retail merchandiser

merchandiser

warehouse worker

TNG Retail Services

A typical day begins by jumping in YOUR car and using YOUR gas to drive from store to store throughout the day, (my 5 stores are each 20 minutes, minimally, from one another - my entire route is 90+ miles from home, to each store, and then back home) merchandising your magazines and other merchandise at each stop. Totes are supposed to weigh no more than 50 lbs when full, however I generally find mine to be full to brim and therefore sometimes weighing as much as 75-100lbs. These totes must be loaded onto a flat U-boat cart when you can find one (they are scarce and hard to find at many stores). Many times you must unload a cart first, then find a place to put the merchandise you take off the cart, before you can load your totes onto it. Most stores do NOT have your totes located in a convenient spot and you either have to first move multiple pallets of merchandise to get to your totes or become a contortionist, risking  personal injury, while trying to lift the very heavy totes up and over other things, all while working in a very tiny space that is barely big enough to turn around in. You will generally have 6 or 7 totes to merchandise per store, but it is not unusual to have as many as 9 or 10 totes per store. Merchandising will involve being on your feet the entire time, you will put a lot of miles in each day, so have good shoes, it will require reaching up, bending down, squatting, and twisting. It will likely involve many paper cuts as well, so carry bandaids and if you are a woman, do NOT expect to keep your fingernails. You are ahead of the game if you just go ahead and cut them all off down to your fingertips because they WILL get ripped, broken, chipped and torn. Once you have completed the work at your first store you drive on to the next and so on. The ONLY tools you are given to do your job with are a plastic strap cutter and a plastic badge that says you are a TNG merchandiser (these probably cost the company about 20 cents a piece - that could be a high estimate). You are required to provide your own pens and markers for paperwork and marking the return totes. I also carry a box cutter and a foldable all-in-one tool (I call mine a McGuiver). You are also required to use your own computer, paper and ink for printing your schedule or any special instructions, and your own phone and mobile data, for logging into the time-keeping system and for taking pictures of special projects which must be emailed to yourself before you can upload them for use in answering required surveys. You do NOT get paid for the time it takes to complete these numerous surveys, nor are you reimbursed for the costs of your personal mobile data - or anything else you need for your work. You ARE compensated for the time it takes to drive from one store to the next, but not for the mileage or the wear and tear on your vehicle and tires. My route, being over 90 miles total, requires me to work approximately 3-4 hours first, just to cover the cost of my gas for work that day.
     What I have learned is that TNG doesn't care about their employees and has proven that by not only never giving pay raises, but also announcing at Christmas time that they are giving us a pay cut beginning the first of the year. I have also learned that in addition to being cheap and physically abusing their employees, they expect far too much work (most of the time) for one person. They use you, burn you out and then throw you away. I've learned that communicating with the company is impossible except through your direct supervisor who you'd better hope is a good person. The only appreciation you will EVER get will be from your supervisor only, and THAT depends on the type of person he or she is.
     Management IS your supervisor. There is no method or means of making contact with any management that is above your supervisor. So again, you need to hope that he or she is a great person who cares anything for other people, including the merchandisers he or she supervises.
     You obviously have co-workers, but you will rarely meet any of them. The driver that delivers your totes to your stores is probably the one co-worker you will ever have any interaction with. Their job is completely different than yours, so if you need help with something or have a question, they probably won't be able to assist you. You may or may not have the opportunity to make small talk with your driver from time to time and the conversation will likely involve sharing how much you each hate your job and how badly you can't wait to find another one.
     The hardest part of the job is definitely lifting the over burdened totes and maybe also finding a cart to move your totes out to the mainline where you actually do your work. I pity the one who can't find a tote, you might as well quit now because the first time you have to carry each tote by hand out to the aisle, you WILL quit.
     The most enjoyable part of your job, aside from going home once your work is done to soak your feet and take aspirin for your aching back and legs and shoulders and arms (your entire body actually) and then clean your paper cuts properly and bandage them in an appropriate manner with something other than duct tape, must be that you don't have to deal with a boss over your shoulder for 8 hours monitoring your every move. The fact that you can start your day somewhat at your own discretion is also a nice feature, but if your driver is running late, that can destroy your entire day.
     While they didn't ask for this information, I'm offering my recommendation: DO NOT take a job with TNG. You WILL be used and abused, they will not care about you or your personal life, they will force you to provide your own tools and equipment and you won't be reimbursed for anything. You might be wondering why I'm still working for them, well I'm NOT. I just stayed as long as I did hoping things would improve or change, but they never did. TNG only added MORE tasks to our job descriptions and forced more responsibility onto us without ever ONCE considering giving us a raise or any other compensation for the things they used us to provide for ourselves. I am currently without a job because there isn't a lot available in my area which is how I wound up with this job to begin with. Take a fools advice: Don't become yet another fool.

