machine operator

maintenance technician

forklift operator

packer

production supervisor

Berry Global

Communication would be big step in the right direction for this place. There seems to be none between the managers and the rest of us.  The current management with the exception of the Production, Safety and QC managers do not know how to talk to people. 

No one seems to want to do anything about the attendance issue. You should only be able to have a total of 9 points and then you are terminated but certain people here have several points way up into the double digits and almost 3 digits. Others see this abuse of the point system and see nothing is done to this person so they start abusing this system as well. This creates a lot of chaos especially on the weekends. People seem to call off a lot on the weekend and no extra support is given. 

Also, not all shifts are created equal. There is TOO much favoritism here. When the bully of a plant manager sits in his office all day and watches the security footage of everyone in the break room but only says something to one shift and not the other 3, which is a problem. There are no signs whatsoever in or outside of the building stating that you are being watched on camera. The same plant manager also likes to berate the molding supervisors by playing little games with them by pitting one against the other. If one supervisor turns in numbers below the expectation of one he’ll make sure and tell them how much belter the other supervisor did.  We all work at the same place an do the same thing, no one should be treated differently. Last year it just so happened that a certain shift’s days fell on about 90% of the holidays and that certain shift worked those days but when the opposite shift fell on a holiday that were not made to work to offered a deal where only half of them could work. It seems like if he doesn’t like you, you’ll suffer somehow. 

Safety is constantly shoveled down our gullets. That’s fine, we all understand that but at Cumberland it seems safety does not come first. The best example I can give is that a certain machine was written up numerous times and numerous near misses where submitted but they did not fix because they needs the product to run and ship on time. They did not fix this issue until one day when someone slipped in the oil and almost hurt themselves. Every one of our machine leak oil to point the point that is cheaper to buy the oil than it is to fix the leaks. Most of these fix would require the machine to be down for more than a week. They never seem to happen though. It seems that Production comes first and then safety and quality is last.

The job has some perks to it. When on 12s the work weeks are nice. 2 on 2 off 3 on 2 off 2 on 3 off. So every other week you get weekend off and days through the week. There is a boot allowance for safety shoes. There are some small monthly bonuses that you can get by doing some very simple things. There’s very few managers that are good. Most are horrible and shouldn’t even have the opportunity to have the power that they do. All they care about is run time. They will change the run schedule on a moments notice. Those that follow the rules tend to not get anywhere. They allow some of the people to continuously chase employees off and get little to no repercussions for their actions. Then other crews suffer and have to cover shifts. I’ve learned a lot of new things since working there. The health care isn’t too bad for what it is. The crews that you work with tend to become your second family. They also have a lot of opportunities to be on committees and some chances to help give back to the community. 


It’s really not a bad place to work but it dose have some downsides. Most of the monthly incentive bonuses will not be meant due to machines not running correctly. Trying to get some maintenance people to fix some of the things is impossible. Some of them are reluctant to share information on what they’re doing. I don’t know if it’s a job security kind of thing or what. Then some of them are incredibly helpful and will explain and teach you if your willing to learn. 

Some of the employees are childish and petty. Some complain about the smallest thinking making others jobs more difficult. And it almost seems like those who cause issues are not held accountable. They continue to get away with the same things over and over again. That makes things super frustrating. They say the promotion people from the inside but when the opportunity to do so comes up they say that the person is under qualified. There is really no training for people. You hang out with someone for 2 weeks then get thrown to the wolfs. 




Part-timer's make quite a bit more money than the Full-timer's, but have ZERO advancement opportunities. They're short staffed for the time being and you're expected to 'go faster' but yet do the job of two people at the same time; your job and the missing staff job.

They tell you in your orientation that you're going to get three weeks of training (15 days), but you end up if you're lucky with 1 day worth. Many mistakes are made as a result of this, including multiple injuries that could be avoided with proper training.

Turn over rate is high. This is being caused by burnout from doing more than your job at once and being told to 'go faster' all the time. The job is very physically demanding for any of the non-leadership roles. Not overly 'heavy' work, but you're standing 95% of your shift, and moving in ways that can lead to injury. Leadership does have favorites too, which doesn't help, as they don't 'work' when there. You're told if you want to advance that you have to be a full-time person, otherwise just suck it up.

Attendance policy is garbage; they really need to rework it. Very short staffed on weekends. Leadership needs some work. Communication between leadership and employees is bad, also needs work. HR is also meh; they really don't know what's going on on the floor. Co-workers for the most part make the job bearable and not dreadful to come to work. You are given two 10 minute breaks paid and 1 unpaid lunch 30 minutes. If you're feeling ill or off, you can also request to sit down for an extra 10 minutes or so to make sure you're alright.

