retail sales associate

assistant store manager

store manager

sales associate

supervisor

Daiso

A typical setting for a sales associate is opening the store and staying for however long your shift is. Depending on your shift and how long it is, you may range from one singular 10-minute break up to 2 10-minute paid breaks and a 45-minute unpaid lunch. You will never work a full "opening the store to closing the store" shift, it is possible, but managers will most likely never allow that. 

Management is not the best, they care enough about your personal life, and "try" with the work environment. It is unsuitable for trying to "grow" in the company. Not only are the raises almost non-existent, but the only way to get approved for a raise is through your Daiso Area Manager. In my case I have seen, time and time again, my Area Manager would not allow raises because it is only done if you are promoted to a new position (i.e. Assistant Manager, Manager, etc.) even though when asking HR personally, only the Area Manager can approve of raises. I am not entirely sure what the details and clear rules and requirements are on that. 

The jobs you mostly see at Daiso Stores will be Part-Time jobs. It does allow this job to be flexible and maintain a good balance if you are working, and going to school at the same time. This though, does not allow you to fully take advantage of any "Employee Benefits" since there are basically no benefits. No Discounts since everything in the store is $1.75, Some Insurance but it is almost worse than what you can find on the outside.  You do get some hours for sick leave but that is it. 

This is from what I have personally seen. Most Daiso Store Managers and Assistant Managers are full-time (back then they used to allow part-time people to take up Assistant Manager and Manager positions but now they require it to be full-time.), and an occasional one or two full-time employee positions. I can only think of ONE member in a Daiso Store who is in a PART-TIME position with the Assistant Manager title who REAPS the Full-TIme Benefits. This is from what I currently know on my side and cannot predict if this has changed. 

The Work Environment is good depending on which location you work at. From my experience, only one person was enough to ruin the whole environment (and it WAS the assistant manager who is still in a part-time position I believe). They not only were very "mansplaining" everything to lots of new employees who were hired after me but very much a "do it this way" as well as judging and degrading people's personal lives. The Assistant Manager even made some newcomers cry during their shift, and if they did not cry during, they mostly cried after BECAUSE of this person. When the manager was told about this issue, they wanted to hear the Assistant Manager's side of the story but they have apparently "no memory of that at all". 

The employees you have working there are very kind and sometimes, it just takes a while to get used to the new people and fit right in and feel more comfortable with them. 

The hardest part of this job is just mentally enduring the fact that after a period of time (either a few months, maybe a year, or more) you feel undervalued in the company if you still are just a sales associate working and want to continue as a sales associate but want a raise. You can get paid back the mileage if you do help out at another store with the "extra $x on top of your wage" you work there. When transferring, your pay is still the same, so you may get underpaid than some new employees who come in. It is very infuriating and honestly is not worth it in the long run. Even if you may say the "pay does not change for you because it is the same level of worth, it is just in different areas". It also is very sad that there is no benefits to the point, that sometimes if a manager is kind enough, they will damage some expired foods and leave it in the trash area in the backroom for other employees to take before they trash it all. It is very nice that we are able to enjoy the expired food. :) The previous sentence was a joke. It sucks even more since the Area Manager that I had, did not really condone damaging items and leaving them for employees to take since it "looks like employees will damage an item on purpose and take it home after the manager damages it". 

The most enjoyable part is meeting some coworkers and looking forward to seeing them at work again. On top of that, the inventory is VERY inconsistent, so you constantly have to change product shelves and rearrange areas. It is VERY satisfying when you do it for long enough. 

On an typical Friday morning, I arrive at the store around 9:00 AM, ready to get started with the day. I am often greeted by my fellow co-workers who have arrived roughly around the same time as I did. Depending on what Friday it is, we take our shifts in either preparing cash for the day or cleaning the store before opening hours. We open the store at 10AM sharp so it gives my fellow co-workers and myself plenty of time to finish our morning duties. I am usually assigned our cash duty due to my seniority and I often look over to see whether cash is being processed and transferred to the cashier correctly. Depending on the quantity of bills we have to start the day, I would often find myself running to a Wells Fargo bank in order to exchange bills with other smaller bills as well as depositing the profit our store has made over the week. Once everything is spruced up, we open the store at 10AM. At this point, I am preparing my section (which consists of living goods such as indoor slippers, furniture leg covers, door stoppers and etc.) to make it as appealing as possible for customers. I gather any stocked items and display it in a neat and orderly fashion. The displaying process usually involves putting the items in a specific pattern, whether it would be size differences or color coordination. As the day progresses, I would record items that need to be ordered due to the lack of supply in the back room. This step usually requires 1 to 2 hours of attention as there are many items that need to be sorted through. Once all the items are recorded down, I log into my designated account that gives me the responsibility to order items for my section (only specific members may have such accounts). As I order using the old windows XP dell computers, I am also looking out for any new items that may have arrived in the warehouse. Once I am done with the ordering process, I record the quantity I ordered and make a note on a order sheet with my name on it in order for management to have a record of my orders. After this process I continue to take care of my section until shipment arrives. Shipment for Daiso Japan usually comes around Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Due to the absence of the store manager on Fridays, I am charged with ensuring that all shipment has arrived as well as any priority orders for customers that made special requests. I am usually given a shipment invoice by the delivery guy. I go through each pallet to make sure that all items have arrived and check off items on the shipment invoice. As soon as I confirm that everything has arrived I would record the amount of inventory that has arrived on an excel sheet that is sent to the headquarter on a daily basis. Another responsibility that I hold is that I am to create a small makeshift "map" that designates my fellow co-workers to specific tasks such as X has to work on Z products. After this session, I continue to monitor the store and help and customers in need. Around 6 PM I clock out and call it a day.

