What is a Dock Loader?
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.
Dock Loader Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of warehouse worker you might progress to a role such as technician eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title operations manager.
Average Salary for a Dock Loader
What Am I Worth?
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
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 1,775 | $36,136 |
| 2 | Pennsylvania | 1,242 | $40,256 |
| 3 | Illinois | 927 | $33,154 |
| 4 | Texas | 892 | $31,952 |
| 5 | Georgia | 886 | $30,385 |
| 6 | Ohio | 805 | $32,789 |
| 7 | Indiana | 775 | $33,419 |
| 8 | Florida | 739 | $33,053 |
| 9 | New Jersey | 723 | $35,549 |
| 10 | North Carolina | 634 | $31,941 |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 622 | $40,069 |
| 12 | Maryland | 550 | $35,048 |
| 13 | Tennessee | 548 | $36,342 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 512 | $35,711 |
| 15 | Minnesota | 467 | $32,401 |
| 16 | Virginia | 452 | $35,855 |
| 17 | Michigan | 448 | $33,216 |
| 18 | New York | 414 | $35,471 |
| 19 | Arizona | 401 | $34,756 |
| 20 | Kentucky | 375 | $37,091 |
| 21 | Missouri | 358 | $31,842 |
| 22 | Washington | 311 | $38,115 |
| 23 | Iowa | 274 | $36,372 |
| 24 | South Carolina | 255 | $31,519 |
| 25 | Kansas | 252 | $36,501 |
| 26 | Oregon | 223 | $31,248 |
| 27 | Alabama | 209 | $28,546 |
| 28 | Mississippi | 199 | $36,415 |
| 29 | Colorado | 182 | $37,621 |
| 30 | Utah | 179 | $36,710 |
| 31 | Arkansas | 147 | $31,964 |
| 32 | Nevada | 135 | $32,075 |
| 33 | Nebraska | 129 | $29,650 |
| 34 | Connecticut | 109 | $39,976 |
| 35 | Rhode Island | 91 | $32,673 |
| 36 | New Hampshire | 91 | $32,645 |
| 37 | Oklahoma | 89 | $30,630 |
| 38 | Idaho | 79 | $32,639 |
| 39 | Louisiana | 78 | $30,953 |
| 40 | Delaware | 56 | $32,067 |
| 41 | North Dakota | 53 | $37,670 |
| 42 | Vermont | 48 | $39,955 |
| 43 | West Virginia | 44 | $38,128 |
| 44 | South Dakota | 44 | $31,855 |
| 45 | Maine | 42 | $37,224 |
| 46 | New Mexico | 31 | $32,260 |
| 47 | Montana | 25 | $31,780 |
| 48 | Alaska | 15 | $37,404 |
| 49 | Hawaii | 13 | $34,419 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 6 | $32,151 |
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.
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.
Dock Loader diversity
Dock Loader Gender Distribution
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%.
Online Courses For Dock Loader That You May Like
1. Customer Analytics
Data about our browsing and buying patterns are everywhere. From credit card transactions and online shopping carts, to customer loyalty programs and user-generated ratings/reviews, there is a staggering amount of data that can be used to describe our past buying behaviors, predict future ones, and prescribe new ways to influence future purchasing decisions. In this course, four of Wharton’s top marketing professors will provide an overview of key areas of customer analytics: descriptive...
2. Customer Service, Customer Support, And Customer Experience
Customer service, customer support, and customer experience training. Loyal clients through world-class customer service...
3. Fundamentals of Logistics, Supply Chain & Customer Service
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How Do Dock Loaders Rate Their Jobs?
Top Dock Loader Employers
Most Common Employers For Dock Loader
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Natural Foods | $39,251 | $18.87 | 7 |
| 2 | KANE BEEF | $37,806 | $18.18 | 6 |
| 3 | Staples | $36,872 | $17.73 | 5 |
| 4 | Carpenter | $36,299 | $17.45 | 4 |
| 5 | UPS | $36,255 | $17.43 | 42 |
| 6 | R+L Carriers | $36,053 | $17.33 | 8 |
| 7 | McLane | $35,815 | $17.22 | 7 |
| 8 | Cascade Windows | $35,807 | $17.21 | 4 |
| 9 | Forward Air | $35,408 | $17.02 | 7 |
| 10 | Dollar General | $35,151 | $16.90 | 19 |
Dock Loader Videos
