Warehouse Job Salary

Like mentioned in many of the posts before, warehouse salary varies. There are countless warehouse jobs to account for. Therefore, salaries can range from hardly anything to pretty well off. In this post, I will review the most common warehouse jobs and their average salaries.

Warehouse Worker: $19,000
Materials Handler: $19,000-$32,000
Warehouse Manager: $41,000
Warehouse Supervisor: $36,000
Forklift Operator: $18,000
Loan Officer: $136,000
Data Warehouse Project Manager: $77,000
Warehouse Driver: $19,000
Supply Technician: $32,000
Warehouse Clerk: $19,000
Warehouse Workers: $18,000
*The National salary was about $23,460 as of May 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The average salary for the typical warehouse worker is $45,000.
There are many factors that determine pay scale, such as: company, location, industry, experience, and benefits. Each of these things could change a person's pay drastically if altered.

Experience 
Most jobs pay scales all depend on the experience level held. For an example, we can take a look at stock clerk order fillers and the rate of pay depending on the years they have been there. In October 2010, the stock clerk order fillers who had less than a year of experience were paid $7.73 - $10.28. Employees working one to four years earned $7.97 - $11.15; and five to nine years, $8.26 - $14.39. Clearly, these types of job relate very closely to experience held.

Top-Paying States
Every states pay scale ranges differently. As of May 2009, The District of Columbia had been known to pay the highest average salary above all stock clerks and order fillers at $33,280, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Other states that paid in the high salaries were: Alaska, $29,960; Washington, $27,320; Colorado, $26,350; and Connecticut, $26,210.



*If we head one year back, looking at the Bureau of Labor Statistic estimates, warehouse workers and freight handlers earn an average wage of $24,960 annually. 

Warehouse Job Equipment

There is a wide variety of warehouse equipment. From machinery to every day materials, there are countless of items needed. Some sites match all warehouse needs and provides a list of needed items. To get well acquainted with the equipment needed, below, there is brief list of items essential to working in a warehouse job environment.

-aluminum dockplates & dockboards

-automatic pallet positioners

-bins & storage containers

-cantilever rack

-casters

-serco dock levelers & restraints

-kelley dock levelers & restraints

-dock seals
-dock impact barriers
-fans
-flexscreen door
-hand trucks
-load hog

-high speed doors
-lockers
-matting
-modular building systems
-packing equipment & supplies
-pallet jacks
-pallet racks
-product lines directory
-protective railing
-shelving
-stretch wrap systems
-shrink packaging systems
-TKO doors

-utility carts

-wire containers

-wire decking

-yard ramps

Machinery:
There are eight different types of forklifts. We will go over these briefly and discuss the differences to allow you to choose the perfect forklift for your warehouse. Listed below are each forklift and their unique description.

Pneumatic Tire Forklifts: 
These type of forklifts come with air filled pneumatic tires. They are usually used outside on concrete, gravel, or limestone.. Forklifts with these type of tires have a larger turner radius than cushion warehouse forklifts. These forklifts have a capacity of 3,000-105,000 lbs.

Three-wheel Forklifts: 
These forklifts are mainly used indoor. They are good for unloading trucks and moving pallets and other loads throughout the warehouse. Electric forklifts have the lowest overall cost and the capacity ranges from 3,000-5,000 lbs.

Four-wheel Forklifts: 
Four-wheel electric forklifts come with cushion or pneumatic tires. Electric forklifts with cushion tires are mainly indoor forklifts. Capacities range from 3,000-30,000 lbs.

Reach Trucks: 
These forklifts are sometimes referred to as narrow-aisle forklifts. They are designed to rack pallets on smooth surfaces. Capacities range from 2,500-5,500 lbs.

Order-Pickers: 
These electric forklifts are sometimes called stock-pickers or man-up forklifts. The rider stands on an elevating platform so that they are able to rise with the forklift to select a load. They can be used in narrow aisles. Capacities are 3,500 lbs.

Turret forklifts
These can be used in narrow aisles. The masts of the forklifts can rotate 90 degrees in order for the operator to pick a load from either side. Capacities range from 3,000-8,000 lbs.

Stand-up Counter Balance Forklifts: 
These electric forklifts are perfect for quick loading and unloading of trucks. The forklifts are primarily used indoor on smooth surfaces. Capacities range from 3,000-5,500 lbs.

Deciding which type of forklift is best depends solely on your application. Electric forklifts cost the least to operate.  To look at the disadvantages of electric forklifts, we see there is an eight hour recharge every time it runs out of power and the hassle of you constantly returning it to the charger every time.

