sales associate

store manager

retail sales associate

material handler

team member

I'll start by saying this place is very unprofessional. They hired me bc they felt I looked pretty jacked. So I got the job on the spot. I was told to come in 2 days later on that Monday. I got my schedule and I only had 7 hours the whole week. Which I get it. I'm new and I'm supposedly going go be in training. I couldn't of been more wrong. The manager who hired me who is never there had me study vocabulary for about 3 weeks with no actual training what so ever. I never even got a name tag. I get all this praise on my physique promising I'll be a manager and all this other squash based on the fact that I have a "great physique" and I studied the vocabulary almost exclusively. But that's all I was taught. Literally only vocabulary for 3 weeks and in those 3 weeks no more than 27 work hours total. Not in 1 week. I mean 9 hours a week for 3 trifling weeks of so called training with absolutely no lessons on supplements or how to sell them. It was absolutely ridiculous. Then I get a text on a Friday to come in and cover a store that I have never worked in before all by myself starting on Saturday. So the manager tells me not to worry about sales bc of the fact I'm not trained and that she will teach me how to work the cash register and all this other squash all within 3 hours Friday night so I'm ready to go on Saturday.  Actually less bc she wasnt even there. She had an entirely different manager come in and he was way to worried about getting a good sell rate than to legitimately help me with training. Which was highly important considering I'm being told to 1) I've been told not to talk to a single customer bc I was told I didnt have the proper training and 2) in less than 12 hours I was scheduled for work the next day in a store I have no idea where any of the products are at or even what they do. So pretty much you will be set up for disaster. Not only that the cash register process is a lot harder than normal cashiers bc ppl have memberships and they have returns and squash like that so it ain't as easy as Walmart cashier processes. So it is important you get properly trained. Not only that, you can have the happiest customer ever walk through the door who knows what they want to get and they leave and your manager will still throw a tantrum at you if they do not buy 50 dollars worth of products or more. All they care about is their store rating. I get it's a sales business but I cant control what a customer wants to buy. And I cant persuade a customer to want to buy something I have absolutely no knowledge on due to lack of training, no customer experience, and just the overall unprofessionalism of how gnc is run. Its not right to push the employees to almost force the customer to buy 50 dollars worth of products or more. The customer can obviously see its buy 2 get 1 for free or whatever. I dont need to come off as a pushy sales men. They can see right through it. Most ppl just come in for a protein bar or 2 or an energy drink. Not everybody is going to buy a wheybolic amp or a gnc protein powder of some sort. I had a passion for gnc. Bc health is really my thing. But the manager is so pushy that it makes you scared to even see customers bc if they dont buy a at least 50 dollars worth of products or more you can bet your rear end you are going to hear your manager give you a bunch of heat. And its even worst that I got absolutely lied to and told to not worry about sales bc I was new and then I get discouraging phone calls telling me i will not last in this company if i dont talk to the customers when I clearly was but like i said i cant force someone to buy squash they aren't wanting to buy and I cant give advice on products that I was never trained on. Literally all I learned was vocabulary terms. I was told I would learn products weeks down the line when I finish the computer course. And the computer course takes quite some time. Which I am totally cool with. I am just not cool with being blatantly lied to just to cover another store in which nobody wanted to work at for whatever reason that week and she leaves it to me just to harass me when the average rating is below 50 dollars. It makes no sense. And like I said I never even got a name tag. So after that first day in that foreign store i quit. Do yourself a favor and dont work here unless your an extremely hot sales women and you can persuade the older guys to buy all this squash. Other wise dont even freaking try it. I'm just being honest

