order picker

truck driver

forklift operator

warehouse associate

receiver

KeHE Distributors

No pay raises
You never know what your going to make every 6 months due to job bidding. They work you very hard, delivering to stores and small mom an pop places hand unloading pallets. you are lucky if you get a lift gate. Trucks, refrigerated vans and equipment are constantly breaking down, more then it should and lazy lazy employees who just do the minimum. Warehouse and drivers dont communicate. warehouse consistently loads trucks wrong causing delivery problems and delays. After working for them for 8 years I am actually making less and working much harder even though I am considered one of their best drivers. Throwing a few hundred bucks bonus every year if the company is profitable instead of giving raises, better benefits or matching 401K is a joke.  I am paying much more for health benefits and getting much less with much higher deductibles and it doesn't cover meds until you reach your $3200 deductible as an example. The dallas dc is rude, uncaring, disorganized and is only profit driven with little care for the drivers. You want loyalty and professional drivers, pay them what they are worth. We can go else where doing the same thing and get paid more. Tree of life was much better excellent managers that cared about their drivers and hired quality warehouse people. Also, having a video cam in your face 24/7 is not conducive to a happy work environment for drivers (it may save the company money on insurance but the drivers dont see any benefit, be it monetary or work related). You wonder why you can't find drivers? low pay for hard work when compared to similar jobs and companies that pay more for running refrigerated, delivering hand unloads 8 to 12 times a day, no raises, cameras on you at all times and mediocre benefits. In practice the seniority get to choose the higher paying loads and that would be the "pay raise" but the higher paying loads are actually physically harder working routes now so they are taking routes that would normally go to lower mid seniority. Management also split the routes so most all drivers are making less but more equal and the pay is similar (within a couple hundred dollars) across the board. Not smart. No advantage in sticking around now for newer drivers except for the guys who have already been there 12+ years and don't mind the pay. The vested stock ownership program, seems great. your vested after 5 years. But for drivers with such a physically demanding job that wears out their body, you cannot expect them to keep that up and have to wait to retire at 65 to collect on the stocks. For other workers, that works, for hand unload drivers and warehouse, its not very feasible. you are more likely to see them quit for a less physically demanding job with better pay (which is probably your goal so u can have cheaper labor) or see them on permanent disability before they can retire.and making them wait 5 years after they leave to collect on the stock and paid out in small increments? really??

Typical Day:
show up at work, earlier arrivals gets the "better/faster" machine.  But wastes about 5min of unpaid time to get machine, get pallet, before you get to actually time in since the clock-in machine is out of the way.  Rest of the day is to pick orders by sticking labels onto product, stack them onto pallet, hand-wrap pallet, put them away, then starts all over again.  Time is calculated according to an unrealistic formula ... very hard to meet 100% without sacrificing accuracy/safety.

What I Learned:
Some things never change.  Management always strive for speed, and hustles you to work faster... until an accident happens.  Then they give a spiel about safety/order accuracy.  Many pickers skips their breaks to try to increase their numbers.  Unsteady work hours, often becomes longer 11-12 hour day.  Dangerous environment, I had instances of high reach or cherry pickers drop boxes or or entire broken pallet very close to where I was picking ... so be very careful.  Accidents tends to happen later into the shift, often due to lack of rest and loss of concentration from the longer than anticipated shift.  My advice for anyone working here is to take your breaks, don't rush to meet the numbers, because chances are you won't make the numbers even if you do skip your breaks and you'll end up working an 12-hour shift anyways.

Management:
Can't say if it has improved or not.  It has been awhile since I left the company.

Co-workers:
For the most part, the co-workers are friendly to get along with.  There are an variety of ethnic groups, but predominantly Spanish speaking Latinos.  They work hard to support their family ... but high turnover rates here, mainly people leaving to seek better opportunities.  (90% of new workers will leave within 1-year)

Hardest Part of Job:
Exercising your best judgement.  You will need to work fast enough to keep your job and to please the supervisor.  Basically, 65% or better with minimal mispicks.  If you work slower, then you risk getting canned.  The job itself is quite easy, the hardest part is to stay focused towards the end of your shift.  Also, your speed will decrease dramatically if you're unlucky enough to get multi-pallet and/or full pallet orders.

Most Enjoyable Part of Job:
Probably knowing that you have a job and that there are people in worse situations.  I mean, you could be making a lot less flipping burgers.

Job Security:
If you're willing to keep working here, does an average job, then the company will keep you around.

Advancement Opportunities:
Almost none existent.  It's just an warehouse here in Breningsville, PA.  Most better positions are out in Illinois the company HQ.  I've applied to positions that I had experience in there, it's an automated online application system, and I've never heard back from them.

First of all, you can't promise anyone anything on the days you work because said days are otherwise open-ended.  To be fair, I was warned about this before I started.  However, I wasn't aware as to how much of a toll this would take on my personal life.  If you don't care when you get off work and don't have other obligations, then by all means apply.

