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Then there was the store manager, a nice guy. One day he told me I had taught him the difference between hiring cashiers and sales people. He said he counted on making at least 5K extra every day I worked. "Then why do you only pay me $10 per hour?" was my reply. That's when I found out he was paying everyone else even less than that.
My best guess as to why people don't like retail is bad hours, low pay, and lack of advancement. There are few rewards even if you are a stellar employee and perform beyond their expectations. And don't even get me started on the part time, no benefits thing. And no paid time off, ever.
Wow, he must have really valued you as an employee. Assuming you were fulltime and worked 20 days a month, you made him an extra 100k a month. Not to mention you showed him how to hire sales people. He valued you so much he was willing to pay you 10.00/hr. with no benefits! People flying in to do business with you! I`m sure he didn`t let you leave. He must be smart enough to know math. What`s someone bringing him 100k more a month worth?
spm62, Since most stores are lucky to clear a nickel on the dollar, WM is about 4% op profit, last I checked, 100k sales might add 5k to profit. So if the $10 guy got an extra $1 for 80 hours per month, with employer FICA, the extra cost is $86, or 1.7% of the extra profit, which is actually above many internal store commission rates.
It was tough. The odd, Long hours. Having to manage young staff that hated authority. It was in a mall so we had crazies that were not buying customers come in and start trouble. Later I moved up the ranks to District manager, And had to take over for another DM for a while too. Jersey. Pennsylvania. The travel killed my relationship. 60 hours a week, Even more sometimes.
I am in the Hotel business now, And it is enjoyable and easy. Retail was tough.
But the hotel business is harder to get into, so retail has the easy of entry draw.
The retailer I worked for had a career path for manager trainees that would move them to store management positions (average salary $120K) withing 5 years. I personally made assistant store manager ($70K salary) within 3 years, and could have done it a year sooner but I had to pass up a couple of promotion opportunities because my wife was pregnant and we didn't want to move at that time.
Even department managers made about $50K, and you could reach that position within a couple of years even starting out part-time.
Yes, you put in a lot of hours and have to miss out on some things. And dealing with John Q. Public can be a pain in the rear. But if you have the right attitude for it the benefits far outweigh the costs.
What type of retail are you talking about that makes $70k as an Assistant?
What type of retail are you talking about that makes $70k as an Assistant?
I'm sure there are some of the big box assistants that do very well in larger volume stores. I know assistant grocery store managers that do over $50 K a year so I would assume your assistant manager at a large store like a Macy's, Dillards, or Bon would do very well.
What type of retail are you talking about that makes $70k as an Assistant?
Big Box home improvement.
I was the 2nd assistant. The 1st assistant, who had a few more years in that I did, was knocking down about $85K at the time.
That salary included an hourly wage (40 hours straight time + 15 at time and a half); multiple "do your job" bonuses (payroll and inventory management, meeting sales goals, keeping the correct ration of FT to PT team members) that were paid weekly or monthly; an annual performance bonus based on a percentage of the previous year's profit paid in two installments; SPIFs for selling certain products, shich were available to all team members; and profit sharing, which was a cash payout based on a percentage of your previous year's W2 earnings.
Just thinking about it makes me wish I still worked there.
I worked for Home Depot for three years while I was getting my degree. I found the place to be fun to work at and I learned a lot of different things. The place paid substantially more than minimum wage. I resigned because I got a job with the state. If given the opportunity to go back right now, I’d jump at it, but there’s no way one can lump all retail together.
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People flying in to do business with you! I`m sure he didn`t let you leave. He must be smart enough to know math. What`s someone bringing him 100k more a month worth?
