merchandiser

retail merchandiser

warehouse associate

packer

truck driver

Central Garden & Pet

I have worked at Central Garden and Pet for a while. The people that have negative things to say do not speak for me and I cannot speak for them. I absolutely love my job. I look forward to going to work every day. I enjoy the company of all my co-workers and the management. The comradery and fun we have is something i look forward to every day. The people genuinly care about eachother and it is refreshing to see common courtesy and respect that is on display on a daily basis. I think of Central Garden and Pet as my second home and other employees as my family. We even have the funny relatives here. That being said, not every day is unicorns and rainbows. It`s not suppossed to be. This is not your grandparents house. This is a job where you are paid and accountable for youself. Anywhere you work there will always be at least one negative person. You will not always like everyone you work with. That is normal. People have different personalities and traits. I have never worked anywhere else where we have been given so much. Our opinions and feelings are valued even if they are not liked. We are encouraged to be ourselves. The perks we have are amazing, relaxed dress code, flex time, pto that we earn, sick pay, company picnics, holiday parties, with gifts I might add. The list can go on. Some people are like spoiled children. The more you give them, the more they expect. You cannot please everyone and some people need negativity to live. I am thankful for all the extras we have. If you are unhappy, that is okay. Central Garden and Pet`s family style may not be a fit for you. I encourage you to find your happy as I have found mine. Find somewhere else to work that will offer you the same perks and pay. I wish you the best of luck. But until you do, maybe take the time to appreciate what you already have.

My role as a merchandiser is pretty fulfilling. I usually get up and hit my first store around 6:00AM, but hours are very flexible. Once there I look up top in the overheads to see what I need to bring down to fill displays and homes, and what I can bring down to create new displays. As they’re dropping things for me I check availabile onhands and outs, and see if we can get more ordered if there are any outs. From there on out it’s pulling pallets out to service them, maintaining displays, and doing other tasks that have been assigned like building racks, checking planograms for accuracy, and taking photos of merchandise we service. Then it’s on to the next store to do it again! 

The pay, while slightly above average for my position compared to other garden vendors, doesn’t keep up with inflation. Other than 2% COL increases every year and the occasional $500 bonus to your 401K, there isn’t much in the way of raises or reimbursement such as mileage or a car allowance, since you have to drive your personal vehicle. There are SOME reimbursements like a cell phone reimbursement and an hourly per diem, but that’s about it. 

Getting promoted in the retail sales and service team either means the territory manager has left to better opportunities, or has transferred to another part of the company. While I have heard there are positions where you sell to “mom and pop sized accounts”, I haven’t seen an open position for them in the area. 

I’d say overall I’m pretty happy with my career. I could use more money, but then again, who couldn’t? 

One of the best parts of my time at Central Garden and Pet, specifically within the CSP business unit, was the HR team and the on-site supervisors. They were supportive, collaborative, and genuinely cared about the well-being of employees. I was given opportunities to grow and gain experience in different areas of HR, which helped me develop professionally. I also built strong relationships and learned a great deal over the course of my 10 years there.

Central also offered a generous paid parental leave program and an education reimbursement benefit that showed support for work-life balance and continued learning, two programs I really appreciated.

Unfortunately, there were persistent toxic leadership dynamics at the top levels of the business unit, which made it incredibly difficult to create lasting cultural change. As someone in HR, I was expected to help drive a positive culture, but it was challenging when that positivity wasn’t being modeled by senior leadership. It appeared that anyone who spoke up about the toxicity was removed from the equation. 

While I did receive growth opportunities, I didn’t feel truly fulfilled or appreciated for my potential. Over time, my work started to feel repetitive, and I no longer felt challenged or inspired. Looking back, I now realize how much I was missing in terms of feeling valued and seen, especially compared to my current company where people are treated as individuals rather than just numbers.

The Central Service Center (CSC) in Boise is a call center in disguise, where employees are treated as modern day slaves. The employees obviously don't stay long because they are constantly monitored and micro managed, huge work overload, with zero opportunities for advancement, mediocre pay and zero overtime.They are resigning even without finding another job, they just want to get out of here.
The management is horrible: condescending, love to intimidate people and micro manage their employees. Any employee issues are constantly ignored by them and after many complaints to the upper management, nothing has changed.
The Director of the CSC, L.N., doesn't care about the bad reputation of the Center. They can't find people to fill SEVERAL positions that are open, due to all the resignations. The Director doesn't care about losing valuable employees and the costs associated with the HIGH employee turnover ($newspaper ads, $training new hires, $knowledge loss, etc.) and all because of the managers.
I wouldn't recommend Central to my worst enemy. If you need a job in AP, apply in Boise, Inc. (PCA), at least they don't have bad reviews. There is a reason why they are constantly looking for AP and AR Specialists. You will be sorry to work here.

My advice: Listen to the employees and make some changes or pretty soon you won't have any left.
Worst place to work in Idaho: 2012, 2013, 2014
Worst Call Center to work in Idaho

At first, I loved my position, it was a very enriched learning environment and I loved being able to share my knowledge about lien and bond rights on the Garden side of the company.

I learned more about SOX and other accounting guidelines and legal practices.

Management at first was great!! But after 4 years there were some other management levels created and it began causing some conflict and confusion on the floor with the AR Reps.

