retail sales associate

retail assistant store manager

retail store manager

assistant store manager

pawn broker

First Cash

VP is the largest pawn store in the metro area and the Southwest for that matter.  It generally has about 30 - 35 staff any given time, there used to be more.  The customer base is what one would typically expect from those in need of loans using personal belongings as collateral.  For most new hires on the pawn counter or cashier it's a culture shock. You’ll need to have a very thick skin to work those positions and deal face to face with a very, let's say, challenging customer base. They're people in need of cash and most are desperate people struggling to make ends meet and stay alive, or make money for a drug fix. You will see some interesting characters.  It’s stressful, fast paced and expect long days standing up.  On a positive note, you will some really interesting items that customers want to pawn or sell. One thing it is not?  Pawn Masters. Night and day on the types of clientele. 
There is no formal training per se, it's all tribal knowledge and most of that old knowledge has long since left the company.  I've seen very good talent start and then leave once they realized what they were into.  New hires never get paid what you're really worth or what they say you can make. The $15 is only if you meet "Standards" - not many make it. 
No real sense of job security or sense that there are future advancement opportunities.  Turnover is atrocious which makes training for your job even more difficult because again, it's all tribal knowledge which takes months to attain. 
For leadership positions they hire from outside and many failed due to managements failure to properly train and support them. Management is mostly reactive vs proactive.  I never once saw any indication of strategic planning involving collaboration from the front line considering that the goals that they are trying to attain are intended to make it a better experience for the customer.  They’ve hired consultant after consultant to improve the store but nothing ever really seemed to change.  It has stayed chaotic and in many ways it's a toxic culture that tends to eat away at your self esteem over time if you let it.   You soon realize that you’re better than this and you leave for better opportunities. It's fair to that a large percentage of new hires don't stay the 90 days.
The owner and management have tried to espouse a set of core values in the Mission Statement but they miss the mark by a large margin and have yet to develop a positive enlightening culture.  They forget the golden rule that happy employees equals success and growth. Nurturing is not a word I would use to describe leadership.  
The owner is despised by the majority of the staff.  He is very condescending and will embarrasses you in front of other employees as well as customers. NO accountability for his actions.  Unfortunately HR is blind to it.  I worked there 18 months, a lot longer than most have, but I was lucky enough to have worked several departments and get an in-depth knowledge of this pawn industry.  No regrets.  Just be prepared to work in stressful environment that doesn’t reward you for the level of work you will do.

I've worked for over a year now in this company and this job can be easy but the learning curve in accumulating knowledge concerning the system and overall a diverse field of items (jewelry, tech, tools, etc) can easily become overwhelming to those who aren't prepared. If you have a poor team, things can quickly become disorganized and chaotic. You have to be tech savvy and have good typing skills for this job, as well as be comfortable working with people nonstop, and cooperative with your team.

If you love learning, however, this job is great! I've learned a lot of skills from working here BUT it's only because I got so lucky getting a boss and district manager who actually care for me. Unfortunately, Firstcash often relocates their employees for no reason, falsely promises promotions and assures you that any decision they make on your behalf is so that you earn "more commission" but that all greatly depends on the location you're at and the people you're stuck with. The tasks that this company requires all of it's employees to do feel tedious and overwhelming. Especially in a climate where a location being short staffed is COMMON. You might find yourself taking on responsibilities outside of your pay grade, so I'd be weary of that.

This company is on a steady decline of employees. Which is unfortunate, as the job can be rewarding and enjoyable since you meet with a wide variety of people and see something new everyday. The company holds little regard for it's longer lasting employees, many of which have begun to leave, to which I don't blame them. Management often ignores employee's concerns.

This job requires a lot only to provide $12-14/hr. You do earn commission but if your store performance is low, then those extra $90 might not be worth all the trouble. And it takes time to accumulate since commission is primarily performance based. The commission check is once a month (not a specific date) which can be frustrating.

The workplace culture leaves little room for a life outside of work, with an emphasis on making money money money. If you love to sell, this is the perfect job for you, but definitely not a casual one. 

Also not recommended if you can't lift heavy items often. 

First Cash is an excellent place to work! The company offers an excellent work environment, superior (and encouraged) work/life balance, compassion for their people and loyalty to those who work hard. Your thanked often for your contributions and reminded daily on the value you bring to the team. Managers are very approachable, support with empathy, listen and encourage your ideas. I highly recommend this organization. 
I was at first concerned working for a “pawn” business because it wasn’t an industry I was familiar with. I had a less than favorable perception. My interview process was timely/professional and I enjoyed meeting the people I would potentially be working with. Once I entered the business that perception quickly changed, and I have truly fallen in love with the industry. The pawn/retail business is challenging, surrounded by great employees and its fun to be in the shops and have the opportunity to see all the different types of products brought in by customers. I had no idea how much product was brought into these types of stores. Not only do you get paid an hourly rate but you can get a commission on just about every type of transaction you complete. 
The companies support through COVID-19 has been incredible. A company’s true colors come out when a (unheard-of) world event like COVID-19 occurs. No company has a playbook for such instances. Their prompt execution, reasonable (safe) guidelines and support of ALL associates during this time is truly appreciated! The companies #1 goal was to keep stores OPEN while ensuring employees were safe from each other and customers. While seeing so many friends and family’s home without an income, it was a testament to see the time, energy and financial investment the company took to ensure their employees had a place to work and a check every pay period.
Yes, I do still work for the company. I don’t have a special position and I was not paid to say nice things. The comment is anonymous so no one will know who I am. I hope someone thinking about joining this company will read the comments above and give the company a try. I’ve been very pleased and think you will too!     


Work-life balance
Work-life balance at Cash America is 

50/50 

They need to hire more people at stores and stop transferring people we need,the management will work with your schedule but the company can’t have anyone take a vacation during the holidays even when the holidays are far apart? From the 27 of November to the 31st of December no one can take a vacation

Pay & benefits
My pay and benefits at Cash America are 

50/50 AS OF RIGHT NOW 2020 

Before COVID i would hit $800-$900 just on my first paycheck with my commission check I would hit $600-$700 at the end of the month(then add my regular end of the month check) it would add up too $1500

Now it’s like I’m struggling too even hit $700 just on a regular paycheck same with the end of the month I only make upwards too $300(on a good month $400) and that just my commission

Job security and advancement
In terms of job security at Cash America, I think 

Wack.plain and simple there can be the nice customers that you know will always make you feel happy.Then comes the ones you know will make you frustrated and wanted to start fights with you just because you couldn’t give them the prices they wanted as for advancement it’s rare you need to at least be with the company 3 years just to hit assistant manager just so you can get a $4 raise

Management
In general, managers at Cash America 

Some have the good,And some have the bad management at the store wise it just depends on who is working our main store manager would always lash out when ever he would have to help the line of customers while he only has 2 people working and even rush the customers and not make them feel welcomed,trust me I get why but too just curse in front of them just because they are taking up your time is just plain stupid.

District management is horrible

Culture
Collaboration with my colleagues at Cash America is 

Fun,trust me it is scary from going from fast food to handling people items but the workers will always make you feel like a small family

Overall
My experience working at Cash America 

Overall I’m just wanting a change rn I’m just at a point where if this company would care more for their employees then I would stay but overall I would give myself till the end of the year and leave

In a typical day you help people get loans, buy merchandise and so on. I have learned a great many things in my years here. I have loved my job. The years have seen many changes in the company. They used to put customers and employees first. Now they put profits first.

The hardest part of the job is not knowing from day to day what to expect from those above you. They will say one thing to you in the store and then you go for a meeting and are blind sided.

They are in a time of change. There are still a great many wonderful people that work their. It is still a good job. And it may be a great job again some day. But right now they are bringing in to many "true retail" people that do not know the job. They do not understand what takes place in stores. This causes the expectations to be unfair and unrealistic.

The most enjoyable part of the job is the customers and employees in the store. Some customers are just such good people that are in a hard place. And you get to help them improve or at least get through today. 

I hope they find their way back to their roots. As little as five years ago I gave this company an all star rating. They cared about helping employees do their jobs and have a good life. Now they are like most companies.

The benefits have went down hill greatly too. They have kept increasing your insurance costs but decreasing coverage. I can not afford to go to the Dr but I am paying a higher rate. The company is losing sight of it being a people first business. Now it is all about the money. Yes, you need to make money but you do not need to step on your employees to do it.

They have also reduced the entry level pay rate. As a manager you can not pay your people a fair wage. You have to hire them on the cheap and then raises do not happen. Raises for this year are to be about 2 cents per hour!

Also, they are cutting costs in the store. If you need building repairs, you can not get them. In the past if you had broken fixtures they got fixed timely. Now you have to explain to ten people why you need something fixed and hope they ALL agree.

This was a family Store, my brother owns both Culpeper and Valley Pawn and everything I did while working with him was to further his own well being. The enviornment was fast paced and completely profit based. You delt with every walk of life, and I can honestly say I never had a boring day nor a day that I didn't want to show up. In saying that I can swear upon 100 bibles that I never missed a day in any time frame that I worked at these two locations. I could not give you a typical day. The people I worked with were driven by the same goal, and that goal was to make as much money as you could. The best part of working for a family owned business is that you HAVE to work, because everything rides on that. You never know when the door is gonna be shut for good and that brings everyone who works thier closer. You become tight not because its a good way to be but because you really do have to count on everyone around you. A good Pawn Shop requires you to employ people with diverse knowledge and speacialitys. If i had to claim a down side it would be that you can not advance unless someone quits or dies. Raises are rare, but this is made up for by an owner that values his/her people and looks out for them in other ways. You can get Holidays off, free lunches, and the freedom to handle day to day issues with out hassles. The hardest day? Well once again thats based on how much the store makes in that day. Low money day brings everyone down. Your their to insure that dosn't happen. You also get the benifit of helping people that really need it. Pawn shops get a bad reputation for taking advantage of peopl that are down and out, but what people don't know is these same down and out people don't have any where else to go. A good Pawn Shop is at the very least fair in what they loan, and free with why they offer what they do. Everybody is in it to make money, and sometimes the money you want is more than you can afford to pay back. Really enjoyed this job. It also taught me that I can work independently, at home, or other wise isolated and turn major profit.

