maintenance technician

laborer

machine operator

driver

customer service representative

Packaging Corporation of America

If you're willing to roll up your sleeves and work as part of a team, PCA may be the right place for you. We're growing and our products are in high demand so there are plenty of overtime opportunities. We don't have layoffs and we're always looking for new employees.

Please understand, this is hard work that requires a personal commitment to working long hours (sometimes up to 12 hour shifts) depending on staffing shortages or customer demand. The upside is you can provide a very stable living for yourself and your family. The 401K and benefits are outstanding. Some weeks, I have to work 6 days a week (Mon- Sat) and a swing shift (1st/ 2nd) is a requirement unless you're willing to work 3rd. I enjoy working with 97% of my co-workers. The 97% understand what is required of them; 1) show up to work 2) put forth an honest day's work for an honest day's pay 3) show a willingness to learn and work in a team environment 4) keep your whining and complaining to a minimum. The 3% usually take care of themselves and end up being terminated, but it's the 3% that can make it a miserable work day for the other 97% who are counting on the 3% to still do their show up and do their jobs.  I look forward to each day a 3% individual is either terminated or just quits.  3% doesn't cut the mustard; 3% is a hindrance and is of little help to the other 97% involved and invested in our plant's success.  

Each of us (the 97%) who have the drive and initiative will bend over backwards to help you succeed if you willing to fully accept the 4 requirements mentioned above. I consider some of my colleagues and coworkers as my extended family. I haven't felt this way working for other employers, but the offsetting downside is you do have to work alot.   If you have a deep seated aversion to working, you will hands-down will not work out here.  You will not make it more than 60 days (your probationary period) if you're that lucky.

This is a very candid and honest assessment; if you're struggling with requirements 1-3, please flat out don't work with us.  We're willing to overlook requirement #4 (complaining) as this will dissipate when you see the overwhelming support you'll get with the appearance you're committed to working here. I cannot speak that every PCA plant operates the same, but it's the people, the "right people," that clearly make the difference. Middletown was named Turnaround Plant of the Year" 2 years ago pre-Covid. What won it? The "right people" committed to winning. We're back trending in the right direction in '21 and early '22. We just need more winning attitudes and folks willing to come in to work.  To boot, a winning attitude does come with a yearly bonus (gainshare).  

Depending on where you end up when you first start you'll end up either happy or stressed out due to how seniority works, if you've been there a while, there's a chance you might might be able to crawl toward the goal you want to be at however with the way it works somebody brand new could get a bid job and since they have machine and department (at this point they don't care about building seniority) the person who got hired AFTER you might get a position you were wanting.

You get two 10 minute breaks and a 20 minute lunch break, they are very strict about this but you'll see people take LONG breaks and lunches and never be called out on it so that's very unfair and when you bring it up they deny anybody does that but you as a newer employee will be held accountable every time.

Expect to work every single Saturday and also expect 12 hour shifts if your relief calls out or goes on vacation which would mean you're working 60 hours for the week or 72 if you are working that Saturday which again, expect to so your work/life balance is going to be severely strained but on the plus side they DO pay very well and have good benefits.

Shift wise expect to work either swing or graveyard, day shift is out of the question for new employees unless you just so happen to be scheduled to work that shift while you're on your probationary period. So expect to sometimes work different shifts every week unless you finally have obtained a bid job, but those usually go to people who are higher in seniority than yourself. That being said expect to be shuffled around and not have a set schedule which goes with the above work/life balance.

Their attendance policy is the absolute worst as well, if you're ONE single minute late even if that minute was an emergency and you barely made it to work that is still a write up they do not care one single bit, the same can be said about how they treat their employees sometimes with how their expectations are pertaining your performance numbers and etc.

Overall I would not recommend working for this company unless all of the above you don't care about and are solely motivated by the pay scale.