Daiso does not care about hard workers. I learned everything quick once I got hired and the manager trusted me as a morning/night shift leader couple months after I started working there. I ended up helping my manager by training, interviewing, hiring new employees, scheduling my co-workers, order items for the store, transported money, everything an assistant manager would do. I did everything the manager could do. I worked hard for my position and even had the employers go to me when they have questions. I would work overtime if needed too. My manager vouched for me and my other co-worker to be the Assistant managers since she would be stepping down, interview went great with upper management, thought we would get it. We were rejected because we didn’t have enough “communication skills,” didn’t even tell us, we had to find out by our manager. They then gave the position to two other people who did not know anything about the store, how it functions, back and front work, and the people. The new assistant managers would ask for my help on how to deal and do things correctly. They didn’t know how to do certain things at work. One of them already worked at a different Daiso location for assistant manager, that was why he was hired but did not know anything. I was frustrated on how poorly the upper management handled it, giving the assistant manager position to people who do not know how to do their own jobs. I left right after, they were asking too much for my help and I did not get the acknowledgement I needed or even a pay raise for training the employers. Also, I worked a full-time schedule, sometimes even more than 40 hours a week, but they did not want to give me the full-time title and pay raise, I was stuck with part-time title and only the assistant managers or managers can get healthcare benefits, another reason why I left. After I left, I found out my other co-workers left too just because I left. Upper management is just horrible. 

Our store have several managers, most of them are very nice and caring, they always support us and show appreciation for employee's hardwork, but when one of the old Japanese manager oversees the management/became the general store manager, and the other managers stopped coming to the store, everything is going down. The old Japanese manager has very limited understanding of English, therefore he likes to hire people with Japanese language background which is understandable. What's bad about that is whoever with Japanese language background will automatically get promoted into the management, without even work at the store for at least one week, they are promoted to be the assistant manager. Most employees who've worked for the store is really upset and quitting because of the old Japanese manager's favoritism or racism. 
In addition to favoritism, he also likes to put the blame on the floor staff. If he over-order merchandise and causing overstock issue, it's the employee's fault. If there's issue with office paper work, again it falls under the floor staff's responsibility rather than his (again, he is the manager). Many employees knew that the manager made the mistake, but the manager wouldn't admit it. 
So unless Daiso can hire managers that aren't racist and treat everyone equally regardless of their language ability, or this company will just keep losing employees who are put in so much efforts. Again, this is USA, been able to speak English is your obligation, and employee who has no Japanese language background shouldn't be treated unfairly. If you keep the way, you will just keep losing good employees who worked so hard and desperately to see you promote a new worker who haven't made any contribution to the store yet.

Love unappreciative, stressful, and micromanaging environment? Then Daiso is the place for you! This place does not value its employees’ hard work, they say thank you for your hard work on the emails, during the meetings all the time, but that is never a truthful statement, they said it so it sounds they are polite (Simply means the management are fake, they act that appreciate you and talk badly about you when you are not present). Hard working employee are generally been take advantaged of at this place, the manager at this place love to giving out management work to the floor members who’s making the minimum wage. Tell me how you would want to do all the extra work without a reasonable pay or a truthful appreciation. If you are willing to take in all the extra works, well good luck with that, because first, the manager won't even teach you if he/she feels he/she is busy, secondly when problem arises, the manager won’t be taking responsibility for these error that’s occurred in the “manager’s position”, you will be wholly responsible for the fault. With that said, if you are extremely patience then you may find this place bearable, but the fact that more than 80% of the employees at our location since grand openings has already quit (Regardless of other opportunities or because of relocation, all former employees agree that this is one of the worst place to work) is surely an evidence that Daiso's management need to change & improve. This fact also means our local Daiso has to constantly  keep hiring new employees to replace the resigned employees, and any remaining crew members are expected to walk through with the new employee about all the duties (Menn am I a sales associate or what). Daiso does help people gain retail experience, but as soon as you learned all the retails, quit as soon as possible to avoid mental breakdown.

Working at Daiso had little perks, like a straightforward job and friendly coworkers, but the management created a toxic and unethical environment. Hours were cut unfairly over time while new hires were brought in, which felt like a deliberate strategy to avoid offering full-time roles or benefits. Favoritism dictated promotions and schedules, and feedback was often demeaning, with managers yelling at employees to work faster or being highly unprofessional and mean instead of constructive feedback. Creating fear and frustration in the workplace. Communication was poor, and issues were documented without proper dialogue, falling on the employee to be punished. 

