retail sales associate

department manager

front end associate

freight manager

retail store manager

Ollies Bargain Outlet

A typical day would consist of pushing freight onto the floor (merchandising) while performing as a back-up cashier. Generally, there will not be enough people in the store, and therefore you get stuck ringing a lot on very busy days, which results in freight being processed more slowly. The goal for freight is to have the warehouse empty within 24-hours of receiving a truck, which almost never happens. While pushing freight, you are readily available to anyone on the sales-floor who needs assistance. You will be paged for SKU checks, price checks, and customer assistance (phone and in-store).

You are required to get sign-ups for the loyalty card, Ollie's Army, or else you may realize your hours have been cut. This also goes for the times of donation runs; they also look at those numbers. They keep track of how many you get in a day, and compare it in ratio to how many you should have gotten based on transactions without Ollie's cards. Keep in mind, a lot of hard work goes into the freight process as well, however, our store had started people on asking for these loyalty cards on the floor. I refused to do this. How much time do people waste on the sales-floor asking for these cards each day? On top of that, the cards are a major thing for the front end. It can impact their hours if they are not getting sign-ups. It's wrong to ask for cards on the sales-floor, especially when management knows how hard the company rides the cashiers for not having their goals met.

I personally stepped down as a Customer Service Associate because I did not reach the goals. I was also told that I was not asking every customer and that I was not enthusiastic enough about it. Of course I am not enthusiastic about it; a ton of people have them and more than half of them do not care to get one if they don't. I would simply ask, and if they refused I would move on with the transaction. Simple as that. I would not shove that card down somebody's throat. There are a few people who I learned not to ask at all because they were always there and didn't have a card and also never wanted one.

From 5:00 PM to 9:30 PM (typically Monday-Saturday) you will recover the store. This includes returning any re-shops to their designated locations and fixing up the aisles throughout the store to make it presentable again. Mind you, this is usually done at night mainly because some people tend not to recover while they work freight; which should never happen (you are supposed to tidy the area as you go). You are to pick up misplaced items and take them to their designated locations as well as pull down top-stock, clear base-decks, and look for missing signs. The night-crew is also usually responsible for cleaning the restrooms (which is not hard, just do it), doing cart-runs, and possibly preparing the coffee machine for the next day. On Sundays, all of this starts much earlier, as the store closes sooner.

If you like to make things look nice and neat, this place is not for you. I have a bit of OCD, especially when it comes to merchandising. I like to make it look really nice and the customers, and even co-workers, have complimented me on that ability. However, not everybody there will appreciate that kind of hard work, and not everybody will maintain it. There are no plan-o-grams like at other stores. Basically, it's just an outline/order that you follow (a "flow"). In my opinion, that doesn't mean just throw it on the shelf. So, here's the thing: They want it done fast, but neatly. So, you will very quickly find out that half of the people in that store will simply process the freight and throw it onto the shelf. They will take the easy way out and just mess up and progress you had made in fixing an aisle nicely so that they can get the freight done fast.

If you are looking for a part-time position, you will basically get minimum wage, at 28 hours per week or fewer, and no benefits. Yep, that's right. Nothing. I started at this company at $7.75 in 2012 (when we started 50 cents above minimum wage) and left for good at $8.75 in May 2015 (I took a few months away from there in 2014). Even as a full-time worker, you're looking at maybe 35 scheduled hours a week if you are a department supervisor, then you have to subtract lunches as well. Some of those supervisors are only a little above $9.00.

If someone mentions a possible open position to you and you are interested, take action. Stay on top of them about it and make sure they follow through if they claim you are going to be in that position. I have seen it too many times where undeserving people have taken positions from under someone's feet. Do not let them trick you. If you really want the position, demand it.

The people I worked with were mostly great, if they weren't managers. Don't get me wrong, I am sure that all of the managers are great people (and I actually did get along better with a few of them), but we have a store team leader here that pretty much drives everybody away. Anybody who criticizes people as much at that should be gone by now, especially with all of the complaints submitted against them.

Don't let anybody play you as a fool. Just go in, do your job, and go home. It's not worth the drama that some people cause. Keep relationships to yourself (read the policies), because everybody will talk; it's like high school.

Overall, Ollie's is a decent company to work for, but there are several downsides. There are usually many opportunities for advancement, especially if you are willing to take a promotion at another area store. However, many markets might not have other stores within a reasonable driving distance. Even within your own store, you can usually move up relatively fast because of the high turnover rate (for better or for worse...typical retail) and higher positions opening up. 

