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.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Time Management
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
Key knowledge
- Administrative
- Computers and Electronics
- Production and Processing
- Mathematics
- English Language
- Administration and Management
- Customer and Personal Service
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Prepare documents, such as work orders, bills of lading, or shipping orders, to route materials.
- Record shipment data, such as weight, charges, space availability, damages, or discrepancies, for reporting, accounting, or recordkeeping purposes.
- Contact carrier representatives to make arrangements or to issue instructions for shipping and delivery of materials.
- Confer or correspond with establishment representatives to rectify problems, such as damages, shortages, or nonconformance to specifications.
- Requisition and store shipping materials and supplies to maintain inventory of stock.
- Compute amounts, such as space available, shipping, storage, or demurrage charges, using computer or price list.
- Examine shipment contents and compare with records, such as manifests, invoices, or orders, to verify accuracy.
- Pack, seal, label, or affix postage to prepare materials for shipping, using hand tools, power tools, or postage meter.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Realistic, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (74.9% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (39.1%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (45.2%)
- 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 Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory 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 | Moderate | Higher on contact with others than 57% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 80% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Lower on teamwork than 52% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 50% of occupations compared | 63% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 93% of occupations compared | 74% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 79% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 55% of occupations compared | 63% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 75% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: 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: 1.83%
- Contact with others most of the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 3.7%
- Fairly important: 7.15%
- Important: 3.04%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0.91%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 7.46%
- Very important: 55.9%
- Extremely important: 35.73%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 11.26%
- Some freedom: 63.1%
- A lot of freedom: 25.65%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 0.98%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 2.26%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 9.14%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 13.68%
- Every day: 73.94%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 15.5%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 28.87%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 2.79%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 14.14%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 9.56%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 16.36%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 63.4%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0%
- Every day: 10.68%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly serious: 31.74%
- Serious: 0.32%
- Very serious: 15.85%
- Extremely serious: 16.45%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 43-5071.00 · SOC 43-5071 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8