There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a dock loader. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.17 an hour? That's $33,639 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 156,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What Does a Dock Loader Do

There are certain skills that many dock loaders have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed customer-service skills, listening skills and physical strength.

How To Become a Dock Loader

If you're interested in becoming a dock loader, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 10.1% of dock loaders have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 0.3% of dock loaders have master's degrees. Even though some dock loaders have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Dock Loader

Dock Loader Career Paths

Average Salary for a Dock Loader

Dock Loaders in America make an average salary of $33,639 per year or $16 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $38,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $29,000 per year.
Average Dock Loader Salary
$33,639 Yearly
$16.17 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Dock Loader

There are several types of dock loader, including:

Forklift Operator

Role:

As a forklift operator, the majority of your time will be spent riding around on a forklift. You'll use it to move objects around so, unfortunately, there will be no time for any funny business. In fact, you'll probably need to follow some safety rules to ensure no one gets hurt.

There really aren't any formal education requirements, but you will probably need to be trained on how to operate the machine. Since products and materials are shipped at all times, you may need to stay late or even work an overnight shift from time to time.

And you better believe you'll get some overtime hours from being a forklift operator, which will be a nice little surprise when it's payday. Plus, did we mention you get to drive a forklift around. Sure, you have to be careful moving objects and trying to avoid running over your co-workers but, hey, at least you get to drive a forklift.

  • Average Salary: $34,213
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Material Handler

Role:

Material handlers, well, they handle materials. But you probably already knew that. Generally, the handling portion extends to moving, shelving, loading and unloading said materials. The materials can vary depending on what industry you're working in.

Materials aren't just shipped on a 9-5 schedule. The materials will arrive at any time of the day or night. So you may need to be prepared to work some overnight shifts. As a material handler, the only requirement to the job is being able to physically perform your job duties. So as long as you can do that, you won't have any problems handling material.

  • Average Salary: $33,215
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Loader

Role:

A loader is probably one of the coolest jobs that not everyone knows about. Their work is basically like a game of Tetris. Loading goods into trucks, according to the delivery schedule. If you love physical work and want to get an understanding of how logistic scheduling works, this can be a role that is eye-opening.

Daily, a loader is involved in activities such as maintaining inventory in warehouses, loading items into delivery trucks, and performing machine operations, such as pallet jackets and forklifts. Besides that, they ensure proper item storage and help to maintain warehouse cleanliness.

Employers require loaders to have a minimum of a high school diploma and they earn, on average, $14 per hour. Being a loader is suitable for individuals who want to specialize in the area of material handling.

  • Average Salary: $32,820
  • Degree: High School Diploma

States With The Most Dock Loader Jobs

Number Of Dock Loader Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California1,775$36,136
2Pennsylvania1,242$40,256
3Illinois927$33,154
4Texas892$31,952
5Georgia886$30,385
6Ohio805$32,789
7Indiana775$33,419
8Florida739$33,053
9New Jersey723$35,549
10North Carolina634$31,941
11Massachusetts622$40,069
12Maryland550$35,048
13Tennessee548$36,342
14Wisconsin512$35,711
15Minnesota467$32,401
16Virginia452$35,855
17Michigan448$33,216
18New York414$35,471
19Arizona401$34,756
20Kentucky375$37,091
21Missouri358$31,842
22Washington311$38,115
23Iowa274$36,372
24South Carolina255$31,519
25Kansas252$36,501
26Oregon223$31,248
27Alabama209$28,546
28Mississippi199$36,415
29Colorado182$37,621
30Utah179$36,710
31Arkansas147$31,964
32Nevada135$32,075
33Nebraska129$29,650
34Connecticut109$39,976
35Rhode Island91$32,673
36New Hampshire91$32,645
37Oklahoma89$30,630
38Idaho79$32,639
39Louisiana78$30,953
40Delaware56$32,067
41North Dakota53$37,670
42Vermont48$39,955
43West Virginia44$38,128
44South Dakota44$31,855
45Maine42$37,224
46New Mexico31$32,260
47Montana25$31,780
48Alaska15$37,404
49Hawaii13$34,419
50Wyoming6$32,151

Dock Loader Education

Dock Loader Majors

30.4 %

Dock Loader Degrees

High School Diploma

55.7 %

Associate

14.8 %

Diploma

14.8 %

Top Skills For a Dock Loader

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 29.1% of dock loaders listed pallet jack on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and listening skills are important as well.

  • Pallet Jack, 29.1%
  • Pallets, 23.7%
  • Basic Math, 9.9%
  • Cycle Counts, 6.9%
  • Safety Standards, 5.8%
  • Other Skills, 24.6%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Dock Loader Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Dock Loader templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Dock Loader resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Dock Loader diversity

Dock Loader Gender Distribution

Male
Male
94%
Female
Female
6%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among dock loaders, 6.2% of them are women, while 93.8% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among dock loaders is White, which makes up 62.8% of all dock loaders.

  • The most common foreign language among dock loaders is Spanish at 81.3%.

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Top Dock Loader Employers

Most Common Employers For Dock Loader

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1United Natural Foods$39,251$18.877
2KANE BEEF$37,806$18.186
3Staples$36,872$17.735
4Carpenter$36,299$17.454
5UPS$36,255$17.4342
6R+L Carriers$36,053$17.338
7McLane$35,815$17.227
8Cascade Windows$35,807$17.214
9Forward Air$35,408$17.027
10Dollar General$35,151$16.9019

Dock Loader Videos