maintenance mechanic

process technician

product manager

machine operator

yard driver

Amscan International

I have always worked from exit appointments, but get up trying to fill in around my set appointments. I make a list of cold calls and phone calls so that I cover as many accounts and prospects as I possibly can when I go into an area.  Generally, I have to leave the house between 7 and 8 to get to my appointments, but leave earlier when necessary.  I head home somewhere between 5 and 8, depending on where I have been and how productive and long my appointments are.  As long as they are writing, I am staying. Once home, I finish out my orders, respond to all my emails and in general close out my day.  This usually takes 1-2 hours.
  
I have learned that while some inexpensive products are still needed, the better gift industry is how the Mom and Pop stores will survive. I encourage my accounts to try and cover all bases, but to court the customer who is not a "Walmart" shopper.  You can not compete with the "big guys", therefore, you must out shine them.

I loved working with my original supervisor as he worked by using encouragement to motivate. When he was promoted, the new person works by threatening and this is not a productive way to encourage.  I am the major support for my household and have always worked to improve and ease my family life. My work ethics do not allow me to shirk, therefore, encouragement works better.

I am in touch with my peers in both this company and others.  Networking is important in this industry.  It allows to you be more aware of what is selling nationwide and regionally, what is hot and what is not selling.  It also allows you to be aware of any issues with your accounts, ie payment, etc. My customers always ask what is selling, what is not and networking allows me to stay on top of this as I also ask the same question of my customers.

This past year has been difficult as the company itself seems to be promoting the party side and has had very small new releases of product for the gift side.  My commission is based on the gift side, not the party side. Our stock status, therefore, our shipping status was lean this year.  It is difficult to sell or re-order items that you do not have.  It is also difficult to sell the same look again.  Normally, we would have new that either was entirely different, or new to compliment what we carried over, so that it looked different.  This year, it was difficult.

The customers are the most rewarding part of the job.  Most store owners/buyers are wonderful people who know that they need the experience you bring, not just your own, but the knowledge you get networking.  Should I have to leave this territory, I will miss each and everyone of my accounts.  They are wonderful, hard working people.

A typical day at work: 
Start off fixing everything the previous shift(s) messed up. Get sworn and yelled at (yes literally) for the machine not running because you’re trying to fix the issues the previous shift overlooked so you can keep the machine running throughout your entire shift. Inevitably have your machine stop running because something broke because the machines are from 1996 and have been running 5-6 days a week 24 hours a day. Wait for a mechanic to fix your machine. There’s 2 mechanics and 8 presses and 8 packaging machines so this may take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days. Get yelled and sworn at because your machine is down again even tho this is no fault of your own. If you do get your machine running again you’re lucky if you can get thru the rest of the day without another incident. Then your day is over and you get to do it all over again the next day. 

What I learned: This company is a joke. 

Management: Some of the worst I’ve ever worked for or even heard of. None of them have a clue what they’re doing. Upper management has managed to bring the company from a very profitable company to the point of collapse in just a few years time. 

Workplace culture: There is none. The other employees are good people, just trying to get by in life, much like yourself, but it’s entirely too loud and there’s really no time to socialize except for your 30 minute unpaid lunch, or on your 2nd 15 minute break which everyone has to take exactly 15 minutes before your shift ends. I’m not even sure if that’s legal or not, but it shouldn’t be if it is. 

The hardest part of the job: Everything I listed above. It’s enough to make you want to quit most days. 

The most enjoyable part of the job: When it’s time to go home!

Grasslands Roads treated all of the employess like family.  They turned out beautiful product, which made my job easier. I had my same territory, which they never split.  I learned to be a better sales manager, by all of the tools the company gave us to work with.
My manager was one of the best men I have ever worked with, and would always be there anytime I had a problem or needed help with an account.
The hardest part of the job, seemed like the job never ended at the end of the day.  You were in the field all day working, you came home or at the hotel, and you were still working until late in the evening.  You really needed to do this, to stay focused and organized for next day or week.  You would still be working in your home office on weekends.
The most enjoyable part of the job, was getting up to drive to my customers, which I became very close, not only as customers, but as friends as well.  I traveled the North Georgia beautiful mountains and got paid to be there doing my job.

