Fruit pickers, who work outdoors on farms and orchards, and picker packers, who work in warehouses, are two broad categories of picker jobs. Fruit picking is a type of seasonal itinerant work that requires a lot of physical labor outside. Although some workers move from area to area and are able to stay employed for much of the year, these picking jobs typically last only as long as the harvest season. Warehouse picker jobs are typically more permanent, though in some industries, additional employees are often hired seasonally. Picker jobs entail locating items in warehouses, retrieving them, and, in some cases, preparing them for shipment or delivery.
Picking, as a job title, can refer to a variety of different occupations in a variety of industries. These jobs can be seasonal or permanent, and depending on the position and situation, they may or may not lead to further career advancement. Most people are familiar with a few types of picker jobs, such as fruit and warehouse picking, but the term can also refer to other jobs that require selecting and retrieving items.
One of the most common sources of picker jobs is the fruit and vegetable industry. Because some crops are too delicate or difficult to harvest efficiently with machinery, these jobs are necessary. Seasonally, fruit and vegetable pickers are hired to manually harvest everything from cherries to various squash varieties. There is usually a lot of manual labor involved, and pay varies depending on where you work and what you’re picking. Some fruit and vegetable pickers are itinerant workers who move from job to job to keep up with the harvest, while others are young people with little or no work experience or travelers looking for temporary work.
Instead of picking fruits and vegetables, other picker jobs are based in warehouses and involve picking orders. If they locate and pull orders in addition to packaging them for shipment, these workers are sometimes referred to as picker packers. The majority of warehouse picker jobs are permanent, and they can lead to advancement in various warehouse roles, including management. However, some warehouse picker jobs are seasonal as well, as many warehouses experience increased order volume at certain times of the year and must hire temporary picker packers to keep up with the demand.