Picker vs feeder

The differences between pickers and feeders can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a feeder has an average salary of $31,642, which is higher than the $30,779 average annual salary of a picker.

The top three skills for a picker include industrial trucks, pallets and electric pallet jack. The most important skills for a feeder are pallet jack, customer specifications, and safety standards.

Picker vs feeder overview

	Picker	Feeder
Yearly salary	$30,779	$31,642
Hourly rate	$14.80	$15.21
Growth rate	1%	6%
Number of jobs	177,748	695
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 57%	High School Diploma, 49%
Average age	38	42
Years of experience	-	-

What does a picker do?

Pickers are responsible for choosing the correct range of merchandise on the shelves based on the clients' orders. Pickers carefully prepare the items from the stock, ensuring that everything is free of any damage before shipping. They check the order sheets and confirm that the quality and quantity of the products are correct. Pickers' duties also include monitoring inventories, creating supply reports and shortages, returning defective items, operating warehouse equipment, and releasing orders on time.

What does a feeder do?

Feeders work on machines inside a factory, "feeding" or loading raw ingredients for the product they are supposed to make. They are typically also responsible for unloading the finished products. They test machines for damages, maintain them, and clean them. They may be responsible for using forklifts to deliver the ingredients to large conveyors and machines.

Picker vs feeder salary

Pickers and feeders have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Picker	Feeder
Average salary	$30,779	$31,642
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $37,000	Between $24,000 And $41,000
Highest paying City	Reno, NV	Brentwood, NY
Highest paying state	Oregon	New York
Best paying company	Schnitzer Steel	UPS
Best paying industry	Technology	Transportation

Differences between picker and feeder education

There are a few differences between a picker and a feeder in terms of educational background:

	Picker	Feeder
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 57%	High School Diploma, 49%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Picker vs feeder demographics

Here are the differences between pickers' and feeders' demographics:

	Picker	Feeder
Average age	38	42
Gender ratio	Male, 57.6% Female, 42.4%	Male, 54.5% Female, 45.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 6.5% White, 59.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 8.0% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.3%
LGBT Percentage	6%	10%

Differences between picker and feeder duties and responsibilities

Picker example responsibilities.

Used WMS and RF systems to pick and stage customer specify orders and lead a team of employees.
Operate an epj (electric pallet-jack) while using a rf hand hold scan gun under the red prairie system.
Pick merchandise for CVS stores fast and accurately.
Pick orders from a vocollect headset or a RF scanner.
Maintain the cleanliness, organization, and safety of the warehouse.
Sit down fork truck and also a stand up reach truck certification.

Feeder example responsibilities.

Fed spoons and forks into machine to be send out to different companies
Place finish product onto conveyors or into carts, dump slings of product onto work tables.
Rotate product first in first out (FIFO).
Operate 5-color 40"Komori!
Operate 6-color 26"Komori!
Run lines that produce plastic shrink bundling.

Picker vs feeder skills

Common picker skills

Industrial Trucks, 36%
Pallets, 11%
Electric Pallet Jack, 8%
Customer Orders, 8%
Stand-Up Forklift, 8%
RF Scanner, 7%

Common feeder skills

Pallet Jack, 27%
Customer Specifications, 19%
Safety Standards, 18%
Assembly Line, 11%
RAN, 5%
Tape Measure, 4%