AI exposure: 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.
Reading this score
computed45.3% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks at the 82th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.5 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
No single friction dominates this occupation. The strongest is context at 1.27 out of 3 and the weakest is presence at 0.18, which is a narrow spread. Where nothing structural stands in the way, exposure tracks capability almost directly, and capability is the thing that changes every quarter.
The most exposed thing this job does is Compute amounts, at 93.3%. The least is Deliver or route materials to departments using handtruck, conveyor, or sorting bins, at 0.0%. A gap of 93.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within office and administrative support occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 55.9% across the group's 51 roles, with 39 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 11 tasks, 8 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 3 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take capability alone, since there is little structural friction here to slow adoption once a system can do the work. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
11 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compute amounts, such as space available, shipping, storage, or demurrage charges, using computer or price list. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 3.73 | exposed |
| Record shipment data, such as weight, charges, space availability, damages, or discrepancies, for reporting, accounting, or recordkeeping purposes. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.96 | exposed |
| Determine shipping methods, routes, or rates for materials to be shipped. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.78 | exposed |
| Compare shipping routes or methods to determine which have the least environmental impact. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.68 | exposed |
| Confer or correspond with establishment representatives to rectify problems, such as damages, shortages, or nonconformance to specifications. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.95 | exposed |
| Prepare documents, such as work orders, bills of lading, or shipping orders, to route materials. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Contact carrier representatives to make arrangements or to issue instructions for shipping and delivery of materials. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.81 | exposed |
| Requisition and store shipping materials and supplies to maintain inventory of stock. | 38.3% | 11.7% | 50.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Examine shipment contents and compare with records, such as manifests, invoices, or orders, to verify accuracy. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.22 | untouched |
| Pack, seal, label, or affix postage to prepare materials for shipping, using hand tools, power tools, or postage meter. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Deliver or route materials to departments using handtruck, conveyor, or sorting bins. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.88 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.55 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.14 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.18 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.59 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.27 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.68 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.