Pick and pack is an important part of any product distribution service.
The process of filling orders in a warehouse or other product shipping environment requires the services of employees to fulfill the inventory requests. This process is known as "pick and pack" and it entails a combination of accuracy in count, familiarity with the products and expediency
Basic Requirements
In most cases, a high school diploma or GED equivalent is required for a pick-and-pack position. Many employers will be satisfied if this is the extent of a person's educational background, as long as a prospective employee has some relevant experience in a shipping or order fulfillment environment. Otherwise, some on-the-job training will be required to teach the employee the ins and outs of filling an order properly.
Related Job Experience
This aspect refers to any previous experience a person might have in filling orders and packaging products for dispersal, either in a shipping and receiving department or in a bulk order warehouse that deals in wholesale distribution. Examples of this type of experience could include work in an automotive parts warehouse as an order filler, work for a paper supply company filling empty cases with reams of printer paper or work in a small confection store filling boxes with candy products.
General Description
The basic job description for a pick-and-pack position depends on a set routine of order fulfillment that assumes a familiarity with the products. The routine consists of several steps, starting with pulling the items off the shelf. The next step is sorting the items and recounting to make sure all the products on the order request are ready to be packed. A final inspection to ensure quality control is next, followed by the packing of the shipping container, which includes filling all voids for a secure shipment. In some operations, the employee is responsible for labeling and addressing the container, as well as transporting the container to the staging area of the shipping department.
More Involved Jobs
Some companies have very precise order fulfillment methods that require other skills besides proper counting and packaging. This is especially true for operations that handle technical products. One example of this would be a position with a medical supply company. The pick-and-pack employee would be required to not only be accurate in her count, but in verifying the status of the items being packed. Many medical supplies are monitored as to their date of manufacture and the pick-and-pack employee will have to be able to verify this information by checking expiration dates, lot numbers and rotation cycles in order to avoid sending out a potentially useless or even hazardous product.
Compensation
According the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for an order filler (pick and pack) was $28,580 in 2008, which translates to about $13.50 an hour. This would be affected by other factors, such as size of the company and other compensation features such as health insurance, bonuses and any profit-sharing or pension plans that the employer offers.
Tags: order fulfillment, familiarity with, familiarity with products, filling orders, order filler, pick-and-pack employee, pick-and-pack position