Also, the facility I work at is relatively new and everything was set up halfway from the get-go.  You would think a company that has been around as long as it has would be able to take the knowledge acquired from previous facilities and apply it to the building and operation of a new warehouse.  There's barely enough room for two triple jacks to get through each aisle, making pulling orders a pain in the neck when multiple people have to get through the aisles.  Sometimes half the shelves are empty first thing in the morning because no one is taking care of them at night.  There is an overnight receiving crew, but they are already there sometimes more than 12 hours a night just making sure all the inbound freight is getting put away.

The starting pay is exceptional for a warehouse job considering the average in this state for such jobs is about $11-12/hr.  And, if you are fast enough, there are pay incentives for pulling more than a set number of cases per hour.  I've heard complaints from other employees about the incentive not being high enough.  This is a dispute that went on between those employees and management and reduced morale for a while.  

For me, the biggest thing for me is personal space.  Most of my previous work experience involved having my own work area and being relatively undisturbed by co-workers and supervisors.  At a KeHe warehouse, you are always moving around other lift equipment and watching for other people trying to get through the aisles.  Not everyone is careful as they are speeding through trying to make incentive.

I don't feel like this company is a great fit for me and am seeking other employment as I type this.  And I just moved further away from work so my commute is ridiculously long.  But I'm obviously only one person and can't speak for everyone.

So I got a lengthy summary about this place. From the start this company sounded amazing. Long hours. Good pay. Considering for Stockton where most jobs wanna pay $11 or $12 an hour for like 12 hour shifts! When I started here I was making $16.50 working in the cooler and then the freezer a month later. Every day was 12+ hours. But just like anyone else you’ll eventually get tired of working so much and never being at home. The reason for this is because most of your co workers aren’t helpful and lazy. They turn a 15 minute break into a  lunch break. Supervisors ignore the problem and don’t say anythig to them! People wouldn’t clock out right away on lunch giving them close to an hour lunch break. Again management wouldn’t say anything but they were aware of the problem. And then everyone wants to complain because it’s 12am and we’re not even done working yet. If management did their job and enforced these policies we could Be out earlier than we were. What do they do instead? They hire like 30 people. Don’t even have enough pallet jacks or gladiators for everyone. Now the hours are finally cut to 8 or 9 a day and people still do cheat the system. I can’t imagine how much money DC33 is wasting on all that stuff . When the problem was that they let the workers do whatever they want. Like I said, now they’re working 8 or 9 hours maybe 10 on a busiest day now. And you still get paid bi weekly for a not so big check now. I got my CDL A and bounced out of this place! The money was good but it’s even better to be making more than I was in a 14 hour shift just in a 8 hour shift and I still get my weekends too. Corporate needs to step in and seriously see how things are ran here. Because it’s done so poorly. Injuries almost every other day. Stupid little safety meetings that no one goes to. I’ve been to the KEHE in Portland and they’re the best! Things need to look like that.

Working for KeHE is a confusing thing. It is a great company that prides itself on bringing your whole person to work, being faith friendly, and advancing within your career. The top level leaders are competent, fair, and trustworthy. Anyone below a VP is a different story. My manager, for example. Upper level culture and vision does NOT flow to the middle level directors and managers, leaving junior leaders often confused about expectations or lack of communication before they are suddenly fired. It is common practice to see no feedback given, no efforts to help cultivate junior leaders, and when confronted or questioned, intimidation/wrongful termination in the form of firing intelligent and capable managers occurs. One could say that Directors are threatened by intelligent ideas, all the while acting open to them on the outside. There is ZERO integrity.
Directors and similar go on vacation for weeks at a time, abusing power and company money to no limit, completely unchecked. There is absolutely no class or dignity at this level, they will do anything to get ahead. You may find yourself in a tough spot if you're a dedicated and hardworking employee because most of the directors and managers are toxic and it sometimes feels like they are in charge of your whole work existence so enjoying the company is pretty much impossible once said person trashes your name continually, blackballs you from meetings & social introductions, and publicly humiliates you a couple of times. KeHE should get rid of these toxic individuals so that it can actually live up to "Where KeHE goes, Goodness Follows." It's not a coincidence that the talent keeps mysteriously leaving or getting fired. 
Positives: Good pay/benefits and work life balance, great discount on health food.

I've been working here for about 2 1/2 years, my first half was in the warehouse working 12-14 hour days where I picked cases, loaded totes, inventory control, forklift operator, and a plethora of other jobs. All not while being paid any more for doing jobs that weren't mine to do. I did my job and I did it well, so I applied for a lead position. I was passed over for an employee who was a known predator offender and was loved by all production management, who then accepted the job and was subsequently fired for said offender status. So, as long as you can pick 250 cases per hour, they hold bad apples in high regard in most cases. Then I moved to transportation, as KeHE paid for my CDL through the shifting gears program, where after a thorough training from 2 very knowledgeable veteran drivers, I was back to working long days but I find the driving and unloading of product enjoyable if not menial. I enjoy the customers and the experience so far as this is my first driving job, although the dispatch and route creation leaves alot to be desired. DRIVERS DO NOT LIKE WORKING SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. Our management is great, very personal and try to help out in any reasonable way, as they should. The only issue I have with management is that they are often overstepped and outgunned by the dispatcher who thinks he doubles as the director of operations, if that fact were to change then this would be a perfect place to work, but none of us see it changing for the force able future.

