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Useful experience for storepeople includes:

• retail work
• work as a courier
• truck or forklift driving
• devanning (unloading shipping containers)
• taking inventories (checking how much stock is held in a warehouse).

For those wanting to get into management roles, any supervisory or management experience is useful.

Storepeople may do some or all of the following:

• receive and unpack incoming goods
• make and take orders for goods
• assemble and pack outgoing orders, and send them out
• check the quantity and quality of goods coming in, and going out
• create and check invoices and keep records up to date
• keep track of stock
• drive a forklift or use a pallet jack to unload or move goods.

More storepeople needed as imports and exports grow

Demand for storepeople is strong because:

• imports and exports are increasing, which means more storepeople are needed to process incoming and outgoing goods at warehouses and businesses
• the occupation is large

According to the Census, 26,610 storepeople worked in New Zealand in 2018.

Casual storeperson work may lead to full-time employment

Many people get into warehousing jobs by starting as casual workers, who are often hired during peak seasons such as Christmas. Casual work often leads to full-time employment.

Opportunities better for storepeople with experience in logistics

Demand is higher for storepeople and managers with experience in logistics (buying, storing and delivering goods), especially at the bulk or wholesale level, as warehousing is increasingly done from national rather then regional warehouses.

Types of employers varied

Storepeople work for large warehousing and distribution firms, or in the storerooms or warehouses at a range of companies and organisations. These include:

• retail stores such as supermarkets and hardware stores
• importing or exporting companies
• freight and logistics companies
• food or drink wholesalers
• machinery or equipment wholesalers
• storage companies
• building suppliers
• government departments.

Storepeople may progress to become supervisors, or store/warehouse managers.

Storepeople may also specialise as a:

Contract Warehousing Worker/Manager

Contract warehouse workers/managers work in warehouses that provide space for companies without their own warehouses. This means they may deal with a wide variety of products and many freight companies.

Inventory Control Manager

Inventory control managers work in warehouses and keep track of goods on hand and ensure the warehouse has adequate stock at all times.

Storepeople need to be:

• accurate, with an eye for detail
• honest and reliable
• able to work well in a team.