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Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers

Occupation · SOC 41-9091.00

Sell goods or services door-to-door or on the street.

Also called: Direct Sales Coach · Door-to-Door Sales Trainer · Independent Sales Associate · Independent Sales Representative · Independent Beauty Consultant · Independent Distributor · Sales Representative (Sales Rep) · Street Vendor · Balloon Seller · Beauty Consultant · Beauty Counselor · Book Agent

Job family: Sales and Related Occupations

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Download .md

A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch /roles/role-41-9091-00/context.md directly.

AI work map

A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.

Often handed to AI

Task areas most often handled directively in observed AI conversations — candidates to delegate with light review.

  • Answer questions about product features and benefits. · 9.3%
  • Develop prospect lists. · 0.7%
See how AI is used here →

Use as a copilot

Task areas where people work with AI — iterating, learning, or checking — staying in the loop rather than handing the task off.

  • Explain products or services and prices and demonstrate use of products. · 5.9%
See collaboration patterns →

Keep a human in the loop

Task areas where a human was still judged necessary in a large share of observed conversations — not a safety ruling, an observed-need signal.

  • Answer questions about product features and benefits. · 99.9% need a human
  • Explain products or services and prices and demonstrate use of products. · 99.7% need a human
  • Develop prospect lists. · 95.4% need a human
See the boundary tasks →

64th-percentile task overlap — yet about 2,700 openings a year (-10% projected, BLS), and observed AI use leans 5963% copilot, not hand-off (AEI) . What exposure means →

AI & job outlook

What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.

Exposure to current AI

Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.

Measure Rank vs all occupations Percentile Score
Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) High 79th 1.1
LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Moderate 35th 0.3
AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) High 82nd 0.3

OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.2), with simple added tooling (β 0.3), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.3). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.

This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.

Historical automation estimate (2013)

A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.

Frey–Osborne probability 0.9 · 86th percentile among occupations · High

How AI is actually used in this job

Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.

Answer questions about product features and benefits. 1.2%
Explain products or services and prices and demonstrate use of products. 0.5%

Job outlook

Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.

Outlook Declining · -10.0% by 2034
Projected annual openings 2,700
Employment 2024 → 2034 25,300 → 22,800

“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.

Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient

The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international 4 occupations below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.

33% mean task exposure (2025)
61st percentile of 427 placed occupations
+0 pts shift 2023 → 2025
International occupation (ISCO-08) Task exposure (2025) Most tasks fall in
Door-to-door Salespersons · 5243 46% Gradient 2
Stall and Market Salespersons · 5211 35% Gradient 1
Street Food Salespersons · 5212 22% Not exposed
Street Vendors (excluding Food) · 9520 20% Not exposed

Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.

Working with AI in this job

How people actually apply AI to this occupation's tasks, from Claude.ai (Free and Pro) conversations in the Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15. This is one AI assistant's consumer sample — not all AI, not the whole workforce. Autonomy and the collaboration mix are model-rated estimates; figures below the sample floor are hidden.

Augmentation vs. automation 59.6% working with AI · 36.9% handed to AI
Most common way people use AI here Learning · you ask AI to explain or teach
Typical AI autonomy 4.0 / 5 · higher = AI acts more independently
Used for work (vs. personal / coursework) 12.0%

What people delegate to AI

The role's most common tasks in AI conversations, each tagged with how people work with the AI on it. “Usage” is the share of observed conversations, not of the job.

Task How Usage
Answer questions about product features and benefits. Directive 9.3%
Explain products or services and prices and demonstrate use of products. Learning 5.9%
Develop prospect lists. Directive 0.7%

Where a human is still needed

Tasks where the model most often judged that a person remained necessary — a useful read on the current boundary, not a guarantee.

Answer questions about product features and benefits. 99.9%
Explain products or services and prices and demonstrate use of products. 99.7%
Develop prospect lists. 95.4%

What people most often hand AI here

Example prompts phrased from the tasks people most often delegate to AI in this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index). Each shows the underlying measured task and its share of observed AI use. They are suggested phrasings of real tasks — starting points, not endorsed instructions.

  • Help me answer questions about product features and benefits.

    From: Answer questions about product features and benefits. · 9.3% of measured AI use · directive

  • Help me explain products or services and prices and demonstrate use of products.

    From: Explain products or services and prices and demonstrate use of products. · 5.9% of measured AI use · learning

  • Help me develop prospect lists.

    From: Develop prospect lists. · 0.7% of measured AI use · directive

Tasks

All 12 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.

Emerging tasks

Newer responsibilities O*NET has flagged as growing for this occupation.

  • Contact customers to ensure their satisfaction with products or services.
  • Train new recruits or other employees.

Work activities

Knowledge, skills & abilities

O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service 4.4
Sales and Marketing 4.2
English Language 3.3
Administrative 3.0
Administration and Management 3.0
Education and Training 2.6
Personnel and Human Resources 2.5
Psychology 2.4

Essential skills

Speaking 4.0
Active Listening 3.4
Reading Comprehension 3.0
Writing 2.9
Critical Thinking 2.9
Monitoring 2.8
Active Learning 2.6

Transferable skills

Persuasion 4.0
Social Perceptiveness 3.8
Service Orientation 3.6
Coordination 3.3
Negotiation 3.3
Judgment and Decision Making 3.0
Time Management 2.8
Complex Problem Solving 2.6
Instructing 2.4

Abilities

Oral Expression 4.0
Oral Comprehension 3.9
Speech Recognition 3.5
Speech Clarity 3.5
Written Expression 3.1
Written Comprehension 3.0
Information Ordering 3.0
Fluency of Ideas 2.9
Originality 2.9
Problem Sensitivity 2.9
Deductive Reasoning 2.9
Near Vision 2.9
Inductive Reasoning 2.8
Category Flexibility 2.5
Selective Attention 2.5
Time Sharing 2.5

Skills in demand

Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.

