route sales representative

merchandiser

warehouse worker

packager

sales merchandiser

Old Dutch Foods

I met with many venders and created real and lasting relationships with all my customers. I became the manager under a new owner, and came into a new town only knowing a handful of people. My co-workers were very helpful and welcoming, we are still friends today. The amount of lessons I received are endless but what sticks out are the lessons of running a small business. When the new owner took over there wasn’t a productive business system set up. Together we sent up a functional system and hand in hand turned the company around and almost doubled the profit from the year before. When starting a new business it often comes with long hours and more paperwork then the day allows. I truly loved the people I met and worked with and the lessons learned, but I needed a place where I could grow and constantly be challenged.

This place is union but favoritism is obvious giving short runs to favored lazy drivers just to keep them on board.
Management says long routes get new trucks but then turn around and give new trucks to employees that barely do half a weeks work.
They can load a trailer properly, always 300 cases on tail of trailer for last route off, so have fun unloading and loading products many times.
The worst part is the warehouses you deliver to, no bathrooms out in the middle of the country in unpaved lots, so have fun not getting stuck in them.
Ooh and if you break down, be prepared to get a list of numbers from dispatch for you to find a repair service, zero help there, and have your own credit card prepared , they pay you back but that's how it works. 
Management went from top notch in 2008 to absolutely pathetic now


I can't say it is unique to Old Dutch because in most union settings there are a strong contingent of people that come to work every day ready to tell management what they don't have to do. There was a time when unions were necessary to protect workers and provide fair wages but I think most organizations could function without them today. There is a divide between management and the sales force that promotes animosity rather than collaboration and when any attempt at job innovation has to be cleared with the company and the union it creates slow moving and mostly vanilla change that doesn't make for dynamic improvements.

I worked from 6 AM to 2 PM.  Reviewed all the order sheets that needed to be filled for the day and made sure that everyone was meeting their quota each hour. Inventory control and data entry on where and when the orders needed to be shipped. Ordered Supplies as needed. Trained in employees on Pack and Feed Machine, Sorter Machine, Wrapper Cutter Machine. I enjoyed working with the crew that I had, they were up beat and hard workers. Always tried to be better and faster than all the rest of the crews out on the floor. There was not anything hard about my job. The most thing that I enjoyed about my job was the customer satisfaction that I had received from our clients and that my manager was always Positive.

I did not mind being on my own. It was nice driving a truck alone and spending most of my days alone. But at the end of the week you would look at how many hours you put in for a whole lousy 750 bucks a week. My pay checks were brutal for the amount of time I put in. I thought hey it will get better when I have my own route and I'm not a relief driver anymore. But nope that's was not the case. I ran my own route and earned commission for 3 weeks. I made a lousy 300 more a week. Its nice having weekends and holidays off unlike frito lay. But the pay is not worth it. To top it off the trucks/Van's are extremely outdated with no air conditioning and horrible heaters. They are disasters waiting to happen.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The place is unionized, that is a plus, equipment to work with is in good modern. Management is over all good.  Pay rate could be better for a Union shop. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
For truck drivers, the uncontrolled weather environment conditions.  Working alone in warehouses without a safety net.  Summer times is clan be dangerous do to the high temperatures in the trailer.   

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
A welcoming, friendly people to work with, family atmosphere. Supportive management.  ( Union present helps too)

What is the best part of working at the company?
Route sales is the type of job where the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. It can be quite rewarding.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
It is a sales position so, there is pressure to keep increasing sales and find new ways to make new sales.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Overall work environment is good, company culture is good. My experience with my supervisor wasn't always the best, but we had some personality conflicts.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Long. Most days started at 4:30 am and could easily go until 6:30 pm. I did like all of my customers though.

I do enjoy my actual job duties at Old Dutch.
The cons are the way I have to use my vacation time. I would like to split the week up and use by the day if needed.
I am not given any compensation for wear and tear or gas mileage for use of my own vehicle.
There is nobody to cover if I ever call in. I can not ever be ill.
I like the work.I do not care for the hours.My family life suffers. I feel under appreciated and undervalued. I am not given any respect or acknowledged for my time and dedication of more than 11 years.

The position sounded pretty good at first. You quickly realize that you are driving more than selling. The territory is massive and you may drive 45 minutes to a country store and make $10 in commission. You are required to service a certain chain of stores that are very slow. If you are lucky, you may earn $2 to $4 per store. The goal is to sell $1000 or more per day which equals $100 for the driver. That doesn't happen every day. Some days, earnings are around $60-$80 per day, and a 12 to 14 hour day to boot. You would be better off finding a job with a guaranteed hourly rate or salary.

Overall it was a fun place to work. I really liked having my truck and driving different routes. But now for the bad, the company really needs to invest in new trucks. They are terrible and extremely bad for the drivers who drive them, they are not comfortable and do not seem safe when you are driving them. They don't have AC for the summer and the heat in the winter is also terrible. The pay is also bad I would run routes that sometimes took really long time to run, I broke down my salary one time and a long routes weekly check equaled 7.50 an hour for that week.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Route sales representative 1 salary reported	$830 per week
Merchandiser 15 salaries reported	$19.27 per hour
Warehouse worker 18 salaries reported	$21.71 per hour
Packager 6 salaries reported	$19.45 per hour
Sales merchandiser 2 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour

Working at Old Dutch Foods: Company Overview and Reviews

Old Dutch Foods

Old Dutch Foods Ratings

Popular jobs at Old Dutch Foods

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected