production associate

material handler

machine operator

maintenance technician

shipping and receiving clerk

Koozie Group

This is the first call center I've worked for where the WHOLE COMPANY is against you. The customers are actually pretty enjoyable, but everything else is a different story. I've been at the company longer than my supervisor has (yes they hired someone outside to be a supervisor, not promoted from within) and she knows NOTHING. Every problem I've gone up to her for 9 times out of 10 she knows nothing about or how to help me and has to go ask someone else. The only time I ever hear from her is criticism or that I've been in break mode 30 SECONDS more than I should have. I never have one-on-one coaching or anything every productive with her, it's just constant nagging and unnecessary micro managing. Not only do I get NO HELP from my supervisors, other departments JUMP AT YOUR THROAT when you make a mistake, it's a paradox really, the ones who have been there longer get to advance in roles off the phones meaning they have to fill those slots with new people. It's not such a bad thing, but, WE DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING 100% and when we search for the help, we don't get it. Certain departments won't ever answer the phones for customer service because they don't feel like dealing with us. Policies and procedures are changing everyday, and that's fine and all, BUT THEY DO NOT TRAIN US AT ALL FOR THESE CURVEBALLS. They simply send e-mail after e-mail after e-mail with 10 page documents to the point where you have a saved e-mail folder for like 50 E-MAILS And some of them now being obsolete and contradictory and not clear in the language. People from other departments also like to throw random situations where we know very little detail and ask us to COMMUNICATE THAT WITH THE CUSTOMER BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO TALK TO CUSTOMERS BECAUSE THAT'S THE LOWLY PLEBS cUsToMeR seRvIcEE's jOBBB to communicate with customers. I can't wait to find a new job because I've never felt so hated by a company, it's appalling, I have literal anxiety attacks everyday having to come to work ready to defend my self to someone jumping down my throat from all positions, departments and management.

Customer service/clarification reps receive incoming calls and emails from promotional products distributors on current or past orders in house to resolve issues.

BIC's priority to provide not only a World Class branded product, but also to provide World Class Service.  This makes it easy to be proud to work for this company.

The management staff in Customer Service department is some of the best in the industry, but their power to resolve internal issues is limited.  The leadership staff has just recently empowered customer service to make executive decisions on the best way resolve customer issues that normally would have been through supervisory staff.

Most everyone is hard working and has integrity, many having worked at BIC for 10+ years.  The best part of the job are the people I work with.

The hardest part of the job is when you are working very hard, but feel unproductive - some days are just messy.  The stress of quotas and production requirements is always hanging over your head, so you feel like you must either "short" yourself or not provide the customer with enough time to fully resolve their issues.  It would be nice to just do my job to help as many customers as I can, the best I can without having to manually log everything to account for every single moment of the work day.  This adds to work needing to be done rather than helping another customer.

Advancement opportunities are rare, this is a very lateral company.  I have moved laterally 3 times with no increase in pay.  When advancement opportunities arise, most times they are awarded to the one or two individuals who have been performing the duties for the positions for a period of time.  Sometimes positions are created for certain "favorites."

Yearly pay increases are small.  For instance, this year's increase averaged to be just over $10 more a week.

If you want a career and a life this is not the job for you!!Human Resources will say anything to get people in the door! Its all lies!The turnover rate is the highest I have ever seen.They cant keep up with the loss of people. Its like putting a band aide on a severed limb.This causes them to overwork their employees.They cant even keep their General Managers Ive seen 5 in the last 6 years! The people that do stay are generally good people but because they are over worked they aren't always willing or able to help new hires.HR tells you that they don't work much overtime and that there is room for advancement Wrong! I worked 6 days a week mandatory overtime for months on end.As far as advancement goes there is none! In the years I worked their the most I ever got for a raise was.35cents.The plant manager is as unprofessional as they come.He thinks trained monkeys can do the work and even tells people this.Unless you kiss his butt he will treat people with disrespect. Human Resources is a joke!! These three women are narcissists!! None of them listen when it comes to something that's actually important.Harassment is rampant in this factory and Human Resources does nothing to stop it. The will tell you that they will perform a  "Investigation"  because we all know that every Human Resource person goes to school for detective work?? but nothing ever happens.In fact they usually come up with their own conclusion with false facts and will not listen to anyone.The one HR will even take lunch in the break room with a friend from the manufacturing floor and act just like a catty teen telling her the secrets that some poor employee just told her in confidence.Its scary how unprofessional these women are. They actually dress like their princesses(ex. Halloween) and prance around on the floor.None of them can be trusted at all.PLEASE IF YOU ARE READING THIS DO NOT APPLY HERE!!

