merchandiser

order picker

truck driver

sales merchandiser

local driver

Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast

Coca Cola Northeast (or CCNNE as they used to be known as) gives you a fair pay wage and decent benefits. You're hired into a union, which is relatively scarce these days. The job is simple and straight forward, but the workload, the variables, the logistical issues, and the miscommunication between customers, management, and co-workers makes the job treacherous. 

Don't expect a healthy work-life balance, expect to be married and obligated to your job. Do enjoy working hard on your own with no direct company managers breathing down your next 24/7, unless you're trying to skip out on work that is. Expect deliveries to be late and if they don't arrive within enough time to stay busy beforehand, move on to the next store and come back later.

For most of your co-workers, its a race to see who can rush off the clock first so they don't get stuck being forced to finish the work that others didn't do in order to get home early. Grocery stores take out unfinished work by fellow merchandisers, wrong orders by salespeople, no communication from management and missed or late deliveries from the warehouse out on you because you are typically the only person that they see acting as a company mouthpiece.

Even though you're in a union, the union does little to fight for or defend you in situations mentioned above and often just agrees with management to always obligate you at fault for something. My union rep couldn't even do his job as one because they were forcing him to work 12-16 hour shifts as a cooler tech. Coca Cola has been trying to push out the union for years now and Northeast is no different from CCNNE on that.

Management has a thorough understanding of the job you need to do, and every little thing that goes wrong, you will become the cleanup crew for. Even though you expect to have 2 days off a week based off seniority, still expect to get forced in for a sixth day and be held out up to a potential 16 hour max shift until all the work is completed. When you do need help and get stuck, management often doesn't answer calls/texts/emails and leaves you to figure out things on your own.

Take pictures of EVERY shelf you stock, all the displays and the coolers if you do take a job as a Merchandiser. Don't trust salespeople because they are not your friend, out of date/broken stuff is their responsibility and they will try to push it off every chance they can. When your shift is over and you have reliably done everything you were supposed to, shut your work phone off until the next shift or do NOT answer calls/texts etc unless you're planning to go back into work again. And yes, they can see if you've read their emails/texts or not.

Listen to what the grocery store managers ask of you and report things out of your control to them. It will make your life a lot easier when you show them just how far out of your way you're willing to go to ensure the job is done, and will help you in the long run if your bosses come at you for something that's not your fault. The people in these stores can pester and nag you to no end, but when they see you working hard, they come to your aid more often than not and will talk highly of you to everyone in your company...sometimes even request you personally.

There are several areas that need improvement. 
1.	Workload and Stress:
o	Employees are feeling overwhelmed due to increasing workloads and reactive approaches. 
o	Last-minute requests and communication during employee’s vacation time.  
2.	Lack of Customer Prioritization:
o	Ensuring timely product delivery and building trust with customers should be a top priority. Consistently late deliveries erode customer confidence.
o	Perhaps revisiting delivery processes and setting realistic expectations can improve customer satisfaction.
3.	Lack of Team Collaboration:
o	Silos and fostering collaboration between teams is crucial. Encouraging a “WE ARE” mindset can lead to better outcomes.
o	Regular cross-team meetings or joint projects could promote better communication.
4.	Lack of Concern for Employee Well-Being:
o	Unrealistic expectations and long hours can harm work-life balance. Prioritizing employee health and well-being is essential.
o	Consider implementing policies that promote work-life balance and mental health support.
5.	Lack of Trust in Upper Management:
o	Open communication channels are vital. Employees should feel comfortable expressing concerns without fear of repercussions.
o	Upper management should actively address feedback and demonstrate responsiveness.
6.	Lack of Professional Communication:
o	Disrespectful emails can create a toxic work environment. Encouraging respectful and professional communication is crucial.
o	Training on effective communication and conflict resolution might be helpful.
7.	Lack of Fairness and Growth:
o	Favoritism and lack of internal promotions can demoralize employees. Transparent promotion processes are essential.
o	Hiring from within and recognizing employee potential can boost morale and loyalty.
o	Despite an internal candidate applying for a role during open interviews, they were not selected due to perceived lack of sales experience. Surprisingly, an external candidate was hired for the position, even though the role primarily involves sales—a responsibility the internal candidate has been handling. This decision was disheartening, especially after encouraging the internal candidate to work harder with the promise of future opportunities.

