Packer Job Description: Template, Duties, Requirements & Pay (2026)
A packer prepares finished goods for shipment — inspecting, weighing, labeling, boxing, palletising and staging — on a line, at a bench or in a warehouse. Below is a copy-paste packer job description template, the pay data employers most often get wrong for this role, and what it costs to reach production candidates on social, from Boostpoint's campaign data.
What a packer does
Packing is quality control with a box around it. The job is to check that what leaves the building matches what the order says: inspect for damage and defects, count and weigh, apply the right label and lot code, choose and assemble the right carton, cushion and seal it, stack to a pallet pattern that survives a truck, wrap and stage it, and keep the station clean and stocked. On a food or pharmaceutical line the same role carries hygiene, allergen and traceability duties that are not optional.
On pay, most postings for this role quote the wrong number. The BLS puts the median for hand laborers and material movers as a whole at $18.38 an hour, or $38,220 a year, across 6,917,800 workers, with about 904,200 openings projected each year over the decade, 4% growth for 2025–35, no formal educational credential and short-term on-the-job training. Inside that group the May 2025 medians separate: $36,280 for packers and packagers working by hand, $37,330 for stockers and order fillers, $40,240 for laborers and freight, stock and material movers, and $41,220 for machine feeders and offbearers.
So $36,280 is the packer benchmark, and it sits at the bottom of its own group. That matters twice over: it tells you what you are competing against, and it tells you that the warehouse across the road advertising general material handling is offering the same person roughly four thousand dollars a year more. If your rate cannot move, the shift, the hours and the indoor climate have to do the work in the ad.
Packer job description template
Copy this into your ATS or job board, replace the bracketed fields, and cut anything that does not apply. It is ordered the way production candidates read a posting: pay, shift, where, what the work is like, then the rest.
Job title
Packer — [1st / 2nd / 3rd shift], [Production line / Fulfillment / Food production], [City]
Summary
[Employer] is hiring packers for our [city, state] [plant / warehouse]. Pay is $[XX.XX]/hour to start, $[XX.XX] after [90 days], plus $[X.XX]/hour on [2nd and 3rd shift]. The schedule is [Mon–Fri, 6am–2:30pm] with [voluntary overtime on Saturdays]. The work is [indoor and climate controlled / in a chilled area at 38°F], standing at a [line station / packing bench].
Responsibilities
- Inspect product for damage, defects and count accuracy before packing
- Weigh, label and apply lot or date codes per the work order
- Assemble cartons, cushion product, and seal and mark cases
- Stack to the pallet pattern, wrap and stage for [shipping / the dock]
- Keep the station stocked with film, tape, cartons and labels
- Record production counts and report quality issues immediately
- Follow [GMP, allergen and hygiene] procedures and complete cleaning tasks
- Rotate between [pack, label and palletise] positions across the shift
Requirements
- Able to stand for a [8 / 10]-hour shift and lift [35] lbs repeatedly
- Able to work at line pace with consistent accuracy
- Reliable transport to [city] and availability for the posted shift
- [18] years or older
Preferred
- Previous packing, production, warehouse or food-service experience
- Comfortable with [scanners, scales or a case sealer]
- [Forklift or pallet jack] experience — not required, we certify
- Bilingual [English / Spanish] on a floor that runs both
Schedule and pay
- $[XX.XX]/hour to start; $[XX.XX] after [90 days]
- $[X.XX]/hour shift differential on [2nd and 3rd]
- [Mon–Fri 6am–2:30pm]; [overtime is voluntary and posted a week ahead]
- [Weekly pay]; [attendance bonus of $X per quarter]
Benefits
- Health, dental and vision from day [1 / 30 / 60]
- Paid time off and [8] paid holidays
- [401(k) with X% match]
- [Free lunch on production days]; [boots and PPE provided]
- [Posted path to line lead and forklift certification, with the pay at each step]
Requirements: what to keep, what to soften, and what quietly costs you applicants
Packing postings are usually too short to be persuasive and too vague to be honest. Both cost applications.
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| Experience | Almost never needed. No formal educational credential is required for this occupation and training is short-term and on the job. An experience requirement on a role you train in two days is the most expensive line in the posting. |
| Lifting and standing | Give real numbers. A stated weight and shift length is more useful to the candidate and more defensible for you than “must be able to lift heavy objects”. Hand laborers and material movers also have some of the highest rates of injuries and illnesses of all occupations, so describing the physical reality honestly is the right thing and the practical one. |
| Temperature and environment | Say what it actually is. Chilled, frozen, hot line, dusty or climate controlled changes who applies more than a dollar an hour does, and discovering it on day one is a top reason people do not return on day two. |
| Shift | Lead with it and price it. This is a role where second and third shift are filled by people choosing them deliberately — for school, childcare or a second job. Stating the differential in dollars converts far better than a generic reference to shift work. |
| Pace and rotation | Describe it. Whether the line runs at a fixed rate, whether stations rotate, and whether there are scheduled breaks off the line are the details that separate a realistic posting from one that produces three-day hires. |
| Pay progression | Publish the steps. With about 904,200 openings a year in this occupational group, the market is liquid and every plant is a click away. A stated ninety-day increase and a named path to line lead or forklift certification is worth more than the same money offered vaguely. |
How to customize it for your setting
Food and beverage production
Hygiene, allergens and traceability are the job, not paperwork around it. Name the standards, say what the gowning routine is, and be specific about the temperature. Candidates who have worked to those standards recognize them immediately and value an employer who takes them seriously.
