Retail Salespersons
Sell merchandise, such as furniture, motor vehicles, appliances, or apparel to consumers.
3,897,860 people do this job in the US. $35,410 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 20%
- 3%
- 77%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 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, 3%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 20%. Today's estimate: 20%.
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 . 24 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory stock and requisition new stock.Done daily by most who do it. | 14% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Ticket, arrange, and display merchandise to promote sales.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 10% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Open and close cash registers, performing tasks such as counting money, separating charge slips, coupons, and vouchers, balancing cash drawers, and making deposits.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Recommend, select, and help locate or obtain merchandise based on customer needs and desires.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 6% | 10 min4 min to 21 min | Stays with people | |
| Demonstrate use or operation of merchandise.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Clean shelves, counters, and tables.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Describe merchandise and explain use, operation, and care of merchandise to customers.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 4% | 7 min3 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Prepare merchandise for purchase or rental.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min3 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Watch for and recognize security risks and thefts and know how to prevent or handle these situations.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Sell or arrange for delivery, insurance, financing, or service contracts for merchandise.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Maintain records related to sales.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | 99%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.
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.
- Counter and Rental Clerks53% now, 53% by 2028
- Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers27% now, 31% by 2028
- Stockers and Order Fillers18% now, 18% by 2028
- Demonstrators and Product Promoters21% now, 26% by 2028
- First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers26% now, 46% by 2028
- Cashiers30% now, 30% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).