Coca-Cola Northeast is a fast-paced work environment that has one main goal in mind... MONEY! They don't care about you or the customer as long as they're making money. Company was significantly better a few years back when it was still Coca-Cola Refreshments but after that CCNNE and CCN has been a joke. They struggle to keep any employees since they require them to work 6 days a week, even during their training weeks! They tell you a bunch of lies and all the things you want to hear in your interview but from the moment you sign on you realize its all fake. Management never answers calls and barely answers texts so you're left on your own and you're expected to finish unrealistic amounts of work in short shift and if you don't finish in time they will allow OT but trust and believe they aren't happy about it. Worst part about the whole place is the selfishness and lack of communication from management. If any extra work is required do not expect the managers to come help. Expect them to email you and tell you that you need to do a poor job at your everyday accounts so that you can drive, usually over an hour away, to cover another route and be done without OT if possible. And if one manager doesn't like you then they will all turn against you and find any excuse to fire you... Even if you're putting up record sales numbers for your route! THEY NEED ALL NEW MANAGEMENT!

This job is not for anyone with young children or a family. More for single individuals who are willing to work 10/12 hr days, 6 days a week. The job is physically demanding and repetitive. Must be willing to work 5 to 6 stores, ALONE. Most stores get deliveries every other day, with 500-800case loads, if you're lucky, but you have to work it all by yourself. Build days are the worst. You'll get stuck doing 2 major chain stores with display builds, many of them will have several displays to be built all in one visit, on top of the other stores on your route. Walmart visits can take an average of 5to6hrs if you service the store the way it should be serviced, and even then, you will still have to cut corners just to make sure you have time for the other 4 or 5 stops you have for the day. It is highly, highly, unlikely you will get help. It is more likely they will add on stops and work without asking if you'd be able to pick up an extra store. Every day is a surprise when you walk in to an account, unless it is your normal route. A lot of people will leave the work for the next person to do, so you never know what conditions the stores are in. You're expected to pick up the slack.

I had worked at CCNNE for 3 years, I was excited for the opportunity, however, everything that was done in the office was like your life depended on it. Management would tear you apart if you made the smallest mistake that caused the smallest amount of inconvenience and could be fixed in a matter of seconds. 

Senior management tends to promote people within the company based upon appearance instead of experience. I have witnessed first hand someone of 20+ year lose out on a valuable promotion to someone with a small fraction of time with the company just because the person who has been with the company for less time was good looking.

When it came to the pandemic of 2020, the company chose to cut employees with the highest salaries instead of those who lacked experience. Management will not acknowledge your individual achievements but rather use your achievements to their own personal gain, and senior executives will not highlight the common employee for what they have done for the company but rather group everyone together in one mass. 

All the free merchandise and food they provide to the employees cannot heal the mental anguish delivered by management below. If you wanna get far in this company, you better lose a few pounds and get friendly with senior management.

If you're a merchandiser, you are basically worked like a dog. If you enjoy working a lot of hours, it's a fine job, but not viable long-term. After four years doing labor for them I had an injury that required surgery, not necessarily their fault. They gave me a job fixing and servicing machines, which I had a background as a technician so that worked fine. After their facility manager retired, his replacement started moving people around and they tried to get me to do labor again even though I still had issues from my back surgery. Most of the lower end managers are really great, but the guys in charge seem to have a superiority complex and the only way to get anywhere in the company is to suck up to the boss. Playing golf with them seems to be the best way from what I saw. Around the time I left a lot of the people who had been there for a long time were also leaving, so it was not just my personal experience. when I was hired as a Merchandiser they payed me 11 bucks an hour and I had to drive my own car from store to store with no money to compensate me for anything, because they said the extra dollar per hour was for gas. After working there 8 years and fixing machines the most I made was 15 an hour, it was a pretty terrible place to work all in all.