(PCA) is and good job to work at, it keeps you busy and you learn a lot of new things. Only they do not pay enough because they expect you to learn the assistant job and The operators job on how to run the machine when you are getting paid the minimum wage that the job gives you because they rotate on breaks and lunch, and most of the time it would be me to run the machine while the operator would leave and the assistant is only doing his part because he wants to be lazy and there's a lot of lazy people at that company that don't know how to pull their own weight or to even work as a team. And they go by favoritism, and management really sucks, the supervisors don't ever really do anything when you report to them about you having a problem with somebody else or your team because of its somebody that the favor that you got into it with he won't tell them anything but if it happened the other way around it will tell you something if you're not one of their favorites and they also will tell you something if you take your brakes longer than usual but they don't tell other people anything when they take 20 minute or longer breaks. The company also robs a few minutes of your break and lunch every single day. There's so much to say about the company but it is a good place to work at they just need a lot of changes but one of the other bad things is that if you are wanting to use a day f your vacation for any Saturday, you automatically have to waste another vacation day for Monday which is not right because that is against the law but they force you to do it.

PCA is a really good company with great benefits. PCA Winter Haven will drain your soul from your body. You will work 84 hours a week, week after week, month after month, year after year because management will not hire. Their bonuses are bigger that way.  They are perpetually understaffed.  There is no training program. New hires are thrown in the deep end and it's sink or swim.  They don't tell you that you are working over until you are ready to clock out for the day.  Sometimes they catch you after you have clocked out and make you clock back in for another 4 hours when they have known all day they needed you to stay. Plan on working every weekend from October til June.  The harder you work the more work they take on. Then they raise your goal so they can give you the excuse that you don't get any time off because you didn't meet your goal... or another machine didn't meet it's goal...or the sky is blue. If you are on a crew then the whole crew gets in trouble for one flat tire of a crew member.  If you are a hard worker you be rewarded by having to do most of your coworkers job too.  Management doesn't want suggestions either.  I have given the same suggestions for years and they always act like it's the first time they have ever heard it. Not a disgruntled employee.  I gave it my best shot. I was hoping to retire from here but I'd be dead in 10 years from all the hours and stress.  I'm a hollow, burned out, dead shell of my former self because of them.  I only stayed as long as I did because I needed a decent paying job with good insurance to provide for my family.

This was a terrible company to work for. To start, I hope you like to live your life their in the summer months, mostly 10 to 12 hour days and mandatory overtime on most Saturdays. Management is absolutely terrible, most of them have no clue how to manage anything. The moral of this workplace is the lowest I have ever seen. It is a true sweatshop in the summer, be ready to be soaked head to toe 10 minutes into your shift, on top of the corrugator it can get to 130-140 degrees in the summer and around 100-110 in the rest of the shop. They expect you to work miracles with equipment that hasn't been properly maintained since the 60's. When the machines break down they usually blame the operator for the break down when it is out of their control to why it broke down. They give you very little time to do any preventative maintenance on your machine. When the machines is finally running decent and you get good production numbers you never get recognized for the good work you do, but if you don't get those numbers they basically degrade you. So to end this review I will say that if you like working long hours, sweating all day and not being recognized for the good work you do, this is the best company to work for. If you like to work normal hours in a comfortable work environment and get appreciated for the work that you do, look elsewhere, this is definitely not the job for you.

PCA is a very profitable company, but it does not appreciate those that make it profitable ... the production workers.  Safety of the worker is a joke ... OSHA mandates safety and PCA puts on the act, but when it comes to the almighty dollar, the workers are forced to work in unsafe conditions.  Breaks or lunches .... NO .... even if you work a 16 hour day (I imagine since they provide water we should be more appreciative.)  Management is a joke, unreliable, uncaring and carry themselves as if they could walk on water (plant GM actually has the words "Big Dog" on his helmet.)  The ratio of salaried personnel to hourly staff is an amazing 1:2.7.  With only two (out of 5) knowledgable shift foremen, the production workers must contend with sheer ignorance. There is no quality of life to be had with PCA's rotating shifts (especially with the understaffing which results in outrageous overtime - hence, exhausted employees with a high potential for injury.)  The plant runs failing equipment yet they are investing a quarter of a million dollars in a machine tender shack. The corporate office really needs to rethink the way the Filer City plant is run .... Corporate would learn what really goes on (conditions, etc.) if they met with hourly staff, but not with the GM (or any management) at his side because they would be fired.

