warehouse worker

merchandiser

order administrator

fulfillment associate

floral designer

Bachmans Inc.

I had a very bad experience with this company, I would strongly advise anyone considering employment with this company to look else where. I found the management extremely incompetent in the landscape departments as well as payroll and human resources. Major mistakes occurred by management and payroll regarding employees pay that resulted in the company threating to sue employees in order to recoup for their payroll mistakes. When compared to other landscape companies, this company is very behind on work flow processes, technology and available installation crews to make them competitive and outfitted to meet a commission paid design employee with the resoureces needed to meet their sales goals and be successful. They rely upon a limited number subcontractors to do all hardscape work that is highly marked up above other companies to make them competitive in the market. They employ only unionized planting installation crews that are limited to what they can do in the field and need a lot of direction. Management does not listen to their employees needs or give any concern to improving the department or helping their employees be more successful. They do not bring in any fresh minds, but rather move long time existing employees into management positions that they are unqualified for to beat the same drum the board of directors wants them to beat: keep salary's low, don't spend any money on advertising, marketing, technology, or make any major changes to an anaquated department.  Any new employee can expect low starting pay, a lot of support personal turn over, working all your weekends in the summer & long hours to meet your sales goals, lack of appreciation, a negative work environment, minimal annual raises even after meeting your set goals and a lack of leadership to change these problems. Any young person looking for a company to grow with should look to successful landscape companies that do not farm out hardscape installation to subcontractors but rather do all their own installations in house and are non unionized.

I was a designer and treated very poorly by management and HR.  Leads are distributed unfairly.  The best leads are taken by management.

Bachman's ("B") pushes designers to sell plants they grow, because B makes the most markup on trees and shrubs.  So customers get 'shrubbed'.

Designers are expected to get measurements, design in their car for an hour, then pitch the project and get a signature.  Every customer gets the same 12 plants.  B calls it 'the dirty dozen'.

Bachman's says their customers simply want to brag about having an (overpriced) Bachman's landscape to their friends.  That they don't really want a good design.  So B says, slap anything together, get paid, and move to the next project.  It's cookie-cutter landscaping. You're expected to design a project a day for 3 months, then the phone stops ringing and so does your income.  B says, that's their clientele. 

Designers are expected to manage the entire project from conception to completion.  B keeps about 40% of the project and designers get only 10%.  You're held accountable for all installation mistakes.  Management berates designers publically, to keep everyone in line.

Most Bachman designers have to have another job to make ends meet.  Average commission is about $25k a year, or 10% of your sales.  Remember, the manager cherry-picks the best leads for themself.  New designers come and go, because they get the worst leads no one wants.

In the end, HR came to me one day out of the blue and let me go.  I was shocked.  There was no indication I'd be let go. They gave me 30 min's to pack up and go.  HR demanded all of my designs, saying B owns them.  They installed them and wouldn't pay me for my work.   Read your contract with B, it's ugly!

You're a plant salesman, not a designer.  Look elsewhere for real design opportunities.

I worked at the Plant Care Information desk between 2015 and 2017 at Lyndale. At that desk, we all do the same amount of work, but don't get paid the same amount. I found this out the second year I worked there when one of my coworkers got bumped to around $13.00/hr and I was working for around $10.00/hr. There were apparently two designations, Customer Service, and Horticulturist. There were no set prerequisites for the "Horticulturist" tile, which paid $13.00/hr. In fact, one woman with no plant care degree was promoted from cashier and given this bump the year before I started working there. Her background was a Home Ec. degree.

When I found that I was making less money than my coworkers, I talked to the GM and was told that I needed to pass the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association certification exam to receive equal pay. I found this completely unfair because I did the same amount of work as my coworkers and not all of them had professional certifications. We all had some prior gardening experience, worked the same amount, and were held under the same scrutiny at that desk. I was angry about what the GM said, but my only option to get paid equally was to get certified. I studied my butt off, got my MNLA certification in 2017, and got my "promotion." 

Shortly after, I was fired for something bad that I did on my own, but the entire experience left a terrible taste in my mouth. I felt completely discriminated against working there. I was held to equal standards my first two years and did not receive equal pay.

(I worked in the hardgoods cashier position) A typical day at bachmans as a cashier would be a lot of standing around with not much to do. In the spring/summer, there’s lots of plants to sell, sometimes people buying hundreds worth of plants. It’s busy in June and then slows down quite a bit. The day goes quickly and it’s easy to check people out with plants. Winter however, christmas time as a hardgoods worker can be difficult. Lots lots of breakable things to wrap and take care of. Tons of unboxing which i enjoyed doing. You get to learn alot about plants and chemicals and stuff when working which can be nice for future jobs. The management at Bachmans is very unstable. I went through 3 different managers. The managers and other employees at Bachmans seem to talk a lot behind peoples back. It’s almost like you’re back in middle school the way the grown adults there gossip. It’s hard to talk to and trust the managers when you hear them talking badly about your co workers whenever someone calls off or tries to talk to them about something serious. Bachmans doesn’t really let you keep going up, you kinda stay in your position as a cashier and don’t get to do much else. I’ve seen lots of people leave bachmans go to better paying jobs. Bachmans trains their employees/managers well and then other companies will take their well trained employees and pay them 2x what they got at bachmans. My pay was too low for me to continue working there and the unstable hours and extremely rude customers are part of the reason i’m not going to stay at bachmans. 

