer details for orders, costly if wrong, 2%
What to learn
- The conversations. About 41% of the time is conversation and in-person work, which this site leaves with people: listening, explaining, persuading, calming.
- Running AI inside the business systems. About 34% of the time is work inside business systems, which a model can do only once it is connected: knowing the systems well enough to set that up and watch it.
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
- Dealing with people outside the organization. Customers, patients, suppliers or the public: trust with them is built by a person.
- Briefing a model and checking its drafts. About 21% of the time is documents and data, the part models reach first: writing a clear brief, giving the right material, and checking what comes back.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 19 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receive and respond to customer complaints.Complaints taken by phone and the resolution entered.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 16% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Conversation 70%, systems 30% | 30%Desk part half by now |
| Calculate and compile order-related statistics, and prepare reports for management.Pulling order figures from the system and writing the report.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Documents 70%, systems 30% | 99%Half by now |
| Recommend merchandise or services that will meet customers' needs.Suggesting items to the customer on the phone.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 8% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Conversation 100% | Stays with people |
| Inspect outgoing work for compliance with customers' specifications.Checking the goods going out against the order's specifications.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Documents 50%, hands-on 50% | 50%Desk part half by now |
| Attempt to sell additional merchandise or services to prospective or current customers by telephone or through visits.Selling add-ons to customers by phone.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Conversation 100% | Stays with people |
| Obtain customers' names, addresses, and billing information, product numbers, and specifications of items to be purchased, and enter this information on order forms.Taking the customer's details by phone and entering them on the order form.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Conversation 70%, systems 30% | 30%Desk part half by now |
| Confer with production, sales, shipping, warehouse, or common carrier personnel to expedite or trace shipments.Calls to the warehouse and carriers, with the tracking looked up.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | Conversation 80%, systems 20% | 20%Desk part half by now |
| Prepare invoices, shipping documents, and contracts.Invoices, shipping papers and contracts produced from the order system.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Systems 80%, documents 20% | 100%Half by now |
| Inform customers by mail or telephone of order information, such as unit prices, shipping dates, and any anticipated delays.Calls and letters to customers about prices, dates and delays.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Conversation 60%, documents 40% | 40%Desk part half by now |
| Verify customer and order information for correctness, checking it against previously obtained information as necessary.Checking the order's details against the customer's record.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min3 min to 25 min | Systems 70%, documents 30% | 100%Half by now |
| Review orders for completeness according to reporting procedures and forward incomplete orders for further processing.Reading each order for gaps and routing incomplete ones on.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 21 min | Documents 50%, systems 50% | 100%Half by now |
| Direct specified departments or units to prepare and ship orders to designated locations.Orders released to the warehouse through the system, with a call when needed.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Systems 70%, conversation 30% | 70%Desk part half by now |
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. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% 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.
- Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks53% now, 53% by 2028
- Postal Service Clerks19% now, 19% by 2028
- Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel59% now, 60% by 2028
- Customer Service Representatives64% now, 64% by 2028
- Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks72% now, 73% by 2028
- Procurement Clerks72% now, 72% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods (4232, 4233, 4235, 4236, 4237, and 4239 only)6,920 people
- Food and Beverage Retailers (4451 and 4452 only)6,410 people
- Warehousing and Storage4,600 people
- Business Support Services3,450 people
- Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers2,830 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Order Clerks is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 55% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 55% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Order Clerks come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Compile order statistics (99% of the task's time now); Prepare invoices and shipping documents (100% of the task's time now); and Handle customer complaints (30% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Order Clerks stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Recommend merchandise to customers; and Sell additional merchandise. Together such tasks are about 15% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Order Clerks learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are the conversations; running AI inside the business systems; and reviewing work you did not do yourself. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 45% of the working time stays with people, 26% becomes checking a model's work and 28% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Order Clerks?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.032% went to this job's tasks, the 275th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 2 of its 19 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 7%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Order Clerks?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds almost none of the working time is physical work, so robots do not reach it.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 19 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on October 1, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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