Overall, you really need to be a younger adult to take on this kind of work.

Berry does not care for you as an operator, or any other production employee.  Work for 14 days and get 2 days off.  As Covid is going on, you will not get your 8 hours a day.  They harass employees about their social distancing, but expect you to sit in on their meaningless meetings every Wednesday.  Their management positions are filled with people with 30 years or more on the job (which isnt a bad thing) but you have to remember that Berry has gone through some extreme changes since they went public (investor owned) and those 30+ yr people really had nothing else as far as experience goes, so they had to bite the bullet and accept some very big losses financially while being squeezed mentally and physically for every drop the company can drain you for.  As a production operator, you are going to deal with several "lead men" (contradictory name because they are complacent and will make the job as operator VERY difficult because they are to lazy to do theirs).  I went in to my job at Berry with the ideal that I would work hard, move up and find a place where I would be satisfied with the kind of work I did.  Instead, I worked hard, did a good job and got stuck in my position because they couldnt lose one of the few operators that had a work ethic.  There are some difficult machines there, and IF you show them you have the drive and ability to learn them and work them correctly, you will find yourself being replaced on an easier machine (by a slug operator) so you can cover a more difficult one when people take early outs.  These are facts as I see them.  I quit the job after 8 months.  Seeing people that came in after me get promoted.  This company is a decent income, but YOU are only a number, and they will coddle the lame and lazy while watching you break your neck for them.  It's ONLY for them.  Those group leaders are only concerned about what's best for them.  Upper management talks about accountability but they keep mutts that dont care in positions of authority because they cant find a way to treat people like people.   You have been warned....

Just wish that they looked at the people that scarified everything for the company was showed dedication an loyalty to them would be shown the value they bring to the company. I think this company has some very amazing opportunities to make a difference with showing more care an more of a family caring business. Just fill they could find better ways to your personal life an home life with people with kids an family’s. We live to work everyday not work to live, is a view we really miss at big companies like Berry. I do think It can be a great place to work if you have a degree. But ones without, really don’t have much hope for doing what your position is with the company. I just think they can do more with being more flexible an having two monitory shut downs every year. I really think that would go a long way with giving back to the employees. I understand the loss it can cause but it shows that money lost is more important then giving time off for employees to be with family is not important. Just my views, would definitely be willing to go back an work for them if they ever gave me that opportunity. I didn’t hate my job or really anyone I worked with. Just felt a huge gap from the top to the bottom employees most of the time. First six months felt like they carried but really after they fill you will stick it out they lose that welcoming caring for most employees. I was very grateful an blessed they gave me an opportunity to work for this company an will always be grateful for the opportunity they gave me. No disrespect or hate for this company just some of my view points is all. 

Berry Plastics is a place I would recommend against working for.  The pay is fairly high, but I would work three weeks straight very often.  You never know if you will have weekends off until late on Friday, making it impossible to accurately plan for anything.  Most of the management displays poor characteristics for those in a leadership role.  They are often rude, they will put you down, they use a disgusting amount of profanity, and most of them will not aid you in any way.  Unfortunately, many of the co-workers can be the same, although not to the extent as management.  I was even forced to skip lunch breaks most days of the week; this continued for nearly 2 years.  A typical day involved a 10 hour shift of working around machines.  I cleaned them, I changed color for our parts, I recorded orders, and I was tasked with decision making in nearly every aspect of the job.  However, despite all of the negatives, I did learn some incredibly useful skills.  Due to the high stress and heavy workload, I can multitask a numerous amount of projects at once.  These projects are typically very fast paced- the moment one begins, it should be done no later than within 10 minutes from the starting point, in most cases.  I dealt with customer complaints.  I had to deal subordinates complaining, and learn how to properly resolve arguments and disagreements.  Finally, due to only receiving one or two days off every month, I was able to save money.  Overall, I would not recommend Berry.  It taught me a few important aspects about hard work environments, but the crudeness of the people around me, the long hours, and the poor management truly ruined this job for me.

