reset merchandiser

merchandiser

retail merchandiser

grocery merchandiser

grocery associate

Retail-Odyssey

I have been with the company for over a year now, with a short break during our "off" season (November thru December) and I definitely regret coming back.. especially during a pandemic.

The lack of communication between the district supervisors and the store managers is unbelievably bad, and this directly affects the employees that work in the stores on a daily basis. If you are an employee who volunteers to travel from store to store, be prepared, because EVERY store runs differently and there are completely different expectations for the employees (which you will find out after a store manager yells at you for "not doing your job" when yesterday at a different location they were happy with the exact steps you took.)

There is ZERO formal training procedures.. so just pray you get out in a good location with a good team lead. If not you will constantly be "learning" because you make a mistake that you were completely even unaware of. And again.. each store is different.. no one does things the same way, and there seems to be no solid company standard to which they actually stand by.

There is no room for advancement with the company other than becoming a team lead (aka all the responsibility and extra work BUT with zero compensation.) You will quickly learn that the responsibility of the table is an absolute curse. Avoid it at all costs. (P.S. Most of the time people who are brand new coming in are making more than you.. even if you have been there a long time and are the team lead.)

During my time with the company I have worked more days per week than originally agreed upon when hired, found out I was being severely underpaid on comparison to my coworkers, worked during a pandemic with little to no safety measures put into place, forced to work third shift (for eight weeks, and if we did not stay on and work our future hours were at risk when we came back), experienced harassment, been forcibly moved to several different stores, and suddenly and without proper training been made a team lead (with no compensation.. as was already covered.)

With all that said: no one cares how many days or hours a week you work (they basically just want you to show up), your coworkers are pretty laid back (because everyone is so worn out they just don't care anymore), and it's almost impossible to get fired.

Apply accordingly based on this blunt, accurate novel.

I can for sure say that these people were an absolute mess to work with.

The best thing (and only thing) by far is that you will meet awesome people - team members that will absolutely have your back, and those people will make your team elite.  Despite this as a team lead, for some reason, you aren't allowed to work certain resets with them, and this restriction makes it very difficult to create a teamwork environment, especially if everyone begins to wonder if you're even working.

The hours, while they can be great, are incredibly unstable.  You could go from working 36 hours a week to 50+, and it all depends on what you need to get done.  They base weekly reset quotas off of hours it takes to get each one done, calculated by people who have no idea how long these resets actually take to complete.  

Not only this, but they also base shelf spacing off of calculated size of products, using whatever program they use from the comfort of their office, instead of being in store and seeing it physically.  Their method makes a ton of errors on a store-to-store basis, especially when considering each store does it a little bit differently.  

What this means for you?  You must find a temporary solution every single time, coordinating with the managers, extending the time it takes to complete the reset out further and further.

Under normal circumstances, the workload is so-so.  It's easy work, but there's always a ton of it.  But as much as they want to tell you how rare it is, the circumstances are very often abnormal because of the aforementioned issues.

No matter how you try to maximize the amount of communication between your supervisor and the store, there will almost certainly always be several communication issues that aren't explicitly your fault as a team lead.  However, some people will absolutely try to make you feel like it is.  The store employees and supervisor alike will speak down to you as if you're always doing something wrong.  Many instances of constant bickering about what can or can't be done can create a hostile environment unfit for any type of work.

This is definitely one of those times where I share a lot of opinions with the store associates that find the company a "unnecessary middle man".  Truth is, Retail Odyssey creates more issues than they solve.  Unless you plan on taking the higher-up wheel and finding a solution to every issue, stay away.

I just have to start by saying I love my job itself and what I do and the traveling that I get to do, and a handful of the people I work with, but the environment of people/management is horrible anymore and it just seems to be getting worse. 

There is so much favoritism in this company (at least in my area), people being promoted with no experience over individuals who have more than required experience and then said people dont even know how to do the job they are given or lead by example when doing said job or they just sit in the office on their phones not even "managing" the teams they're working with.

Management is a joke and some of them should have been fired a long time ago for the way they talk to people and treat them. 

You can't hold anyone accountable for their wrong doings because other management doesn't so when you try to your pinpointed as the bad guy and you're in the wrong (again in my area, I am not sure of other states). 

With all the experience and skills I have with this company, I feel as though I'm used for the convenience of my knowledge not as an actual person who is cared about for those skills. The lazy workers get praised and get away with murder because if you try to hold them accountable for anything they just turn around and call HR or higher management for unfair treatment and get their way and the hard workers just get used. So because of this management just has a don't care attitude anymore because the ones that want to do things the right way and try just get dismissed so they stop trying. 

I could go on and on but I'm sure you can get the jist of it all. I know this happens in a lot of companies anymore unfortunately so its kind of a catch 22 thing, you either put up with it and do your job or eventually get tired of it and find something new.