These practices raise serious ethical concerns about fair treatment and labor practices. Being spoken to in a disrespectful or demeaning way can severely impact employee morale and mental health. It’s hard to feel motivated or valued in such an environment. And unfortunately, hour manipulation is common in retail environments where companies prioritize cost-cutting over employee retention. I would caution anyone considering working here to be aware of these issues and advocate for themselves if they encounter similar treatment. 

Though working itself is simple to the dot. The stress is immeasurable and the expectations from management is impressive. The company would be expecting every type of item to be sold frequently and in a small but consistent way equally. However based on the location and demographic, some stores would sell one category more than others. Leading to other categories becoming overstock to the point there's no room or management forces the team to basically make aisles look like a hoarder lives there. 

The greatest phrase from anyone higher up when things are challenging and your team are figuring out what to do or are already making attempts, is "figure it out." 

Employee: "We've gotten to the point where Stationary is becoming too overstock and we don't have room. What do we do?" 

Management: "Were you able to check other aisles to make room or create a section? Figure it out."

Another huge issue is expectation of making sure every single product is out of the backroom. Yes they understand if certain items are overstock and place in an overstock area. However they expect to no matter what have the backroom empty and clean as a whistle when sections are already too full with no room, even when suggesting to move a pre existing aisle to be broken down and spread out to respective sections to have a new space to use, the category still has an overstock pile due to warehouse overshipping.

When the warehouse overships the store has to absorb them and display them anyway even when the store is fully stocked and there's no room.

When questioning about why not send items that are more commonly sold they only see numbers 

It's fun to work with the store team at least. 

Generally you clock in, find your apron, check the daily schedule for tasks and scheduled breaks, start your tasks, clock in/out for lunch, finish tasks, hang up your apron, and clock out. Typical tasks include, cashiering, stocking, front facing, opening/closing, janitorial duties, sorting shipments, etc.. I learned to document everything. Document all clock in/out times, dates/hours worked, emails/texts, bank statements for paychecks, posted schedules, daily tasks, and record phone calls as well as interactions with management. The workplace culture is great. Most coworkers are understanding and genuinely kind but show discontent for management. Management culture is cliquey and temperamental; demeaning and passive aggressive. Management also seems to be endlessly busy and therefore grumpy during downtime. The worst part of the job IS management. If it weren't for trickle down issues from management, this job would be perfect for those who like to clean, organize, and socialize. The best part of the job is being around customers and coworkers that make your day. I would say this mainly goes for the Sunset Valley, TX location. Other locations seem to competent management with little to no issues and feel like a genuinely safe and positive environment.

This will be a long and honest review based on my personal experience.  A typical day of work depends on your Store Lead on duty and on all tasks assigned for the day. Easy days consist of simply working on gobacks and customer service. It may also depend on your location and how busy it is (or not). If you have worked another retail job, it is mostly the same. Your management team may change more than once in a short span of time. Our management team changed 2 or 3 times in a span of 6 months. I’ve worked with good management and dare I say terrible management. The workplace culture was amazing amongst fellow sales associates and store leads for the most part. The hardest part of this job is acquiring advancement opportunities. You must interview for a higher position and hope to be promoted.

From my personal experience, opening management and set up team was amazing! Very good communication, there was always something to do, and an overall positive and welcoming environment. They also allowed some schedule flexibility if you are a student. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for the second and third upper management teams. I noticed a biased selection for advancement opportunities, deplorable communication with upper management team, development plans are a joke if lack of communication among changing management teams, labor hours can be very high or very low.

Note: Your experience may be different and more positive than mine! Best of luck!

Daiso has great coworkers, but HR corporate doesn't protect us employees ex: blaming us when customers harass us, neglecting to fix many broken parts of our store, cutting our hours even though many days we’re constantly understaffed & sometimes we only had 2 workers working a packed store alone for 2 hours, thankfully I do have some managers whom are nice & understanding but I also have managers who play favorites or treat us unfairly. So many things have broken in our store, but corporate beg elects to fix it or they don’t fix it till many months later which makes customers get angry at us when we don’t have control over what breaks we’re just waiting weeks or sometimes even months for it to finally get fixed. I really enjoy working with my coworkers & formed a good bond with them, but I don’t feel safe due to the way corporate treats their employees, I don’t feel safe when corporate blames us workers for being harassed by a customer, I don’t feel safe with the favoritism corporate has, & I don’t feel safe with 1 of the managers in my location. Also when I applied to this job in indeed last year it was promoted that I’ll be making $16.50, but in reality I’m on it making $15.96 which is deceiving & unfair that I am making less than what is promoted. A lot of the time due to our store being understaffed I don’t even get to have a 10 min break. I am thankful for my coworkers & some of my other managers though.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail sales associate 899 salaries reported	$16.07 per hour
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Store manager 117 salaries reported	$24.52 per hour
Sales associate 17 salaries reported	$15.03 per hour
Supervisor 9 salaries reported	$22.56 per hour

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