As a Material handler operating an aisle mobile hybrid crane vehicle
To lift, move, and position items to be stored within the high-rise
Storage area gained knowledge of DDSP's warehousing and supply
Procedures and policies. Interpreted and adapted agency instructions,
Regulations, policies, and procedures at an intermediate
Organizational level to fit specific requirements of the local
Organization. Used mobile computer stations, radio frequency devices,
And operated a mobile aisle crane to pick, pack, and stow material
Requisition orders. Examine products to verify conformance to quality
Standards. Load and unload items from machines, conveyors, and
Conveyances. Reported any shortages, damaged, overages, and wrong
Material to responsible personnel according to procedure. Packed
Material according to classification be it electro static sensitive
Device, fragile material, glass, foreign military sale, or a heavy
Item. Utilized various measuring and calculating devices to determine
Count, weight, length, and height for material release orders. Gained
Knowledge of different entities of the 1348 pertaining to priority,
Required delivery date, function flag, surc, multi line picks,
Continuous packs, single line packs, mission capability, air craft on
Ground, esoc, price, nomenclature, unit of issue, and level of pack
Class.
Utilized and operated numerous types of material handling equipment to
Distribute material throughout the entire wareho
If you enjoy engaging with people, this can be a good job for you, especially if you have previous sales experience and success.
However...if you're an introvert, like me, it's not the best line of work.
A standard day at Ashley starts 15 to 20 minutes before the store opens. Your schedule will reflect this. Before they switched to 8 hour days (before the pandemic -- currently being written in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak on 6/8/20) workers would come in in a staggered schedule and you were scheduled for 8 hours and the manager would hold a small meeting about goals for the day; generally store goals would be written on the board and your personal goals would usually be ~10% of the store goal.
You write your names down on a list and you wait for an "up," which is where you sit at the front and play concierge and engage with people as they come into the front. This ensures a level playing field amidst all the employees in that customers are random and unpredictable. You are to then creep around the store, trying to look like you're NOT stalking people, keeping the customer in your sight at all times, waiting for them to just maybe look slightly confused or look at a tag or try out a sofa, and you're supposed to use that as an in to re-engage with the customer except it's usually not that clear-cut and trying a re-introduction can be rocky. The training sort of glosses over how to do this in an effective manner.
The training itself isn't great. It's a week
A typical day in the service desk is relatively high call volumes - it was not clearly stated the amount of inbound calls that come in when I had started, but expected things to be busy. When the Pandemic hit, you would could see an upward of 600-800 incoming calls per day on a regular basis, which would somewhat halt you from clearing tickets. At the time, management in the team was highly perceptive and welcoming and understanding, though there were 4 or 5 different shift leads throughout the team of approx ~24 people, each with their own ways of working. This lead to a lot of miscommunication throughout the team, and often different instructions on how to do things. This would lead newcomers to be confused and quit quickly.
You have lots of job security here. I wouldn't worry about that. Just know that once you leave work, you are done with work. Experience may vary.
There is not much advancement within the team itself, but you are able to move to different teams so long as you talk to your manager. Experience may vary.
Workplace culture in the offices were relatively relaxed, although often had middle-management doing some micro-managing, questioning what you were doing. It seemed as if the direct Leads were leading their respective team shifts, and that was it. My experience was that you had to go above your team lead to get any changes made, or any ideas implemented. Luckily, there were weekly meetings to bring up anything, and you could reach out to your manager at
ProsTake a break whenever you need it, EXTREMELY CHEAP ON-SITE HEALTHCARE
ConsMicro-management, Difficult to maintain work-life balance
Worst place you can work for.. Managers lie and walk all over employees
I've been a loyal Ashley's Furniture employee in Colton California for 12 years.. There is absolutely no opportunities to advance within the company if you work in the Assembly Dept unless you're in the Production Mgr's circle of friends.. I was purposely held back from getting a transfer to another department by the Production Manager on 5 occasions... Whats worst is that Human Resources actually aids him in taking advantage and the bullying of employees!!! He's friends with the HR Manager... He's got everyone in HR thinking he's this wonderful stand up guy.. I was given the opportunity to work in another department by a Manager and supervisors of another department where I would be making more money and not be working so hard. I proved to them that I have the skills and qualifications to work in that other department, even backed it up with certifications from the schools I attended. When I told the Production Manager I was going to put in a transfer he instantly got angry.. He told me that he would have to speak with the General Manager about it and that he would get back to me about it.. Well a few days passed and I come to find out from a source that the General Manager had sent out a Email to the department I was trying to get into to go screw off and find a different employee, he even included my badge # and ID picture.. I even saw the Email with my own eyes!!! I was denied that position even before I put in a transfer request!!! I made 4 more attempts to get out of
