retail sales associate

guest service agent

shift manager

entry level manager

co-manager

RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc.

A typical day at work for a GM can be somewhat unpredictable aside from walking your store every morning, payroll on Tuesdays, daily audits and knowing that upper management will demand a whole bunch of extra tasks be done to your Operations Supervisor (OS)(DM) to delegate to you as the GM to figure out how to accomplish on top of a bunch of previous tasks that you have been assigned to do already.  Unrealistic labor budgets force 1st and 2nd shifts to run skeleton crews and whatever doesn't get done will end up GMs tasks to avoid going over the lack of labor budget.   GMs often have to deal with call outs (sometimes everyday) and are forced to ask associates and then managers to work doubles (they say no way more often than yes).   The kicker is if you do happen to get an associate or even an hourly manager who actually wants to work that call out you then have to call your OS/DM to get approval by your DO/Regional for the over time.  All the while you are told by your DM to call other stores in your area for coverage who are 7 to 8 out of 10 times either short staffed or had a call out themselves.  So what ends up happening is the GM ends up working a double or splitting a shift if we were lucky.  When I was a GM; I worked countless 18 hour shifts to support my store and because stores were not allowed to run with one person or be locked (GMs are to stay by default or get in trouble) and still had to be at work by 5:30a - 6:30a.  There is little appreciation for your efforts or tireless hardwork.  Instead you get more stuff to do. RaceTrac has extremely high expectations: Food, Restrooms and all other Store Conditions must remain top notch at all times even with skeleton crews.  Burnout is very high for GMs and you can expect to work far above your salaried 40 hours (actually RaceTrac forces GMs to work atleast 45 hours just like hourly Managers).   As far as expectations: you will be expected run a full food offer at all times that never gets low or empty of any product, whilst ensuring bathrooms are perfectly clean and that includes all fixtures and baseboards, whilst ensuring coolers stay full, whilst scrubbing every baseboard and corner of the store, dusting, pump cleaning, trash can cleaning, several lot sweeps, shelf cleaning including shelf strips, auditing, ordering, constant product resets and pricing updates, following up on endless repetitive maintenence service tickets for unreliable machines etc.  You will become a juggling fool with priorities as a GM.  RaceTrac loves to boost core values which are honesty, efficiency, positive attitude, respect and team work but realistically being efficient is made more challenging simply due to RaceTrac forcing skeleton crews, and then majority of associates and hourly managers don't care as much really because of the overall low pay.  Turnover is very very high so you will constantly have to train new people and will often have to resolve short staffing issues.  So to summarize; I would not recommend RaceTrac and especially the GM role if you value your work/life balance and mental health because you will work tirelessly; even on your days off if there are callouts that can't be covered so you have to cover it.  You will constantly be on the phone resolving store issues.  I don't recommend being a GM at RaceTrac because what you do is never good enough and you will not have much peace of mind.  There are ALOT of unrealistic expectations and things are constantly changing.  However! If you know how to play work politics and kiss upper managements butt then Trac life as a GM is a little easier. 

As an employee who has experienced firsthand the negative impact on both staff morale and overall performance, I believe it is crucial to share with you my 12 years of experience and information about Racetrac.

One of the major concerns that several employees, including myself, have noticed is the presence of unrealistic job expectations imposed on the entire staff within the store. Despite our sincere efforts and hard work, it seems that the expectations set by the upper management team, particularly the regional operation supervisors, have become increasingly unattainable. This not only places an excessive amount of pressure on us but also hinders our ability to provide quality service to our customers.

Furthermore, it has become apparent that the regional team, who have been in place for the past few years, seem to lack genuine care and support for the General Manager Team and the staff within the store. Rather than fostering a nurturing environment conducive to professional growth and development, they appear to take advantage of our commitment and dedication. Regrettably, any attempt to express concerns or suggest improvements is met with hostility, and there is a palpable fear of retaliation and unjust termination.

