warehouse associate

forklift operator

warehouse supervisor

maintenance technician

account specialist

United States Cold Storage

All of the positives of the company are drowned out by the poor leadership and management.  Management is interested in blind loyalty rather than effectiveness.  If you want to waste your time at a workplace that prioritizes favoritism and political maneuvering over competence and results, this is the place for you.


They have consistently showed preference for staffing supervisors and other mid level positions externally, rather than promoting internally, having filled, if memory serves, four of the last five supervisor positions within the last two years externally over skilled, competent employees who have been at the facility for 5+ years.  If you are unfortunate enough to stay here long enough to be promoted, you'll consistently be exposed to the office environment which constantly denigrates the floor workers, when the only real problem with most of the workers is a lack of leadership.  


The few supervisors and other mid level managers that would like to improve the facility have no real ability to do so, as they are led around by the nose and made uncomfortable if they "step out of line."


Safety concerns are rarely addressed appropriately, training has gone downhill, turnover is high, and morale is lower than any place I've ever worked.  The sense of dread present among most of the employees is overpowering and contagious.  


The few benefits of the company that may have previously been present, such as the ability for overtime pay, are quickly disappearing as they try to make up for the results of poor management of the facility by crunching spreadsheets.


The senior facility management regularly speaks poorly of their own supervisors behind closed doors to warehousemen, which further contributes to the poor culture.  


You are wasting your time here.  I would highly recommend looking elsewhere.  


I've worked for the company for a couple of years now. In my time here I have seen favoritism, nepotism, and a complete and utter disregard for employees that have families and emergencies. It wasn't always like this, but with changes in management, the office environment has become unbearable. No room for advancement whatsoever. I used to look forward to coming to work because not only was I compensated fairly, I liked who I worked with, but over the last few years that has drastically changed and I've felt like I'm just a number. 

Supervisors are held to a different standard then everyone else and get preferential treatment. Those in salaried positions like to dump their workload on hourly employees even though the tasks they are delegating out are directly listed in their job description. 

VERY strict rules and policies. If you are even going to be a minute late, regardless if you let them know or not and give them a reason, with proof, you are still going to be written up. If you clock in a minute early or late  from lunch you get written up. It's like they are looking for any excuse to write people up and terminate them. I guess that's why the turnover rate is so high. Don't ever have a family emergency or need to leave early if you're out of PTO, you'll just receive a write up. 

Claim to care about their employee's mental health, then makes them apologize after being out due to mental health issues. Bringing up any concerns results in being laughed at and not taken seriously. It's like being back in HS again with the "cliques" and gossip. People hate it here but the pay is what makes them stay. If management would actually LISTEN to the employees, things could probably improve, but unless you're part of the "in crowd" your opinions don't count for anything. 

You got a boss here that wants to pick fights with employees. Tried to voice my concerns over a lot of things wrong with this place. We can start with NO TRAINING. They sit you in a meeting room with no supervision. And then hand you a forklift you've never operated before. They give you a day or two of driving back and forth 8 hours a day. Again, nobody there to answer questions. Fast forward to on the job. The was a couple other things I had the opportunity to learn how to do, but nobody does training. They show you a few buttons say do it like this. And gone for the day, so I loaded a truck wrong and it was my fault. Because I was not shown.
Benefits are awesome if you never wanna see family, and wanna break all the rules at work. But you better shut up about the guys that have been there longer than you.
Your breaks are also a clown show. You get one at 8:45, lunch at 11, next break at 2pm. But you don't get another one until seven. And that's "just what the union voted on" and the union steward has been there 20 plus years. Can't answer a question, doesn't help the rest of the crew when they need it. Says "we can get your job back if you're in the union" but I haven't seen one person come back after they point out. And you get seven of those for your first year. A maximum of 13 half days off or 6 full days off. You won't see any vacation or sick days for a year.
Every other US Cold in the nation is non union and gets their benefits after 90 days.

What is the best part of working at the company?
as a high reach operator i never had nothing to do and had an active participation in the warehouse process. unloading trucks to receiving it and putting it in storage locations as well as picking orders and staging to loading trailers. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
loading trailers going through scales with multiple stops in and around the state with mixed weight pallets and dmv/dot safety regulations for trailers with loads over 50,000 or something its been a few years 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
employee driven. when i worked there there was plenty of ot and the benefits where great if you wanted they allowed 16 hour days but it was only mandatory 12 hour shifts. they trained everybody on the whole distribution process  and where great at communication of loads in and out and truck appointment times and they always were safe and cautious as well as naturally unforced upbeat postive attitudes very liberal with safey wear and gear they provided. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
as a high reach operator it was usually receiving loads placing  scan labels on pallets and  receiving with scan guns before putting it away. sometimes stop to pick pallets and stage/load trailers at set appointment times and where comfortable enviroments to work and learn in

The work was good. Horrible trainer and training program i was treated unfairly and not worked with as much as i should have been i showed up everyday with a good attitude and worked as hard as i could. Felt i was treated unfair because of my race i was promised to be certified on the forklift then in front of my face trained and certified someone who started a week and a half after me then i was let go the next day without any reason why just like i was a piece of trash horrible way to treat someone the whole time i worked there never got called up to the office for any problems never was told i was doing anything wrong allways was told i was doing great and was improving i felt i was never even giving a chance to correct any mistakes i might have been making because i was never told i was making any then i was let go without explanation. I would not recomend this place to anybody unless you want to get let down i thought everything was going perfect then out of nowhere was let go it was really hurtful up to the last day all the supervisors were acting like my friend knowing they were going to fire me made me feel at my lowest point in my life something needs to be done about this place. HORRIBLE POEPLE THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.