Heavy workload for very minimal pay. 
FACT: During economic recessions Bachmans has cut employee wages with promises of restoring after economic recovery. Fast forward several years and employees still working at reduced wages. 
FACT: Average annual raise for dedicated employees with 10+ yrs = $0.23 (23 cents) 
FACT: Every day $1,000's of flowers/ plants/ new undamaged ceramic pots/ containers discarded into company dumpsters without employee option to purchase or option to donate to community ie; local schools, senior centers, local church
FACT: Bachman's is a "textbook example" of a family generational  company.  1st generation creates and starts with the business idea. 2nd generation puts in the hours, effort and dedication to developthe idea into a self sustaining business. 3rd generation no longer embraces the ideals and efforts  required to maintain the company. Now family executives  are strictly focused on company profits and accumulating personal wealth. Employees are viewed as replaceable assets regardless of years in service. Product prices continually increase at double and triple previous year prices. Employee wages cut and or frozen while executives continue to promote one another with no regard or appreciation to all other employees outside of the family.  
FACT: Human Resources Dept gives zero support to any employee with company grievances or complaints. Employees are rather met with dismissal, intimidation, or termination. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Interacting with customers and working with plants and flowers 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management and lack of customer service. Doing things the Bachmans way is not customer oriented as I had to disappoint many customers. Poor upper level management communicating mixed messages. Hires you for your knowledge but says you can’t use your knowledge as only a horticulturist has that knowledge. Hypocritical messages from management. Culture is not team spirited - although they try to promote that. Management contradicts themselves often and does not trust staff. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Protect yourself and do not make assumptions about anything. They say they want you to make decisions but then second guess those decisions making one feel incompetent. Not the friendliest or customer driven company as portrayed 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Be ON TIME! Clock in, listen to any specials for the day at morning meeting, water but don’t overwater the indoor plants, serve customers only within the Bachmans way - do not problem solve as it ca. get you “in trouble”. Give all problems to managers to resolve. Just know you’re there to make the company money and not to serve all customer requests or needs.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The coworkers there are amazing and sweet.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
They do not have enough employees for a functional environment. They have employees working more than one job position to try and save money. My boss told me unless I get certain job duties completed that were not my personal job duties, I could not take my pre-approved vacation days. The company is very stingy with their resources and use very outdated software programs and equipment from the 1960 - 1980's. I suggest asking them what email software they use in an interview session and it might actually shock you. They actually use bricks from the 1800's for padding the plant care sheets.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Coworkers and employees are very friendly and respectful. The turn around is high and it is sad when coworkers leave. Valentines day and Mothers day is a whirlwind or more like a tornado, but it is actually fun how everybody works as a team to get the job done. The flowers are very beautiful and the employees take pride in the final product.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Hectic. Nobody gets caught up with job duties due to short staff. They have a decent location at the Lyndale location, but even that location is starting to get riddled with crime.

Working at Bachman's was my first job, and it was amazing for that while in high school. I felt fairly compensated at the time, they listen to you and your schedule (most jobs won't do this in my experience). My coworkers were amazing, everyone got along, there was occasional drama but just don't get involved and you'll be fine. I really felt like I belonged. Management was not the best, but that's most jobs. A normal day started out with a staff meeting, watering plants right away in the morning, then customers would come in steadily throughout the day. Usually would do some unboxing of product in the gift department (especially when it is slow), tagging items with prices and then putting them out. If you're closing, you'd put away flowers in the cooler at night, empty out the registers, sweep,  dust, other cleaning tasks, make sure bags, boxes, ribbons, etc. are stocked for the next day. 

Overall, I would recommend this job for anyone in high school, or looking to work in retail but having a different type of environment than most retail jobs because this job won't drain you or make you miserable. Working here was the best job I've ever had as someone who's only ever worked retail. 

A typical day at Bachmans include arriving to work at around 3pm and clocking in. Finding an empty cash register and begin helping customers. When the lines are running low I run around helping customers find everything they need or teaching them more about the product or plant they are interested in. stocking empty shelvs and dusting mechendice.

I learned lots about customer service and how to talk to people. Helping people with there complains and how to deal with mean and rude customers. I leaned how to decorate and do some maintenance.

The managment is great for the most part. They know what they are doing and they enjoy it. They are very nice and help with any employee issue. they reward for jobs completed and make it there duty to point out your progress. They are a family based store definatly.

My co-workers are great. They are very helpful and they dont mind jumping into the caos that seems to explode on weekends. They are very reliable and responsible. We all work for eachother in a way.

The hardest part of the job is dealing with customers who are rude and pricing merchendice.

The most enjoyable part of the job is helping the little old couples get something up high for them. Helping people find what they have been looking for for hours. Giving out gift cards and helping wrap presents.

For 8 hours worked you get 2 paid 10min breaks and an unpaid half hour for lunch. 
Learn a lot about plants.
Mangers are awesome, friendly, flexible, and funny. 

Common daily tasks:
Watering plants in the greenhouse/ and trees/ shrubs in the lot
Unloading and putting away plants off of carts when a truck makes a delivery
Answering questions for customers usually just about where they can find something specific


The hardest part of the job is not having all of the answers starting out but you learn quickly where and what stuff is, plus the people who've been there longer have so much knowledge and don't get annoyed if you bring a customer to them to help.

For scheduling, you turn in a calendar to your department manager (ex. Garden center, cashier, floral, or stock manager) and you write which days/times you're available, while crossing off the days you cannot work. 

When it's really hot you can take quick breaks to go inside and drink water and cool down but no matter the temperature the greenhouse pants still need to be watered.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Warehouse worker 5 salaries reported	$20.96 per hour
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Order administrator 7 salaries reported	$17.07 per hour
Fulfillment associate 1 salary reported	$22.50 per hour
Floral designer 5 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour

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