Fulfillment and e-commerce packing
Pace and metrics define the day. Say whether there is a units-per-hour target, how it is measured, and what happens if someone is below it. Being straightforward about that attracts people who are fast and repels people who would leave in a fortnight — both good outcomes.
Manufacturing and industrial packing
The packer is the last quality gate. Say so. Framing the role as the person who stops a bad shipment leaving raises the calibre of applicant more reliably than any adjective about culture.
Seasonal and peak hiring
Be honest about duration and honest about what comes after. A stated season with a stated conversion rate to permanent roles is a competitive offer; an undisclosed one produces a hiring cost you pay again in March.
What it costs to reach packers on social
Across 82 warehouse and production campaign-months in our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark, the median cost per applicant was $9.83, with the middle half of campaigns landing between $3.15 and $18.72. The apply rate was 20% and the click-through rate 1.67%.
This is one of the more efficient categories in the study, and the reason is that the audience is broad and the decision is simple: pay, shift, distance. That also means the ad does almost all the work. Campaigns that state the rate and the shift in the first line, and ask three questions on the form, sit at the cheap end of that band; campaigns that say “competitive pay” and ask for a résumé sit at the expensive end. Our assembly and packaging line recruiting page covers the shift-scale version of this. These are advertising costs only, and they buy an applicant, not a hire.
If you are filling a line rather than writing the description, the recruiting side — where production candidates are, what the ad should say, and what an applicant costs to reach — is on our assembly and packaging line recruiting page.
Writing the ad version
The template above belongs in your ATS and on your careers page. The advertisement that runs on Facebook or Instagram is far shorter and answers three questions in the first two lines: how much, what shift, where. Something like: "Packer — $17/hr to start, $19 after 90 days. Mon–Fri 6am–2:30pm, indoor and climate controlled. [City]. No experience needed, we train. Apply in 60 seconds, no résumé."
Then two or three knockout questions on the form — shift availability, distance, lifting — and nothing else. Every extra field costs completions, and each screening question trades volume for precision. The mechanics are in our candidate conversion rate guide, and fifteen worked examples are in our help wanted ad examples library.
Frequently asked questions
What does a packer do?
Inspects product for damage and count accuracy, weighs and labels it, applies lot or date codes, assembles and cushions cartons, seals and marks cases, stacks to a pallet pattern, wraps and stages the load for shipping, keeps the station stocked, and records counts. On food and pharmaceutical lines the role also carries hygiene, allergen and traceability duties.
How much does a packer make?
Packers and packagers working by hand had a May 2025 median of $36,280 a year. The wider hand laborers and material movers group medians at $18.38 an hour, or $38,220 a year, and neighboring roles pay more: $37,330 for stockers and order fillers, $40,240 for laborers and freight, stock and material movers, and $41,220 for machine feeders and offbearers.
What qualifications does a packer need?
None formally. The BLS lists no formal educational credential for this occupational group and short-term on-the-job training as typical, so most employers hire on availability, reliability and the ability to work at line pace. Physical requirements — standing for a full shift and lifting a stated weight — are the real screen, and they belong in the posting as numbers.
Is packing hard work?
It is physically demanding and repetitive, and honesty about that is the right approach in a posting. Hand laborers and material movers have some of the highest rates of injuries and illnesses of all occupations, and most work full time on schedules that can include nights and weekends. Stating the lift weight, the pace and the temperature attracts people who already do this work.
Other job description templates
- Material handler job description
- Warehouse associate job description
- Forklift operator job description
See all job description templates — free, editable templates for frontline, trades, healthcare and warehouse roles.
Hiring packers?
The job description is the document; the ad is the thing that gets read. We write it, run it where production candidates are actually scrolling, and report what each applicant cost — cost per applicant, not cost per hire.
Pay, employment, outlook, education, training, injury rates and schedules: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, Hand Laborers and Material Movers (last modified August 27, 2026; 2025 wage and employment data, May 2025 medians by detailed occupation), read August 28, 2026. Cost-per-applicant figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark — warehouse and production role family, 82 campaign-months, advertising costs only. Cost per applicant is not cost per hire. Last updated August 2026.