Counter and Rental Clerks
Receive orders, generally in person, for repairs, rentals, and services. May describe available options, compute cost, and accept payment.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Service Orientation
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Writing
- Monitoring
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Administrative
- Sales and Marketing
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Transportation
- Computers and Electronics
What the work involves
- Compute charges for merchandise or services and receive payments.
- Prepare merchandise for display or for purchase or rental.
- Recommend and provide advice on a wide variety of products and services.
- Answer telephones to provide information and receive orders.
- Greet customers and discuss the type, quality, and quantity of merchandise sought for rental.
- Keep records of transactions and of the number of customers entering an establishment.
- Prepare rental forms, obtaining customer signature and other information, such as required licenses.
- Receive, examine, and tag articles to be altered, cleaned, stored, or repaired.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (55.9% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (38.3%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (34.7%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Counter and Rental Clerks is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 93% of occupations compared | 91% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 88% of occupations compared | 80% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 73% of occupations compared | 71% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 68% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 87% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 93% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 94% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 93% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 9.28%
- Constant contact with others: 90.72%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 18.01%
- Important: 1.24%
- Very important: 0.55%
- Extremely important: 80.2%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 19.41%
- Very important: 9.65%
- Extremely important: 70.94%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0.55%
- Very little freedom: 0.86%
- Limited freedom: 28.03%
- Some freedom: 45.03%
- A lot of freedom: 25.54%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 29.32%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 12.46%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 2.86%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 12.67%
- Every day: 42.68%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 0.86%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 8.42%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 32.96%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 25.26%
- Every day: 32.5%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.8%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.3%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 42.31%
- Every day: 33.59%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 48.35%
- Fairly serious: 33.47%
- Serious: 6.44%
- Very serious: 0.55%
- Extremely serious: 11.18%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
Where people with this background could move
- Analyze
Postal Service Clerks
Closeness 94/100
- Analyze
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Office Clerks, General
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Gambling and Sports Book Writers and Runners
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Gambling Cage Workers
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Stockers and Order Fillers
Closeness 92/100
Find more alternativesCompare skills with another job
O*NET-SOC 41-2021.00 · SOC 41-2021 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8