truck driver

order picker

driver

merchandiser

warehouse worker

Johnson Brothers

Where to begin. First off, let me say that I did quit 3 times. But they did hire me back each time, also. I only came back the last time because the pay that was told promised to me by the other job i quit Johnson Brothers for didn't pan out. JB paid me okay, but not enough  for what the job entails. 
First off, liquor is extremely heavy, so it takes a toll on you. It would help if they gave you a helper everyday, but they don't. I worked out of the Milwaukee division but the routers OUT OF MINNESOTA make the decision if you get help or not for the day! So I have people that have NEVER done any kind of delivery in their lives decide what is good for me and the other drivers and what they feel is best for us. Even though they don't know the city or state of Wisconsin and the details of each drivers' stops. This company doesn't care about any of their workers, all they care about is numbers. They beat you down day in and day out.
And don't you dare do a good job because they will pile more cases and stops on you. The better and more competent of a drone you are the more they punish you with more work. So if you ever get with this company, make sure you're slow and incompetent because the less cases and stops you will get.
And they make sure never to give you a somewhat light day. 
The routing is horrendous. You could be on the same route for weeks, have the same stops on but NEVER routed the same. 
Inconsistency is a great word to describe this joke of a company.
The routing is all over the place. 
Like I said the pay is good, but not good enough for everything they want you to do for the customer. The company wants you to bend over backwards for them and the customer. And don't make any plans after work, because they want you to give up whatever life you hope to achieve outside of work. Heck, I got  denied  to get a shorter route so I could make it to my son's fifth grade graduation. Sure it's just fifth grade, but it's a big deal to an 11-year old. But did they care? NO! Because NOTHING is more important than their company and numbers. Want to know why I was denied having a day to get off a little early? BECAUSE THEY DON.T HAVE ENOUGH STAFF!!! THEY CAN'T KEEP PEOPLE!! There's a reason for that, It's horrible! 
And don't you dare speak up about any issues you may have about the routing or loading of the truck, they'll just say you're being negative. Can you believe that? NEGATIVE?! Anytime you voice your opinion or suggestions to make things run better and more efficient for yourself and the other drivers they come down on you hard!
I actually got a write-up for being "negative".
And our operations lady is a joke. She never wants to hear any problems and thinks we're all crybabies. Working under her is like how it must be like how the people living in North Korea must feel like, never speak out against your company. THERE WILL BE STRICT PUNISHMENT! Just put on the facade of happiness and that it is the greatest company to work for. 
It's Fascism at it's best. And when you think there's a glimmer of hope when one of your own gets promoted and feels your pain and who used to complain about the sames issues and you and your co-workers.......WOW!!!
That changes quickly! It's like the Manchurian Candidate. Brainwashing at it's finest. Towing that company line or else. 
As much as the company keeps their head in the clouds, oblivious to the amount of negativity that's coming from drivers, warehouse AND sales, it's out there. They couldn't even keep a seasoned transportation manager six months because he said he'd never worked for a more mismanaged, strange company in his life!
Little Miss Napoleon, who never leaves her office, basically called him a "wimp" for leaving. No, he just had to much common sense for this place. 
The managers here are not professional at all.
But the sad thing is that they are always going to think that nothing is broken here.
As long as they can keep hiring managers that they can control and have little dictators running operations it's always going to blow!!

Working as a Sales Consultant at Johnson Brothers Liquor Company in Charlotte offers a dynamic and relationship-driven experience within the beverage distribution industry. This role is ideal for individuals who enjoy being out in the field, building connections with retailers, and working in a fast-paced sales environment.

A major highlight of the position is the autonomy it provides. Sales consultants are responsible for managing their own territories, developing client relationships, and driving product placements across accounts. The portfolio of products is typically strong and well-recognized, which can make selling easier when compared to lesser-known brands. Additionally, the role offers consistent interaction with business owners and decision-makers, making it rewarding for those who enjoy networking and relationship-building.

On the downside, the job can be physically and mentally demanding. It often involves early mornings, merchandising responsibilities, and maintaining shelf presence in stores. Meeting sales goals and managing multiple accounts can also be stressful at times, especially in competitive markets.

Overall, this role is a great fit for motivated, self-driven individuals who enjoy independence, are comfortable with performance expectations, and want to grow within the sales or beverage distribution industry.

A typical day requires you to often wake up at around 4am to 6am, and visit stores to front product on shelves and work product from the back stock to shelves. Hours are long during the holidays and days with large loads going in to the big liquor stores. Summers are usually more manageable. The work is physically demanding and back injuries, knee problems can become common place if you are not careful about what you do. 50 miles of travel is typical per day, and needing to be a certain stores first can disrupt the a more efficient travel route (a lot of back and fourth). Gas allowance is given but is taxed, and usually doesn't cover the expenses (depending on what car you drive). Dealing with store managers can be good or bad depending on yours/their demeanor. 

The job is mentally easy and pretty self explanatory. Management tries their best to encourage good work, and does give praise when deserved, but employees get overworked and see little rewards for it. Sales is where the money is made. 

My co-workers were nice and were typical blue collar hard workers. If they had spare time would usually be available to help if needed, although this was not common.

Benefits only start after you are employed for 90day. I have never worked at a company that makes you do this.

401k sounds great but it’s only a 4.5 % and they only give you the company match in one lump sum around March of each year. 

Getting promoted is only for Gallo Managemet program and not for anyone else. They will tell you that they promote from within and that’s true if they have a Gallo person to promote other wise they will find a Gallo trainee from a another company and give you a list of reasons why you aren’t qualified. 