As an introduction to management, this is a fairly easy management job as far as paperwork and processes go. It's dummy proof if you do what you're supposed to do, provided anybody ever trains you on what you're supposed to do in the first place. (That probably won't happen.) However, the company has no idea what they're doing and is in the toilet as a result. I saw 3 CEOs come and go. 
For employees, starting pay was minimum wage and "commission" was a joke. Even as a manager, pay was nowhere near a living wage as it was still entry level pay. You worked alone 99% of the time, which wouldn't be so bad except that meant there was no overlap to train employees, reprimand or praise them. If the employee coming in to cover you didn't show up for whatever reason, you were there open to close because no one ever had enough staff to help while dealing with such high turnover due to poor pay/no available hours/too much unfulfilling work. Then you'd be in hot water for getting overtime. You processed all of shipment alone, and if the DC messed up your shipment, it would still affect your yearly inventory. If you worked in a slow store, it was hours of nothing to do and boredom after finishing every POG and ad set. If you worked in a busy store, it would be nearly impossible to complete the tasks and busy work with a steady flow of customers, even if you were a strong multi-tasker. They did not give a flip about customers while saying they did. Certain products had to be pushed even if they were terrible. Sales numbers were incredibly skewed as returns counted against you, personally, even if you didn't sell the product or if it came from another store. One return could kill your numbers for the day which you were under CONSTANT pressure to keep up. Every sale wasn't a "good sale," so some people talked customers out of sales for the company because the company taught you that a $3 sale wasn't enough. You changed prices constantly (once a week) so customers never knew what their products would cost and complained a lot, rightly so. Never had two days off in a row as you worked a mandatory schedule, and budgeted payroll meant your employees got maybe 9 hours a week. You did not get any kind of break. If you had to use the restroom, you had to close the store down, and customers would get angry you were gone for two minutes. Higher-ups called and harassed you for numbers up to 3 times a day, even though whenever there were actual emergencies, they were nowhere to be found. You could not reach corporate. Numbers provided went straight to voicemail every time, even though you had to call people for specific things in order to do your job.
People were fired for stupid reasons like sitting down on the job while other people kept their jobs even though they were stealing time. There was no accountability because higher-ups were not present and would "clean house" every so often but be so uninvolved that they wouldn't even know who was a good employee and who wasn't. Pay discrepancy was awful because some people in the same positions made $4 or $5 more than others, even with less experience.

When I originally started GNC I was energized and excited to work with new people and have the opportunity to deal with new people each day and help each individual achieve their goal whatever it may be. Starting out as an associate was fun because the work was easy and working with customers each day brought me joy. The pay wasn't terrible because I was luckily in a high volume store which was mostly sports nutrition based and everyone in GNC knows that's where the money is (commission wise). As I continued to work and eventually got promoted to Assistant Store Manager (ASM) I began to question some choices of upper management/Corporate. They began to sell us the idea of maximizing the sale and getting as much money out of the customer as we could, almost like a car salesmen or crooked sales person. Exploiting each customer to drain them of every last penny we could whether it helps them achieve their goal or not. They tried selling employees the idea or some services like the Pro Access or ADAS would help everyone that walked through those doors. They had no remorse as long as we was averaging ($50.00) per transaction, as long as we were signing up 3 out of every 5 customers that walked in to the loyalty program, as long as we sold 50% on GNC branded items even if it didn't benefit the customer. I DID NOT agree with the direction the company was going so I left. My advise would be is if you're in need of some supplementation do your own personal research on the supplement you need and educate yourself on it because no matter what GNC you walk into you won't know if you're getting taken advantage of or not. On top of blatant lying and exploitation of customers most locations are single coverage at all times so, although it's against the law, you don't get a lunch even if you work 9+ hours. If you want to eat you have to bring your own food or risk your employment being terminated if you close the store to eat. Management is bad and handled worse in the locations I've explored outside of my home store. if the Store Manager is doing their job but their part timers are not it's automatically the managers fault. "How can you train them better" "Why aren't they performing to expectations" "Why is their average transaction under $45.00" "Why aren't they selling enough Pro Access units a week" Etc." Everything always comes down to how bad the manager is. That's why I turned down every single offer I had to be promoted. The structure is poorly built, theirs hardly a chain of command and the rules and company policies are improperly enforced. Overall it's an okay job for an 18 year old who just graduated high school to get some work experience under their belt but anything more, be ready to sacrifice your good will. You can try and do what I did and sale the best thing for each customer but eventually the company will catch up to you and say "Let's try something different that puts a little more cash in our pocket and if you don't comply you're written up and after that your employment is terminated.