I had 5 promotions in just over under 3 years and I learned a lot, even though the overall company training is poor. Training seems to vary quite a bit from store to store. I worked at 3 locations in my 4 years with the company, going from an entry-level sales associate to a salaried co-manager. If you are willing to be trained, "roll with the punches", be flexible with your schedule, and overall embrace the Ollie's culture, you will succeed. 

Pay is not competitive for retail, although it isn't necessarily atypical. Starting pay can vary store-to-store and market-to-market, always dependent upon area competition, hiring difficulties, etc. At the store I started at, entry-level pay was $9/hr. for a part-time job. My first promotion took me from $9/hr. to about $9.50/hr. with slightly more duties. When I went to a full-time department supervisor, my pay went to just over $10/hr. When you become full-time is when you become eligible for benefits and also you begin to accumulate PTO. When I went from department supervisor to front-end customer service supervisor (which includes alarm codes, keys to building, and office access/duties), my pay went to about $11/hr. After that, I applied for an assistant manager position at a new-build store, and when I got that my pay went to just over $12/hr. After almost a year in that role, I applied for a salaried co-manager position at another store, and when I got that my pay went to 37k (though they initially offered 35k and I thought it was insulting so I counter-offered). When you become a salaried co-manager, you also become eligible for an annual bonus (based on several metrics that were never clearly defined) that amount to as much as 15% of your annual salary. I should also mention that I know first hand that while I was earning 37k as a co-manager, my general manager was earning 48k. We had the same hours and our day-to-day workload was similar, but he had more overall accountability for the store's condition and performance. 

I personally left the company for a variety of reasons. Firstly, my general manager was sleazy and put many of his own responsibilities on me because he either didn't know how to do many of his duties or because he was very lazy and would cut corners on task completion. Many associates at the store, including me, contacted our district manager several times to have her step in and provide oversight and make him change his ways, but she failed to do so and the whole store became increasingly more of a toxic work environment. Many associates also contacted HR several times about the general manager. HR seemed to take an interest at first in addressing many of the issues, but ultimately no action was taken so I left. 

Typical workday as an associate = show up for an 8 hour shift, at times you'll be told when you arrive, or right before you are due to leave, that you have to stay up to 12 hours.  This doesn't happen every day but expect it to happen 1x every other week on first shift and up to several times a week on 2nd shift.  If you leave you'll likely get infracted with attendance actions or terminated.  As a supervisor: Expect a minimum of an 10-12 hour day on 1st shift and a minimum of a 12-16 hour day on 2nd shift.  This is every day and the pay compared to others is low.  I encourage you to explore pay for the same roles at other organizations and compare.  
What I learned = explore the company culture before accepting a position and really understand what your getting into.  I learned that I will never again work for an organization that treats associates and leaders like this.  Management = seems like you have zero ability to do anything.  It seems like the Company and all decisions are run by 1-2 people at the very top.  Zero Empowerment, zero collaboration, zero ability to engage your team in a meaningful way.
Culture = You'll commonly hear leaders cursing, maybe hear them talking about associates, and I even saw boxes thrown at associates at one time.  I personally have not seen an environment that is this unprofessional.   
Hardest part of job for associates: it is, like most distribution centers, labor intensive.  However, Incentive standards in place have not been measured by an industrial engineer.  When you interview, I encourage you to ask about the incentive and how it was formulated.  Also, when you interview, ask about their OSHA injury rates.  Many people don't know or think to ask about these things but it tells a lot about the environment.  Hardest for management: no voice, no collaboration, 14+ hour days almost every day, no appreciation, extremely low wages. Zero work/life balance.  
Most enjoyable part of job: You'll always meet some cool people no matter where you go.  For me, it was easily the worst ever place I've ever worked.  You'll likely be looking to leave from the day you start.  It is common to hear associates and supervision talking about how they want to leave.  You'll hear talk of this daily.  When you interview, ask about their turnover rates and causes for turnover.  Compare with other organizations.  A picture will be painted for you.  My recommendation is to go somewhere where you have an opportunity to work hard and where you'll be rewarded/appreciated for what you bring to the table and for the results you achieve.  There are plenty options out there.  

If I had to do it over:  I would RUN, RUN, RUN, and not look back!

Typical Day: Excessive walking, standing, bending. 
Excessive heat exposure is likely to occur in the "warehouse" portion of the building during summertime. When the air-cooling system malfunctions (regularly), a single industrial-sized fan is placed in locations conducive to cooling only some personnel present in the warehouse; small fans are sometimes placed at the registers for CSAs and RSAs. 
Computer systems not user friendly; inventory is not searchable, and Rewards Members (Ollie's Army) accounts are not accessible beyond use of the mobile application. 
Restroom breaks are begrudgingly given; and the walk to the back is a long one, often riddled with customer inquiry which an employee is still expected to resolve along their trek to relieve themself.
One 15-minute break is allowed, 5 of those minutes must be used to walk to and from the break room, and the break is scheduled by the manager--often at times inconvenient to the employee. How anyone is supposed to sit down and eat without causing a stomach upset is beyond my comprehension.