I previously worked for a merchandising company, and that experience was great. Job was flexible as they said, managers would contact if there was extra work to be had, and the company sent gift cards to employees for major holidays. Very honest and appreciative company. Upon moving to the west coast, I applied at Tng on a Sunday, and received a call later that night about a lead position that I had been hired for. I explained to the supervisor that I was a mom and student, and would take the position as long as it was flexible for my schedule, the supervisor assured me that it was; lie number 1. Upon my first day the following Monday, I met the supervisor at a wal-mart and was shown the area that I needed to merchandise, and given apps to download on my phone that would track my mileage, whereabouts, and clock in/out times as well as my schedule for the week, no problem. The second day I met up with another employee to learn the job that he did, which included entering new products into the system, making room on shelves and adding the correct signage for items, again no problem. I had class the following day and let the supervisor know that i would not be able to start work until after my class, a few hours after the start time on my schedule, to which she replied the work had to be completed in the time frame. I reminded her that we had discussed the fact that I was a student, and needed a flexible schedule, to which she answered the work had to be completed before x time. I ended up skipping my class that day and completing the job. The next class day was the same, jobs added to my schedule that had to be completed before a random time. I felt understandably mislead, as skipping class was not something that I should have to do with a "flexible job". For the next week, i completed jobs on my schedule, including a sudden one corporate sent that entailed completely stripping apart magazine displays, in check out lanes, to re-tag them and change the order of the magazines. Seemed really unnecessary, and it took 3-7 hours each store to do, depending on the store size and how busy the store was. Next came new displays for gift cards, which included pulling all the gift cards in the store to change the signage and put out new designs. This job took about 4-6 hours in each store, there was about 10 that I had to do in a week's time. I had already started looking for a new job at this point, missing class and messing with my gpa was not worth the stress and low pay this job offered. The straw that broke my back was meeting with another employee, who had the job of scanning every single item on end caps, freezers, and displays in grocery stores. I was given a scanner, and helped her scan 2 of her stores, talk about tedious work. If the beeping of the scanner doesn't drive you crazy, the sheer volume of items you have to scan will. Together, in her first store, we scanned 7,000 items! That's 7,000 things that we had to pick up and put back, or turn to see the bar-code, and turn around again. The freezer items were the worst, having to stick your hands in the freezer to get items, hold them, scan them, and return them. This was done for one of every item on the shelf, including the alcohol section, meat department, produce, isles, pharmacy, registers, and of course the freezers. Her 2nd store was smaller, we only scanned about 3,000 items, but I vowed never to do that again. Of course I get a message from the supervisor stating that the following week I would have to do 6 of these store scannings on my own, on top of the other things that I had been scheduled. No thank you! I called in my resignation and quickly found a better paying job that cared enough about me to work with my school schedule. The supervisor wasn't terrible, just stressed and overworked herself. I'm not entirely sympathetic because I feel she intentionally mislead me on the position itself because of how badly she needed an employee.

