$93,210top of the range in Washington · middle $45,260 / yr
AI is transforming this role
Shipping Clerks in the United States earn a median of $45,260 a year. Pay starts near $34,650. Pay reaches $93,210 at the top of the range in Washington, the best-paying state for this work among those with at least 500 people in the job.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks, SOC 43-5071). Last checked 9 September 2026.
Entry level
$34,650
Top of the range · Washington
$93,210
Education
High school diploma
Wages — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks). Top of the range is the highest state-level figure among states with at least 500 people in the job. AI-impact rating is PayCrunch's editorial assessment. Updated September 2026.
🆕 New & Trending AI Tools for Shipping ClerkReviewed September 2026
We track new AI-tool launches every week and refresh this list — here’s what’s gaining traction for Shipping Clerk work right now.
Numeo AINEWPaid / see site
AI dispatch platform that matches loads and plans routes for trucking.
How a Shipping Clerk uses it: let AI find better loads and build the most efficient route/schedule
DAT iQNEWPaid / see site
Freight market intelligence with AI rate forecasting and lane analytics.
How a Shipping Clerk uses it: price a load right and pick profitable lanes with live market data
NetradyneNEWFleet / see site
AI-powered dashcam that coaches driving and rewards safe behavior.
How a Shipping Clerk uses it: get instant in-cab coaching and build a safety record that protects your CDL
NotebookLMNEWFree / $7.99 mo
Google tool that answers questions grounded only in the documents you give it — with citations.
How a Shipping Clerk uses it: load your own manuals, policies, or PDFs and ask questions that stay accurate to the source
Motive~$89/vehicle mo
Driver app with AI safety alerts, fuel and route insights (formerly KeepTruckin).
How a Shipping Clerk uses it: get real-time safety and fuel coaching and cut idle time on the road
Samsara~$99/vehicle mo
Connected-fleet platform with AI dash cams, routing, and maintenance alerts.
How a Shipping Clerk uses it: use AI dashcam coaching and predictive maintenance to stay safe and avoid breakdowns
Route4MePaid / see site
Route optimization that sequences multi-stop trips across 200+ variables.
How a Shipping Clerk uses it: turn a list of stops into the fastest, fuel-smart route in seconds
ChatGPTFree / $20 mo
The most-used AI assistant — writing, analysis, research, and images from a plain-language chat.
How a Shipping Clerk uses it: draft emails and documents, summarize long files, and get instant answers to on-the-job questions
ClaudeFree / $20 mo
AI assistant known for careful writing, long-document analysis, and coding.
How a Shipping Clerk uses it: analyze big reports or spreadsheets and turn messy notes into clean, finished writing
The desk that faces the dock doors
A shipping clerk sits where the building meets the trucks. The desk faces the dock doors. Beyond the glass or the open bay, trailers back in, forklifts move skids, and a driver stands with a bill of lading waiting for a signature. Your side of that scene is the record: the order, the count, the carrier, the time the door was assigned, and the exception when the count does not match. If the record is wrong, the freight leaves wrong. If the record is slow, the driver idles and the next appointment stacks up behind it.
The work stays at the desk more than it wanders the aisles. You may walk the dock to check a skid, and you come back to the desk to release it. Screens show orders, appointments, and what has already left. Radios and phone calls fill the gaps. A good clerk can tell a supervisor, without a speech, which door is late, which order is short, and which carrier still needs paperwork. A weak clerk discovers those facts only when someone is already angry.
The place can be a distribution center, a plant shipping office, a freight terminal, or the back of a store that ships more than it admits. The furniture changes. The job does not: match what is on the dock to what is on the order, and let the truck go only when those two agree. People who need constant novelty hate this. People who like a clean board at the end of the shift stay for years and become the person everyone asks before they ask the boss. The board is a simple picture: doors, carriers, orders, and a mark for anything on hold. Updating it in real time is how the rest of the building knows whether the day is under control. A clerk who keeps that picture current saves the supervisor from walking the dock to learn what the desk already knew.