Tools & technology

Example Category
Facebook Web page creation and editing software Hot technology
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet software Hot technology
Microsoft Office software Office suite software Hot technology
Route mapping software Route navigation software
Web browser software Internet browser software

Work context

How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.

Freedom to Make Decisions 4.8
Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals 4.8
Deal With External Customers or the Public in General 4.7
Telephone Conversations 4.5
E-Mail 4.5
Contact With Others 4.5
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams 4.1
Public Speaking 3.7
Physical Proximity 3.7
Level of Competition 3.2
Written Letters and Memos 3.1
Spend Time Standing 3.1
Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team 3.0
Time Pressure 3.0
Spend Time Sitting 3.0
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate 3.0
Coordinate or Lead Others in Accomplishing Work Activities 2.9
Frequency of Decision Making 2.9
Indoors, Environmentally Controlled 2.8
In an Enclosed Vehicle or Operate Enclosed Equipment 2.8
Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People 2.7
Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results 2.6
Conflict Situations 2.5
Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls 2.4
Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers 2.2
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks 2.0
Degree of Automation 1.9
Indoors, Not Environmentally Controlled 1.8
Exposed to Sounds, Noise Levels that are Distracting or Uncomfortable 1.8
Outdoors, Under Cover 1.8
Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions 1.8
Exposed to Very Hot or Cold Temperatures 1.7
Spend Time Walking or Running 1.7
Health and Safety of Other Workers 1.7
Outdoors, Exposed to All Weather Conditions 1.6
Exposed to Extremely Bright or Inadequate Lighting Conditions 1.6
Spend Time Bending or Twisting Your Body 1.5
Exposed to Minor Burns, Cuts, Bites, or Stings 1.5
Exposed to Contaminants 1.5
Exposed to Cramped Work Space, Awkward Positions 1.5

How to get in

Job zone
Zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
Education
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Typical entry-level education
No formal educational credential · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
Related experience
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Preparation level
SVP (Below 6.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.

Education of current workers

Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.

Less than a High School Diploma 56.5%
High School Diploma 43.5%

Interests & work styles

The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.

Interest areas

Sales 6.8
Marketing/Advertising 3.4
Public Speaking 3.0
Management/Administration 2.1
Physical/Manual Labor 2.0
Business Initiatives 2.0

Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)

Enterprising 5.5
Conventional 4.7
Realistic 3.6
Social 2.8
Artistic 2.0

Work styles

Achievement Orientation 5.0
Social Orientation 4.0
Perseverance 3.0
Optimism 2.7
Self-Confidence 2.4

Wages & employment

U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)

$23k10th$31k25th$35kMedian$43k75th$56k90th
Annual wages by percentile — U.S. (BLS OEWS). The light band spans the 10th–90th percentile; the darker band is the middle half (25th–75th); the line is the median.
25k202423k2034 (proj.)-10.0% · Declining
Projected U.S. employment, 2024–2034 (BLS Employment Projections). A labor-market forecast for the occupation, not an AI-impact forecast.
10th percentile $23,440
25th percentile $31,200
Median (50th) $34,530
75th percentile $42,970
90th percentile $55,970
People employed 4,590

Industries that employ this occupation

Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.

Industry Workers National median pay
Information · Sector 1,310 $26,250
Construction · Sector 1,050 $33,860
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 940 $40,640
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector 340 $41,830
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors · National industry 250 $36,480
Wholesale Trade · Sector 210 $38,800
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation · Sector 100 $33,880
Retail Trade · Sector — $33,230
Landscaping Services · National industry — $34,530
Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector — $53,320

Where this work is most concentrated

Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).

Industry Concentration Workers
Information · Sector 15.13× 1,310
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors · National industry 7.83× 250
Construction · Sector 4.34× 1,050
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 3.5× 940
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation · Sector 1.27× 100
Wholesale Trade · Sector 1.17× 210
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector 1.06× 340

Part of the Marketing & Sales career cluster.

Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers sits at the 64th percentile of AI task-overlap and the 3rd percentile of median pay, placed here against 11 adjacent occupations on the same two axes. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers Driver/Sales Workers Cashiers Demonstrators and Product Promoters Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products Advertising Sales Agents Order Clerks AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
AI task-overlap percentile (horizontal) vs. median-pay percentile (vertical), across all scored occupations. This occupation is highlighted; related occupations are plotted alongside it. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation.

Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.

What you can do with this

Options the data surfaces for Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.

Skills that travel

Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.

Adjacent roles

Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.

Paths in

How people typically prepare for this work.

Zoom out

On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 61st percentile of 427 international occupations.

Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation

Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers show 64th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 2,700 annual U.S. openings

  • Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers rank in the 64th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
  • The occupation is projected to see about 2,700 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • BLS projects employment to be declining (-10%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • Median annual pay is $34,530, across about 4,590 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
  • Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 60% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census.2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2
Copy the whole kit
Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers show 64th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 2,700 annual U.S. openings

• Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers rank in the 64th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE)
• The occupation is projected to see about 2,700 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• BLS projects employment to be declining (-10%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• Median annual pay is $34,530, across about 4,590 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024))
• Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 60% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census. (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2)

Source: Singulariki — "Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-41-9091-00
Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom

Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-41-9091-00

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-41-9091-00

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-role-41-9091-00,
  title  = {Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-41-9091-00}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.

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