I viewed a lot of reviews here that I thought were biased and wanted to give a fair analysis.

I've been at TNG for a yr - Pt merchandiser. I was told at hiring they were reluctant due to me being over qualified and would be gone as soon as I was trained.

I work approx 20 - 25 hrs a week. I can set my own schedule of when I do things, so it's convenient in a work/home balance. There are days when certain items need to be done. I am able to schedule them around MY schedule. Overall, the hours aren't enough. Although, I am able to ask for more and take on other tasks.

the pay is barely above minimum. Like alot of companies, there's no benefits for P.T.. Although an option exists to get benefits at a discount, but at the payrate it doesn't make sense economically.

I've never had a conflict with anyone regarding my work from my bosses. In fact, for the most part I'm not told if I am doing anything wrong - or anything right. their main objective is to have a task fulfilled that they are being paid to have done, which means picture taking of the work at times, as well as completing a "survey' about the work you did. I've never heard feedback about these, either. In fact, it seems like as long as you log in and out of the task and complete the survey, they're happy - seems more important than the task.
I have no idea how the survey info we collect and furnish is used. Which, to a conscientious worker could use to do a better job. 

The management has been fine. they are generally friendly, encouraging, and accommodating to any issues you have or questions about any tasks. I am forwarded emails from my manager that appears to be a forward from corporate with little explainations. Meaning you have to figure out what is being said, what the lingo is, and if it even applies to you. Communication is ok, but not the best, and I get the impression my mgr is as much left in the dark as I am when things come down the pipe.(Coming from a corporate world I can recognize those signs)

Dress is very casual. You can set your own pace. There is some heavy lifting, and a lot of physicality associated with the job (squatting, moving, high & low, etc), and at the same time, there isn't. It depends on the tasks you do. I also use my car to travel between locations of work - at multiple stores - I get paid for my time only, but not milage/wear & tear compensation. Although that was the case with other non-merchandising positions I've inquired about as well.

Overall, if you need extra money. You're in between jobs and unemployment has run out, or retired. Want to keep active in the work field and make contacts while working and pick up some bucks, it isn't a bad gig. 

I believe this is a fair assessment of working as a merchandiser without any bias, hope it's helpful.

I'll start off with if you take public transportation, do NOT even think about applying here. Expect to travel at least 2 hours on the bus per day for most locations. Even if you drive the distances you will have to travel are ridiculous but at least you get reimbursed for it.

My favorite part of the job is the co-workers I have met, most of them are funny and good to work with. I also liked how you were expected to manage your own time, until they changed their tune 2 weeks later and started forcing our team to go as fast as possible and then getting angry when we messed up. I had a manager harp on a couple small mistakes I made 3 separate times in the course of an hour while I was trying to work. It felt very demeaning and mean spirited, especially because I was a new hire and had only been on their team for 2 weeks.

The communication isn't great and if they change your schedule randomly you are expected to be aware of it yourself, even if it is within an hour of your shift starting. If you take the bus that sucks because you need to plan out your route in advance. By the way you are not allowed to be more than a single minute late so if you get lost, run into bad traffic, or even if you are on time but cannot find where they are in the store because every layout is different before 8:01 you will be considered late. I was late twice once by 4 minutes and the other by 8 minutes and even though I had called to let them know I got a written warning because I apparently didn't "do it the right way".

I will warn while the wage seems good, the amount of work you actually have to do isn't worth it. They really should be paying people at least $18 an hour because its about as physically demanding as a warehouse job. The worst though is the inconsistent hours. You may be scheduled for a 10 hour shift but in my own experience you'll probably go home early most days. I had been sent home so many times due to there being nothing to do that I couldn't afford my rent with this job alone. Definitely not a reliable source of money.

I had to leave due to relocation, however it was earlier due to the risks of COVID exposure, but there is nothing really against the company. 