With the Coronavirus pandemic, I saw a whole new level of issues with GNC. The "health" center didn't provide cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, or anything to protect the workers they forced to stay open. They push their sales and lie and claim its for customer benefit, when they want to lie to get sales. They even teach workers lies in training that are inaccurate with no backing. 
They do not allow more than one person to work at a time, do not allow lunch breaks, eating in the store or behind the counter, and you cant close the store to use the bathroom. (Which leads to awkward bathroom issues and never getting to eat.) It also causes the stores to lack cleanliness, because you must drop everything to help the customer, as you're alone.
They do not provide good benefits at all. They make workers drive long distances to stores, require large amounts of tasks to be done with very little pay, and have slowly been lowering commission/promotional payouts for years, while lying about how much you'll actually make. The district managers claim its policy to not allow workers to discuss pay among themselves, which is against the law. They have not provided help with the coronavirus, which is no surprise since every time I got sick, I was forced to work.
They barely train their workers to save money, shorting training so most workers are barely trained (including management.) The higher up management lacks knowledge, never answers, is unhelpful, and covers up mistakes to save themselves. 
There is no protection. Most stores lack cameras and any abuse you may experience from a customer can't be pursued in the court, with nobody to witness and no camera as proof. They do not consider your safety at all in any scenario.
High revolving amounts of workers cause massive stress upon all workers, across stores. GNC runs through large amounts of workers, putting large amounts of stress on managers who MUST fill the hours with almost no help from the company, and if no help is found, the manager must do it themselves (and get screamed at for overtime.)
If you work over 40 hours, you get screamed at, even if its not you're fault. They demand people cut time rather than pay the time actually worked. They tell you to clock in 15 minutes before and after opening/closing, even if theres a conference call before that. I had to work off clock so many times, whether getting calls while off clock, taking store keys between stores, transferring products, or other things. 
Lack of communication, lack of proper instructions, lack of support, lack of consistency, lack of common sense, and lack of human decency are just a few issues. It goes deep.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Helping people that are looking for alternative/ natural answers to health questions and concerns

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Where to begin-low pay with high demands, being micromanaged, multi-tasking to an extreme with single shift coverage

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Unnaturally stressful for being in a business that helps others with ways to deal with their stress, weight loss journey, etc

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Printing reports, posting goals to team chat, fulfilling online orders while taking care of customers that walk in and being on a useless conference call 3 to 6 days a week all at the same time, restocking, facing, sending additional email blasts to customers to remind them it's been 30 days since they shopped, pushing Loyalty or Pro Membership though I get nothing for it but a stern lecture or write up for falling numbers, schedules done for a month out in 2 different programs, creating bank deposit in multiple steps (instead of taking the bags that have already been dropped, each bag is opened then recounted both individually to be sure total matches what was placed on log and then again for complete deposit, then deposit slip filled out for the total, then go to deposit log and sign for every day as verification, then after taking it to bank you are required to submit photos of the deposit and fill out the assigned fields, finalize the deposit log, sign off on computer printout, be sure slip from Bank bag is filled out and then attach all copies to the computer printout and the deposit log), learning modules completed, sign off on whatever other thing they have put our way, cleaning of entire store (front to back including stock room that's been infested with mice and roaches from adjoining mall), clean windows inside and outside (they're floor to ceiling) , shipment which contains anywhere from 100 to 180 totes that get scanned in then each item is scanned in (all while checking expiration dates because the warehouse doesn't want to do the task of known loss and toss the items) It's expected for us to get all shipment completed by closing the day of delivery, but payroll allows for one person per shift with little to no overlap. I can go on and on but will end it by saying there's a payroll budget of only 70 hours per week that requires store management to take 40 off the top and only 2 part time employees are hired to fill in the gaps

