However, evening, weekend, and holiday work is common because many service providers operate around the clock. Some employers rotate dispatchers among three shifts to divide daytime, weekend, and holiday work equally. Traffic, shipping, receiving, and stock clerks work in a wide variety of businesses, institutions, and industries. Some work in warehouses, stock rooms, or in shipping and receiving rooms that may not be temperature controlled. Others may spend time in cold storage rooms or outside on loading platforms, where they are exposed to the weather.
Most jobs involve frequent standing, bending, walking, stretching, lifting, and carrying.
Although many use mechanical material-handling equipment to move heavy items, the work still can be strenuous. The typical workweek is 40 hours, Monday through Friday, although evening and weekend hours are standard for some jobs and may be required in others when large shipments are involved or when inventory is taken. In 1994, material recording, scheduling, dispatching, and distributing workers held about 3,556,000 million jobs. Nearly 3 out of 4 material recording, scheduling, dispatching, and distributing jobs were in manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade. Although these workers are found throughout the country, most work near population centers where stores, warehouses, factories, and large communications centers are concentrated.