I have enjoyed every year of the 30 Year’s  I have been at Coca Cola. Every year brings new and exciting adventures I learn new things every year.  No one year is like the other,each year is different and allows me to grow personally and professionally every challenge that’s thrown at me there’s  always a way to accomplish your goal or complete the task at hand.  The best thing about working here at Coca Cola northern New England is the help and understanding you get from management and your peers.  If you don’t know how to handle a situation or task there’s always someone around who has had previous experience and is willing to help and pass on that experience and knowledge to you so that you’re successful each and every day.  For anyone looking for a long-term career with a lot of potential growth I would highly recommend Coca Cola northern New England I myself started in the warehouse on nights and was given the opportunity to learn and hold many job functions in the organization to where I am now as a Distribution Manager . I am looking forward to spending  many more years learning new and exciting things as well as  being a great Brand Ambassador for Coca Cola.

Very easy job. Great pay considering you are most often just stocking shelves. If I was doing the same job at say tops I would be paid five dollars less at least per hour. I got a promotion within about a year because so few people last in this job. Work balance and management are the only real issues. If someone calls in or it's a holliday, or both, you're going to work for at least 10 hours each day leading up to it. Because so few are getting or applying for merchandiser jobs if you are a competent and hard worker management will use you to cover for those who aren't. Logistics can be a disaster depending on what driver is delivering to your stores. Some drivers would routinely beat me to my stores, others wouldnt even pull up to the dock until 1 or 2 in the afternoon; This position starts at 6am.Like I said considering you're mostly just stocking shelves, or fielding complaints from store management about your manager over promising, the sales merchandiser who's weekend you're covering, or the merchandiser covering yours I'd say if you don't have kids or a college degree this is a great job.

Typical day of work consists of getting to work at 10 a.m.. You sign in with your assigned number and get an order ticket.  You then get a pallet and go around the warehouse picking the cases needed to fulfill the order.  You do this all day with a break every two hours.  Two 15 minute break and 30 minutes for lunch at 2 p.m..  Job requires you bending down and lifting cases so needed to be fairly strong.  Should have good organizational skills as some pallets get rather large and cases need to positioned in certain ways in order to build a strong pallet that won't fall over.  During the summer you'll usually do over 40 hours but during the winter months it slows down and will usually have less than 40 hours unless there is a holiday sale going on.  Workplace culture depends on what you make of it.  For the most part will be working with mainly men so being stuck with the same guys for 40 hours a week can get difficult, need to be mentally tough.  Hardest part of the job is keeping a good pace (pick rate) through out the day.  Most enjoyable part of the job is the workout you get everyday and interacting with the other employees.

If all you care about is money and nothing else this is the job for you. The work/life balance at this job is terrible.You will not be able to have any life outside of this job since you will be working 10-12 hours most days even in the slower season.Also, if you somehow finding yourself moving on time you can be sure the management will add more stops to your route making you work overtime. Several of these people will then turn around and ask what's taking so long.

Also, there is very little room to move up in seniority in this company because of the large amount of people who have been here ten years or more which means you will never get any of the good selection of off days

Communication was fairly poor as well.

While the benefits and pay are great they don't make up for the the negatives here. Besides, you will be fought on every step for actually trying to use your benefits. Not to mention this job takes an extreme physical toll on your body.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Merchandiser 611 salaries reported	$22.59 per hour
Order picker 137 salaries reported	$22.14 per hour
Truck driver 123 salaries reported	$30.24 per hour
Sales merchandiser 84 salaries reported	$26.49 per hour
Local driver 58 salaries reported	$30.60 per hour

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