The job itself isn't all that bad most days, its a moderately physical job, but pretty easy overall. I like to be able to work independently without dealing with too many people most of the time, however, it is not uncommon to be treated disrespectfully from supervisors when its not warranted, and quite often you will get blamed for mistakes on their end. It seems like all the higher ups in this company have a friend/family connection, and many have poor people skills and don't seem qualified for these positions, they seem more focused on making themselves look good at the end of the day. The Kroger store managers and employees are hit or miss, there are a few who are nice, but many are toxic people who seem quite annoyed that you are working in the store changing up things and are quick to get angry at the smallest issues that are often out of you're control. The communication between management and the team leads is terrible, you have to figure most issues out yourself, its often not worth reaching out for help from the supervisors, questions/concerns often falls on deaf ears or turn into drama. It's better to reach out to you're fellow team leads for most questions rather than involve the supervisors. Anther big issues is they will hire people without background checks since I have been here and have put people on my team who are not the best quality people, and the management/supervisors don't seem to care as long as its a warm body. Training is very poor and team leads get the brunt of things because of this. 

The job was somewhat difficult but the management is terrible and extremely rude to its workers. They called us useless. They expect you to be very good at the job in just a few days while not trained well. The hours you work get shortened significantly if you don't get good at the job soon. It can get as low as 2 hours a day. If that's not enough to convince you, they want the job done as soon as possible so they send you home early and pay you less. 

The turnover rate is massive. The worker before me only worked two days and then left for obvious reasons. They lure you in by pretending to be nice and understanding when you just start but once the third week hits, they are merciless and will treat you horrible. The manager isn't a good manager and is frequently rude to the workers.

Another big thing is that they give you a hard time if you wear prescription glasses. They do not like there workers wearing glasses. They were getting upset with me when I was using my glasses. I've told them that These are prescription glasses, without them I can't see. They replied with "That's gonna be an issue"

 This is the worst place I have ever worked at. Go work anywhere else but here. Its not worth it. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
I loved doing the resets and working at night helping with store support

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
If you do not have a vehicle to get to the different store locations, it's pretty much impossible to work there. And when you take one day off and any other job you can't do that at this one if you can't go the first couple days because you're sick you opt out the whole week usually because you're not in town working

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It's pretty much every man for themselves. Since day one of working for that company I have seen so much thieving from the retail Odyssey reset teams. You tell your lead are you telling any of the big bosses and nothing's done about it. Kroger must be okay with it too.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I worked third shift. I would go in from 7:00 p.m. to 5:30am. to whatever Dillons I was sent to (IF the boss remembered to send a schedule to me). We either do store support or we would do resets when we reset the product to be sold somewhere else in the store we would work in teams or by ourselves

You go to a rotating cast of stores and move things around from one part of a shelf to another. Sometimes this is in a normal part of the store, sometimes it's in a less enjoyable area like the deli or the fuel station.

You will be often getting on the nerves of the store workers and shoppers because you're getting in their way while doing your work. The receivers at the store will tend not to like you whenever you're giving them boxes of stuff you removed from the shelves. Hours of work taken to set some area correctly can be immediately undone as workers just do whatever they want with that area. Don't expect your sense of accomplishment to be very high.

Also expect many days where you have to stay at the store for much longer than you would've hoped because some set that's supposed to take 1 hour ends up taking 3 or 4. You can't leave until the current set you're doing is 100% finished.

The job functions as something that you go to and get paid for the amount of hours spent working there. Sometimes it's a 4 day 25 hour week, sometimes it's a 5 day 40+ hour week. You never know!

I love merchandising work but I do not recommend working for retail Odyssey. At first the job was good and there were very few complaints. I was stalled with training always told I didn't have the experience to perform certain roles. One day at work my co worker verbally abused me and I asked the team leader to help diffuse the situation. I was told not to discuss what she had said and just forget it. I felt heavily disrespected and when I tried to go to upper management I was told I just did not appreciate my job. Needless to say I decided not to stick around and no one seemed very upset that I was leaving. I worked with these two ladies daily and never fully realized I was thought of so poorly. Not a very good position for my mental health and it was very difficult to talk to them about my disability. I got either pity or contempt when I tried to request assistance. 

The job can go from very easy days and going home early to the very next day very hard, chaotic and not enough people to get the job done. My team rarely showed up to work and it's not realistic to expect one person to move 8 plus shelves of product and reset an aisle. Some of the bigger shelves can't even be lifted by one person. They expect you to finish resets in the same day you start and that also is not always realistic. 

My "team" had to reset spices and I got stuck doing spices basically by myself for 2 days. Every single shelf moved, every item moved, it was a living nightmare. 

You're supposed to be assigned to one store but you're going to get stuck travelling an hour plus away covering 3 other stores. 

They ask you to not leave carts in the aisles when you have nowhere to put stuff, store employees get mad at you, customers get mad at you, your supervisors get mad at you. Basically everyone hates you for doing your job every single time. 

If you have work ethic, motivation and communicate properly you can go places with this company. Literally or figuratively, you can travel if that's your preference, you can work locally, or if you manage yourself properly you can promote to other roles. Some of which are remote working from home. Those take dedication and time. 

I began as a reset merchandiser on a small Kroger reset team working part time with a small reset team. I continually sought additional work and hours letting my supervisor know I was always available to do so. I've promoted into many different roles and relocated several times in the 15 years with this company, it is possible to make it a career if you want it bad enough. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Reset merchandiser 1 salary reported	$13.75 per hour
Merchandiser 48 salaries reported	$16.56 per hour
Retail merchandiser 480 salaries reported	$15.54 per hour
Grocery merchandiser 440 salaries reported	$15.58 per hour
Grocery associate 219 salaries reported	$15.90 per hour

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