The unprofessional conduct exhibited by the regional team is disheartening and alarming. We have witnessed their disregard for professional ethics and integrity, engaging in questionable activities without facing appropriate consequences. These activities should never happen in the workplace. This lack of accountability has led to a significant decline in trust and confidence in their leadership. It is particularly disconcerting that the core values upheld by the company seem to be applied selectively, putting the burden on us, the employees, while allowing the management team to go unaffected.

As a direct result of these issues, the company has experienced an alarming turnover rate, losing several valuable General Manager employees with over 10 years of experience in just the past two years. The loss of such dedicated and knowledgeable individuals raises a huge red flag.

I feel compelled to mention a specific incident where an operation supervisor's poor decisions resulted in the departure of three hardworking General Managers. It is distressing to witness such crucial positions being compromised due to the lack of effective leadership and decision-making from the regional team.

I remained hopeful that, as a company that has had a reputation for being people-focused in the past, that they could reclaim their core values and reinstate an atmosphere that attracts and retains talented employees. Truth be told, I have been lying to myself, it just keeps getting worse.

I am extremely grateful for all employees that worked with me, I was very fortunate to develop and promote many individuals, I wish them the best. Your life is extremely important and valuable. You do not deserve to be treated this way to make money. Find a company that will care about you.

Daily tasks included cleaning floors and countertops, stocking cups, lids, and straws for guests, maintaining fresh coffee every hour, high volume of face to face guest interactions and satisfaction continuously throughout the day, theft protection to RaceTrac's safety standards, and a high volume of cash handling under stressing situations. 
 I learned how to maintain welcoming hospitality in almost any situation. Guests were the most important part of the company. With the amount of traffic through that stores location, having tremendous customer service and guest satisfaction was the key in keeping guests coming back and bringing new friends. It is necessary to learn professional and respectable ways to quickly get guests in and out happily; for instance, some customers are friendlier than others trying to hold conversation with a cashier while a line is waiting behind them, it is caught quickly how to tell them to stop talking other customers need to be assisted and make them walk out that door as happy as can be. 
 I believe I was so drawn into giving the company my all with anything they needed me to learn and almost begging for extra shifts out of pleasure due to the management. They had creative ways that made learning feel like talks over drinks. I was taken by surprise to have interacted with a number of different members from different areas in their management that all had the up most patience in teaching the members inside their stores and quickly getting them up the ladder. 
 Co-workers were just as impactful as the guests or the team leaders. Each store has at minimum 3 associates during day shifts and 2 at night, and there are stores everywhere. I was able to work at a whole lot of different RaceTracs spending time with a new team member experiencing that individuals learning style and work habits. It was encouraged to try to teach and learn from each person. Ultimately opening up every door possibly to find a way to teach each and every different learning style out there.   
 There was not one certain thing I could pin point as bad all of the time. Scenarios happened with every part of the job that often could become a bit out of hand, but not one in particular part of the job had only bad experiences.  
 The customers. By far the part I miss the most. I truly loved to get to know people in that fast setting, yet making them comfortable leaving laughing and positive each stop would be at that store for the service.  I could hardly ever get worked up over something within the store not up to par or with a guest who wasn't the nicest; my goal was to make them choose to come back because of experience and not convenience. Despite if they did not seem happy leaving or didn't show anything at all I interacted with them as if we had the best time ever. I wouldn't give up until I got some smile or appreciation.

Each shift started with management and associates complaining about the amount of work they have, how the shift before didn’t do their part, and anything left unfinished is thrown onto the overnight shift to complete. Third shift is expected to detail clean every inch of the store, correct/ complete tasks that weren’t done during previous shifts, cook breakfast, receive and put away truck inventory, while also providing excellent customer service. Some lower level management openly said that they refuse to do a task because they don’t want to, don’t train new employees, and don’t delegate or communicate with their employees about what they are supposed to do that day. More often than not, only one or two people work overnight shifts and the expectations are extremely high and stressful for the staff that does care and tries to meet the unrealistic expectations set by higher level management and corporate. The environment was stressful, chaotic, and full of drama. If you try to bring an issue to the assistant or general manager, you are either ignored or criticized for the store not being “completely spotless”. Management often plays favorites and allows some people to get away with not contributing or working while others are expected to deliver perfection despite the lack of training for new hires or shift managers, little to no communication between shifts or from shift managers to employees. If you are sick or experiencing any family emergencies, you are expected to choose the job over your own health or your own family. Management is often unavailable or difficult to find. They will also insult employees and the employees who do go to upper management with any kind of issue are often belittled, ignored, or told that their concerns or problems aren’t valid and that this is how every job environment is. The hardest part of working here are the unrealistic expectations that often change every week without notice, lack of team work, and almost no structure. Hard workers are expected to do more and more while others aren’t held accountable for their work. The more effort you put in, the more management will take advantage of you with extra work and expect you to make the job the most important thing in your life while making you feel guilty for having other responsibilities. You will never receive a raise unless you’re promoted. I have worked at other stores for RaceTrac and have had an entirely different experience and enjoyed my work. The culture and environment at this store is awful and upper management refuses to even acknowledge the issues much less correct them. I did enjoy the relationships I built with some coworkers and customers.

The company's business model is, for the most part, beyond reproach. The guidelines and ideals at the forefront of the company are honorable and morally upstanding. However, the quality of the  management individuals who make up the company is going downhill, and the respect for the people who make the machine work is little to none. 

A typical day at work for a Full-Time Associate includes stocking soda and beer coolers, cleaning and sanitizing all surfaces, very heated guest complaints about things that are not within the associate's (or even management's) control, spending 4+ straight hours at a register, lots of cardio from store end to end, cleaning litter from lot, cleaning bathrooms and removing all trash once per shift (24 hour operation), etc. The actual job is not difficult, nor is it unlikable.

The experience a person would have at Racetrac highly depends on the area and temperament of the clientele. For example, Luna Road associates in Carrollton are much less callous and more understanding than associates at Harry Hines and Northwest Highway in Dallas. I worked at both stores, among others, and this is the honest truth.

The hardest part of the job, honestly, is staying polite and respectful while maintaining a register when guests insult your lineage, breeding, and/or personal hygiene, among other things not polite to mention. If interpersonal conflict is a large part of your work history, this job is not for you. Also, if a person is expecting to be promoted quickly to corporate without a Bachelor's Degree (or with), it more than likely will not happen.

The most enjoyable part of the job, personally, was stocking the coolers and organizing the back room, because I personally like to organize things, and over-stimulation can happen after 8+ hours of face-to-face interaction with guests and cleaning the same area once every 45 seconds, when it becomes dirty again. This was the case at Luna Road, the highest grossing and most fast paced Racetrac, company-wide. I'm talking upwards of $100,000 weekly, all condensed to Mon-Fri, 7am to 7pm, due to surrounding business traffic. It gets hectic.

That being said, co-workers are definitely what make the shifts fun, friendships develop naturally and sometimes managers are more lax than others, fostering a creative and functional environment. The social and interpersonal quality of the job experience, removed from all other aspects, greatly depends on the mood and personality type of the shift manager, like any other job.

Still kinda sucked though. 
Lots of folks know that 'fast paced work environment' is pretty much a euphemism for 'understaffed and overworked', but I was still kind of surprised. 
Good things first, the hours are very flexible. You tell the boss what hours you want to work, and they schedule for those hours, no questions asked. Some of my coworkers were surprised when I talked about working 4 days a week and getting weekends off, cause they never even bothered to ask for weekends off. I didn't get lucky, that's just how the store operates. So that aspect is great.
Another positive is it's a pretty relaxed work environment. Despite the 'fast-paced' nature, managers were generally pretty cool about if you showed up a few minutes late or even just wanted to take a few minutes in the middle of your shift to relax and catch your breath. One time I got a flat tire heading to a different location and couldn't come back for the rest of the day, and my boss actually just logged the hours I needed to pay for the tire. And as I understand it, she's actually one of the stricter general managers. 
These people are cool about it cause they also recognize that this is a job, but not exactly a career. 
Everybody runs around doing various tasks to keep the store tidy, this works well enough with a full team some days, but nearly every day I worked at RaceTrac it was just me and one other employee for the entire shift, and we'd struggle to just barely get our tasks done. What this usually boils down to is one person sits on registers and rings up the almost constant line of customers, and the other cleans up spills or stocks shelves, until the person at the register gets tired and asks to switch off so they don't have to run the register for a while.
I'd guess this would be a failing on the manager's part, but hearing from other employees from other stores, this isn't unusual at other locations either. It's pretty rough. 
The closest store to us constantly had to ask for additional employees from our store cause the general manager was incompetent enough to make almost their entire staff quit. I remember seeing a whiteboard in the backroom with a note from the guy asking people not to take sick days for that week cause he was on vacation with his family, and if a single person called out he'd have to come back to cover. 

A typical day of work consisted of handling associate responsibilities. An individual is either food service (FS), general merchandise (GM) or lead cashier. If an associate were in food service, they were responsible for making sure all the coffee and food in the store were freshly put out in a timely manner, and they were required to keep their food service section (coffee, hot case, rollergrill and yogurt section) fully stocked and well presented. They are also to keep their side of the store neatly kept, cleaned and organized. If the associate were in general merchandise, the associate was responsible for making sure all products were stocked on the floor in a FIFO (First in First out) order, all expired items are to be removed, and to make sure the fountain drink section was fully stocked. This person may also be in charge of merchandise stock take or cigarette and OTP (other tobacco products) stock takes. This associate is also responsible for keeping their side of the store neatly kept and organized. The associates present that day decided among each other who were to do the other tasks such as lot sweep, cleaning the bathrooms and taking out the trash.
I learned that you cannot be over bearing to new coming employees, you must secure that you are willing for them to achieve along with yourself. A successful business is held up by a strong circle of success thirsty employees. 
I found it to be very easy for some people to be promoted into management, but with that said, each manager was ensured to be trained properly to make each shift of the day successful. 
I got along great with my co-workers. I don't typically have a hard time getting along with people so working with them and striving to succeed with them was easily obtained. 
The hardest part about not only this job but ANY job is being on time. If that was one thing I've learned from all of my previous employers, to just be on time and prove your eagerness and effort was sure to send you a long ways. 
And lastly but definitely not least, the most enjoyable part of this job were the amazing guests we had at this location. I looked forward to  each day to see the smiles on my familiar regular guests faces. Just to know they returned to our location let me know that my team and I successfully achieved their requirements for them to come back for our same services.

I’ve worked at racetrac for the last 2 years. I started as an associate, after 6 months I moved up to 2nd shift manager. (There are 3 different shift managers for one store. 2nd shift or “swing”, a relief manager who works overnight two days a week and second shift 3 days a week, then an overnight manager.) after I was promoted to shift manager, I was quickly moved up again to Co- Manager which is the assistant manager. My next move is general manager. But in all honesty, if you put the work in, you get rewarded. Within a year I was promoted twice and several of the associate who worked under me were promoted. For working at a gas station, you get good pay. 10.25 for associates, 11.50$ base pay for manager with a minimum of 5 hours of OT guaranteed every week. Managers work 45 hours a week. Co managers make $13.75/hr and GMs are salary. Managers
Are also striving for their store to do better and get more sales, because they get a bonus every month based on how well your store location does. As a shift manager, at my
Wylie location, I was making an EXTRA $1,200 a month. Now as a Co I work at a different store and I still bring home an extra $900. You really get back what you put in. I get 90hrs I’d paid vacation and 80hrs if paid sick time.  You work closely with those above you, including the “cooperate” people. They actually try to get to know who you are and remember your name and they pay attention even if you think they aren’t. Sure there are always going to be ‘bad apples’ that slip through the cracks, but overall I love this company. If you’re looking for a first job, or actually turning this into a career, racetrac is great. They don’t discriminate against tattoos or looks. During the COVID pandemic, they were still hiring, they didn’t make us cut hours, we were actually given a 3$ raise then that dropped down to 2$ but it’s still been a consistent raise. They also paid for my two weeks I was put under quarantine. They took a second to catch up with policies regarding mask and Social distancing but not once did I feel they weren’t trying. They’re a multi- billion dollar company, and I can’t speak for the other states but the DFW is the best region in the company and the work environment shows in our sales. 

The work can be easy running the.sales terminal, cleaning the store and preparing food but it can be strenuous because racetrac is so cheap. They pay their employees slightly above minimum wage, barely give them 35 hours a week,  and work them HARD. All jokes aside: sweeping, mopping, pulling trash inside and out, cleaning outside trash, cleaning the pumps, washing the windows, cleaning the restrooms, making pizza, burgers etc, stocking the coolers, putting out fresh food, restocking the shelves, changing advertising signs... Should I continue? You have to let your supervisor know when you're hungry and suffering just to be able to eat a sandwich in 3 bites while standing and back to work. Then theirs only like 2 or three people on 2nd shift or 3rd since everyone wants 1st shift, but they never finish all their jobs and leave them for 2nd. Then watch out for the homeless people that always hang around. Most are harmless, but there are some that are a bit unstable who love to beg, argue, and steal. I've witnessed vagrants fight and lay hands on employees, and the managers have to call the police. Racetrac is too cheap to pay for security, so they expect for their workers to be their own security or call the police if things get too bad, but good luck with that since local law enforcement has had enough of being their private unpaid security. Even the customers steal on the regular, really pitiful but I guess it's easier then standing in a line wrapped around the store because one persons at the register and the only other worker is out cleaning the lot?  Customers can see you cleaning and working hard but are nasty and disrespectful. I have cleaned up vomit in the restrooms and urine on the floors. Coworkers are helpful, and easy going, but watch some of the slacker youngsters who only work for the check. If you can put up with the hard work, no breaks, vagrants, and bad odors, you just might like working here.

If you're really in need of a job that pays slightly more than minimum wage and offers benefits then Racetrac isn't the worst place to work. I don't, however, think that it's worth progressing beyond associate. The amount of stress and blame that gets piled onto managers really isn't worth the pay. You're a babysitter, for associates and the shift that works before you, and there's little accountability beyond that (you'll get blamed for anything that they do / don't do). The management is constantly changing what they want done / how they want things done, meaning that you're constantly struggling to stay on top of everything due to the fact that very little ends up being communicated. 

They do offer paid sick days and vacation time, which is always a slight plus, but unless you're an associate getting time off (or calling out sick) is like pulling teeth. Many stores are constantly short staffed due to the high turnover (people just up and leaving without warning isn't uncommon) and managers are often stuck there after their scheduled time  if people don't show up. 

Getting promoted is pretty easy (may be too easy honestly), but it's really not worth it. The pay increase and the overtime is nice, and depending on what store you get stuck at you'll hopefully get a decent bonus on top of that. However, everything stagnates there, leading to a lot of burnout. There's no 'review' process that rewards managers for working harder - you'll make the same as a manager regardless of whether you've been one for 2 weeks or 2 years (you may work twice as hard as another manager, but you'll really never receive any recognition or compensation for it)...

All in all, its not the worst place ever. However, I really think that the rewards for moving up need to be more substantial. I suggest being weary of moving beyond associate.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail sales associate 125 salaries reported	$16.14 per hour
Guest service agent 11 salaries reported	$14.20 per hour
Shift manager 40 salaries reported	$16.76 per hour
Entry level manager 3 salaries reported	$16.75 per hour
Co-manager 9 salaries reported	$17.50 per hour

Working at RaceTrac: Company Overview and Reviews

RaceTrac

RaceTrac Ratings

Popular jobs at RaceTrac

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected