retail merchandiser

merchandiser

material handler

retail sales associate

order picker

SASR Workforce Solutions

Temporary merchandising jobs. After successfully bidding on a job you are then sent there usually to help out another merchandising company that is there. The pay is decent but do not count on it as your sole source of income. You can work your way up by earning points. I am at Journeyman level and earn more an hour compared to an Entry level worker. You gain points by showing up on time and checking in, completing jobs and turning in time sheets, and other things. If you can pass a drug screen you get a lot of points for that. What I do not like is most jobs are 50+ miles away. Not worth the wear and tear on my vehicle or the gas. They offer a set amount of  gas money for a set amount of miles but it's not enough. You can negotiate your pay rate and gas pay for jobs and sometimes they will agree. A lot of times they expect you to drive 50-100 miles to get to the job and back each day - no motel. If they do give you a motel room you're going to have to travel at least 100 miles or more and you have to share the room with another worker. Lots of times I see jobs 200 miles away and no motel offered. You might luck out once in a blue moon and land a new store project near home. I had one that paid good and lasted a month. But usually jobs last from 1 to 5 days. Their job cancellation policy has took a turn for the worse. If you call off less than 12 hours in advance they take away 100 points from your rank. What if I wake up in the middle of the night before the job starts and I have the flu? I don't think it's fair. I also don't like driving 40 miles to a job under the impression I will work 8 or 10 hours only to be sent home by the team lead after 4 or 5 hours because there isn't enough work. That has happened several times. There should be a penalty issued to the merchandising company or the SaSR employee should get some kind of bonus when this happens.

A typical Day really depends on who is the team lead. If you got a good team leader, the pace will be fast and hard and finishing early still rewards you with a full day's paycheck.

A Bad Team Leader will work fast and hard, but if you end early, there is no compensation for the brisk pace.

And then you have people in the middle, like those who work at a moderate pace and you may or may not end early or late.

And those who purposefully slow down the work day to make sure all hours are gained.

There is lots of lifting and reading and some elements of a scavenger hunt while placing items on the shelves. And make sure to tend to good foot care to avoid fatigue.

There is however a lot to learn about various industries if you are interested. As you will find yourself pretty much going into the back areas of a whole lot of stores and the leads are more then happy to talk about how things are done at these kind of stores.

Co-workers tend to be a varied lot, with no real average out.

The hardest part for me was the shelving, its the last part of the job, by then I am at the end p a weak, feeling fatigued mentally and physically, and now I have to push forward to shelve things rapidly. And its not bad at all if the plan-o-grams are straight forward.

But more often then not they are like little puzzles you have to figure out, as each plan-o-gram at each store is different. And although I like puzzles, if you are having trouble with it and the team lead isn't doing a good job at explaining, things can get sticky.

Of course its far worst when there is no plan-o-gram, like at the paint shops. Or practically no plan-o-gram.

The most enjoyable part of the job is when you first get there and everything is new and there is at least that base fun of doing something different.

However its not a reliable job. For the past seven months there have been no jobs from SaSR within a 50 mile radius of me, which has driven me to find a new job.

There is no such thing as a typical day. Its always a surprise what store, in what town, at which time (and for how long hrs are never a guarantee). And for what company you'll be working w/(we are a temp agency). After 9yrs you know I'm quite fond of this industry and even look forward to my days/nights at work. But (and this has happened on more occasions that I'd like) when you drive for an hour maybe even three some times. You get to the store and they always say the same thing, "I don't know why they told you to come we don't need any help tonight."
And it never just one of us that's turned away. At least two, I've seen as many as 5 of us that have no choice but to turn right around and go home. I should say, when that happens, were compensated w/ 4hrs pay. But after the driving (and because were not paid for travel or mileage) and the price of gas, you'd think some one would take better care of the people in their field.
Please keep in mind, I'm not trying to bash my employer, not at all. Everyone I've ever talked to has been more than helpful and pleasant, really its awesome company to work for.
I this is ideally my dream second job. Here your given a choice of weather you want to work or not, So you could literally fit it into ANY schedule. But its nothing short of nerve racking if it's your sole source of income and you pull up your desktop to see not one job on the calender.

As a contracted merchandiser for SASR, a typical work week would be Monday through Thursday. One of the things I loved most was that we got in early, around 5 am and would normally be done by 3pm, allowing a parent, like me, to earn a full day's pay and still be available for my children after school. 
The work was very easy to understand, if you can read a planogram, there was some heavy lifting but nothing too strenuous. The work is fast-paced, yet still somehow laid back. For this work, I would recommend knee pads, latex gloves and work gloves if you're working grocery- things get chilly resetting refrigerated and frozen products. 
SASR usually hired contract to add manpower to a project that lacked sufficient amount of permanent employees; we had a great rapport with the managers and co-workers whether they were contract or permanent. There was a real team atmosphere where if one person completed an area sooner than anticipated, they would happily come over to another team-member's area to help get it done. That way we could complete more projects in a day, with everyone pitching in. 
The one thing that I did not like about this position was the lack of job security. There were weeks in a row during some seasons where there was no contract work available in my area. Eventually, the local work seemed to dry up completely yet there were more opportunities that opened up for contract work that required some travel.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The ability to perfect Skill’s within the Heavy Merchandising Industry.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Never a steady schedule & the Location of Projects changed almost every day. The feeling that ever day at work was like the first day at a New Job. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Many Coworker’s did not seem to understand Teamwork! The Ganging Attitude was running Wild. Female Coworker’s we’re allowed to show up & work in Yoga Pants- Ballerina Shoes & Extremely Long Nail’s in a Warehouse Environment! This negligent Attitude put the Rest of the Crew in a Dangerous & Unsafe Working Environment, since in Reality They we’re Unable to do the Task’s Required, which Overworked the Rest of the Crew! Some of the Women Believed they were there to Solicited a Dif. Job Description & other’s were told they would be holding a Piece of Paper. We did Not need a Podium, We needed Strong Steady Hands to Help Move -unpack & Place Consumer Good’s for the Ever  changing Shopping Season’s.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Physically Challenging-  Personally Rewarding, where  Harnessing Emotion was just another Task, a Task that did not need to be added, for the Work load was enough! Very little Teamwork.

