What is a Sorter/Packer?
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a sorter/packer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.75 an hour? That's $30,672 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 156,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Sorter/Packer Do
There are certain skills that many sorter/packers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed hand-eye coordination, listening skills and physical strength.
How To Become a Sorter/Packer
If you're interested in becoming a sorter/packer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 7.2% of sorter/packers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 0.4% of sorter/packers have master's degrees. Even though some sorter/packers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Sorter/Packer Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a sorter/packer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as sorter, progress to a title such as technician and then eventually end up with the title warehouse manager.
Average Salary for a Sorter/Packer
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Sorter/Packer
There are several types of sorter/packer, including:
Packer
Role:
Generally assigned to a specific area of the warehouse, they search for the required item in their neck of the woods. They confirm the products meet quality standards before packaging them for shipment. They clean, load, and label containers and arrange them on vessels or vehicles.
It is the packers' responsibility to keep the warehouse organized, to maintain a clean and secure working area that is always up to speed with safety regulations, and to report any mechanical problems they note.
The ideal packer displays physical strength and stamina as well as an affinity for detailed observation and an organized and disciplined mind.
- Average Salary: $30,118
- Degree: High School Diploma
Picker And Packer
Role:
An appropriate rotation of products in a warehouse is essential, and packers see to it that this is maintained. They perform quality checks regularly, as well and report any problems they might come across. A clean warehouse is a safe warehouse, and packers are expected to live by this motto.
They use specific equipment to handle large products and to manage the large spaces of a warehouse. Forklifts, pallet wrappers, and dolly loaders are at their disposal, which they need to be able to operate safely and report any mechanical issues if they occur.
- Average Salary: $30,841
- Degree: High School Diploma
Sorter
Role:
There are factories all over the U.S. that are in need of sorters. Someone has to be able to sort items during the production process. But even more than that, you'll need to move those items to trucks that will deliver them to the right place.
So, as you can tell, this sorter job is serious business. Without you, how else would kids get the bike of their dreams for Christmas? Or how would paper towels make it into the homes of messy eaters? The short answer is that they wouldn't. And what a sad world it would be without you, a sorter.
- Average Salary: $31,465
- Degree: High School Diploma
States With The Most Sorter/Packer Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active sorter/packer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where sorter/packers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Sorter/Packer Jobs By State
Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | New Jersey | 1,352 | $31,214 |
2 | Pennsylvania | 847 | $31,429 |
3 | California | 428 | $31,343 |
4 | Ohio | 344 | $30,743 |
5 | Illinois | 303 | $29,462 |
6 | Michigan | 278 | $24,589 |
7 | Indiana | 221 | $37,470 |
8 | Massachusetts | 220 | $32,581 |
9 | Wisconsin | 209 | $31,478 |
10 | New York | 197 | $36,075 |
11 | Kentucky | 181 | $30,941 |
12 | Tennessee | 174 | $28,905 |
13 | Georgia | 171 | $29,827 |
14 | Texas | 162 | $27,733 |
15 | Iowa | 152 | $31,605 |
16 | Minnesota | 141 | $33,356 |
17 | Arizona | 138 | $30,730 |
18 | Florida | 135 | $22,926 |
19 | Virginia | 134 | $28,451 |
20 | Maryland | 131 | $32,824 |
21 | North Carolina | 131 | $28,739 |
22 | Missouri | 89 | $29,585 |
23 | Kansas | 74 | $35,030 |
24 | Rhode Island | 48 | $30,898 |
25 | Nevada | 45 | $33,761 |
26 | Colorado | 41 | $33,033 |
27 | North Dakota | 35 | $33,741 |
28 | Utah | 34 | $32,863 |
29 | Washington | 34 | $34,269 |
30 | Alabama | 28 | $27,898 |
31 | Mississippi | 26 | $31,035 |
32 | Connecticut | 26 | $32,192 |
33 | Maine | 24 | $35,483 |
34 | New Hampshire | 21 | $34,910 |
35 | South Carolina | 20 | $27,252 |
36 | Oregon | 19 | $32,188 |
37 | Idaho | 19 | $27,885 |
38 | Nebraska | 17 | $29,914 |
39 | Delaware | 13 | $32,583 |
40 | Arkansas | 13 | $28,380 |
41 | Oklahoma | 11 | $26,915 |
42 | Louisiana | 9 | $30,190 |
43 | Vermont | 7 | $36,710 |
44 | Montana | 4 | $34,164 |
45 | West Virginia | 3 | $32,796 |
46 | South Dakota | 2 | $31,695 |
47 | Alaska | 2 | $32,453 |
48 | New Mexico | 1 | $31,550 |
49 | Wyoming | 0 | $30,874 |
50 | Hawaii | 0 | $28,902 |
Top Skills For a Sorter/Packer
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 27.6% of sorter/packers listed defective products on their resume, but soft skills such as hand-eye coordination and listening skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Sorter/Packer Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Sorter/Packer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Sorter/Packer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Sorter/Packer Demographics
Sorter/Packer Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among sorter/packers, 58.6% of them are women, while 41.4% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among sorter/packers is Hispanic or Latino, which makes up 42.0% of all sorter/packers.
- The most common foreign language among sorter/packers is Spanish at 92.8%.
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See More on UdemyBest States For a Sorter/Packer
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a sorter/packer. The best states for people in this position are Indiana, Vermont, New York, and Maine. Sorter/packers make the most in Indiana with an average salary of $37,470. Whereas in Vermont and New York, they would average $36,710 and $36,075, respectively. While sorter/packers would only make an average of $35,483 in Maine, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Indiana
$37,470
Avg. Salary
2. Kansas
$35,030
Avg. Salary
3. North Dakota
$33,741
Avg. Salary
How Do Sorter/Packer Rate Their Jobs?
Top Sorter/Packer Employers
Most Common Employers For Sorter/Packer
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Amazon | $33,943 | $16.32 | 653 |
2 | FedEx | $32,890 | $15.81 | 124 |
3 | UPS | $32,534 | $15.64 | 372 |
4 | Waste Management | $32,428 | $15.59 | 29 |
5 | OnTrac | $32,150 | $15.46 | 33 |
6 | Fort Gordon | $32,013 | $15.39 | 20 |
7 | Nike | $31,977 | $15.37 | 21 |
8 | Pactiv | $31,670 | $15.23 | 28 |
9 | Technicolor | $30,643 | $14.73 | 35 |
10 | Integrity Staffing | $30,161 | $14.50 | 53 |