Yeah you get pto but make sure it’s your weekend off. And if you don’t ask soon enough then your charged for the overtime too. Even when u call in being sick. Everything always about the cs dept. but every dept pulls that order together to make it work. No love for middle man who does all the research and 3+ other jobs to make an order work. And if u volunteer to help other areas there is no added pay or respect. They will use u. All about quantity. No care for quality. Office ppl treated like anyone can do it. Oh I wish those managers would sit in office for a month and see how that anyone can do it attitude change in flash. Maybe then changes be made. 2 monitors r not enough for all the programs. And pay? Lol. So many years no raise. Then they get u with .15 every other year or .35. Some been lucky to get .50. But they make sure u don’t get much no matter how high your scores are. Then tell you “oh but all positions like this at other companies pay this” yeah? How many do 4 other jobs too? Or spend time researching orders to make sure the job prints? Or the knowledge? You think long term employees be treated good but the new make same yet can’t do half the work or don’t get it so it’s on u to do for them. Temps treated best! You get whatever you want! In one meeting told “grass isn’t always greener on other side” yet dozens have left saying it is!!! Overworked and underpaid is understatement. Perfect for those who want something quick til better comes along. Trust me you don’t want to be “stuck” here. Otherwise morale been the same for years. They kept the same managers for too many years. Needs a BIG management internal face lip at all 3 locations. Move them to lower jobs or out and replace with fresh new to really spark it up. But the place will never change. Good luck. Temp is the way to go here! 

I emailed and/or faxed invoices to customers, learned a lot about Bic/Norwood's products and where to access that information quickly in order to accurately provide information to customers, as well as information concerning tracking numbers, transit times, estimated freight rates, and other things of that nature. For me the most enjoyable part of this job was being able to help customers make decisions on what products would be best for them concerning specifications according to events, who the product might be directed towards, what's most popular, current specials, best material, etc. I also got a lot of experience talking to customers on the phone (while maintaining professionalism and proper phone etiquette) which is something I really enjoyed as well as being in a high call volume environment. I was able to properly direct calls to their correct phone queues to improve call flow. Another thing I enjoyed was developing relationships with customers based on follow up calls concerning whatever inquiries they may have had and in turn creating customer loyalty. My co-workers at this job always had very positive attitudes, were always very friendly, and made working there a very positive experience.Training for this job was excellent. My trainer really took the time to make sure I understood everything and was always willing to answer any questions I had and was good at explaining "why". I could tell they were very dedicated to their job, enjoyed it, and were very skilled at what they do.

BIC Graphic is more about fixing problems re-actively, than pro-actively. They throw so much on their Supervisors that it is impossible for them to be effective. The Supervisors are approachable for the most part and work hard, except for the new one that is super loud. They try to listen and voice our concerns to management, but it falls on deaf ears. Their managers, from Minnesota, have little rapport, leadership, or development skills and have run the business into the ground, especially on the Customer Service side. They claim that they know everything, but have no self-awareness. They bring in a VP of Customer Experience, but he is never on time, nor comes out of his office to understand what the experience of the customer is.

The organization had a bonus program, but took it away completely without letting anyone know until it was supposed to come out. They market that as part of the job description, but then took it away. The hardest part about the role is managing the frontline associates' morale when the management expectations do not support work-life balance or a healthy work environment. The company spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on a sales meeting, but do not provide bonuses to Customer Relations, even after the Supervisors were tasked with managing 80+ people. There is little simplicity and the most enjoyable part of the job was my shift ending. Do not work at this place!

