Driver/Sales Workers
Drive truck or other vehicle over established routes or within an established territory and sell or deliver goods, such as food products, including restaurant take-out items, or pick up or deliver items such as commercial laundry. May also take orders, collect payment, or stock merchandise at point of delivery.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Service Orientation
- Reading Comprehension
- Social Perceptiveness
- Complex Problem Solving
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Food Production
- English Language
- Transportation
- Public Safety and Security
- Administration and Management
- Sales and Marketing
- Mathematics
What the work involves
- Collect money from customers, make change, and record transactions on customer receipts.
- Listen to and resolve customers' complaints regarding products or services.
- Inform regular customers of new products or services and price changes.
- Drive trucks to deliver such items as food, medical supplies, or newspapers.
- Record sales or delivery information on daily sales or delivery record.
- Maintain trucks and food-dispensing equipment and clean inside of machines that dispense food or beverages.
- Write customer orders and sales contracts according to company guidelines.
- Collect coins from vending machines, refill machines, and remove aged merchandise.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (64% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (43.5%)
- On-the-job training
- None or short demonstration (35.5%)
- 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 Driver/Sales Workers 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 | Moderate | Lower on contact with others than 52% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 83% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 94% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 90% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 99% of occupations compared | 92% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 51% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 77% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 56% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: moderate
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: 5.85%
- Contact with others about half the time: 4.27%
- Contact with others most of the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 9.13%
- Fairly important: 5.78%
- Important: 4.34%
- Very important: 7.65%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 9.01%
- Fairly important: 7.95%
- Important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: 8.33%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 14.05%
- Very little freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Limited freedom: 0%
- Some freedom: 14.15%
- A lot of freedom: 42.87%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 7.65%
- Every day: 92.35%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 17%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 15.27%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 25.76%
- Every day: 4.27%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 8.16%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 4.57%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 17.57%
- Every day: 19.07%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 11.69%
- Fairly serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Serious: 18.62%
- Very serious: 4.27%
- Extremely serious: 32%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 53-3031.00 · SOC 53-3031 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8