Paper, screens, and a truck that cannot leave
A typical morning starts with the appointment list. Carriers have windows. Orders have promised dates. You set doors, print or send the paperwork, and flag anything that arrived without an appointment. When a trailer is at the door, the count begins. Cartons, skids, or pieces get checked against the order. Shortages, damage, and overages get noted before the driver signs. Then the bill of lading, the packing list, and the system have to tell the same story. Only then does the truck leave.
Receiving is the same desk on many days, pointed the other direction. Inbound freight has to be checked, logged, and put where stock control can find it. A clerk who only likes outbound work will still get inbound days. Treat them as one skill. The company loses money on both ends in the same way: a record that does not match the dock. Learning both directions makes you harder to replace and easier to promote.
Exceptions are the actual craft. A seal number that does not match. A skid the order never named. A carrier who wants to leave with a partial load. You do not invent a fix in the yard. You know who can approve a short ship, where the hold tag goes, and how the note has to read so the customer hears the same fact tomorrow. Write the note as if you will be off the next day, because you might be. The next clerk should not have to decode your memory.
Skills a supervisor can see quickly
Supervisors watch three things. Accuracy: the count and the system agree. Pace: doors turn without a pile of drivers in the office. Calm: a missed appointment does not become a scene. Software matters, and every building uses a different one. What transfers is the habit of checking the order before you touch the skid, and of writing exceptions in plain words. A clerk who can do that on paper can learn the next system. A clerk who only knows one screen, and still miscounts, cannot.
Reading is part of the job. Bills of lading, carrier rules posted at the desk, and customer notes about how a delivery must be marked. Math is part of the job. Counts, pieces per skid, and what is left on an order after a partial load. None of this requires a speech about logistics theory. It requires you to be unwilling to sign a document you did not check. That unwillingness is the skill employers actually pay for, even when the posting dresses it up in softer language.
Some desks add a forklift when the bay is short-handed. If you want that range, take the employer's equipment training and keep the card. The desk is still the job. A clerk who abandons the appointments to drive a lift all day has left the role you were hired for. A clerk who can step onto the dock, check a skid, and return to release the truck is useful. Say which of those you are when you apply.
Landing the first clerk role
There is no national licence for this desk. Hiring managers look for reliability, clear writing, and any proof you have handled orders or freight. A community-college certificate in logistics or supply chain can help you get the first interview, because it shows you chose the field. It does not replace a count you can stand behind. Warehouse experience, a retail stockroom, or a mailroom that dealt with carriers can be enough if you describe the records you kept.
Write the resume in dock language. Name the systems only if you used them. Name the volume in words you can defend: shifts, doors, or the kinds of freight, not a boast you cannot explain. Say whether you handled outbound, inbound, or both. Say whether you set carrier appointments. Offer a supervisor who will confirm that your counts held up. Leave out adjectives. "Detail-oriented" means nothing next to a sentence like "held trucks until the bill matched the skid count."
The interview is often on the floor, with the noise of the dock behind it. You may be shown a sample order and a short packing list and asked what you would do if they disagree. Talk about stopping the truck, noting the difference, and calling the person who can approve a change. Do not promise you would "just fix it." Employers have already met the clerk who fixed it by editing the record to match the mistake. That story ends in a customer claim. Your story should end in a note someone else can audit.
Lead clerk, then the office above the dock
The first promotion is usually lead. You still touch orders, and you also set the day's door plan, train the new clerk, and answer the carrier issues that used to go straight to the supervisor. Then comes a supervisor title, sometimes still hourly, sometimes salaried. Beyond that, people move into traffic, stock control, or the warehouse office that plans labor for the whole building. A few move to a carrier or a third-party logistics firm and run a desk that serves several customers.
Each step is still about the match between record and freight. The difference is how many desks you are responsible for, and whether you build the appointment rules instead of only following them. Keep a record of improvements you can measure in plain language: fewer claims on your shift, a cleaner hold area, a training sheet new clerks actually use. Skip vague credit for "helping the team." A later boss can check a claim trend. A later boss cannot check a mood.
Side doors are real. Purchasing, customer service for delivery problems, and dispatch all sit next to this desk. The clerks who move well are the ones who already wrote notes a customer could read. If you want one of those doors, ask to own the exception log for a quarter. You will learn which problems repeat, and you will have something concrete to discuss when a coordinator job opens. Stay until the log shows a pattern. Leaving after a month gives you a story and no evidence.
A broader clerk series, cited once
Pay figures are Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks. That broader series is the right one to name, and it covers more desks than the dock desk alone. Entry is $34,650. The national median is $45,260. The high end of the published range is $93,210 in Washington. Entry to the national median is $10,610. The national median to that high end is $47,950. The national median to the highest state median is only $6,330.
State medians are a different statistic from the high end. Washington's median is $51,590, the highest. The District of Columbia and Hawaii both sit at $49,660. Massachusetts is $49,240. Vermont is $49,080. The lowest median in the release is Puerto Rico at $26,050. The gap from Puerto Rico to Washington's median is $25,540. Those medians cluster. The high end does not. Washington's median is a little above the national middle. Washington's high end is a long way above both.
Same state, two statistics
The high end and the highest median are both Washington, and they are different statistics. The high end of the published range is $93,210. The median is $51,590. The high end is not the median. An offer near $51,590 matches the local middle. An offer near $93,210 is the top of the published range, not a typical dock-desk wage.
Asking for the next band of pay
Find the offer on the map before you negotiate the title. Near $34,650, you are at entry, and the national median is $10,610 higher. Ask what changes the wage: lead duty, inbound plus outbound, or a shift that is hard to staff. Near $45,260, you match the country. In Washington, the median is $51,590, only $6,330 above that national figure. The District of Columbia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Vermont sit in a tight band just under Washington. Matching the national median in those places is close to the local middle, not a disaster and not a triumph. Say the local median anyway so the employer knows you have it.
Use $93,210 only as the high end of the published range in Washington. It differs from the $51,590 median in the same state by a wide margin, and the climb from the national median to that high end is $47,950. Bring it up when the job has become a lead role over several clerks, a traffic desk, or a shift the building cannot cover. Do not bring it up as the wage a new clerk should expect because the state is Washington. The state median already answers the "what is typical here" part of the talk.
A move to or from Puerto Rico has a $25,540 median gap against Washington, with entry-level context from the national $34,650 figure. Compare the offer to the median of the place you are entering, then to $45,260. Ask whether lead pay is a separate step or a small add-on that never reaches the next band. Ask whether the employer's scale tops out near the state median. If it does, the path to anything like the high end is a different job, not a longer stay on the same step.
Keep the conversation tied to duties you can show. The exception log, the door plan, the new-clerk sheet, and a record of claims on your shift are the evidence. Put the offer, the national median, and the state median on the same line when you reply. If they will not move the wage, ask what duty would. A clear answer lets you decide whether to stay and earn that duty or to look for a desk that already pays nearer $51,590 or, for a true lead role in a high-paying operation, somewhere on the road toward the high end without pretending the high end is the middle.
The top of Shipping Clerk pay — and how to get there with AI
$93,210what Shipping Clerk pay reaches in Washington
Highest state-level top-of-range annual wage for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks, among states with at least 500 people in the job. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
And the role it leads to — Cargo and Freight Agents — reaches $92,670 in Utah.
$34,650entry$45,260middle$93,210top end
On a busy dock the clerk near the top of this range is the one whose method everyone else copies, because they made the scanning, the labelling or the paperwork actually work and then taught it.
Comparing shipment contents against manifests, invoices and orders, recording weight, charges, damages and discrepancies, preparing bills of lading and work orders, and computing storage or demurrage charges are all done at speed and mostly from memory. That is fine until a barcode labeling system, an Electronic Data Interchange EDI feed or Enterprise Systems RFID Data Management arrives, at which point the dock splits between people who adopt it and people who wait for it to go away. Whoever bothers to work out where the new system genuinely helps, where it breaks, and how to explain it in five minutes to a seasonal hire becomes the person the supervisor cannot roster around.
Your playbook, by where you are now
Just startingGet the counts and the documents right
Check every shipment against its manifest before it moves, and record discrepancies as discrepancies rather than fixing them silently.
Write weight, charges and damages the same way every time, so somebody else can read your entries without asking.
