From bread to soft drinks to toothpaste, the products you find on store shelves have been placed there by one of the legions of driver-sales workers employed by nearly every company with a product to sell in a retail store. In some businesses, a salesperson persuades a store to buy the product, a driver delivers it, and the store owner has the items unpacked and placed on the shelves.

A driver-sales worker combines all these functions, which means that at many stores, the driver-sales worker is the company. The individual's responsiveness to complaints, the quality of service, and the ability to give store owners, buyers, and managers what they want are crucial.

So too, is being alert to anything that might get a customer to stock more of the company's products, since more product means everyone - including the driver sales worker - will make more money. Driver-sales workers operate vans and light trucks. They load and unload products. But their most important job is to represent their companies, sell their products, and provide friendly and attentive service to their customers.