I began employment in 2017 and it ended in 2019. I started as a pawnbroker and in 2018 became lcsr shortly trained for asm and recieved promotion Feb 2019. I did ALOT for this company. I was honest I was firm I had the highest numbers and clientele. I was very knowledgable on firearms and other product. Most customers only wanted to deal with me. They would not allow me to step down when I wanted to Pawnbroke instead of be asm.Never took into the consideration that I was completely overwhelmed with the responsibilities. My DM DID NOT HEAR ME. Resulted into a walk out for me. THEN they decided to hear me. And let me come back just to terminate me on false acqusations without open investigation. Literally 4 days after returning. The new dm whom took over after the realignment did not like me. She never even tried to understand me as a person. She discramanated against me, I feel, and then retaliated (again I feel) Dont ever expect any help from human resources because they make up their own rules and lie on the behalf of you just because your DM doesn't understand your personality. Just because previous employees from whatever locations screwed y'all doesnt make all of us guilty. I could not believe that nobody would even listen to me. HR never even gave me an opportunity. Complete defamation of my character. DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AS I DID AND TRUST THIS COMPANY. WHAT MAY NOT SEEM IMPORTANT TO HR OR YOUR DM DOESNT MEAN ITS NOT IMPORTANT TO YOUR TEAM! Ask us. Talk to us understand. See the good we do. Don't jump to conclusions just because something doesn't make sense to you. Your not always right. And your not always wrong. But in my case y'all were completely blinded by the truth and convinced because of your experiences. Total shame. I wanted a career. Instead I received defamation of my character by retaliation and discrimination without a voice.

As an employee of Cash net USA I worked the morning shift from 7am until 4pm. My typical day at work consisted of continuous calls to customers who's accounts were severely delinquent and on the verge of accounts being sent to a third party collector. Cashnet USA took great pride in servicing their customers with excellent customer service professionals. I was educated on ways to professionally approach delinquent customers when handling their accounts. We were taught to always have a professional demeanor and tone of voice when dealing with the customers. The more we were respectful and carried out each call the way in which we were taught we increased the chances of a positive outcome. This not only benefitted the company financially but also the representative. Management had a lot to be desired because it was constantly changing for one reason or another, this in turn made the employees unsettled and upset. I enjoyed my co-workers because we all functioned as a team and became close like a family. The hardest part of the job was the constant change of protocol and keeping up with new scripts.  There was also a major software change which greatly effected performance. What I mean by this is that all customer representative received base salaries and a bonus pay whenever goals were exceeded. With the change of software all bugs in the system were constantly being worked out causing continuous down time which in turn decreased customer contact time and the opportunity to resolve accounts. The great part about this position was the competitiveness of the representatives reaching advanced goal levels and the rewards received as a token of appreciation by upper management within the company.

Flat out, I would not recommend working for Bayou Pawn, owned by First Cash. Pay is competitive compared to other pawn shops, and the commission makes a good incentive, but the amount of work and stress put in doesn't make any of it worthwhile. Higher management is only concerned with making their goals, fair enough, that's their job. However, continually meeting goals and raising expectations only leads to the inevitability of unreasonable expectations. These expectations aren't just limited to meeting quotas. 

If you have a decent work ethic, expect to be taken advantage of. It is unreasonable to expect entry-level pawnbrokers to turn around a troubled store in weeks when it has been in that state for at least half a year. Especially when you have more senior employees who are either contributing to the dysfunction in the store or are just kind of ambivalent about it. Whether it be employees showing up incredibly late, even an hour plus late to open, showing up drunk and throwing up in the bathroom all morning, passing out in the back office, or closing up early leading to customer complaints. Employee misconduct, it's on the employee. However, when the employee hasn't been dealt with after numerous altercations, the responsibility then falls on management.

And ultimately, it all falls on management. It's on management to make sure employees are well taken care of. It's on management to make sure the bad eggs are thrown out, lest the whole nest goes bad. As an employee or a potential employee, the only wrong expectation you can have when dealing with Bayou Pawn/First Cash is that you'll be taken care of. Beware.

The day-to-day work at First Cash involves customer interactions and interesting inventory that can make the role engaging at times. 
Unfortunately, poor leadership practices heavily outweigh the positives.
Managers micromanage almost every part of the job — from routine tasks to how you handle customers. This level of oversight frequently makes you question why you’re even there if little is trusted to your own judgment. On top of that, different leaders often push conflicting priorities, leaving employees caught in the middle and looking inconsistent or unprepared in front of customers or other management.
A particularly demoralizing issue is how some managers show minimal day-to-day investment in the store or team. They’ll go on vacation or step back, only to return and immediately threaten everyone’s jobs over performance numbers — not because of policy violations or misconduct, but simply because metrics like sales or loan targets weren’t met. This reactive approach creates constant fear and frustration rather than constructive support or coaching.
Pay and benefits are average for the industry, but the combination of micromanagement, shifting directives, and job insecurity leads to high turnover and low morale. First Cash has real potential in the pawn business, but stronger, more consistent, and supportive leadership is badly needed.

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