Learn how bills of lading are actually produced in ADi SmartBOL or whatever your dock runs, including what goes wrong on a rush.
Compute storage and demurrage yourself in Microsoft Excel rather than waiting for the office to work it out.
Keep the shipping supplies requisition ahead of demand so nothing ships late for want of a label roll.
What proves it: A quarter with no shipment leaving on a document you had to reissue.
Realistic span: your first year on the dock
A few years inMake the new system survive a rush
Volunteer for the pilot when scanning, labelling or electronic documents come in, and use it during the worst hour of the week, not on a quiet morning.
Log every failure with what you were doing when it happened, so the problem is fixable rather than a complaint.
Time the same twenty shipments the old way and the new way, and write both figures down.
Have Microsoft Copilot turn your notes into a one-page card for the dock, then correct every field name and step against the live screen.
Work out where the electronic feed disagrees with the paper and become the person who reconciles it.
Learn which carrier contacts respond and how to reach them when a shipment is short or damaged.
What proves it: A one-page card taped by the scanner that people actually follow.
Realistic span: years two through five
ExperiencedOwn the training and the shipping method
Take responsibility for training seasonal and new hires, with a fixed first week rather than shadowing whoever is free.
Set the rules for determining shipping method, route and rate, so the cheap option is not chosen at the cost of a missed date.
Run the discrepancy process with carriers and internal departments end to end, and keep the record of how each was resolved.
Sit in on the next system purchase with your own timing figures rather than the vendor's claims.
Look at where this work is priced highest, since Washington sits near the top, and treat the move into cargo and freight agency work as the widening step.
What proves it: A written first-week programme for new dock staff with your name on it.
Realistic span: year six onward
The next 90 days
Take the piece of dock technology everybody grumbles about and stop grumbling for twelve weeks. Use it on every shipment, including the rushed ones, and keep two columns in a notebook: minutes taken, and what went wrong. Do the same for twenty shipments handled the old way so you have something to compare against. Then write a single page, in the words your dock actually uses, covering how to run it, what to do when the scan fails and who to call when the electronic document and the paper disagree. Hand it to the newest person and watch where they stall. That page, plus your two columns of times, is a stronger case for a lead role than any amount of being fast on your own, because it shows you can make the whole dock faster.
Wage figures: BLS OEWS, May 2025. The playbook is PayCrunch editorial guidance, not a guarantee of pay or placement.
Every figure is the national median from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS) shown on that role’s own page.
Never used AI before? Start here (2 minutes).
Open your shipping platform first — likely ShipStation, ShipHero, or your carrier's dashboard — and learn its rules engine and batch tools cold. The single fastest raise comes from routing every order to the cheapest compliant service automatically instead of clicking through one label at a time. That reliability is what gets you handed bigger responsibilities.
For everything the platform doesn't do, use ChatGPT or Claude (free tiers are enough) to explain Incoterms, decode a carrier invoice, or write the formula you need, and Microsoft Excel with Copilot or Google Sheets to turn raw shipping logs into cost reports. Keep customer data and negotiated rates out of consumer tools — paste sample or anonymized rows only.
The one rule, forever: Never paste customer addresses, account numbers, or your company's negotiated carrier rates into a consumer AI tool. Export compliance is federal law: AI can draft and explain, but you must verify HTS/Schedule B codes, Incoterms, and denied-party screening against official sources (the CBP HTS, Census AES, and the BIS Consolidated Screening List). A wrong classification or a shipment to a sanctioned party is your company's violation, not the chatbot's.
The plays — exact steps, exact prompts
Do these in order. Each one is copy-paste ready. You do not need to know anything about AI going in.
1
Run a freight-bill audit and win back overcharges
Why this pays: Carriers overbill on dimensional weight, accessorials, and address corrections constantly. A clerk who finds and disputes those errors returns real cash to the company every month — the clearest way to justify a coordinator title and a top-of-band salary.
Microsoft Excel with CopilotChatGPTShipStation
1
Export the last 90 days of shipments from ShipStation (or your carrier portal) to a spreadsheet: tracking number, service level, quoted cost, billed cost, weight, and dimensions.