HR hired her incompetent, unstable son to work as a temp for the summer. She gave him weeks of time off excused for vacations from the start, even though temps are not suppose to have that much leniency on missing work. He also missed a lot for fake injuries and cost the company thousands in medical bills. If he was mad about the job he was put on, he'd have an "injury" and behave like a child and be treated as such. The amount of favoritism was unreal. He was hard for anyone to work with, he was lazy,  and his explosive childish temper tantrums caused a very uneasy and unsafe work environment for the rest of the employees. Upper management was aware of it and nothing was ever done due to HR being his mother. Instead the rest of the employees were put under a microscope to ensure HE wasn't being treated unfair and to blame everyone else for the lack of emotional stability he had. A father and son are forbidden from working on the same shift if one of them is in an authority role but HR can hire her son to work on day shift with her and proceed to make unfair exceptions to accommodate him based on her personal reasons and his poor work ethic. He couldn't do his job and if he was any other associate, he would have been let go. 3 reportable "injuries" in 2 months is more than any employee temp or full time ever has had there in that time span. How can you report employee misconduct when the person you report it to is their mother? Berry has went downhill over the years due to upper management like this. Seniority doesn't mean anything to them. If Berry wants to be a good employer again, start with HR and give employees a safe, anonymous way to file complaints like this so HR doesn't seek revenge.

The company gives you time so that you learn your job. I did not see favoritism. You will be assigned to random machines each day. One week you will work 3 days, and the next week you will work 4 days. Each day is 12 hours and 10 minutes. Attendance  (on-time each day and not calling off) is very important to this company if you want to learn higher paying positions.  There are no chairs on the production floor.  The hardest part of the job is being on your feet for 12 hours and keeping your energy up for that time. You will work anywhere from 1 - 3 machines. If you run a fast machine, you may be only on that one machine. If the machines puts out product on a slower pace, you may be running 3 machines.  Many of the machines have a lift machine to carry the heavier boxes. The lift machine is mandatory to use if that lift machine is at your station. Boxes with product weigh anywhere from approximately 9 - 35 pounds.  There are machine guards all over the machines to keep you from getting hurt.  Safety is very important. There is a 10 minute safety meeting at the start of every shift.  

They hire permanent and temp workers. The temp workers are encouraged to become full time.  It takes anywhere from 4 - 6 months to go from temp-to-perm. 

If your machine goes down, you are encouraged/expected to help other people at their machines. When people help other people, it makes for a better work environment for everyone.  I did not see drama on my night shift.

Overtime was offered and was not mandatory since I have worked there.
Medical insurance is expensive. 

Very good place to work would recommend to anyone looking for a  steady place to work, decent pay (as long as you talk about your pay to all of your co workers and ask them about their pay to make sure they’re not getting over on you),but the management team was great, extremely friendly and always made you feel like you were part of a family. Only bad thing is that they get over a lot of people with their pay,the pay needs to be discussed amongst the employees. It seems like everyone is embarrassed to talk about how much money they make, which isn’t right because then the company can easily get away with paying everyone much different for the same positions and experience but the company doesn’t want anyone to know that. None of the Machine Operators make the same amount of money, same goes with the Packers. I was in the Quality Department and I absolutely loved my job, I strived each and everyday to always do better and be more efficient. I had been in the department for a long time, doing the best I could everyday, always putting in 110%. We got a new guy in the department, that I had to train pretty much babysit, he didn’t care about the job or the department just the paycheck, always on his phone. I found out a long time after I had been pulling my weight and his weight he was making over 2$ an hour more than me (and I was doing his work). This is one of the biggest reasons the pay needs to be an open discussion, there’s no reason to be embarrassed to discuss something that matters so much, I mean you’re pay is the whole reason you work there in the first place.

This is for the Mankato location. 
12 hour rotating shifts / 4 weeks day shift, 4 weeks night shift
this was the work schedule before i left in this specific order:
(2 days on, 2 days off, 3 days on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 3 days off)
then the work cycle repeats

i was first a film tech, then a material handler. film tech consists of removing the film from the machines, weighing the film, then entering the data into the computer. Material handler places film onto pallets, use boards and bands to secure it, then wrap it with a wrapping machine. 
Material Handler position also includes loading material into trucks (if they give you a forklift license), working in basement, moving pallets of resin closer to the plastic making machines

work flow is erratic at best. there are days where you do close to nothing, then there are days where you don't if you will get a break. When i left there, they were going through a VERY slow time (which some senior employees said was highly unusual, and worrisome)... during my time, the amount of people working on each shift was dropped from 16 to 11
because of this, they sent people home on the weekends, or sent people to the press dept for less hours. 
Management does not communicate with supervisors. one harassment incident occurred while i was there, and before i left, management still had not fired the harasser because they cared more about making the plastic than they did making sure their employees were safe.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Machine operator 1 salary reported	$19.00 per hour
Maintenance technician 1 salary reported	$27.00 per hour
Forklift operator 3 salaries reported	$20.50 per hour
Packer 2 salaries reported	$15.25 per hour
Production supervisor 1 salary reported	$77,500 per year

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