I Learned: Flyers for Ollie's merchandise typically includes misinformation, as each store location receives different shipments with varying items, and this is not clarified in any way to the intended audience. CSAs and RSAs are expected to encourage shoppers who come for specific items to peruse the store regardless, which often disturbs the shoppers and loses customer confidence and respect.
Policy for the Hattiesburg location of this retailer is to staff a single salesclerk until "the line gets too long," or once a number of more than 5 customers is waiting at the sales register.
Advancement is dependent upon Conversion Rate. This Conversion Rate is calculated by the number of customers who enter the store as non-members of the Ollie's Army and are persuaded to become a member. A conversion rate of below a certain percentage is never eligible for advancement, regardless of how well the employee otherwise performs. Ironically, the conversion rate standard does not change; yet the higher the number of achieved conversions, the lower the probability of conversion exists with each next sale.
2 Redeeming Features: Happy customers (which are rare) and affable coworkers.

Positive:
Starting out, it was a nice job. Opportunity to advance, flexible hours, wonderful co-workers, teamwork, and great encouragement. 

Negative: 
After the first year, the "honey-moon" stage was over. Once you get promoted into management, you become a target with higher management. Not in a professional manner either. One manager could tell you how to perform a procedure and claim it was the "Ollie's way". Then a week later, you get your first write-up by the same manager and told it was against the rules when they told everyone else to do the same. Nobody was on the same page with procedures. The rules changed every minute depending on the person asking. You could have 40 hours one week and if the manager doesn't like you, they will knock it down to 5 hours a week till you quit. When it is time for your yearly review (chance at a raise), it is always months late and the raise is unfair. Boss picks favorites and the favorites get good raises. Favorites get higher pay and only work half as much as you do. The favorites can call-in several days a week, no doctor note and get away with it every time. But a non-favorite that never calls in could be late from a doctor's appointment, when they told a manager days/weeks in advance, bring a note, as well as make up the time and get hounded for it. If it is your turn to get the next promotion, if you are not a favorite, they will find anything and everything to get you gone and prevent what you deserved. You could have 90 hours saved up on vacation time, then they are so short-handed, you are not permitted to take it. Twice a year, corporate revokes any unused vacation time that is over 40 hours. So poof! there goes 50 vacation hours because you were not allowed to take them and you DO NOT get reimbursed.

Ollie's was my second job and I took this job opportunity over another one. That was probably the biggest mistake I ever made. I started at the construction where I was often told to "go faster" and told that I can't do anything when I couldn't lift a heavy plank. After construction and the store opened, I had a pretty fair schedule... for the first 3 - 4 weeks. I put on my availability (or tried to put) that I can't work until 10 PM due to school and my brother also getting off of work at 10... they didn't care and told me since the other High Schoolers could do it, I can as well. After the store would close, I'd often be assigned to clean both restrooms, which I was content with as I felt like it was better than walking around the store and putting stuff away. The first few times I cleaned the restrooms I didn't realize that I had to clean the toilet bowls. Only reason I didn't realize was because they had no brushes for the bowls. I found out that I had to clean them with a wipe when I adjusted my glasses with the gloves and they asked why I did it after cleaning the restrooms. A problem I had with my newfound task on cleaning the toilet bowls was that one or two of the toilets would auto-flush when it detects movement. Yea... I'd have to move my hand out of the way to avoid getting toilet water on my arm. That's probably one of the lesser issues. My main issue was how they slowly stopped scheduling me. They said during the construction that if you didn't "stand out" they'd let you go before the opening. They didn't do that. They only let you go probably a month or two after opening after not scheduling you at all for two weeks. It probably would've been better if I was let go after the construction rather than not being scheduled. I don't know how many were let go, but I'm sure that at least 75% of employees were let go. I could be wrong. They say it's easy to climb the ranks at this company but that's probably because it's hard for others to keep a job at an Ollie's. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Keeps you busy with all types of activities.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The company is very unthoughtful for the people who recently got hired here. When a p/t job is possibly less than 10 hours per week as it is here. It makes absolutely no sense at all that they hired as many people as they did at the Ollie's store where I work. "Might" have to be very careful when you apply to work for the company at this time. Or if you do, you may just think of it being a possibility it's a job you receive money for what you want/need to play with or survive with more work hours elsewhere.  May have to get quickly, or already have, many more hours at another/other job(s). Most ri-dic-u-lous job I've ever had because of that. Hopefully not how it is at other Ollie's Bargain Outlets. Might really want to ask how many hours you will be working if you are unsure at all for where you are applying at. Friendly people to work with. Just very greedy company with the limitation on hours where I work at at this time.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The management is friendly. But, the company just gives so many of the few work hours allowed per week to those who have been there for awhile (supervisors and other members of management). Better just forget about getting enough hours to be trained very much/well at all in order to get a f/t job there with the benefits. At least not for a long time! Where I work now anyways. Physically demanding/abusing of your body too much for very little back. Pay started at just a little over minimum wage during all this inflation as a sales associate at this time where I work-$11.25/hr..