2
Use Excel with Copilot or ChatGPT (paste anonymized rows only) to flag every line where billed cost exceeds quoted cost, and to spot dim-weight and residential-surcharge patterns.
Copy-paste this prompt
You are a freight-audit analyst. Here are anonymized shipment rows with columns: service, quoted_cost, billed_cost, actual_weight_lb, length_in, width_in, height_in, zone. For each row: (1) recompute dimensional weight using a 139 DIM divisor and tell me if the carrier billed on dim weight; (2) flag rows where billed_cost > quoted_cost by more than 3%; (3) list the likely accessorial (residential, address correction, additional handling) causing each variance. Output a table sorted by dollar variance, largest first.
Anonymize first — no customer names or addresses. Verify each flagged charge against the actual carrier invoice before you file a dispute.
3
File the disputes with the carrier and log recovered dollars in a running tally you can show your manager at review time.
What you'll haveA monthly overcharge-recovery number with your name on it — the single most convincing case for a raise and a coordinator title.
2
Own rate-shopping so every order ships the cheapest compliant way
Why this pays: Freight is one of the biggest controllable costs in a warehouse. The clerk who systematically routes to the lowest-cost service that still hits the delivery promise saves thousands a month and becomes the person leadership trusts with carrier decisions.
ShipStationFreightosChatGPT
1
In ShipStation, build automation rules that auto-select carrier and service by weight, zone, and delivery deadline instead of choosing manually per order.
2
For freight (LTL/FTL and international), use Freightos to compare lane quotes, and have ChatGPT pressure-test which mode actually wins once transit time and accessorials are included.
Copy-paste this prompt
I ship [pallets / parcels] from [origin ZIP] to [dozens of destination ZIPs] weighing [X lb] each. Compare parcel vs LTL freight for this profile: at what weight and piece-count does LTL become cheaper than parcel, what accessorials (liftgate, residential, limited access) should I budget for, and what questions should I ask an LTL carrier to avoid reclass and reweigh fees? Give me a simple decision rule I can apply per order.
Use it to build a routing rule, not as a live quote. Confirm actual pricing in your carrier or Freightos account before booking.
What you'll haveA documented routing logic that cuts freight spend — a measurable win that moves you from processing labels to owning carrier strategy.
3
Become the export and customs compliance person
Why this pays: Most warehouses have exactly one person who understands Incoterms, HTS codes, and denied-party screening — and that person is far more valuable than a domestic-only clerk. Compliance expertise is the skill that pushes pay to the top of the band and opens the door to trade-compliance roles.
ChatGPTDescartes / AvalaraPerplexity
1
Use ChatGPT or Perplexity to build your own study guide to Incoterms 2020, commercial invoices, and Schedule B/HTS structure — then always confirm a specific classification against the official CBP HTS database.
2
Draft clean, complete export paperwork with AI, then verify every code and party.
Copy-paste this prompt
Act as an export documentation coach. For a shipment of [product description, material, use] going from the US to [country] under [Incoterm], list: (1) the documents I need (commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin, any others); (2) the fields that must appear on the commercial invoice; (3) the likely 6-digit HS heading and what makes classification change; (4) which official sources I must check for licensing or denied-party issues. Add a checklist I can reuse.
AI gives you the framework and the 6-digit starting point only. Confirm the full HTS/Schedule B code in the official CBP HTS and screen every party against the BIS Consolidated Screening List before shipping.
3
Once you're the go-to for exports, ask to own the AES filings and carrier customs handoffs — that ownership is what re-titles and re-pays the job.
What you'll haveA rare, defensible skill (trade compliance) that domestic clerks don't have — the differentiator that reaches $93,210 and beyond.
4
Standardize documents and SOPs so the shipping desk runs without you
Why this pays: Consistent, error-free paperwork and written procedures reduce costly mistakes and make you the obvious person to lead. A desk that runs on your SOPs is a desk you supervise.
ChatGPTGoogle SheetsShipStation
1
Have ChatGPT turn your messy, in-your-head process into a clean written SOP for each shipment type (domestic parcel, LTL, international, hazmat, RMA).