Pay- In my Market we are the lowest compassionate. No matter how much you do it never enough for a commission increase. I have worked hear 3 years and haven’t made a dime more than when I started. You are 100% commission.

We are the only company that works with Gallo that doesn’t allow you to buy Wine at cost. 

We are routinely encouraged to worked on company Holliday’s while our managers take family vacation during the same time. 

Management- you will work for people that know nothing about management and have never managed anyone before that’s because they are all 22ys old. 

I routinely come in the top 10% in sales so don’t think anything will make you shine.

I have been with the company for more than 15 years and over that time the moral, culture, management have been on a complete nosedive.  This was a company that cared about its Sales force as they were the face of the company.   This is a 100% commission job however you are not allowed to make too much, or you will be cut financially.  The worst part is they do this in a cannibalistic by eating their own moving brands, changing territories, cutting commissions and reducing incentives. Not to mention you drive your own vehicle and they do very little to reimburse fuel, insurance, maintenance.  They are definitely well under the national average on this at about .36 cents per mile (this barely covers the fuel let alone the maintenance).  We keep building management positions and adding new roles without fixing the current issues.  Absolutely no accountability for those in charge from Warehouse, Trucking, Credit, CS, brand managers, DM's, AM's. If there's and issue the fix falls to the sales consultants as all the above just bury their heads in the sand.  This would be sad if it wasn't so truth!!!!

Managers are lazy, clueless, and incompetent. Sales Reps are pretty much the same, but they will push all the blame onto other people. For every OKAY sales rep, there were at least 9 terrible sales reps. 

Most of the sales reps were unreliable, so if I needed help with a large wine/liquor load, I didn't even bother calling them because by the time they arrived to help you, you probably could have finished 3-4 stops. Now, let me emphasize this before I move onto other aspects of the company, the Sales Reps were by far the WORST part of this job. If the sales reps were even mediocre, the job would be bearable.

What made the job worse was the fact that the other merchandisers were just as lazy. They would half-a** their stops, not pulling up displays or filling the cold box. Now, this shouldn't have affected me since I was just another merchandiser, right? No. Store managers would often come to me to criticize me for not doing my job properly (even if it was my first time in that store). 

Finally, the gas & car maintenance stipend the company provides you is inadequate, so be prepared to lose some money.

As a sales rep you are required to work every weekend. 100% commission, usually made less than merchandisers. 


 Managers and the work culture is terrible here! Their way of leadership and motivation is making you fearful of losing your job. 

 I thought this would be a great opportunity to get my foot in the door and get some sales experience which is the only positive from my experience . I got another job which really helped put Johnson Bros in perspective. I knew it was bad but didn’t know how bad until I moved on. 

I worked 50 hours a week and 60-70 hours a week during the holidays. Making less than $40,000. This job ruins the holidays! ZERO work life balance. You’re always expected to have you’re personal phone on you so they can call anytime. The managers would call as early as 4am expecting you to answer when you’re not expected to be at your first account until 7am.

Please don’t waste years of your life here like I did when there are so many better options.

This is a physically demanding Job, alot of heavy repetitive lifting. That could be good for someone who is looking to stay in shape, no need for a gym membership working here. If you are thinking about working here pay close attention to the reviews, because as a current employee, I can tell you that the reviews are accurate. I wont repeat what has already be said by others in there reviews. All I will say is, Johnson brothers works you hard, in return you can make decent money as a delivery driver, and you get full benefits after 1 month. This is the reason why I am still working here. Also, you receive pto after 90 days. I have been with the company for about 9 months, and have already taken 2 weeks pto.  I dont know about the other jobs with this company because I never have done anything else here. I can not stress this enough,  Be prepared to work hard here! Your body will be sore, at the end of the day, especially if you are in your 40s, like me.  M-f work week, is a major plus. But you will need your weekend to rest. 

Company is horrible..they do not treat their employees very well! Management does nothing except go out to breakfast, then lunch, then leave at 4:00.  Their routing is a complete mess because they are not smart enough to realize that if they give drivers permanent routes, they would save time and money. Instead they send drivers on different routes each day/week (you do not know where you are going until 9:30p the night before) so you never know where you are going and it takes longer to find your stops. You cannot offer good customer service when you do not arrive on time and you do not know where a store wants their product. The Johnson's hate the union so they treat union employees like dirt! The scabs that they hired 5 years ago during a 6 months strike make more money than those drivers that have 15 years with the company!  The person that stated there are plenty of opportunities must be in management because warehouse and drivers have no opportunities but to get your butt worked off every day!  I worked at this company for 5 years and the best decision I made was to leave!

Stay away from this company brach if you're a female sales representative. The Milwaukee culture is disgraceful towards women. I was hit on by upper management more than one time. HR didn't make any adjustments to my route. Besides that, expect to do a lot of heavy lifting of cheap spirits and wine.
This distributor works with high volume product with low comission. Don't expect to have high end products either. You'll be selling wine in the $5-$9 range and you'll be selling lots of it which takes a toll on your body. There is a lot of turnover because of that. There's not much advancement either. You'll be stuck in sales for 10 years before you can move into management. But that is only if you're built like a body builder which I am not. Also forget about your personal life and celebrating Holidays. You'll be working. You're not allowed to take a day off from Halloween till New Years. 

On a good note, taste testing new products was fun and exciting during meetings. The company match 401k is also very good. You also get 2 weeks of vacation when you start. But trust me, you'll need it.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Truck driver 4 salaries reported	$26.00 per hour
Order picker 22 salaries reported	$24.78 per hour
Driver 2 salaries reported	$22.00 per hour
Merchandiser 22 salaries reported	$18.77 per hour
Warehouse worker 2 salaries reported	$21.88 per hour

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