GNC used to be a leader in health and wellness. While some locations are certainly thriving and have great teams, I had the great misfortune to work at one that had neither. Turnover rates are incredibly high - mostly college kids do this job, and leave suddenly when their studies begin to overwhelm, or when they find out that it's more sales than working in some shop and cashiering. 
My typical day involved a tough commute to work where the store hadn't achieved half its daily sales goal by 2 p.m. A slow trickle of customers would be spread out over the full work day, and it usually isn't more than 16. A lot of time is wasted just standing around waiting for something ANYTHING to happen. Just outside the door is noisy traffic, the local homeless population, and the occasional people who work in the medical tower. Customers don't buy a whole lot, and while there are no Karens at my location, it certainly is boring. 
Company standards are out of touch with reality. Stores sometimes have to put up zeros in their metrics because customers and traffic are beyond our control. If we can't meet expectations, it's our "fault" when there's really more to it. We are made to attend phone conferences, which is fine for addressing the teams, but it's not productive. It's all theory and lecture, and actual problems are not identified and corrected. These calls often focus on selling multivitamins, loyalty memberships for new customers, and pro memberships for frequent shoppers. But they fail to recognize that you can't make somebody buy something they really don't want. And that's what they fire people for - not convincing them to buy it. Some do not try. Some work their butts off trying.  
Communicating issues to upper management is like pulling teeth. One can't really get the help that's needed, nor does one know where to go with some issues. Cash registers clearly came from old K-Mart stores to save money. A limited number of products means turning away customers who have certain brand loyalties. Schedules are not flexible. Pay is minimum wage unless you're a store manager. And the pressure to sell those vitamins and pro memberships is always present. It isn't fair to keep employees accountable when the district manager isn't. Vitamin Shoppe has it more together, and it's clear how far GNC has fallen in competition. Like I said, some places do better than others, and my description is somewhat biased. 

I started working at GNC in February 2021, during COVID. It was fun learning new things about nutrition at first, however it was clear to me that the company cares more about employees meeting sales quotas than actually helping people. There is next to no incentive to work here anymore, as there are no percentages of commission you get to sell certain products; the only way to make good commission here is if you’re willing to throw your social life away and work over 37 hours a week to get a decent commission, which you only get if you happen to meet your high quotas. They do not pay full timers higher than part timers nor do they pay benefits unless you’re a manager (as told to me by my District Manager in the Inland Empire region.) 
I worked over 32 hours for 11 weeks due to employee shortages when I was only wanting to work under 20, and wasn’t offered any compensation, raises, or benefits. They don’t really take care of you. It isn’t flexible, especially with the employee shortages in this company. I have only requested time off twice with this company: two days for my 21st birthday and three days for my partner’s birthday. They absolutely would not give me more than one day off despite the fact that I was a part time employee working full time hours to help them out, and never called off. If you feel like missing out on personal life events, than this job is just for you!  They don’t take care of you. Even the employee discount is a weak. I worked in a jewelry store before this and got a better employee discount there than at GNC. There’s a reason why there’s a shortage of employees in this company right now, and it’s not just because of EDD. 

In addition to this, managers are absolutely unprofessional. I have stomach problems and my manager wants me to call my district manager whenever I have to close the store for five minutes to use the restroom when I open or close by myself for three to four hours at a time. Absolutely stupid and ridiculous. I am a well seasoned worker and I have never been more disappointed and unmotivated by an employer. I have lost so much respect for this company. Go work for Nutrishop or Vitamin Shoppe instead, their pay is at least more competitive. 

If you are super competitive, motivated, a solid sales person and have no morals or values toward other people welcome to your new job. 

Company has one goal in mind and that is numbers and really not doing to well in that category. There is absolutely no structure at all it’s pretty much the Wild West when it comes to selling techniques just tell people whatever you can to sell them a Pro, add an Auto deliver today and save 10% (you can go home and cancel it that night) still gets me numbers needed. Oh you came in for some herbs but have you thought about taking a multi vitamin, protein, probiotic, and fish oil every person should take those. 

Upper management is a complete joke if you are going to bring somebody in to run the area at least pull them from inside the company. It’s all good if they can read numbers off a sheet and give the other managers direction but when it comes down to the real tasks like being able to sell pro themselves or help with auto deliver or even talk about products in the store If you are busy with somebody and they seem to just disappear or stumble through it what does that say.  Also in a real company I’m pretty sure you should be able to go to the upper management with any concerns or comments but it seems that a blind eye gets turned every time this happens for some reason. 

