How To Become A Return Clerk: What It Is and Career Path

What is a return clerk and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a return clerk. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.29 an hour? That's $31,808 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -38,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreReturn ClerkUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $31,808

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.84%

Asian 6.91%

Black or African American 11.41%

Hispanic or Latino 20.29%

Unknown 4.19%

White 56.37%

Gender

female 68.98%

male 31.02%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a return clerk

Explore return clerk education requirements

Most common return clerk degrees

High School Diploma

37.7 %

Associate

25.4 %

Bachelor's

19.0 %

Start to develop specific return clerk skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	21.09%
Data Entry	16.83%
RF Scanner	6.57%
Vendor Returns	5.81%
Computer System	5.55%

Complete relevant return clerk training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New return clerks 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 return clerk based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real return clerk resumes.

Research return clerk duties and responsibilities

Manage all aspects of verifying incoming items and outgoing customer material release orders (MRO )
Enter data from product returns to insure proper credit using AS400.
Process and ship all recall merchandise using RMA numbers to receive credit.
Search IBM AS400 database to ensure accurate refund payment and inventory entry.

Prepare your return clerk resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your return clerk 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 return clerk resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable return clerk resume templates

Build a professional return clerk 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 return clerk resume.