Shipper/Receiver

A Shipper/Receiver works in a business or warehouse, and primarily takes responsibility for items and materials moving in and out of inventory. Most of the time, a Shipper/Receiver works in a dedicated shipping/receiving area that — depending on the size of the shipments — may incorporate a shipping dock to help trucks load or unload more rapidly.

As part of your work as a Shipper/Receiver, you receive orders for items or materials to be sent out, and sign for shipments that others have sent to your business or warehouse.

For outbound shipments, you may or may not be responsible for finding and retrieving the items to be sent. But in any case, you’re responsible for selecting the proper shipping containers to hold the items going to a single address, packing the items carefully, sealing the containers, generating and affixing the shipping labels, and — if you’re shipping by U.S. Postal Service — attaching the necessary postage. For most other carriers, someone other than you handles the shipping costs.

For each shipment, you must retain the proper paperwork so you can later account for the items you sent. This paperwork is also important if you’re later asked to prove that you sent certain items to certain destinations on certain dates.

As shipments arrive, you’re responsible for preparing space to hold them, opening and unpacking their contents, and verifying that the items you actually received correspond to the items expected or ordered. Depending on how your organization is structured, you may also be responsible for shelving the items in their assigned inventory locations.