I've never in my life been scolded by an employer for *only* being 2 minutes early for a work shift before. That said, I've also never been required to work 5 ten hour shifts a week and not been given a lunch break before either. Only one person in the building seemed capable of smiling. In my month under their employ my immediate supervisor hadn't bothered to ask "How are you?" even once. 

Everybody there seems all too eager to "tattle" or gossip on how they percieve others aren't working hard enough. Management seems to think they need to motivate you by putting you down, even if you exceed the expectations you've been given. The attendence policy has zero capability for managers discretion or flexibility for circumstance. Not that it matters, if you miss time everyone will think you are just lazy anyway and talk about you behind your back.

It's a place people go to because they don't have degrees and justify puttting up with it because all the overtime makes it seem like they're paying you well for all you're effort and time. Without the mandatory overtime this job would be worthless. 10 hours a week doesn't seem like much of a stressor but when you only get a 10 minute break (which is about 7 minutes in practice) every 2 hours *and then* you have to come in on a Saturday, you'll come to loathe it.

Oh... and then there's the work.

Start work with a list of duties to be performed on various machines for throughout my shift for preventative maintenance which might include tear down and replacement of encoders, rolls, bearings, etc. Each time I work on a machine for the first time is when I have learned about that particular machine thus making the task much easier the second time around. Our management team was thorough enough where minimal direction was needed to sought out a job through its completion. The most difficult of the job was the intense labor of beating or hammering seized objects to be freed or working with very hot steam and the duties that goes along with it which in many cases, we had no choice based on the time restraints. The culture in the workplace was enjoyable and everybody there was a pleasure working for or with throughout my duration there. The most enjoyable part of the job is the experience learning new facets of how boxes were made which fascinated me to some degree. Watching the process or knowing that the process is successful and that I contributed my time alongside my peers to make a good thing happen was the ultimate satisfaction before going home for the day.

I love it here.  Been working here for about a year and a half, and I am almost totally without complaint.  My only issues come from the pay.  Not to say that we aren't paid a fair hourly wage, but there are definitely some weak aspects to the way that raises are handled.  Sometimes a given employee may be more of an asset than another and that's just the facts.  Those more valuable employees are rightfully deserving of a higher wage. The management in the 'front of the house' seems like it definitely needs to wake up, but that's the most minimal of complaints.  My supervisor, I feel, looks out for us and does what's best for us.  
  The work itself is pretty physical, but it is not hard labor.  The time goes by quick if you just keep yourself busy.  Do what you need to do and try to find the most efficient ways to do each thing.  As long as you're not just screwing around and you're getting things done, no one is going to be riding in your back.  That does not, of course, mean that you just leisurely work lightly.  No.  Go in, work hard, and do your best and you will be fine.  If your best is you only checking your phone twice in ten minutes, then you should probably look elsewhere for employment.
   Overall, I like it here and would recommend it to anyone who can be consistent in their daily work life.

I came in and was told by machine operator what we were going to do.
Forklift driver would put bundles of plain cardboard on rails, you cut the bands and protective paper then put that into trash, you then push it towards machine.
You look at order sheet then move guards on machine to correct measurements.
You start loading the machine and don't stop until it is done, you load a stack at a time many,many times and sometimes is very hard to keep up especially if you are on the bigger boxes.In the warmer months YOU will sweat like crazy.
Work area is not climate controlled unless you work in the office.

It is very hot in here and very dry. No jewelry is allowed not even wedding bands or watches.

Only 2 clocks in the building for some reason, I was told they hate people looking at the time.

They only give you a couple hours to tell you that you are working over and they work a decent amount of Saturdays.

If you smoke you must go outside in back of building off company property,this is normal but with only 10 minutes for breaks and 1- 15 minute lunch you wouldn't have time to eat lunch and smoke since you have to walk so far

If you are a big guy they put you on the harder stuff even though you will make the same pay as someone of a smaller body structure and they get the easier work..

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance technician 6 salaries reported	$32.37 per hour
Laborer 2 salaries reported	$17.30 per hour
Machine operator 11 salaries reported	$22.43 per hour
Driver 8 salaries reported	$22.44 per hour
Customer service representative 1 salary reported	$53,000 per year

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