After being a driver for KeHE for almost 10 years, I left and went to a competitor.   I am not sure what the situation is at any other DC, since KeHE management keeps salary, benefits and any thing else driver related for the DCs a secret , but I can speak for what goes on in the Ellettsville/Bloomington, Indiana DC.   This DC pays drivers component pay, by the mile, by the stop, etc, and although the component pay has gone up 2 to 3% every year for the last few years, actual route pay for the drivers has decreased for the same routes over the past few years due to local transportation management making major changes to the delivery routes.   Drivers are working about the same amount of hours that they have been working for the past 5 or so years but actually making less money.  This has been brought up to local management and   even a level or two above local and nothing has been done to correct this situation.  Also, transportation management changes policies and procedures that effect driver pay, home time and working/living conditions while on the road with very little notice and a "if you don't like it then quit" attitude toward the drivers.  
After almost 10 years driving for this company and seeing my pay, home time and over all happiness with the job and the company decrease, I left and went to work for a competitor and am very happy I did...
On a side note, I didn't even get an exit interview with management before I left to see why I was leaving the company and what, if anything, they could do to retain me as a driver.     

Good things--KeHE really believes in its mission, does its best to realize it.  Management genuinely cares about employees but cluelessness about tech trumps this too often if you're in a tech role. 

Bad--Leadership doesn't understand what technical roles are supposed to do. If you work in IT, data, etc I would not recommend this place as an employer unless you are junior and getting started. 

I don't think this is unique to KeHE, but overall it's a pretty bad system if you want to attract talent. Sure, internal politics matter, but you can't let that crowd out basic requirements that employees expect.  If the job really is "you basically will do whatever a powerful person wants" just say that in the interview process, if you think it's so common and expected and something your employees just have to put up with. 

Because if that's really the case, why not lead with that? If that's how things get done, why pretend you have opportunity for growth and skill development? If "doesn't matter what we say during interview, the reality is your job is whatever the powerful tell you" was truly a system these companies were proud of, they'd simply lead with that during the interview process and let their talent attraction process follow from that. But they don't.  Overall felt like a bait and switch. 

I think this is one of the worst jobs I've ever had. Management is hostile and does not support their front line leaders. HR makes situations worse, complaints to HR about how management are treating employees is met with argumentative HR representatives who do not act impartial. There is no follow up from HR to investigate claims of work place hostility or unsupportive management. I've been told multiple times I need to quit by my senior level leaders, I guess this is acceptable communication and attitude for them to have as HR did not feel the hostile work environment was real or that they needed to address that type of communication. There are plenty of companies that actually value their employees and don't tell them they need to quit, there are plenty of companies who do not approve of their management bullying and targeting their employees. KEHE is not one of them. There are plenty of companies who actually do have a way to voice concerns and complaints about hostile treatment in the workplace that DO keep it confidential and DO actually put a stop to that type of management. Apparently there's a "HOTLINE"? Been here for a few years and never heard of this until today in a comment response. Would be nice for KEHE to actually provide this information to their employees. I don't even have an employee handbook.

Do you like... a clear lack of management and support, boxes of materials falling all over your truck and yourself, work starting randomly at between 9pm to 3am everyday, trucks that are unroadworthy, stinky and underpowered, managers who can't even speak to each other let alone to their employees in a comprehensible and focused way, fellow drivers who are disengaged and unenthusiastic about their positions and their company as a whole except for their paychecks, pallets that are so poorly placed on a truck that you have to disassemble half the vehicle to remove them or better yet take pallets apart yourself to get to the correct 1-2 boxes at the bottom of 5 different orders on top, a general lack of care and support from immediate management up to head management at your facility? Ever wonder what a distribution facility would look like if put in the hands of the guys from Dumb and Dumber? Don't believe me? If all this sounds good to you, you are going to love it here at KeHe Aurora Distribution and Transportation. Come enjoy the fun work environment and become an co-owner associate. But hey, they just got a new employee lounge with pretty wall slogans. Enjoy the ride!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Order picker 45 salaries reported	$23.24 per hour
Truck driver 56 salaries reported	$1,741 per week
Forklift operator 2 salaries reported	$23.90 per hour
Warehouse associate 8 salaries reported	$22.88 per hour
Receiver 1 salary reported	$24.63 per hour

Working at KeHE Distributors: Company Overview and Reviews

KeHE Distributors

KeHE Distributors Ratings

Popular jobs at KeHE Distributors

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected