packer

production technician

quality assurance manager

plant operator

shop technician

Joy Cone Company

Work is fast paced and not for everyone. I came into it with already similar processing experience and it still wasn't for me though. Overall its fine, compensation and benefits is good, safety is taken seriously (unlike previous warehouse/processing jobs I've had), the rotating shifts can be hard but since they run 24 hours I felt it was fairly easy to get the time off or schedule I needed for other things going on in my life.. But what really got me was the work culture I guess. a handful of people are really great and friendly. The rest? No so much. It was made clear to me that everyone who works there is related or knows someone and thats how they got the job, which is totally fine I thought at first... But When I said I didn't know anyone and I just got hired thats when most people stopped talking to me. Cliques and talking behind your back is definitely a thing. You rub one person the wrong way you're on literally everyones bad side. You're told to speak up if any favoritism, nepotism or elitism is going on but since everyone is basically related you can't actually do that. The second you speak up because you felt you're being treated unfairly its game over for you. Nobody will come help you if you need it, nobody will talk to you, you're basically shunned. This was actually told to me day one, I didn't realize at the time but as a warning, I was told to be friendly and not 'burn bridges' or else nobody will come help you when you need it, and even though you are working mostly independently, it is still a team effort and everyone needs help sometimes. So that aspect of the job was one, annoyingly unprofessional, but two, really unbearable for me. Also, in my case I felt my training fell short because I quickly made enemies by speaking up of an incident where I did feel I was being treated unfairly. So, its an environment where I feel if you actually know or are related to someone this could be a really good job for you because you will be taken seriously and taken care of. As an outsider some days I felt I was being given the short end of the stick just because I didn't have connections. Wanted to look past the unwelcoming environment and just work through it but I also felt their training expectations were a little high. It felt like you needed to be at the level that all their 5, 10+ year employees were at in just a few weeks. Definitely did experience what another reviewer mentioned, if you fell behind people didn't help you they just looked down on you. Even had some random worker (Not supervisor or manager, just a regular worker who was also fairly new) I never spoke to tell me how badly my progress was going, I didn't even know what my progress was at that time since once you start you're pretty much on your own to navigate all that. So it was really weird and uncomfortable to me that someone I never seen or spoke to was more aware of my progress than I was. It really proved to me that all those feelings of people talking about me behind my back, people being judge-y or whatever, was real. I wasn't overreacting and neither are you (if you are currently working there!)
Oh and one last thing, be prepared to work in a very loud factory. On top of the machinery, there are radios at every work station which is thoughtful but most people turn their radio all the way up to drown out the factory noise, some stations you're near up to 4 radios so you can imagine how loud that gets. Since trainers have to talk to you all through you're training (Which is about 4 weeks, more or less.), I couldn't wear ear plugs otherwise I couldn't hear what they were saying (through the plugs, their masks and face shields and then on top of radio and factory noise)  so I now have some permanent ear damage as a result. Another downside to the radios, you're suppose to yell when machinery gets jammed up but sometimes the line operators radio is so loud they can't hear you, rather than telling them to turn it down so they can better listen for jam ups, they tell you to just yell louder...Which for me was not possible. I couldn't yell any louder. I really tried.

A typical work day?
Equipment doesn't work most of the time. If the line goes down you are still getting cones from your 2 ovens which you are now stacking on your table. Once running (IF RUNNING AGAIN) you must pack your ovens PLUS your tables.

You are told faster, faster, faster 500x a day. You can be terminated if you throw cones away instead of smashing them even if you have no where to put them.

Hard on your body, but you will lose weight. You do not stand still. You are constantly moving most of the time in 1 spot for hours.

Attendance is number 1. Don't get sick. Don't have a family member in the hospital. Attendance is what they care about. COVID takes ALL of your earned PTO. 

Employees are rude. It's nothing but clicks. If you don't belong to part of a "family" working there or friends prior to being there you are treated unfairly.

If you cannot pack more than level 1 they will take $1.00 off of your pay rate.

Something good?
Pay checks. Part time shifts worked great for me. Company picnics and paid trips to Waldameer. Free cones and pie crusts.

