# Warehouse worker vs Warehouse associate



## Hyde (Jul 20, 2021)

I have orientation on Thursday to start my job as a warehouse worker on Saturday and I was just curious what’s the difference between worker and associate I applied for both positions so I’m wondering what made me more qualified for worker seeing as they are paid more. What kind of things should I expect to do on my first day of work??


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## Hardlinesmaster (Jul 20, 2021)

Warehouse associate is A1 key.








						Another Newbie...What to expect?
					

Glad to be here, first off. Hope everyone is having a great day. I got officially on boarded as a Warehouse Associate at my DC on A1 key. The job looked acceptable labor wise and the people there seemed to enjoy it. (Lots of people there over 30 years...ever since it opened)  What can I expect...




					www.thebreakroom.org


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## InboundDCguy (Jul 20, 2021)

Warehouse Associate is the new title for what used to be a Packer. They can’t use equipment like forklifts and mostly just take boxes of things that stores don’t need full cases of and divide them into other boxes. They can be sent to other departments to help, but only in roles that don’t require equipment.
Warehouse Workers are the people who unload trailers, put things into racks for storage, pull things out of storage, load trailers, etc. They use forklifts, order pickers, pallet riders, etc. The job is more complicated and physical which is why it pays more.
Which position you get is completely based on building need. There used to be a strength and endurance test that warehouse workers needed to pass, while those that couldn’t pass it became packers, but they don’t do that anymore.
What to expect your first day depends what department you get put in.
Inbound or Outbound you’ll pretty much get thrown into the job right away. MBP or Warehousing you’ll probably start with order picker training.


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## ItChecksOut (Jul 21, 2021)

I've heard some dcs have removed the pay difference between the two positions and now all positions can be flexed where needed as needed.


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## Dcnewb4now (Jul 22, 2021)

ItChecksOut said:


> I've heard some dcs have removed the pay difference between the two positions and now all positions can be flexed where needed as needed.


I think they made the announcement that associates (packers) can be flexed to other departments, but do non pit functions and still get paid less. My building hasn’t utilized this but that could get interesting.


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## InboundDCguy (Jul 23, 2021)

Dcnewb4now said:


> I think they made the announcement that associates (packers) can be flexed to other departments, but do non pit functions and still get paid less. My building hasn’t utilized this but that could get interesting.


That’s how it was announced in my building as well. Packing is usually the department furthest behind though, so I can’t imagine it ever coming to that. It would be entertaining though!


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