Read catalogs, microfiche viewers, or computer displays to determine replacement part stock numbers and prices.

“Read catalogs, microfiche viewers, or computer displays to determine replacement part stock numbers and prices.” is a core task performed by Parts Salespersons. Among the occupation's 19 rated tasks, workers place it 13th by importance (#7 most important). About 98% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Collect data about consumer needs or opinions. in Getting Information

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E1. Direct exposure — a language model could plausibly cut the time to do this task by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 1.00. Automation potential label: T3.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Receive payment or obtain credit authorization. · importance 4.7
• Assist customers, such as responding to customer complaints and updating them about back-ordered parts. · importance 4.6
• Fill customer orders from stock, and place orders when requested items are out of stock. · importance 4.6
• Receive and fill telephone orders for parts. · importance 4.6
• Locate and label parts, and maintain inventory of stock. · importance 4.5
• Prepare sales slips or sales contracts. · importance 4.5
• Determine replacement parts required, according to inspections of old parts, customer requests, or customers' descriptions of malfunctions. · importance 4.4
• Examine returned parts for defects, and exchange defective parts or refund money. · importance 4.3
• Manage shipments by researching shipping methods or costs and tracking packages. · importance 4.3
• Mark and store parts in stockrooms, according to prearranged systems. · importance 4.2
• Maintain and clean work and inventory areas. · importance 4.1
• Place new merchandise on display. · importance 4.1
• Advise customers on substitution or modification of parts when identical replacements are not available. · importance 4.0
• Discuss use and features of various parts, based on knowledge of machines or equipment. · importance 3.9

See all tasks on the Parts Salespersons page.

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.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

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

@misc{singulariki-task-2425,
  title  = {Read catalogs, microfiche viewers, or computer displays to determine replacement part stock numbers and prices.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-2425}
}