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Due to the fact that I am a workaholic most days fly right by. Just wishing that they train me to do more so that I have a chance to enjoy the job more, and interact with others there more often.

~ Typical day for a safety coordinator was to set up the hands-on training area, set up the training room and get documents ready.
~ I've learned a great deal about the safe operation of MHE/PIT and better ways of educating associates in the use of the equipment.
~ Autonomy is important to my work environment and that would be the most favorable part of doing my job.  I don't have to worry about someone micro-managing my work.
~ The workplace culture is positive for the most part. Many employees stay there because of the camaraderie but the lack of safety upsets the comfortable work environment.  Management used to show appreciation for the workers but this has become much less frequent and acknowledgement is a rarity any more.
~ The hardest part of my job was dealing with new-hires that come in with a poor attitude and with a close mind.  They could be very difficult to train and sometimes disruptive to the learning environment for those who wanted to learn.
~ The most enjoyable part of the job was the satisfaction of getting an associate to successfully complete their training despite their challenges.  

This was my first job. I started as a Seasonal Sales Associate and about two months later I was promoted to Department Supervisor. In the ~6 months I was there I saw people come and go like clockwork, and I understand why. The pay sucks and too much was asked of certain employees. As a result of this high turnover, we were usually understaffed. This was especially rough when the freight truck would come, which was twice a week. The store was always a mess but we didn't usually have time to fix it up because they wanted us to keep pushing freight. In terms of my coworkers, I personally had an alright experience, excluding outliers. There was a lot of talking behind each other's backs, but I can't put that on Ollie's, only the individuals. Management was a weird one. The manager that was there when I started left shortly after, so there was a pretty bad period where management was stretched thin. Freight kept piling up in the back and we needed employees from other locations to come help. Management now is good at their jobs, but I had a particularly bad time under one of my superiors there. As stated in the title, this is a fine place to gain experience. The hardest part of the job was keeping up with the workload. Our location wasn't the biggest so I would have to keep making room for more products on the floor, and I had multiple departments to take care of. Making room wouldn't have been such an issue if I was able to organize my areas and make them look nice, but I rarely had the time. I don't really know what the best part of the job was. Nothing stood out as particularly great. I had a pretty good relationship with my peers, but that's not really a perk of the job itself. All in all, this job is okay if you want to get a feel for retail, but it's not worth staying.

I have many years of retail management experience. I'd applied for a management position at our nearest Ollie's and was later called by a hiring manager for an interview. We scheduled a time/date. I arrived as scheduled more than fifteen minutes early. I was then informed that the interviewing manager was (in fact) not in that day. I was quite surprised by this. I believe she was an assistant manager.

The store manager, herself, was on-site but never apologized for the situation. She did state how busy SHE was because her boss was presently in her store. Instead, she went to the store office, printed off a copy Ollie's (internal) interviewer's questionnaire forms, a copy of an internal background check release form and asked that I fill them both out, perhaps drop them off later. The questionnaire form she gave to me is for the INTERVIEWER to ask questions from and take notes upon during the interview... NOT for candidates to complete themselves. Furthermore, asking for completion of an internal background check form in advance of a job offer, let alone even an interview, might be a legal matter in some states.

In all my years of retail management, I've never encountered anything like this, almost careless indifference. I simply left after being handed that paperwork. Not one person has reached out to me to reschedule my interview, through no fault of my own. It's as though I wasn't even a concern or consideration for them.

As a consequence, Ollie's has not only lost a well qualified management candidate, but my wife and I will no longer shop there as we had often before. It's likely that our family and friends may also follow suit. It's experiences like this, Ollie's, that may in time erode away your customer base from your doorstep.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail sales associate 372 salaries reported	$15.55 per hour
Department manager 126 salaries reported	$16.46 per hour
Front end associate 243 salaries reported	$16.27 per hour
Freight manager 124 salaries reported	$18.30 per hour
Retail store manager 114 salaries reported	$57,598 per year

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