Shipping and Receiving Clerk Career Guide,
Salary, Licence & Jobs 2026

Shipping and receiving clerks are counted exactly in Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks (SOC 43-5071), whose OEWS May 2025 median is $45,260 a year, or $21.76 an hour, ranging from $34,650 to $62,190. Because it is an entry-level clerical role, pay tracks experience, shift and operation complexity rather than any credential.

A shipping and receiving clerk verifies inbound loads against packing slips and purchase orders, logs receipts into the warehouse system, prepares bills of lading and labels for outbound freight, and reconciles discrepancies so shipments match orders. The role is the accuracy and paperwork checkpoint at the dock, often combined with operating a forklift.

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BLS classifies it as an entry-level role typically needing only a high-school diploma or equivalent and short on-the-job training. Employers hire on reliability and attention to detail; learning the shipping documents, the warehouse management system and RF scanning on the job, plus forklift certification, is what builds the clerk into a more capable and better-paid worker.

Partly. BLS projects a -7.7% decline in employment over 2024–2034 because RF scanning, warehouse management systems and EDI/ASN data exchange absorb much of the manual record-keeping the role once did. The physical dock verification and problem-solving are harder to automate, and turnover still produces around 69,300 openings a year despite the falling total.

A shipping and receiving clerk focuses on the dock's documentation and accuracy — receipts, BOLs, carrier paperwork and inventory transactions. A warehouse associate focuses on the physical movement — picking, packing, putaway and loading. The roles overlap heavily on a small dock and separate on a large one where clerical and material-handling work are staffed apart.

The core documents are the purchase order and packing slip used to verify receipts, the bill of lading and carrier manifest that accompany outbound freight, advance ship notices exchanged by EDI, and, for regulated goods, hazardous-materials shipping papers and labels under 49 CFR 172. Getting these right is what keeps shipments from arriving short, mislabelled or non-compliant.