Koozie Group has no regard for its employees whatsoever. They promise only occasional overtime (10+ hours) and occasional Saturdays, but once you get the job, you’re on mandated overtime every week. And once they finally tell you you’re off of overtime, and promise a week of 8 hours they’ll yank it back like the fisherman dangling a dollar in front of your face: “gotta be quicker than that”. 
The management can’t handle the tasks a manager should on a day to day basis, and lack proper knowledge/experience for their higher up position. 
Management also disrespects its employees by name calling, for example: duh-duh-duhs, b*t*hes, or calling someone stupid. 
There is shift bias’, first shift is treated better than the other shifts. So, If on 2nd or 3rd shift, get used to the grunt work. 
You’ll be told that your opinions/concerns don’t matter, despite how important of a topic brought up is. 
The training is below par, by far. You’ll train for on machines or in areas that you’re not even going to be at… expected to do well regardless of the lack of proper training. 
Excessive overtime, with our accountability held for the individuals who consistently/constantly call out because “if we held them accountable, there would be chaos due to understaffing”. 
The amount this company has declined within morale ALONE, is insane. That’s not even mentioning the lack of organization, communication. 
So, if you’re looking for a company that lets you know that your family/loved ones, and your life doesn’t matter, you’re coming to the right place. :)


I worked at the red wing location for about 4 years. I was a screen printer for most of those years. Alot of overtime in the summer. Mostly 10 hour days and mandatory 8 hour Saturdays. The money from the overtime is always nice but so is a little appreciation from management. We were treated more as numbers printed than we were people. Management did not care at all about their employees. If we had a problem they did not care. As a screen printer i was constantly getting ink or some type of residue on my shirt and we had to wear the Bic shirt to work. We were also required to have them looking nice and clean with no stains. We only received three of these shirts a year and if we need more we had to purchase them. Most definitely did not get paid for all the problems and stupid stuff we had to put up with. There was no possible way of moving to first shift if someone needed it or wanted to. It was also extremely difficult to move to a higher paying position. The positions that they say we were offered always went to the new employees that were hired through a temp agency. Alot of the temps that started on my shift ended up being a temp from 6 months to some almost being two years. They were always promised a full time position but never received one. We were always short staffed because this company and the management who runs it is worthless. They do not care about you but rather only the work and numbers you can put out. I would never go back to the place.

If you like working 6 day work weeks and ten hour days this is the job for you. If you like not having time to spend with your family this is the job for you. If you like a work environment with no real team work this job is for you. They tell you have weekends off and when you start working for the company you find out overtime is mandatory and you hardly get one day off a week. The management team has terrible organization  skills let alone leadership ability. It’s a constant zoo. You never know what is happening day to day. Forget requesting time off unless your in management. I’ve been here for a few years and none of my requested time off has ever been approved. Only two managers are effective at their position the rest just are terrible leaders. Most employees quit after a few months. Management doesn’t listen to suggestions from employees on how things could be changed for effeciency to make the factory run smoother. The machines used in the factory have archaic technology and hardly ever work properly. Oh and people with one skill set sometimes are paid more than employees with multiple skills. I’m only here because I haven’t been able to find an employer that can compete with my current salary. If you pick up the slack of other employees. Your not rewarded your given more work without compensation. I would not recommend working for this company to anyone. 

I love the people I work with. Most of them are very supportive and helpful, and most of us get along great. That alone makes the days easier. 
My supervisors are very supportive and understanding. I never feel like I can’t talk to any of them about any issues I might be having. And they don’t make me feel stupid or talk down to me when I ask questions or state concerns.  
The company does a lot for the employees and we get so much free stuff and the benefits are very good. 
The days go by super fast because we stay pretty busy. We also get breaks every 2hrs and are paid for our lunch breaks. So if we are there 10hrs, we are paid for 10 hrs. 
The bad…we never know till Wednesdays if we are going to be working Saturdays. So we can’t plan anything or have any kind of life outside of work. 10hr days, 5 days a week, and too many 8hr Saturdays.  If you call off on mandatory Saturdays it counts against you.  
We get 40hrs of floating holidays a year plus PTO. The floating holidays have to be pre-approved, so you can’t use them as sick days and you lose whatever you don’t use at the end of the year, but it’s nearly impossible to get them approved.  
Overall I really like working for the company, just wish we’d have more notice on mandatory Saturdays so we could actually try to have a life outside of work.  We lose a lot of good workers because of it. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Production associate 32 salaries reported	$18.05 per hour
Material handler 13 salaries reported	$19.60 per hour
Machine operator 8 salaries reported	$18.38 per hour
Maintenance technician 17 salaries reported	$24.21 per hour
Shipping and receiving clerk 2 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour

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