Glossary
Warehouse Associate Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential warehouse associate terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key warehouse associate vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in warehouse associate training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Bill of lading
- A shipping document listing the freight being transported.
- Cross-docking
- Moving inbound goods directly to outbound shipping with little storage.
- Cycle count
- Counting a portion of inventory regularly to keep records accurate.
- Dunnage
- Packing material that protects items during shipping.
- FIFO
- First in, first out: shipping oldest stock first.
- OS&D
- Overages, shortages and damages found when receiving.
- Pallet
- A flat structure used to stack and move goods.
- Pick ticket
- A list of items to pull for an order.
- Putaway
- Moving received goods into storage locations.
- RF scanner
- A handheld device that scans barcodes and connects to the WMS.
- SKU
- Stock-keeping unit: a unique product identifier.
- Slotting
- Assigning products to storage locations to improve efficiency.
- Stretch wrap
- Plastic film used to secure loads on pallets.
- UPH
- Units per hour: a common productivity measure.
- WMS
- Warehouse management system: software that tracks inventory and tasks.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Warehouse Associate practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Warehouse Associate training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.