Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks
Verify and maintain records on incoming and outgoing shipments involving inventory. Duties include verifying and recording incoming merchandise or material and arranging for the transportation of products. May prepare items for shipment.
816,870 people do this job in the US. $45,260 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 43%
- 12%
- 45%
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, 4%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 43%. Today's estimate: 43%.
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 . 11 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pack, seal, label, or affix postage to prepare materials for shipping, using hand tools, power tools, or postage meter.Done daily by most who do it. | 14% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Examine shipment contents and compare with records, such as manifests, invoices, or orders, to verify accuracy.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 17 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Prepare documents, such as work orders, bills of lading, or shipping orders, to route materials.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Confer or correspond with establishment representatives to rectify problems, such as damages, shortages, or nonconformance to specifications.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Requisition and store shipping materials and supplies to maintain inventory of stock.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Determine shipping methods, routes, or rates for materials to be shipped.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 25 min13 min to 42 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Deliver or route materials to departments using handtruck, conveyor, or sorting bins.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Record shipment data, such as weight, charges, space availability, damages, or discrepancies, for reporting, accounting, or recordkeeping purposes.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 29 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Compare shipping routes or methods to determine which have the least environmental impact.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 33 min17 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Compute amounts, such as space available, shipping, storage, or demurrage charges, using computer or price list.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Contact carrier representatives to make arrangements or to issue instructions for shipping and delivery of materials.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 13 min8 min to 38 min | 100%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.
- Postal Service Clerks29% now, 29% by 2028
- Stockers and Order Fillers18% now, 18% by 2028
- Cargo and Freight Agents45% now, 45% by 2028
- Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping21% now, 21% by 2028
- Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators1% now, 1% by 2028
- Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks63% now, 86% 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).