Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders Career, Salary and Skills

Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders have a BLS-reported national median annual wage of $50,270 based on the 2025 OEWS dataset, with reported national employment of 96,130. Wage data is published for 172 locations.

Occupation description

Set up, operate, or tend paper goods machines that perform a variety of functions, such as converting, sawing, corrugating, banding, wrapping, boxing, stitching, forming, or sealing paper or paperboard sheets into products.

O*NET code

51-9196.00

Job zone

2

Typical education

High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)

Experience

Up to and including 1 month

National salary and employment

Median annual

$50,270

Hourly median

$24.17

Employment

96,130

Data year

2025

National salary distribution

$37,300
10th
$44,920
25th
$50,270
Median
$60,180
75th
$70,320
90th

Top skills

All skill ratings →

Typical tasks

  • Examine completed work to detect defects and verify conformance to work orders, and adjust machinery as necessary to correct production problems.
  • Observe operation of various machines to detect and correct machine malfunctions such as improper forming, glue flow, or pasteboard tension.
  • Start machines and move controls to regulate tension on pressure rolls, to synchronize speed of machine components, and to adjust temperatures of glue or paraffin.
  • Disassemble machines to maintain, repair, or replace broken or worn parts, using hand or power tools.
  • Install attachments to machines for gluing, folding, printing, or cutting.
  • Cut products to specified dimensions, using hand or power cutters.
  • Place rolls of paper or cardboard on machine feed tracks, and thread paper through gluing, coating, and slitting rollers.
  • Monitor finished cartons as they drop from forming machines into rotating hoppers and into gravity feed chutes to prevent jamming.
All task statements →

Technology

  • Adobe Acrobat
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe InDesign
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Word
  • Objectif Lune PrintShop Mail
  • Quark enterprise publishing software
  • Virtual Systems Mail-Shop
All technology →

Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders salary by location

Areas with the highest reported employment for this occupation.

All 172 locations →

Related careers

Career and skills data: O*NET 31.0 (onetcenter.org). Salary and employment data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, 2025 (bls.gov/oes). Figures are published survey estimates, not real-time market data.