Warehouse Job Safety

Like all careers, safety plays a major role. In the United States alone, every year, thousands of injuries take place in warehouse environments. Not only that, the fatal injury rate for the warehousing industry is actually higher than the national average rate for all industries. That being said, we must take safety into extreme consideration. 

There is a lot employers can do about safety and potential injuries happening in the workplace. It is absolutely critical that distributors and wholesalers pay very close attention to conditions that could potentially take place and take note of injuries that have already happened to prevent them from happening in the future.

Forklifts in the warehouse are very prone to accidents. We came across 11 ways to reduce forklift accidents in your facility.

1. Certify your forklift operators.

 The operator needs to know the correct way to handle forklifts. This goes along with any other machinery. It may look simple. However, there is still crucial information needed to practice safety.

2. Yearly refresher course. 

Every warehouse worker hired should participate in a yearly safety refresher course. A refresher course allows operators to keep skills fresh and practice safety to avoid all sorts of accidents from happening.

3. Limit your top speed in the warehouse.

Forklifts are built to move in an efficient manor.  Quick speeds could easily cause an accident. Every warehouse is different, however, it is suggested that you evaluate what a safe speed is and strive to retain that rule.

4. High Visibility Seatbelts

There are many warehouse owners who make it mandatory to wear seat belts. Having a colored seatbelt that is visible is a perfect way to be sure each operator is wearing their seat belt. 

5. Fleet Management/Driver Accountability System 

If you have a system on your forklift that records speed and other information, this is a great way to prevent accidents from happening among your workers.

6. Use the horn.

It doesn't sound too effective, does it? When you are moving, allowing the workers around you to know you are moving could save many lives. It allows people to know when you are moving so they don't get in your way.

7. Back-up Alarms

These work extremely well. Operators and pedestrians are able to tolerate this safety feature if you have "smart" back-up, which is, alarms that get louder and louder as the forklift increases in speed. Annoying, at times, but definitely a great safety feature! 

8. Different Color Strobe Lights

This is just another simple thing you could do to raise the awareness around movement.

9. Superior Illumination in Warehouse 

While doing this, to save money, be sure that your cost cutting strategy doesn't leave the warehouse poorly illuminated. That in itself could be extremely dangerous. 

10. Break Near Shift End

Most accidents happen within the last few hours of the workers shifts. If you allow a ten minutes break an hour or so before the shift ends, it will allow the employee to be alert and safe while operating.

11. Use Forklift Lights.

Forklifts have lights for a reason. Using the lights on forklifts will allow the operator to see where he/she is going. 

Below is a video explaining tips to practicing proper warehouse safety.

Be sure to practice safety skills in your warehouse environment. As something so simple could save the lives of you and your employees.

Article above written by warehouseiq.com

Types of Warehouse Jobs

If you are interested in working in the warehouse job industry,

you have come to the right place. 

Throughout this post, I will be expanding on the variety 

of warehouse jobs out there. 

There are 4 categories focusing on the specifics of warehouse jobs.

-Skilled Labor

-General Labor

-Operations Management

-Administrative Support

Skilled Labor 

Skilled laborers are in every warehouse environment. They are needed everywhere. You cannot successfully run a warehouse WITHOUT skilled laborers. In most warehouse jobs, forklifts and other machinery is needed to transport heavy materials. To ensure proper maintenance and other fixes, skilled laborers are needed to repair these needed machines. If you look at other types of warehouse jobs, these skilled laborers are still needed. For an example: refrigeration, auto mechanics, and operations are all major warehouse jobs that require skilled laborers to successful run their business.

General Labor

General laborers are also referred to as warehouse associates. General labor consists of performing any sort of duties within the warehouse. This includes: loading and unloading, cleaning up the warehouse, packing and labeling certain items in a certain order. Usually, general laborers are required to be physically fit to participate due to strenuous activities around the warehouse. There is a lot of heavy lifting, walking & standing for long periods at a time.

Operations Management
Operation managers oversee every  part associated to warehousing. This area is much harder to work your way up in. To reach the operation manager position, you will need to have a plethora of experience in warehousing. Some skills you need to have include the ability to plan ahead, be a leader to many, prepare a budget, and have outstanding customer service skills. Operation managers are also held responsible to maintain safety and cleanliness around the warehouse.

Administrative Support

The Administrative Support is the largest group of warehouse workers. This team is used to handle day-to-day support functions. There is a vast variety of positions administrative support can fall under, such as: customer service, data entry, contracts and accounting. There are also a number of staff positions that are much more specific, including, but not limited to: dispatching, logistics, inventory and safety administration.

As you can see, there are countless warehouse jobs that are available. That being said, it is a wonderful job choice to go into considering the need for warehouse workers as well as the amount of available jobs that are being constantly provided.