What does a warehouse technician do?
A warehouse technician is responsible for monitoring the incoming and outgoing goods and services in the warehouse or distribution centers. Warehouse technicians verify shipment details, assist with packaging items, move merchandise to storage areas, inspect the quality of items for release, and escalate defective products for immediate replacement. They also operate various warehouse equipment and machinery, conduct maintenance repairs, and loading and unloading items from the delivery trucks. A warehouse technician must have excellent time-management and organizational skills, especially on processing orders and creating reports for inventory receipts.
Warehouse technician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real warehouse technician resumes:
- Manage all FEDEX shipments and advise solutions to shipment issues.
- Prep boxes for shipping (ex.
- Employ wide variety of hand and power tools including hoists and drills.
- Employ wide variety of basic hand and power tools including hoists, drills, precision measuring instruments and electronic testing devices.
- Consolidate and stage domestic freight onto pallets for major airlines to ship internationally.
- Improve order processing and inventory logistics by adding labels to bin locations for easier identification and determination of equipment on hand.
- Date merchandise with receive date, stock merchandise according to FIFO standards.
- Implement FIFO (first in first out) schedule, base on expiration date.
- Package and ship loaned weapons back to depot as well as assisted in shipment of sensitive items, CCI.
- Operate conveyor systems, pallet jacks and dollies to ensure products reach the correct locations for pickers to find.
- Operate power equipment including: order pickers, tuggers, reach trucks, and counterbalance forklifts.
Warehouse technician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Warehouse Technicians are proficient in Customer Service, Pallets, and Customer Orders. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Math skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Warehouse Technicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 10%
Provide excellent internal/external customer service/phone reception.
- Pallets, 7%
Consolidated and staged domestic freight onto pallets for major airlines to ship internationally.
- Customer Orders, 6%
Ensured customer orders were adequately filled, wrapped and labeled for outgoing delivery.
- Warehouse Environment, 5%
Experienced working safely in a fast-paced warehouse environment handling heavy packages.
- Shipping Receiving, 5%
Warehouse duties include order pulling, shipping receiving, labeling, stocking, inventory and locating.
- Logistics, 4%
Improved order processing and inventory logistics by adding labels to bin locations for easier identification and determination of equipment on hand.
Common skills that a warehouse technician uses to do their job include "customer service," "pallets," and "customer orders." You can find details on the most important warehouse technician responsibilities below.
Detail oriented. One of the key soft skills for a warehouse technician to have is detail oriented. You can see how this relates to what warehouse technicians do because "material and product inspecting clerks check items for defects, some of which are small and difficult to spot." Additionally, a warehouse technician resume shows how warehouse technicians use detail oriented: "sanitized facilities and maintained overall cleanliness and order organized food donations with close attention to detail"
Math skills. Many warehouse technician duties rely on math skills. "some material recording clerks use math to calculate shipping costs or take measurements.," so a warehouse technician will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways warehouse technician responsibilities rely on math skills: "job requirements able to lift 50 pounds basic math and language skills sound administrative and communication skills ability to manage time successfully"
Communication skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of warehouse technicians is communication skills. This skill is critical to many everyday warehouse technician duties, as "production, planning, and expediting clerks are frequently in contact with suppliers, vendors, and production managers and need to communicate the firm’s scheduling needs effectively." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "shipped equipment such as hazardous materials (hazmat), environmental water-ground samples, testing equipment, communications equipment, etc. "
Customer-service skills. For certain warehouse technician responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "customer-service skills." The day-to-day duties of a warehouse technician rely on this skill, as "stock clerks sometimes interact with customers in retail stores and may have to get the item the customer is looking for from the storeroom." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what warehouse technicians do: "worked directly with finance to resolve customer discrepancies on shipped medications through verification of inventory cycle counts. "
The three companies that hire the most warehouse technicians are:
- Belle Tire987 warehouse technicians jobs
- PSCU
50 warehouse technicians jobs
- Reno, NV44 warehouse technicians jobs
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Compare different warehouse technicians
Warehouse technician vs. Material handler/warehouse
A warehouse material handler is responsible for assisting warehouse operations, moving merchandise from one place to another, labeling products, performing quality check procedures, packaging goods, and loading and unloading items from distribution vehicles. Warehouse material handlers operate warehouse tools and equipment for production, as well as ensuring the adequacy of stock inventory needed for orders and deliveries. A warehouse material handler also updates product information on the database and do administrative tasks, such as writing reports and responding to customers' inquiries and concerns.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, warehouse technician responsibilities require skills like "logistics," "data entry," "patients," and "strong customer service." Meanwhile a typical material handler/warehouse has skills in areas such as "work ethic," "supply support," "production schedules," and "math." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Material handler/warehouses tend to make the most money working in the manufacturing industry, where they earn an average salary of $34,722. In contrast, warehouse technicians make the biggest average salary, $36,898, in the manufacturing industry.On average, material handler/warehouses reach similar levels of education than warehouse technicians. Material handler/warehouses are 0.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Warehouse technician vs. General warehouse worker
A general warehouse worker takes responsibility for doing various duties in warehousing. General warehouse workers receive and process incoming materials and stock, pick and file orders, and pack and ship these orders. The workers manage, organize, and retrieve stocks from the warehouse. They make sure that the orders are picked up and/or delivered on time. It is expected from them to have working experience in the job. They have to be proficient in terms of inventory software, systems, and databases. Among the other necessary skills for this career are time management, analytical, communication, and good organizational skills.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real warehouse technician resumes. While warehouse technician responsibilities can utilize skills like "customer service," "shipping receiving," "logistics," and "data entry," general warehouse workers use skills like "safety rules," "inbound trucks," "math," and "order processing."
General warehouse workers earn a lower average salary than warehouse technicians. But general warehouse workers earn the highest pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $34,273. Additionally, warehouse technicians earn the highest salaries in the manufacturing with average pay of $36,898 annually.In general, general warehouse workers achieve similar levels of education than warehouse technicians. They're 0.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Warehouse technician vs. Warehouse shipping clerk
A driver/warehouse worker is responsible for transporting goods and services from the warehouse or distribution center to specific destinations based on the delivery details. Driver/warehouse workers assist in loading and unloading items from delivery trucks, storing merchandise to the appropriate warehouse areas, operating various warehouse tools and equipment, and inspecting the delivery vehicle for any engine defects that might cause delays. They also check the inventory report to ensure the correct quantity of items and escalate customers' complaints to the warehouse management for immediate resolution, such as product replacement or issuing refunds.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a warehouse technician is likely to be skilled in "customer service," "warehouse environment," "logistics," and "patients," while a typical warehouse shipping clerk is skilled in "pallet jack," "ups," "rf scanner," and "fed-ex."
Warehouse shipping clerks make a very good living in the automotive industry with an average annual salary of $35,441. On the other hand, warehouse technicians are paid the highest salary in the manufacturing industry, with average annual pay of $36,898.Most warehouse shipping clerks achieve a similar degree level compared to warehouse technicians. For example, they're 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Warehouse technician vs. Driver/warehouse worker
Types of warehouse technician
Updated January 8, 2025