Once again the supplement industry is a completely booming area right now it’s just a shame that the “world leader” can’t seem to find a way to get on top of the game. Might have something to do with the way you pay your employees and you treat them. Start out part timers at minimum wage and then take our employee discount down as well. But don’t worry you get it back when it’s employee appreciation week.    

Next time you walk into a Gnc look at the employee or people working and say to yourself is that somebody that looks like he takes whatever supplements you are asking about. Example if he is overweight and selling you a fat burner you might want to think twice. If she has no muscle and selling you how to get huge think about it people.

So as stated above if all this sounds amazing to you and is something you could really see yourself doing make sure to go apply online and hurry up and get that resume into the nearest store manager. People are banging down the doors to get a job at this amazing company.

This particular store was being considered for closure due to lack of business.
 
I was assigned to manage the store, and turned the sales numbers into a positive. Under my management, the Wahiawa GNC ranked 7th in the nation. My ability to accomplish the turnaround was not only due to my creative sales techniques and willingness to provide awareness to the surrounding community; I must also give credit to my Regional Manager for allowing me to be creative.

As the manager, I had some flexibility with my time. A typical day at work included going to the local home for the elderly, I was able to create an agreement with their liaison to take orders for their residents, then deliver orders at specified dates and times. I was also able to visit with training coaches for the local canoe clubs, boxing clubs and other athletic associations to promote vitamin supplements as part of their plan and efforts as athletes. 

I spent a great deal of time speaking with customers to ensure their product purchases were in line with their goals. Many parents for the local sports community took the time to speak with me on behalf of their children’s health needs. With the exception of multi vitamins, I would refuse sale for any other products without parental consent. It wasn't a requirement of the corporation, it was a conscious decision I made to protect minors from consuming products that may have adverse effects on their health. 
 
The hardest part of the job was to motivate employees to raise their standards of enthusiasm and achieve professional success. Sales positions paid minimum wage plus commission. Most of the applicants were either very young, or in-between (jobs).  

The most enjoyable part of the job was being a part of a community that showed limitless gratitude for my efforts in helping them achieve goals in their journey for improved health. 

I worked at GNC as interim employment while applying for federal positions. What I learned was I could take any positon in front of me and find joy and fulfillment. I also learned that without a strong and supportive manager, this choice in employment could have had a less than desirable result.

A typical day at work consisted of opening the store in the morning and turning on and setting up the computer for a days work. Once everything was turned on and cash register was opened and ready to go I had to start with the morning counts. These counts consisted of items on a list that were marked specifically by loss prevention that we were to count to make sure each item was in the store and accounted for. Once counts were finished customers start rolling and must help each customer with the best customer service possible while maintaining professionalism and being able to sell certain items  by the end of the day. All sales were to be marked down counting each item we sold, becuase we had a sales goal that consisted of certain items to be sold as a percentage to all of the items sold that day. By the end of the day we are to count what we sold and send in the percentages to the manager letting him know what was sold and if we hit our goals. Then we are to close out the cash till and bring the money to the bank. I learned many sales tips and secrets that i never knew before making it simple and easy yet effective to make sales for the company. I also learned new and effective ways to handle customers and achieve fantastic customer service. Management was a bit on the simple side and did not help out as much as you'd expect. They were there only a portion of the time maybe 15 min a day for you to ask anything or to get guidance from them and once they were gone that was it. I never worked with anyone as far as co-workers go. When you work there you are mostly on your own opening and closing by yourself unless you are in a high volumed store somewhere like Jersey City where multiple co-workers are required. The hardest part of the job was to be able to hit every sales goal that was there by the end of the day. Sometimes the goals were unbelievably high yet they were to be hit without excuses. The most enjoyable part was the customers that came in with stories of lifting wieghts and creating freinds through these sales and feeling good about helping someone with their health goals and seeing them happy once you finished the sale.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales associate 12045 salaries reported	$13.10 per hour
Store manager 4426 salaries reported	$19.37 per hour
Retail sales associate 48 salaries reported	$14.38 per hour
Material handler 92 salaries reported	$18.84 per hour
Team member 111 salaries reported	$9.00 per hour

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