The workplace culture consisted of allowing Reps to work independently with an open office door policy should you have any questions or need assistance.

The hardest part of the job at the time of my separation came about as new management levels were created. The confusion as to who to turn to for any concerns became blurred and some on the floor considered that the multiple managers would team up, didn't feel like they could have a one on one approach.

The most enjoyable part of the job was working with my Sales Reps and customers. I found once you establish a personal relationship and remember people by name, it was effective in getting payment plans set up for those Garden accounts that would seasonally become slow to pay and with the Sales Reps who could assist in collections of money on sales calls, since my region was California.

Didn't learn anything. Horrible management. Products are wayyyyyyy overpriced!!!!!! Do not buy Amdro, Pennington. RIPOFF!! Horrible subordinates and team members. No one will help you when you need it and will backstab you. SAP launch was a disaster. Employees were temps right off the streets and had no clue. The seasoned employees were rude  and didn't know anything either but pretended like they knew everything.
Fighting a battle every day with employees and management.
Meetings were junk. Would prepare S @OP review for supply-chain people and took a week to do the thing because systems are so archaic. Never had time to analyze anything because too busy spinning wheels. SAP is not for this co. 
Pres. and CEO both fired. Tons of layoffs. No job security. 
Management has no backbone for their people.
Better off working for any other company but this one. Don't do it!!!!!
Find a better company or do contract work but definitely not for this company. Pay is awful!!!!!!!and so do benefits. No discount on the  products either. But no loss. Scott's is wayyyyyyyyyy better.
No one's even heard of this worthless company. 
DO NOT WORK HERE!!!!!! Worst 5 yrs ever. Just stayed that long for a paycheck nothing else. Was a working boss for chump change until I could find something better.
Save your sanity and do not work for this sinking ship. The Company is about to go down under as well. Just look at the stock price.

I hate for someone to go through what I did...
Loyalty does not matter to this company and its unfortunate that I didn't realize this until well over a decade!! There is no leadership what so ever. Management is awful and marketing is always a day late and a dollar behind. There is no where to move up with this company as well as no increment merit increases and capped bonuses. This all has dramatically changed in the last 5 years... All that matters is the number delivered to Wall Street. Not the relationships they establish nor bettering the lives of animals across the nation. The HR department is not there for support to the employees at all. HR I feel is not supportive but only to tear you down not build you up or to help you out with leave or any other circumstances. There is actually no support to the employees. The people you grow to love and call your family over the years don't trust/you can't count on them. They are out for themselves. They are snakes and everything everyone told me to watch out for about the company was true. I am thankful for the experience I do believe that I was there at the best of times and it has gotten me to where I am today and I do owe them that!

Before this starts it should be said that this is a warehouse floor job with low pay so don't expect too much. The work is easy when distributed properly or evenly, or when people chose to get their work done. I made up for other workers lack of efficiency everyday and grew tired of it. No one in management would put their foot down towards incompetent workers. Every single worker slacked off and little was done to counter this. We got the job done at the end of the day so I see why they wouldn't bother to push for change, but there are many easy changes that can be made to increase efficiency. Hardest part of the job was having to go to work and hear people complain about how much they have to do everyday, when the amount of work they did in a whole 8 hour day, should have been done in half the time or less. The most enjoyable part of the job was the fact that I felt I out shined every worker there. All that being said, the company was very lenient with me and if you work hard I imagine they will do the same for you. They will only go so far, but they will still at least attempt to help you if you come to them.

Recieve and talk to different dept managers regarding product placement and sales. Interpersonal relations with customers on a daily basis and talk with customers with questions about products and any other info asked.
I have learned to mediate between different dept managers and my company with regards to sales and giving in-house lectures about new products and uses.
My manager was a great source of info and encouragement. He helped me early to become more customer friendly and deal with customer interactions and understand how to deal with difficult situations that can arise.
I had virtually no co-workers, which taught me self reliance and proficiency,
The hardest part was coming into my own and dealing with tough situations that arose and finding comprimise between dept managers in order to get the job done.
My most enjoyable moments were completing every task I was given and the satisfaction that that enatails!

I work for CG&P as merchandiser longer than I should. Let's begin with salary. You will get pay roughly $400 per week, after taxes and other stuff. Good luck surviving on that. You will get $0,14 raise every year (im not joking). Also, take in consideration that you will be driving your own car, and if something happens to your car while at work, well its your problem ( I had an accident and I was told to simply clock out and let them know if I 
can work next day). You better have an old car for this job, because you will be putting a TON of miles in your car. Lets not forget, during this pandemic, merchandiser and warehouse workers were considered essential workers. Merchandisers worked normally during peak Covid-19 without any mask and gloves. They did send an email telling us to be safe and that was about it. Sales surge, stock price went up and yet the so called "essential workers" haven't received a single penny as bonus. CG&P never gave bonuses, maybe to the peoplet who work in the office. The 5 start rating is probably from the HR and higher up office folks. If you still decides to work for CG&P your manager will take you to eat some cheap fast food once every 2 months.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Merchandiser 122 salaries reported	$18.02 per hour
Retail merchandiser 55 salaries reported	$17.94 per hour
Warehouse associate 20 salaries reported	$18.34 per hour
Packer 1 salary reported	$18.50 per hour
Truck driver 21 salaries reported	$27.10 per hour

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