Copy-paste this prompt
Turn these rough notes into a clear, step-by-step standard operating procedure a new hire could follow with no shipping experience. Use numbered steps, a 'stop and check' callout for compliance points, and a short troubleshooting section. Notes: [paste your process for one shipment type].
Keep it generic — no customer records. Have an experienced coworker sanity-check the compliance steps before it becomes official.
2
Build reusable document templates (commercial invoice, packing list, BOL) in Google Sheets so every shipment goes out formatted the same way.
What you'll haveA repeatable, low-error shipping operation you authored — the foundation of a lead or supervisor promotion.
5
Turn shipping data into a monthly savings report
Why this pays: Clerks who only move boxes stay clerks. The one who shows leadership a monthly dashboard of cost per shipment, on-time rate, and damage claims speaks management's language — and gets paid like it.
Microsoft Excel with CopilotChatGPTGoogle Sheets
1
Pull monthly shipment data and use Excel with Copilot to build a one-page dashboard: total spend, cost per shipment, cost per pound, on-time %, and claims.
2
Have AI write the plain-English summary and next actions for your manager.
Copy-paste this prompt
Here are this month's shipping metrics vs last month: [paste anonymized totals]. Write a 5-bullet summary for a warehouse manager: what improved, what got worse, the top cost driver, one concrete action to cut cost next month, and one risk to watch. Keep it under 120 words, no jargon.
Use anonymized totals only. You own the recommendation — make sure the numbers are right before you send it.
What you'll haveA recurring report that makes your cost impact visible to decision-makers — the visibility that earns the pay at the top of the range.
Your 12-month sequence to the top of the range
How the plays above stack into a path from median pay toward the $93,210 tier.
Month 1
Master your shipping platform's automation rules and start routing every order to the cheapest compliant service instead of choosing manually.
Months 2-3
Run your first freight-bill audit, file disputes, and keep a running tally of recovered dollars.
Months 3-6
Learn export basics (Incoterms, HTS/Schedule B, denied-party screening) and become the desk's go-to for international shipments.
Months 6-12
Write SOPs for every shipment type and deliver a monthly savings dashboard — then make the case for a coordinator or lead title.
Gear for this job
As an Amazon Associate, PayCrunch earns from qualifying purchases. Links to books and tools are for the job on this page; we only recommend what we’d use in the work.
Same live Harry K. Wong Publications 5th already on elementary-teacher / high-school-teacher / kindergarten-teacher / middle-school-teacher / preschool-teacher / teacher-assistant / online-tutor / esl-teacher / art-teacher / foreign-language-teacher / reading-specialist / ged-instructor / montessori-teacher / tutor / dance-instructor / teacher-k-12 / professor / seminary-professor / educational-psychologist / debate-coach / instructional-coordinator / learning-disability-specialist / teaching-fellow / children-s-librarian / nanny / student-advisor / art-therapist / spa-manager / admissions-director / pharmaceutical-sales-rep / school-bus-coordinator / restaurant-general-manager (ASIN 0976423383). This leftover page is BLS Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks (SOC 43-5071); title is Run the Dock's Tool Rollout; H1 is The shipping clerk new hires are handed to; experienced track is Own the training and the shipping method; the playbook centers training seasonal and new hires with a fixed first week rather than shadowing whoever is free, plus training the floor, with proof being a written first-week programme for new dock staff with your name on it; start-here is Open your shipping platform first — likely ShipStation, ShipHero, or your carrier's dashboard; one-rule is Never paste customer addresses, account numbers, or your company's negotiated carrier rates into a consumer AI tool. Classroom-management staple for leftover new-hire / first-week / instructional-delivery work — not leftover Lemov as the lead (that is music-producer / hospital-administrator / dean) and not leftover Praxis as a dump. Confirm 0976423383. Live page HTTP 200, no PC_GEAR / amazon.com/dp / tag=paycrunch-20 at 2026-09-18 4:45 AM PT. Source page: ged-instructor.
Next steps for a Shipping Clerk
Some links below are affiliate or partner links. PayCrunch may earn a commission if you enroll or subscribe through them, at no extra cost to you. Wage figures on this page still come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, not from these programs.