Usually the problems if any are due to inconsiderate customers, and many times they can be some of the most annoying humans on the planet. You will need some patience to deal with them, as they are free to obstruct your area, and often they will play 20 questions with you when you are not an employee of a store, which can get extremely annoying very fast.

Additionally, some stores have had some pitiless store employees, one of which threw a temper tantrum over me leaving a cart in front of a baler. This person threatened to get me barred from servicing the store over a cart, and I don't know if that person was fired for their attitude since they had always been unfairly harsh toward me. At another store, the area I needed to get to for getting my work supplies was barred off with carts, and the management did not care about getting the problem fixed nor did they ever bother to.

As a warning, Walmarts and Targets have a bombastic vendetta against you using a shopping cart which severely cripples your efficiency, and is one of the pettiest things I have ever heard of.

Sometimes store checkout lines can be so long that it's impossible to finish the job without leaving and coming back sometimes, which again taxes efficiency, often times due to store not bothering to have enough cashiers to keep the checkouts accessible.

If stores would disallow customers from disrupting vendors there would be absolutely nothing wrong about the job, but you're going to find problems with any job regardless of either if it's a dream job or one you had to get on the fly.

Ultimately, stores absolutely need to work with vendors to make sure they can complete their jobs as efficiently and simple as possible.

I was in then role of district supervisor, with TNG, for less than six months, and not sorry to be gone. The only thing positive to say, was that for the most part, I had good people that I managed on a daily basis.  Only #Positive!!, I will state.
CONS- Many to list:
Average to mediocre salary- $47K,per yr., with limited opportunity to make more.
Time spent on job: You will be required to be in field 24 hrs a week  and do at least 4 withs during each and every week, plus you will be servicing stores. Your drive time does not count as time in work. No matter how many hours you drive. And you will be driving your vehicle into the ground. In just 5 months, I put over 30,000 miles on my ride, all UNCOMPENSATED miles. You only get a gas card. Everything else is on you and your dime!! This time also, does not include, the large amount of time answering and reading emails, payroll adjustments, etc., for your merchandisers. which is usually done at night and after you have worked all day in field. Expect to work 5.5 to 6 days a week. And then there are those emails as I said before,  7 days a week usually.  Average of 30 plus daily. There is always a fire or supposed fire to put out.
Minimal Training- It will be based on your district manager and their abilities and how well they perform in their role. GOOD LUCK!!
Expect to have continuous replacement of hourly merchandisers under your command. They pay them average at best to much below average, based upon area. Expect a steady revolving door of merchandisers, no matter how well you treat them
In conclusion, STAY AWAY if you can do better, or if you do decide to hire on, keep looking for better.  This comes from someone with over 30 years in retail in different roles, regional. district, and local levels. Easily one of the worse places that I have worked in all those years!!

My mother has been in the book business for over 25 years and yes she does enjoy her job. She has seen many companies come and go in those years. She is now with TNG. Here are the facts about what to expect if considering this as a part time job. As for the flexible hours, that is true to a point. Certain stores are services on certain days. Ex Wal-Mart service date is Tuesday and Friday. Toy store serviced on Thursday. So if you're going to Wal-Mart you must go on the day assigned but the flexibility is you can go service that store any time during store hours. Once in the stores the product is kept in the back room. Some stores will have the product accessible for you to reach (which helps you out) and some may have it out of reach where as you may need assistance getting your product. Most times boxes are heavy and sometimes boxes come in busted up and taped up all around the boxes just to hold them together. While out on the floor servicing your product you may encounter costumers that require assistance. My mom enjoys helping them find what they are looking for. Servicing the store is basically putting new product out and returning the old product back to the company. You do get paid for store to store time (drive time). This is a job that you will work alone. There is no boss looking over your shoulder. However you should expect your supervisor to check in on the store  you are assigned time to time just to make sure all is going well. My mom's supervisor is very nice and works with her with any problems that arise. At the start of a new week there is paperwork that may need to be printed up for your assigned stores.  Computer time can vary even as much as a half hour depending on how many stores you may be assigned. As for the pay scale I believe you will have to weigh that out for yourself if it's worth it or not for you. I hope this helps you out in some way.