ProsCoworkers
Consmanagement, short breaks, pay is not worth the hard work
5.0
Call Center Representative | Memphis, TN | Apr 27, 2018
Productive and Fun Loving Company That Allows Their Employees To Grow Within
Before I was promoted to the merchandising department I began as a call center rep in which I assisted customers with any defects of furniture after items have been delivered from the warehouse. Some people call just to schedule or confirm delivery dates. Others called furious wanting answers to furniture deficiencies or requesting their money back. Our job as the rep was to inform them the policy on the contract and if they were not pleased we can only offer additional assistance in another area or get a manager. I learned how to multi-task efficiently and be really patient when it comes to explaining customers policy they did not read in the paperwork they signed. My managers had a tendency of asking me to do additional work because I handled calls punctual and very professional. Very peaceful environment you'd usually only hear other reps engaging in conversation trying to assist the guest the best way possible. The hardest part was setting up a request for technicians to come out to home. The hardest part was working the store reps. The store people that work off sales sometimes do not give the customer all the information verbally and after the furniture is delivered guests can only call the call center to voice their concerns. Most times the issue is out of our control. For example, if a delivery is delayed we can only reschedule due to the item has not arrived to our distribution center, so some guests will complain that the store rep advised that an item will be deliv
Productive, always learning something new, interacting with customers
*Clock in and if we have a truck to unload we would do that and make sure to double check that we got the right items and that they are not damaged. then we put all the freight away in its designated locations. After that we start looking of the item on the delivery list and get it ready for delivery if we don't already have it staged in the loading/unloading area. before we start loading the items we inspect each item for damages and make sure that we have all the right items for each of the costumers that we are delivering to. If there is any repairs to be made we have to let the furniture technicians know of the damages so they can make the repairs In a timely manner. Once our furniture check list is ok then we proceed to load the delivery truck securing all the furniture with straps to the wooden slats on the in sided of the truck so the items don't get damaged during delivery. Once we loaded the truck we take a tool bag with us to put together the furniture in the home to be delivered. once at the destination the drive goes and talks to the costumer about the items that are being dropped off and where to put them. Then we proceed to unload the items and take them to the designated to be assembles while being careful not to damage the home and the merchandise. once we are done with the delivery we clean up any mess we made with the packaging inside the home. then we get truck and get it ready for the next delivery. During each delivery we have to also work pretty quick
Prosmeeting new pepole, driving and doing deliverys, angd getting tipped
You get $10 an hour. Then your bonus is based on if you Deliver $10k within a week. If you don’t Deliver 10k in a week you end up getting only $10 an hour. Many people don’t hit because there are so many different variables like Discontinued product, back order product, damaged product , customer change there mind etc. so if you deliver $9900 you dnt get commission. Spiffs yes like protection plan or mattress, or adj base. So add $100 to your check on average a week. Now your taking home about $450. If you hit your 10k on delivery you get a $100 bonus. Then 5 percent on what’s over 10k but nothing on the 10k itself. So if you deliver 15k in one week( most people are looking for deals under 1k btw) you take home $350 including the $100 bonus. So total with taxes you brought home $700-800 for that week which was considered a really good week. Your writing a lot of business and seeing little return on your hard work. Plus your micromanaged you need to rely on management and customer service on every single sale, so no empowerement. Turnover is high for a reason. The management I worked with over all was pretty cool and down to earth. Free meals once in a while, decent benefits, traffic is decent it comes in waves, also you compete with every Ashley in the area so discounts and deals are inconsistent and change every sale which can be frustrating. If your willing to put everything into the job work overtime , come in on your days off, yes there are some in the company bringing i
ProsCool people, flexible schedule, benefits, not hard labor
ConsPay, leadership at the top, dishonesty, training
As a Sales Associate, this company is fairly flexible when one is working, as to how one does their job. As it is a sales job, different people have various methods of how they successfully sell the product. This makes the job relaxing and fun. The sales floor can be flooded though with so many Sales Associates, and the days can go be very slow, making it hard to make a sale and therefore hit one's weekly commission quota. If one does not deliver 10,000 a week, the salary is just the base hourly wage. Some spiff money can be good from selling mattresses and furniture protection plans which can make up for not hitting the weekly commission. The job can eventually get redundant though when it is slow or when dealing with insensitive guests. Managers can start to micromanage when the store numbers are low, when the store is slow, and/or when one is not writing a lot of sales, which can be stressful.
The type of sales floor is different from other furniture store companies, so Ashley's approach may or may not suit one's style (i.e. how guests are approached when they enter the store).
Also, if one does not know the loop-holes to the discounts that they can ask from the managers, one may be left with not selling very high volume. The type of "sales" that the company offers also may make it difficult to sell the products due to appearance of high prices. The company encourages finagling of prices, which can appear suspicious to the customer and also be frustrating and draining f
Great way to make money if you're good with people and willing to sell your soul
This company is great to work for on a local level. Lots of improvement has been made over the past few years to turn the local market around for the company. Ashley Furniture in the St Louis area had a very bad reputation for poor salespersons and poor delivery teams, as well as terrible back-end service. This is quickly changing, all things considered.
A typical day at work starts with a morning meeting that lasts between 30-60 minutes, during which the previous day/week/mtd sales numbers and statistics are discussed. Praise/coaching is given to those deserving, and an attempt at boosting overall morale is made. Goals for current day/week/month are discussed, as well as current progress versus the other stores in the district and company as a whole. The location in question is a top store in the entire company, and regularly at the top in sales for the district as well.
Management can change depending on the person in charge, as there are multiple personality types that are in power at any given time. Styles range for liberal to conservative depending on what kind of change is needed in numbers and the current sales and goals situation that day or week. Managers are generally laid back about requests off, provided that the requests are considerate of the team and within reasonable limits. Team members are also very understanding and welcoming and will generally help you as well.
The hardest part of working at Ashley Furniture is the slow months of the industry, during wh
A typical day at work requires travel 6 months out of the year, time at the office when not traveling resembles a classic 8-5 job.
A typical day in the office includes meeting with market design team; phone calls to photography coordinator, design team (occasional and home accent designers in Arcadia, WI) (upholstery/leather designers/rug designer in Ecru Mississippi); the president of sales; updating and adjusting floorplans for the upcoming market show; coordinating new information (possibly updating the rest of the team) and phone calls/email to vendors.
A typical day on the road at a showroom setting up the show is a typical 12-14 hour day, every day for 3-4 weeks. We work as a team with contractors and management (management from all over the country) to prep the showroom for the sales team to learn and train about new product to sell to customers when the show opens.
I learned:
How to create showroom environments that appeal to customers and sales teams.
How to create floorplans quickly and adapt to quickly changing planning and management requests.
How to analyze data and coordinate in a format for other people to understand.
How to manage a crew.
How to isolate issues early before complications can occur.
My co-workers are knowledgeable and supportive.
The hardest part of the job is the group travel. we travel as a group and spend weeks together many hours of the day. There is a certain amount of sacrifice when traveling, missed occasions with family and friends.
Prosgood dental and vision plan, 15 days of vacation, travel, industry contacts, regional culture experience
Consmonths of travel, the pay could be more for the sacrifices, insufficient communication within departments
Questions And Answers about Ashley Furniture Industries
What is the best part of working at Ashley Furniture Industries?
Asked Dec 23, 2019
Benefits only
Answered Jun 27, 2022
Learning new skill to use at another job
Answered Jun 21, 2022
How often do you get a raise at Ashley Furniture Industries?
Asked Feb 17, 2021
Annually
Answered Aug 30, 2022
Annually.
Answered Aug 29, 2022
What benefits does Ashley Furniture Industries offer?
Asked Jun 24, 2018
Very little
Answered Mar 12, 2023
They not a good team to work for
Answered Feb 16, 2023
What is a typical day like for you at Ashley Furniture Industries?
Asked Mar 21, 2020
Picking up furniture for customers,inspecting it for them and loading them up
Answered Aug 29, 2022
In pack line it's depressing and a lot of rude people
Answered Aug 29, 2022
If you were in charge, what would you do to make Ashley Furniture Industries a better place to work?
Asked Jul 5, 2019
Wouldn’t overwork the workers and hire more people to ease the load on everyone.
Answered Nov 25, 2020
I would put more people who care about the company's mission statement in supervisor positions. Look at the factory floor and find those who do the extra work everyday that helps the company make money and make sure that the company is doing right giving them everything they need to succeed and advance at work.
