Stock Clerks

• Nature of the Work

  Stock clerks receive, unpack, check, store, and keep track of merchandise or materials. They keep records of items entering or leaving the stock room and report damaged or spoiled goods. They organize and, when necessary, mark items with identifying codes or prices so that inventories can be located quickly and easily. In many firms, stock clerks use hand-held scanners, which they can connect to computers to keep inventories up to date. In stores, stock clerks bring merchandise to the sales floor and stock shelves and racks. In stockrooms and warehouses, they store materials in bins, on the floor, or on shelves. In large establishments where they may be responsible for only one specific task, they may be known as inventory clerk, stock control clerk, merchandise distributor, order filler, property custodian, or storekeeper. In small firms they may also be responsible for tasks usually handled by shipping and receiving clerks.

• Employment

  Stock clerks held about 1,759,000 jobs in 1994 with almost 80 percent working in wholesale or retail trade. The greatest numbers were employed by department and grocery stores. Jobs for stock clerks are found in all parts of the country, but most work in urban areas where stores, warehouses, and factories are concentrated.

• Job Outlook

  Job prospects for stock clerks should be favorable even though employment is expected to change or grow more slowly than the average for all occupations through the year 2005. This occupation is very large, and many job openings will occur each year to replace those who transfer to other jobs or leave the labor force. Many jobs are entry level, and therefore vacancies are also created by normal career progression.

  Growing use of computers for inventory control and new automated equipment are expected to slow growth in demand for stock clerks. This is especially true in manufacturing and in wholesale trade, the industries whose operations are most easily automated. In addition to computerized inventory control systems, firms in these industries are expected to rely more and more on sophisticated conveyor belts, automatic high stackers to store and retrieve goods, and automatic guided vehicles, which are battery powered and driverless.

  Employment of stock clerks who work in grocery, general merchandise, department, apparel, and accessories stores is expected to be somewhat less affected by automation since much of their work is done manually on the sales floor and is difficult to automate.

• Related Occupations

  Other workers who also handle, move, organize, and store materials include shipping and receiving clerks, distributing clerks, routing clerks, stock supervisors, and cargo checkers.

• Sources of Additional Information

  State employment service offices can provide information about job openings for stock clerks. Also, see clerical and sales occupations elsewhere in the Handbook for sources of additional information.

  General information about stock clerks can be obtained by contacting:

  National Retail Federation, 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20004-2608.

  (Information on training and earnings is in the introduction to material recording, scheduling, dispatching, and distributing occupations.)

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