This company is ridiculous. Between the LMS system creating tension, stress and worries, to the back stabbing, unethical culture management has breeded, this company is a an avoid-at-all costs job. They claim they have career advancement but unless you are familiar with someone already within management, it’s all pointless. Management treats you like scum and doesn’t care to hear whatever it is you have to say. The amount of standard operating procedures they have there is unbelievable. They will write you up in a heartbeat from something so obscured from chewing gum all the way to not having gloves on. They have the highest turn over rate out of any warehouse in northern Illinois that is a FACT. They hired roughly over 160 people last year in 2017 across all their shifts and going into 2018 only remained with 4. Let that sink in. They claim they don’t know why the turnover rate is as high as it is but if they would take a look at management and the attitudes and cut throat culture they create they would understand. If I’m being honest the hours & pay are consistent and create a stable way of living but the stress that management and many other factors indulge just aren’t worth the struggle.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It is a "best efforts" environment where you are surrounded by folks who are talented, sharp, and want to get things done.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
When Production Regressions happen - when bugs make it to Production - a regression can become known any time of the day or night and requires immediate attention.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The team I work on is a knowledge-work team. The focus is on collaboration, learning, growing, adopting best-in-class technologies, and continuous improvement. We regularly reflect on our efforts and how we could improve outcomes.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Typically I have a few hours of focus time in the morning to get my day in order, do planning, prep for meetings, etc. Then I have a series of 15 - 30-minute scrums and status and orchestration meetings, then mid-morning through afternoon I have collaborative planning or working sessions, followed by an hour or so of focus time to collect my thoughts for the day, document learnings and things I need to find out, schedule follow-ups for the next day, etc.

During the interview process it seems that they leave out a lot of hours that are mandatory for you. Only two shifts, night shift gets the short end of the stick. They do most of the work for the company. Especially the harder work. Night shift works 12 hr shifts so day shift can leave early. The pay is good. Unfortunately for me after my probation period, which lasts 3 months no late ins or missing days, was the new year so instead of me getting pto for 2018 they just gave me the minimal amount for the 2019 year. No hours don’t rollover to the next year. So after those three months the break i took, which was needed, used most of my hours for the 2019 year. Basically putting me in a position to have to work 8 months straight no days off or to be late. Since the turnover rate is so high the management doesn’t feel like it’s important to know their employees. My plant manager thought I was a guy that had been fired for 4 months. 
P.S they do mandatory Saturdays. With late notices as to when you’ll have to do it. 
P.S tried to use my dental insurance through the company and my dentist office couldn’t find any records of my insurance. Brought this to Human Resources at the job then was given a complete runaround.

You are expected to work at 100% metrics. Often the computer has the wrong pallet information such as case count. Even though you are right and the computer is wrong you will get locked out. To get unlocked you have to bring both pallets picking from to the dock pad to be counted by a supervisor and to get unlocked. This destroys your task time. Even when your count is correct. If the computer has the wrong information it can only be from a previous lockout and a supervisor not counting and unlocking on just somebody's word and not actually getting an accurate count and entering it correctly. They have the ability to see back in the computer to see who is at fault . This is called and investigation but rarely ever happens. The supervisors have each others backs and leave you to take the hit. Other things that often go wrong are bad locations, wrong product codes and wrong code dates. All of which kills your task time. Management and Inventory need to do a much better job. The best way to make your #'s is by doing put aways of which I had done only once in the 9 months , I scored pretty high that day and asked why they don't have me do that more often.  It never came to fruition. They have their favorites. Stay away from this place. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Its a part of the world most people don't think about from day to day. The environment is cold but the people are not. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
picture this: Its -25F degrees and your computer is lagging because its not the newest but works most of the time with no issue. you press the wrong key and forget the date so you have no choice but to recount over 50 boxes of waffles. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
People are nice. Employee turnover is high and the reality of it is the supervisors are obsessed with productivity and some people dont like the micromanaged and “expect great things I never told you about” energy 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
get to work and you go to your locker after the punch clock. You get heavy cold weather gear on that makes you feel like a high visibility marshmallow and then you go find a forklift. from here you sign in with a code and you go to locations where pallets are in storage on racks. you build up a pallet and bring it to the door. ( this is like on the nose with a day at work)

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Warehouse associate 17 salaries reported	$23.38 per hour
Forklift operator 9 salaries reported	$22.73 per hour
Warehouse supervisor 1 salary reported	$65,000 per year
Maintenance technician 6 salaries reported	$24.04 per hour
Account specialist 6 salaries reported	$20.50 per hour

Working at United States Cold Storage: Company Overview and Reviews

United States Cold Storage

United States Cold Storage Ratings

Popular jobs at United States Cold Storage

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected