Packer job description
104 verified openings in Warehouse Associate
The word hand in packers and packagers, hand is doing real work: it separates this occupation from machine packing, and it marks the lowest paid job on the warehouse floor. BLS put the May 2025 median at $36,280, the tenth percentile at $27,890 and the ninetieth at $47,100, across a workforce of 555,500 in 2025. BLS has the broader group it belongs to, hand laborers and material movers, 6,917,800 jobs in all, growing 4 percent to 2035.
Core Duties and Responsibilities
Examining containers, materials, and finished product to confirm that quality and packing specifications are met comes before anything else, ahead of measuring, weighing, and counting. After that comes recording product, packaging, and order information on set forms, sealing containers with glue, fasteners, nails, and hand tools, assembling and padding cartons and crates, marking and labeling, and cleaning containers and the work area. Moving completed or defective product onto a conveyor or over to a loading dock rates high on the supplemental list.
Common Skills and Technologies
An occupation whose first job is checking the pack against spec puts Monitoring ahead of the rest of the skill list and carries Quality Control Analysis, which few warehouse roles do. Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Coordination follow. The technology is thin because the work is hand tools and a scale: SAP in the larger plants, Microsoft Office everywhere else, and inventory management software behind both.
Education, Training, and Career Path
Job Zone Two, no formal educational requirement, and short-term training given on the job. The reported education is the least credentialed on this board: just over half hold a high school diploma or GED, about a third have less than that, and the rest report some college. The nearby occupations pay better and are reachable from a pack line. Laborers and material movers sit at $40,240, and industrial truck and tractor operators $46,420 once an employer certifies you on a lift.
Sources: O*NET 30.0, 53-7064.00 Packers and Packagers, Hand, https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/53-7064.00. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, 53-7064, https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Hand Laborers and Material Movers, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/hand-laborers-and-material-movers.htm.