I took the packer job expecting basic warehouse work, but it’s honestly a messy workout every shift. It’s extremely loud with trash radio blasting, the stations have no real ergonomic setup, and most people just look drained. Training is basically “here’s the line, good luck,” and it feels like you get side-eyed if you take a bathroom break. Breaks are strict and shorter than advertised once you factor in clocking out and walking to the break room, so a 10 minute break is really about 6 minutes and a 30 minute lunch is closer to 24. If you want 30+ hours as part-time they’ll put you on rotating shifts that include overnights with no real choice. Full-time is just a constant grind on your feet. Unless you genuinely thrive on nonstop motion and chaos, it’s tough to enjoy. The benefits are decent, I’ll give them that, but between the noise, the pace, the break math, and the rotating mids, the job itself isn’t worth it for most people.

Good pay that’s it supervisors and mechanics are lazy as a packer you do all the work and get snubbed by all the uppers. Scheduler is terrible messes up schedules and it’s your fault if you miss. Workers lazy you can get paired with straight lazy losers and your stuck a whole shift doing over the work you should be doing. You’re not a cleaner but before holidays you are forced to clean which is fine but the chemical they use messes with your lungs. Pays good some of the people were great I took a leave due to a family member being ill and they didn’t let me come back crazy they act like your not a number but you are they don’t treat employees better then anyone you don’t have any days off none you literlly can’t take a day off even doctors excused.and last your forced on switch shifts I didn’t care cause I was a good worker and I wanted to come back but being snubbed after being one of the better workers really bothered me 

If you have medical problems don't bother putting in an application. They are strict with their point system, but only for certain people. I was let go because I had 5 points yet someone else there had over 11 and is still employed. Even though me being sent home was in connection to my diabetes. There is so much favoritism there it is horrible.  The pay is really good but not worth all the stress. It gets extremely hot in there (over 90) but not permitted any water bottles at the stations. Only 2 water fountains.....1 on each end of the factory. When you feel like you are going to pass out it can be very difficult to walk up and down steps just to get a drink. They claim to care about their employees,but I personally don't see it. Me being fired due to issues with my diabetes has proven that.

What is the best part of working at the company?
They let you take home free ice cream cones

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Schedules are never consistent.  You get scheduled days, afternoons and midnight shift. It's very difficult to plan because you don't know what you will be working one week to the next.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Most people are nice but the people who have been there for a long time treat new people terrible 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Dealing with equipment that does not work right 95% of the time and never gets fixed so you end up doing twice as much work while your running around like crazy

You are forced to go through training at 7am for a NIGHT shift position, then only given one day to transition to night shift. Most jobs give you a week. One day is absolutely not enough. They tjen got annoyed at me not showing up because I was extremely over tired because I never got the chance to transition. The managers act like they care about your mental health. They dont. They just care about attendance. Even if you have a documented family emergency, they will write you up for not showing up that day. Everyone there looks depressed. The only perk is the free cones, everything else about this place is an absolute joke. 

Management is terrible and can't handle constructive criticism. The HR Department is unorganized and inefficient. They have messed up the pto on multiple occasions and when they are confronted about it nothing gets done. They have a very large HR department and they are not capable of handling the work load. Production is chaos. Scheduling is good for people who have no family life. You don't receive your schedule until two days before the next work week. Scheduling an appointment can be difficult. You are reauired to work all three shifts. Sometimes you will work all three in one week. You can choose to work 12 hours, but you also have to rotate. Long hours standing on concrete.

Joy Cone is a good place to work for those who want to earn a great wage and who don't necessarily need a great abundance of skills in order to perform the job well. The monotony of the work can be irritating at times, though, since you are required to stand at one work station constantly and repeat the same tasks over and over of packing cones for no more than four hours with only one break in between. I have learned how to handle uncomfortable working conditions while at Joy Cone and what feeling satisfied at the end of the day feels like.

I’ve worked in retail, customer service, all the low totem jobs and this is easily the worst one I’ve had. Promotions based on favoritism not work ethic and it shows when you’re drowning in product that can’t be packed because machines are running so bad and no one can fix them. Then you’re at fault for waste. Mandatory overtime, but they never tell you when it starts or stops so you get screwed on scheduling.  If the supervisors don’t like you OR YOU DONT PUT IUT FOR THEM, have fun. Used yo have mats to stand on but we constantly have listeria so your legs and back are killed by the end of a night. IF YOU CAN MAKE IT WORK SOMEWHERE ELSE, DO IT. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Packer 13 salaries reported	$18.72 per hour
Production technician 2 salaries reported	$25.94 per hour
Quality assurance manager 4 salaries reported	$97,500 per year
Plant operator 2 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour
Shop technician 8 salaries reported	$25.91 per hour

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