Set and Service has flexible positions that allow employees to choose which projects they wish to sign up for. They work on a points system, so the more jobs completed, the more points earned. The more points earned, the greater the chance of being assigned the projects applied for. They also allow the employee to request a higher wage or travel incentive when signing up for a project which encourages applying for jobs further from home. However, there is a down side. At certain times of the year, usually around the holidays, the work is very scarce and for this period of time, no new jobs are loaded into the system. When you are assigned jobs, it is usually with another person or persons from Set and Service along with a team from another company that is serving as the primary contractors on the project. Some projects may last a few hours while others can last weeks. Start times are always specified with no flexibility.  Overall, it is a good part-time job to fill the gaps of other part-time positions one may have as you can choose the projects that best fit into your schedule.

I have enjoyed my job so far.  The other employees are polite and mostly friendly.  The work can be physically challenging, but the teamwork is positive.  However I haven’t seen or heard anyone speak of the opportunity for advancement.  I’m not sure that’s possible even if you work hard and do all tasks asked of you.  There are many helpful, hard working men and women.  Unfortunately there are just as many that are not pulling their weight and biding time.  Overall I think the supervisors are mostly impartial and basically fair.  Although it appears there are favorites.  I understand it can be difficult to observe everything that goes on when you have this many workers to oversee.  It does seem like only mistakes are noticed by them.  I hope to learn more about the company and how to be most useful.  I am curious to see if working hard consistently reaps additional pay, responsibility, positive recognition, etc.  I do like the work and would like to find out if this is a possible long term career.

Pros: 

Paid 13.50/hr

Can apply for work on whatever days you want

Work isn't difficult, usually just stocking or setting up giftcards

If you work less than 4 hours, you will still be paid for 4 hours. 

Cons: 

Point based merit system whereby senior employees can assign themselves to jobs before junior employees even get a chance to apply. 

Miss one assignment for any reason including emergency, and you will lose 200 'points'. As you only get 10 points per successfully completed assignment, this is a huge blow to junior employees and puts you at an extreme disadvantage.

Work is extremely sporadic. Expect to have no work for weeks or months. As a junior employee you'll be lucky to make 200 a month. In a busy month you might make up to 500. 

The contractors you work with always have drama going on with other contractors which gets in the way of getting the job done.

You have to fax timesheets like its the late 90s

Website to set up direct deposit is glitchy. Checks posted on friday often take nearly a week to arrive. 

Some contractors don't let you take breaks, so you work 8-10 hours without pause. 

Assignments can be cancelled without notice.

One of my first assignments was a 4 hour reset in the chips aisle of a walmart with a team lead,the chip vendor and 1 other person and was actually stress free. 
We started at 5am was done by 9am to enjoy the day.

Most other assigments are stressful as you sometimes get placed with team lead clients who act like they do not really want your help or do not know as much skills as you do and make the job harder and take longer to do as a team than if you did it all by yourself.

If they don't like you they will cut you assignment short anytime!
A 10 day job may only be 3 days for you if you so much as talk to a co worker while working or stop to scratch an itch.

On some projects I have been sent home after only working 2- 4 hours of what was suppose to a 5 day and a 11 day project because they overbooked helpers
.
Sometimes no team lead shows up or I have arrived on location ready to work only to find out that the reset was already completed a week prior and was not notified in advance of making the trip.

When you apply for and receive an assignment online, the details of the job are then posted to your dashboard.  Once you arrive at your site for the day you have to call in to the automated system and check-in.  If you forget to check-in you are deducted points. You then sign in with the team lead for that assignment.  The team leads vary from day to day and assignment to assignment.  You may be working with 2 to 20 people depending on the location. Some people come with necessary materials (step stool, scraper, tape measurer, etc) for the job. Some coworkers may be knowledgeable and dependable and others simply seeking a paycheck. The job must be completed to specifications within the alloted time. The hardest part of the job is assisting new people while working to complete the assignment in the time allowed. The most enjoyable part of the job is seeing the finished product and knowing you participated in redoing a section of the store.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail merchandiser 45 salaries reported	$19.84 per hour
Merchandiser 13 salaries reported	$15.92 per hour
Material handler 920 salaries reported	$16.81 per hour
Retail sales associate 316 salaries reported	$14.59 per hour
Order picker 1 salary reported	$17.00 per hour

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