How to hire a bagger

How to hire a bagger, step by step

Here's a step-by-step bagger hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a bagger job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new bagger
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a bagger do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a bagger, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a bagger to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a bagger that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of bagger salaries for various roles:

   Type of Bagger	Description	Hourly rate
   Bagger	Hand laborers and material movers manually move freight, stock, or other materials. Others feed or remove material to and from machines, clean vehicles, pick up unwanted household goods, and pack materials for moving.	$12-20
   Picker And Packer	Pickers and packers are warehouse employees, usually in the retail or manufacturing industry. They are primarily responsible for fulfilling orders for delivery... Show more	$11-18
   Assembler/Packer	In the manufacturing industry, an assembler/packer is primarily responsible for assembling components and packing products according to guidelines and protocols. They are responsible for understanding assembly instructions and schematics, operating tools and equipment, and developing safe and efficient strategies to accomplish production goals according to schedules... Show more	$10-16

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Groceries
   • Front End
   • Customer Vehicles
   • Customer Satisfaction
   • Customer Service
   • Store Shelves
   • Grocery Store
   • Customer Complaints
   • Stock Shelves
   • Pallet Jack
   • Package Processing Equipment
   • Customer Orders
   • Clean Bathrooms
   • Commissary

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Provide excellent customer service by bagging groceries and accompanying customers to their respective vehicles and offloading their groceries.
   • Provide cleaning and custodian assisting within the Kroger location.
   • Trash removal, wipe down tables and washer and dryers.
   • Sack and run checkout, light stocking and custodial work.
   • Retrieve carts from parking lot and bring them into Kroger's.
   • Bag at checkout, maintain work and public areas, stock shelves

   More bagger duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your bagger job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A bagger can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, baggers' average salary in louisiana is 39% less than in alaska.
   • Seniority. Entry-level baggers 36% less than senior-level baggers.
   • Certifications. A bagger with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a bagger's salary.

   Average bagger salary

   $16.40hourly

   $34,119 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level bagger salary

   $27,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 12, 2026

   Average bagger salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Wisconsin	$38,742	$19
   2	Massachusetts	$35,443	$17
   3	New York	$35,048	$17
   4	New Jersey	$34,353	$17
   5	Indiana	$34,256	$16
   6	Illinois	$33,401	$16
   7	Tennessee	$33,142	$16
   8	North Dakota	$32,608	$16
   9	Virginia	$29,412	$14
   10	North Carolina	$28,988	$14
   11	South Carolina	$26,846	$13
   12	Louisiana	$23,843	$11

   Average bagger salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	King's Hawaiian Enterprises, Inc.	$45,372	$21.81
   2	Southern States Cooperative	$44,503	$21.40
   3	Land O'Lakes	$44,181	$21.24
   4	Dairy Farmers of America	$44,168	$21.23	7
   5	Milk Specialties Global	$43,989	$21.15	1
   6	Alex Lee	$41,593	$20.00	3
   7	Schreiber Foods	$40,749	$19.59
   8	Ampi	$40,079	$19.27
   9	Meijer	$38,838	$18.67	12
   10	U.S. Silica	$38,818	$18.66
   11	Owens Corning	$38,006	$18.27
   12	Ferrara Candy	$37,528	$18.04
   13	Kroger	$36,925	$17.75	406
   14	Fairmount Santrol	$36,600	$17.60
   15	Tyson Foods	$36,253	$17.43	2
   16	Spark Talent Acquisition	$35,463	$17.05
   17	Leprino Foods	$35,393	$17.02
   18	QPS	$35,336	$16.99
   19	Dfa	$35,161	$16.90
   20	ShopRite Supermarkets Inc.	$35,038	$16.85

4. Writing a bagger job description

   A job description for a bagger role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a bagger job description:

   Bagger job description example

   This is a part time position. Primary responsibility is to Take Excellent Care Of Our Customers by satisfying each customer's needs, exceeding their expectations, and making every shopping visit a pleasant and satisfying experience. This requires following correct bagging procedures, providing carryout and parcel pickup service, loading merchandise into customer vehicles, and returning shopping carts into the store.
   
   To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Associates must be at least 16 years of age.
   
   PERSONAL SKILLS. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Willingness to participate in and successfully complete required training and to work with the team to increase customer satisfaction and sales.
   
   LANGUAGE SKILLS. Ability to read and comprehend simple instructions, short correspondence, and memos [in English]. Ability to write simple correspondence [in English]. Ability to effectively present information in one-on-one and small group situations to customers, clients, and other associates of the organization who only speak English.
   MATHEMATICAL SKILLS. Ability to add and subtract two digit numbers.
   
   REASONING ABILITY. Ability to apply commonsense understanding to carry out detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions. Ability to deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in standardized situations.
   
   CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS. Complete Company's training including but not limited to: new hire orientation, customer service network, safety, bagger technical skills, and product knowledge.
   
   PHYSICAL DEMANDS. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an individual to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the individual is regularly required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; talk or hear; and smell. The individual is occasionally required to climb or balance and stoop, kneel, or crouch. The individual must regularly lift and/or move up to 40 pounds and reach from 6 to 72 inches. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and depth perception.
   
   WORK ENVIRONMENT. The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an individual encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find baggers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your bagger job on Zippia to find and recruit bagger candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit baggers, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new bagger

   Once you've found the bagger candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a bagger?