Shipping Clerk work is specific enough that a stamped 'check out these courses' block would be noise. BLS files this work as Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks (SOC 43-5071). O*NET Job Zone 2 is typical: a high-school diploma plus short vocational training, so the honest next credential is a short certificate or vocational program — not a random catalog dump.
The occupation's listed knowledge areas include Administrative and Production and Processing; the links search those subjects, not a generic 'career courses' list.
Shipping Clerks in this dataset list SAP software among the tools in use, so a program that names that stack is a better fit than a survey course.
Coursera search for administrative — a short certificate or vocational program that lines up with office, not a generic professional-development aisle.
FlexJobs screens remote, hybrid, freelance, and flexible listings so you are not wading through unverified ads. This is a job-board search for Shipping Clerk work, not a claim that they list a counted SOC 43-5071 inventory.
Write a Shipping Clerk resume, or one aimed at Cargo and Freight Agents, instead of a blank template. Resume Now is a resume builder; we are not claiming a counted template set for this SOC.
A Shipping Clerk resume that names the actual tasks on this page, or the step-up title Cargo and Freight Agents, beats a blank template when you apply.
What Shipping Clerks earn by state
These are the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ own figures for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks, state by state — not a cost-of-living adjustment applied to the national number. Only states employing at least 500 people in the occupation are shown, because a state median drawn from a handful of workers is noise rather than a signal.
Washington
$51,590
highest of them · +14% vs the national median
Puerto Rico
$26,050
lowest of the 53 states and territories that qualify · -42% vs the national median
The same job pays $25,540 more a year at the median in Washington than in Puerto Rico — 98% higher. That gap is what the Bureau measured, before any question of what it costs to live in either place. Washington also carries the top of this job’s range, $93,210 — the figure quoted at the head of this page.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 43-5071. 53 states and territories clear the 500-employee reporting floor for this occupation; those below it are left out rather than shown with a wide error band.
Free data. Use any of it.
PayCrunch publishes verified, BLS-sourced salary + AI-playbook data on 1,000+ professions — free, no signup.
The pure data-entry part of the job — keying labels, retyping addresses, manual carrier selection — is already being automated by shipping software, and that will keep shrinking. What isn't going away is judgment: resolving a customs hold, disputing a freight overcharge, deciding how to ship a damaged-in-transit reship, and owning compliance. If you stay a button-pusher, exposure is real. If you become the person who audits, routes, and complies, AI makes you more valuable, not less.
I don't do international shipping. Is compliance still worth learning?
Yes — it's the single biggest differentiator available to a shipping clerk. Very few clerks understand Incoterms, HTS classification, and denied-party screening, and the ones who do earn the coordinator and trade-compliance titles that top the pay band. Even a working knowledge makes you the person management turns to the first time an export order lands on the desk.
Is it safe to put shipping data into ChatGPT or Excel Copilot?
Only anonymized or sample data. Strip customer names, addresses, account numbers, and your company's negotiated rates before pasting anything into a consumer tool — those are confidential and, for personal data, legally protected. Ask AI to build the formula, explain the rule, or analyze de-identified rows, then run the real numbers inside your own systems.
How does using AI actually raise my pay when I'm hourly?
It changes what you're paid for. Recovered freight overcharges, documented cost savings, and clean compliance are numbers you can put in front of a manager, and they justify a coordinator or lead title that pays at the top of the range. AI is the leverage that lets one clerk produce those results without working nights.
Which tool should I learn first?
Your own shipping platform's automation and batch features — that's where daily speed and accuracy come from. Then add spreadsheet skills (Excel with Copilot or Google Sheets) for auditing and reporting, and use ChatGPT or Perplexity to teach yourself compliance. That order gives you a visible win fastest.
Methodology & sources
Salary (median, 10th, top of the range) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS.
By state — the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ own state medians, limited to states employing at least 500 people in the occupation. No cost-of-living arithmetic is applied to a wage anywhere on this page.
The plays — PayCrunch's own step-by-step guidance using publicly available AI tools. Tool names/URLs are real and current as of August 2026; prompts written to work as-is. Verify any professional output before relying on it.