The perfect place to get retired very soon, they treat employee very bad, a bad human resource department and there is not any growing at all for employee here, they prefer to pay a costly end of year party instead of giving good bonus to employee at the end of the year and do not care if their employee learn new things to improve work, they do not like to invest in employee, they have bad medical insurance, I  describe this company as the perfect place to get retired, if this is your plan then this could be the perfect place to work for, they have old managers with old school concept that doesn't like to change anything because if it get changed they make not understand how to do their work, if it is not broke do not break it this the concept they have it doesn't matter if what they are doing doesn't work efficiently not a good place for someone that like to innovate and grow up in his career.

The job in its self is not hard or taxing on the body, requirements to complete the job are within reason. To advance yourself though takes a lot of effort and devotion to the company, mind you that process could take many of years before getting to the level you want in the company. Sometimes the devotion isn't worth the time due to pay raises to compete with other companies destroying your raises that you have earned by progressing making your pay nearly the same amount as a new start within $1. Even progressing to a temporary supervisor title I was allowed access to employee pay rates only to find that my raise for my position was still under some to the people I was in charge of, I was literally payed over $1 less than someone else just doing general work versus the responsibilities of being an acting supervisor with all the stress and problems of the department and management of workers.

I have alot of resposibilities at amscan but a typical day at work is i come in get my assignment were i will be that day i could be upstairs samples picking orders for the customers that need to see product and new item which are samples of the product I receive product in to the warehouse so that they are allocated in the system I fix and relabel, make labels, check item make sure right labels are correct sort items. What I learned  working at amscan making labels in the computers, picking orders. The management is ok i agree with most of the things they do, but some i don't. My coworkers mean everything to me we are not just friends were a family. We are always there for each other when it comes to getting things done.There are know hard parts about what i do just waking up in the morning.

It was an alright place that used to be decent for the first 5 or so years but the last couple, not say much. This past year they hired a lot of new management and they ran the place into the ground. They didn't want us taking our full breaks, they kept changing break schedules without notice. They made overtime mandatory and 6 days a week, when before it wasn't. They can't hire people so they just keep expecting more and more of those who are left without giving anything back. We used to get gift bags and tee shirts and had company functions, all that stopped with these new people. And they basically changed every single policy without warning and then started writing people up, so basically it turned into a revolving door. Everyone's either quitting or getting fired. Literally weekly, people disappear.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Would have gave zero stars if possible worst place to work ever they string u along make u think ur gonna finaly get vacation paid time off ect. And after 8 9 months let u go offcourse there’s exceptions to this but this is what happened the majority of the time and bonus is taxed at like 40% lol u get like 146 out of 250 just a horrible place to work

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Everything just a total dead end 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It is terrible English is the secondary language if you don’t speak Spanish u almost feel not as a equal it’s just wrong

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Just stressful debating to stay or leave for 8 hrs

One of the worst places I have ever worked in my whole life. There is simply no room for advancement. 
They have hired someone new in HR who is making excellent and necessary strides to make the workplace more bearable (not good-bareable)
There is no candid conversations of raises and/or promotions. For most positions people are in their roles for 3+ years before a promotion with less than 2% yearly increase- no performance raises. It is abominable. 
To make matters worst- systems are archaic. The amount of work given vs. compensation are wildly incongruous. I could not vehemently advise someone away from this company fast enough. When you interview there you will see the signs. Stuck in the past company with no sense of culture/life as far as the eye can see.

I was responsible for: 

- Amazon market research and data mining on product and price offerings

- Investigating and identifying multiple vendors selling counterfeit Amscan items

- Conducting detailed line by line excel analysis on product costs, pricing and margins for more than 13,000 individual SKUs

- Providing data entry and clerical support for accounts payable and tax departments

- Creating excel spreadsheet with aggregated data for inventory department to determine turnover rates for each product type sold; created a margin report for each product type

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance mechanic 1 salary reported	$24.15 per hour
Process technician 12 salaries reported	$24.50 per hour
Product manager 4 salaries reported	$76,875 per year
Machine operator 1 salary reported	$19.00 per hour
Yard driver 4 salaries reported	$23.93 per hour

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