I spend most of the day driving from one store to the next. I go to the back of the stores to retrieve magazines in totes to put them up on the front and main line.I then put the old magazines in the totes and leave. I generally don't talk to anyone all day unless the customers make a joke about how much reading I have or they ask me what happens to them. We recycle them just so you know. I don't know any of my coworkers just by name from my manager passingly mentioning them.You work completely unsupervised, but if you don't do the job the stores will make a complaint on you so you do have to work and the manager will make random inspections to check on the store. This job is repetitive and sometimes I wonder the point of doing it, but I do enjoy it. There isn't much drama because there is isolation. There are random assignments with terrible instructions that have nothing to do with magazines that you are stuck doing by yourself and having to puzzle out yourself, but on the basis of just putting magazines out I do like the car. However, in a year I have put 50,000 miles on my car and I drive every single day. Part of it is me, but I live 30 minutes away from all of my assigned stores. So, going back and forth and going at times an hour away from my home and back does stack up a lot over time.

I love to go out into the world and do something productive.. being able to learn is so fun.. I,m a people person very easy to talk to and to be around.. the hardest part of a job is when its time for me to leave.. i really do enjoy working. i have learn how to supervise, how to put inventory and product in the computer system.. every time i go to work i look forward to learning something different.. the people i worked with are so loving.. everyone wants to learn and try not to make any mistakes.. i cherish everything that the company taught me.. ready to utilize my skill and energy with my next career opportunity.. whatever i do whoever i work for even if i don't like it i still give it my all that's just the way i'am.. like if someone say something disrespectful toward me i will ignore it.. if it happen again i'll ask the person is everything alright.. if it happen again i'll report it to the human resource.. if i see anything that don't look right ill confront the person and let them know its not right.. if i see it again same person i will report it in immediately.. i'm a team person who like to get the job done and on time.. don't mind helping out others if i can.. TNG is a productive work place that sometimes have cookouts, games, parties and a great give away gift cards.. the only thing about the job that i dislike is that its know raise in the future.. i constantly get work pile on to me but never a raise.. its a company that don't give there employee know raise.. i really wish i could of made it a career working there but i cannot take care of my family with the amount i was getting paid.. its a great company, loving, caring also fun to work with.. learned a lot with the company..

As an active retiree, I was looking for a flexible part time job to get out and be busy. This was perfect. I liked the work, it was fun to visit and get to know the employees of the stores I worked in each day. I really enjoyed it.  When I started, my supervisor was friendly and seemed to be 'available'. During this two week training period, I was told repeatedly how communication was a BIG priority. NOT so. After I was on the job for awhile, still trying to learn the ESP system they use, I had many questions in my desire to complete surveys correctly. Often my questions went unanswered. More often they were met with snarky and rude comments. When training was required to work in certain stores, I would ask via email repeatedly about how to find the training. Again, crickets. I was asked to order more eyewear for a grocery store, something I'd never done, so I asked how many I should order--enough to fill the rack/back stock?....again crickets. 
I worked with TNG about 4 months. Today I quit after another snarky text. Life is too short to have to deal with that on a regular basis, which is what I was having to do. There needs to be training provided in professionalism to supervisory positions. If TNG wants to have employees that act professionally and do a stellar job, that is what should be exemplified from the management.
The pay did not match the level of time spent driving to/from stores. For example the cost of gas to get to my one store on a Monday was a wash in the pay/time spent to do the job.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail merchandiser 1 salary reported	$9.00 per hour
Merchandiser 1 salary reported	$12.50 per hour
Warehouse worker 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour

Working at TNG Retail Services: Company Overview and Reviews

TNG Retail Services

TNG Retail Services Ratings

Popular jobs at TNG Retail Services

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected