retail sales associate

sales associate

route sales representative

retail store manager

store manager

Red Wing Shoes

The manager of the store had and has a very poor work ethic! She sits face-booking all day, texting, receiving and making personal calls. She does not get her work and customer issues done in a timely manner. I am not saying this because I am very angry about losing my job at Red Wing. I got so much feedback from other employers and customers that she is the one that definitely should be out of a job; not me. I feel the owners do not have a clue what is going on at the store since they always alerted her when they were coming so she could hide stuff and clean up her dirty dishes and junk sitting around. She has two other employees that keep the store clean and one other that does nothing. The guy that replaced me would make a much better manager! I believe he has a degree in marketing and is conscientious about how the store looks etc. I feel he would be visiting old accts and getting new accts; also getting issues done in a timely manner. Which I am sure that is not happening now. I have been told there has not been any new accts since I left. I had just gotten information from the Plant Manager at a newer factory that employment was to be up over 100 by last August 2013. I am sure she never followed up with it. I am glad not to be working with her, but am very hurt that the owners would not have been their the day she decided to fire me! I wish I would have never signed that yellow piece of paper. It was all lies and she even altered it before submitting it to unemployment. I still have the original So I was denied.

I was so upset the day I had the appeal hearing I didn't do very well and the judge even tried prompting me at the end. I was so overwhelmed I didn't understand what he was insinuating.  I know for a fact that I armed the store and locked the door the night she accused me of not doing so. That door had been a problem before and she left for that day telling me that it wouldn't lock! Shouldn't a manager be responsible for that! Me being a farm kid told her I would look at it and call her if I needed help. I took it apart and got it to lock. Told her she needed to follow up with a locksmith because there were issues. Which of course she did not do just like everything else. I feel that something happened that nite. It was freezing cold so I am guilty of hurrying to get to my car and probably did not push on it to double check it was locked. My point is why would she need to change the lock after I was dismissed if there was nothing wrong with the lock!!?  I couldn't get in because I did not have a valid code any longer with the security company! 

I am so upset because I had planned to be at Red Wing until I retired. I loved working with the customers and had a good relationship with them. I got a number of accounts in my 31/2 yrs there. I didn't keep my own records but I do remember most of them. The manager never kept records on anything. I had issues with work not personal issues. It was coming to work with her that was my problem. It was great when I was alone working.  I had no respect for her because she was one of the worst managers I ever worked with. I wrote a letter to the owners after she fired me and told them I would like to meet with them and explain everything. They told them they deserved a much better manager and I wasn't trying to get her fired so I could get the position. I would love to still be there, but with a better team. There also is one other part-time person  that is as bad as the manager. She would wait on customers when they came in, but I have heard she has had a number of complaints since I left. I had a lot of her customers that came back. They complained about her personality and I found they were in wrong sizes also the wrong type of boot for their job. She is more interested in knitting, crocheting, checking Etsy and Pinterest than doing what needs to be done at the store. 

I did my job and some of the managers job, but she got paid the "big bucks" for what I did for her. I know our accountant would say "why are you doing that isn't that xxxx job!"  I would say "I am tired of the stack sitting here for months!"

I wish this could be forwarded to Red Wing, MN corporate office!

I love the work I do at Red Wing Shoes. I love talking to customers because every customer I meet has a different story to tell. They’re almost always very respectful to me (unlike at other retail jobs) and it’s always fulfilling to help out the customer and get them the boots and other things they need. 

I like the product we sell and truly believe it’s a cut above the rest because I wear it myself. I like that most boots we sell can always be repaired from any minor damage and wear, even if it doesn’t always look pretty. Red Wing offers this service, often for free. I value taking care of the things I own, and appreciate a company with this philosophy especially in a world where things are worn one or two times and thrown away.

My manager at my store is wonderful. He always makes sure his employees are in good health, getting breaks, and are treated well by customers and other employees. He has taught us a lot about both boots and retail. However, everyone above him seems to have gotten their position through nepotism. They don’t understand what our job is like, communicate poorly, and make demands that make very little sense at the store level. They enforce company policy only when they feel like it, leaving store policy to vary wildly. When stores have problems, like overstock or maintenance needs, corporate will acknowledge the issue and then do nothing to support the store. It feels confusing to work here whenever dealing with corporate or policy and sometimes it’s good, because you feel like you have freedom to help the customer, but then sometimes you get your wrist slapped for a policy you didn’t know existed because it’s not written down anywhere.

Pay is okay. It’s minimum wage plus a little bit of commission. I can’t complain for a job that’s entry level sales. I wish the raises were better but they don’t even meet inflation, so don’t work here for more than a year.

Opening and closing the store (registers,gates,computers, walk throughs, money counts and deposits)
 I work with customers all day while balancing other duties like repairs. cleaning, documents. I clean and condition boots and shoes while also repairing some. I organize and maintain the outlet in the store. The customers are the most enjoyable part of my job. while every customer isn't the easiest to assist, I give my all to provide the best of my knowledge to ensure they leave with a satisfied mindset and a smile. I have learned a lot and gained skills I can put to use outside of Redwing. The environment is very casual and there are moments of downtime. The staff I work with I consider close to me and hold in high regards. We watch out for each other and never let anyone struggle. The hardest part for me would be trying to complete everything in the time allotted. It can be done on some days and not on others, it depends on the flow of customers and what the day entails for me. But I work my hardest in a most efficient manner while putting the customers first. Overall this is the most competent and professional place I have worked and it is very enjoyable with many chances to pick up something new and interact with different individuals.

This job used to be great. Coming to work was never stressful. Corporate was very close and personable. They used to be about their people. 

Then they made company changes. Gave unqualified people upper management roles in the now "District and Regional" managers. These people are on a war path to have mass job openings. Micro managing your workload, telling you how to run your store, telling you to send people home early to save on payroll and giving you endless "stretch" assignments to dangle that carrot of hope over you thinking you'll be able to actually move up one day when someone in the good ole boys club croaks or leaves. No chance.

You put people in leadership positions that had stores that were terrible and were never hitting KPIs but those of us who exceed our KPIs and are meeting or beating budget get the brown end of the stick.

The work life balance is gone now too as you'll be in a group text chat with your district and your phone constantly going off on your very limited days off. They want more weekends than big box retail used to.

They told us on a call a few months ago to "Be the manager you always wish you had" but none of these "leaders" are following that mantra. Management by fear is the new way. 

A typical day would be opening the store, making sure the store front was presentable. Then checking inventory, to see everything was accounted for. Invoicing our accounts. Getting updated on the knew merchandise if there were any new inventory. Greeting customers, accommodating to there needs. I learned how to interact with different people, invoice properly, converse with the HR, AP's, and safety personal that we had accounts with. Usually disgust payment plans, and ppe... My Co-worker was usually my boss and I. We worked really well together, very friendly to our customers, made them feel there at home. The hardest part of my job was training someone new, and they didn't have the best intentions of staying with the company for long. And some people just are not coach-able, or are not motivated to come to work. Most enjoyable part of my job was selling boots and greeting the customers. I believed in coming to work with a good attitude and making others happy/satisfied with there business with us. And I was good at it, I love interacting with people.

Red Wing Shoe used to be a company that was hard to get hired into.  Now they have declined so much that they can’t seem to hire anyone.  In my 10 years there I saw management go from bad to worse.  One manager had an incident and ended up with a life coach. The same manager would also pick favorites that weren’t always best for the job. Retaliation from the same manager was a problem. Even with proof HR did nothing. My honest opinion if Red Wing Shoe wants to improve their image, workforce, and morale the upper management should take a good long look at the company management on the floor and actually listen to the employees running the machines and working the warehouse. Rather than handing out surveys that are basically discarded by the company if the results aren’t what the company wants to see.  The union is a joke however the actual work isn’t that bad it’s all the management and union garbage that makes this place a disaster to work for. 

a typical day here consists of waiting long periods of time for customers to come in. Trying to convince both new and long time customers into buying unnecessary add ons. you'll do free cleaning and conditioning but customers complain about the service and end product, after all, the manager told us not to take too much time to wash the boots. you're expected to hit 6 performance goals and two of them involve scanning customers feet in order to upsell insoles to them. and missing the KPI's will lead to management sitting down with you and threatening your job and putting you on probation, scaring you into trying harder to push that product! regardless of the fact that you make consistent good sales. work here if you want to share ur hatred for the boss with your coworkers since they hate him too! work here if you want to be micromanaged until you disassociate! the most enjoyable part of this job is clocking out and going home.

A typical day at work involved assisting customers with approppriate footwear and accessories for their job, recieving freight that included new footwear, store transfers, and shoe repairs. I learned the value of proper fitting and properly constructed footwear. The store management was excellent, but the company management was very disconnected due to Red Wing being an international company. My co-workers were all top shelf and very knowledgeable about our products. Due to our footwear being of the highest quality and 60% still made in the USA, it was tough to compete with our Asia made products due to their lower cost. The most enjoyable part of the job was when the customer was wowed by the knowledge and quality of the footwear and the sale was made. Repeat life-long customers were enjoyable to see year after year.

Being the only employee at the store, once my training was completed I was trusted with the key and the running of the store alone on days I worked. Most days I would open of shop, vacuum, and make sure all the inventory was presentable and ready for the day. I would also go to the bank to make the daily deposit, check the cash drawer, and return all calls that came in after closing the night before. During the day I would give my honest recommendations to customers for the work boot that best fit their needs and budget, requiring me to have over 100 different models memorized. I would also invoice and pay accounts to such companies as the City of Tucson, Raytheon, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons who had open accounts with us and paid us monthly. I would also take inventory weekly, stock and rotate new product, and order inventory for the store.

Been here since December 2, 2020, hired on full time in April of 2021. No management at all, they don’t care about their employees like they say they do. They start out saying a certain number to hit for the week then change it in the middle of the week without any communication with the employees. They love playing mind games, getting our hopes up then tearing us down. We get emergency time 24 hours to use but counts against us now if we use it when it’s a benefit to us to use. They want to punish us for using it because it was being abused? Yeah we get vacation 1 week after 6 months then another week after 2 years so on and so forth. The job ain’t bad and great people to work with on the floor but, the management is just terrible. In their eyes the operators don’t know anything and we’re always wrong no matter what etc. 

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