How To Become A Freight Associate: What It Is and Career Path

What is a freight associate and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Freight Associates are like the working elves of retail stores and warehouses. They put items on display, keep stock of inventory, and provide a pleasant shopping experience to their customers. While attention to detail and organizational skills are necessary for a Freight Associate's daily duties, it's a penchant for customer service that will make you truly rise above the rest.

Freight Associates don't need to have a college education. A high school diploma or GED is enough to get you through the door. However, degrees in Business, Criminal Justice, and Accounting tend to give you an edge. Still, prior customer service or warehouse work experience will often give you a more significant advantage in the job market.

On average, Freight Associates in the United States earn a yearly salary of roughly about $51,597. That's more or less $24 an hour. But what if you want to cash in a bigger paycheck? In that case, there are plenty of opportunities for career advancement. Freight Associates often move on to more lucrative positions such as Warehouse Worker, Technician, or Foreman.

ScoreFreight AssociateUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $32,103

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.4

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.21%

Asian 5.99%

Black or African American 13.00%

Hispanic or Latino 20.20%

Unknown 5.45%

White 54.16%

Gender

female 25.03%

male 74.97%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.7

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a freight associate

Explore freight associate education requirements

Most common freight associate degrees

High School Diploma

39.8 %

Bachelor's

25.0 %

Associate

19.5 %

Start to develop specific freight associate skills

Skills	Percentages
Sales Floor	41.65%
Cleanliness	41.57%
Customer Service	5.16%
Sort Merchandise	2.94%
Store Merchandise	1.65%

Complete relevant freight associate training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New freight associates learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a freight associate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real freight associate resumes.

Research freight associate duties and responsibilities

Operate a wide variety of lift equipment.
Work at the MSP airport sorting and loading air containers to assure proper delivery.
Job duties include receiving and unloading freight, pulling pallets to the floor after separating.
Specialize in use of RF equipment to determine sign needs by fixture for particular ad events.

Prepare your freight associate resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your freight associate resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a freight associate resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable freight associate resume templates

Build a professional freight associate resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your freight associate resume.