Run an established route either as a relief driver or a dedicated driver(most start in relief). You bring product to the store, and to start you have to down stack each case into what is referred to as stacks, which then get transported onto a two wheeler.
Customers check you in, and make sure what is on the invoice matches up with what is brought in. After check-in, you will in most cases stock all the product in the customer cooler and bring any extra to a designated area for storage.
On average you will have between 12-20 stops, with 20 being in more urban and developed areas that require less driving from stop to stop. Your entire load for the day is based on volume, service time, and drive miles which they have all listed on a route manifest for you to look over the day prior, typically by the time you get back the next days manifest is available for you to look at.
In all honesty, the work is easy and physical, but there is constant pressure with making sure you do the stocking part of the job. I personally came to dislike that aspect of the job, but some people don't mind it. It is the bottleneck of the entire day.
You'll begin each day between 4-7AM, if you have a route you can choose when to come in but you should be in by 6AM the latest. If you're in relief you have to be in at 6AM because that is when you select the route you'll be covering. Drivers in relief who have seniority will get the first pick. Some times you will be helping other drivers inst
ProsGreat benefits, Holiday Pay, Management doesn't mind you using sick days, very supportive and non-combative.
ConsLittle work-life balance on some days, Check-in
2.0
Merchandiser | New York, NY | Aug 6, 2014
It's a decent paying blue collar job but also very stressful. You have been warned.
You go into a grocery store and often see people filling shelves that don't work for the supermarkets, they are vendors. On the outside surface, it might sound like a chill, laid back job where you get to work by yourself, not have to have a manager constantly over your shoulder, and you can work at your own pace. If you think that is the job description of a merchandiser, you couldn't possibly be more wrong.
Merchandising is a job that is very difficult and stressful, especially for the soda companies. You usually have to start at 3 to 4 in the morning and have to service an average of 4-6 stores a day (if it's 4 stores, chances are one of them are huge). The difficult part is managing your time because one store could take you 4-6 hours if the salesmen orders 8 pallets that you have to work by yourself with no help. By the time you get to the later stores, you'll be screamed at that you took too long but little did they know you just serviced many stores already and only have two hands.
For Pepsi, management is also a problem and there's a pretty simple answer on why there's such a problem. Most of your managers are young, 20 somethings, who may have a college degree but basically no idea on what your job entails because they never had to do the job themselves and they have almost no managing experience. This company thinks they can give someone an internship and then instantly give them a management title such as Territory Sales Manager. You got these TSMs managing
ProsPays well for retail., Full-time opportunities for those who want it., Benefits for full-timers., A job that pays well for people with no schooling.
ConsLack of communication., Young, out of touch management., Physically demanding schedule., Poor treatment by in store managers.
1.0
Merchandiser | Joplin, MO | Apr 21, 2015
I care about you all, and because I care I tell you to absolutely never work for Pepsi!
From a viewpoint of all honesty, and compassion for my fellow humans, do not ever work for Pepsi. I worked for Pepsi for a while in Joplin, Missouri and finally couldn't take it anymore. Let's get this straight, I am no stranger to hard work. I expected the job to be physically demanding, but never in my wildest dreams could I have expected it to kill me like it did. I am physically in shape, and love fast paced work environments. I have had no trouble with working hard in the past. This place is a whole different story altogether. You have to be at your first location at 6 am, which my location was an hour away so I had to leave in my car at 5 am, meaning I had to wake up at 4-4:15 am. You have about 4-6 locations to merchandise a day, most of them being big box stores like Walmart or Target or large supermarkets. You receive a daily schedule everyday that estimates how much time it should take you to complete your tasks at each store. The whole schedule is a lie. At stores that usually took me 6 hours to merchandise, the schedule would estimate that it would take an hour and a half. Yeah, maybe it would have taken an hour and a half with 5 people doing the job. By the time you are finished with your first store, you are completely exhausted and ready to go home for the day. But, here it is, only 11 am and you have 4-5 stores around the same size left, all with 6-12 pallets full of Pepsi stuff left to completely stock on the shelves. On top of frantically trying to fill the
ProsHonestly, nothing
ConsRead my review and you'll understand, EVERYTHING
1.0
| Texas | Jul 3, 2020
Used to be a great company to work for
Overall Pepsi is a good company to work for. The Pay is good with an excellent benefits package. I would have rated Pepsi a 5 2 years ago, however I have to give a 1 now. Our market leadership makes every decision based on reports that show how they can save money. These people sit in an office and are completely disconnected with what it takes to really do the job. Sales reps are given a limit on hours and then given an unreasonable amount of work to complete within those limited hours. Routes are often spread out over a large area and it is unrealistic to get what Pepsi demands in that time leading to reps working countless hours off the clock. Drivers are planned for an unreasonable low amount of hours as well. There are far too many variables that can cause a delivery route to get behind to try to limit them to a 9 hour average day. Our Location manager is the worst leader I have ever worked under. His method to inspire the team is through fear and threats. He is a very negative person who will occasionally thank someone for all the hard work they do. He is a bully who at the end of the day makes it obvious he only cares about furthering his career. He will tell you that you can speak with him about anything and when you do he will admonish You for voicing your opinion because it doesn’t align with his or senior leadership. He talks about team work, yet sits in his office all day, most of which is spent playing on his phone, and never offers to actually do anything.
ProsGood pay, excellent benefits package
ConsPoor market and location leadership, Unrealistic expectations
1.0
Finance Coordinator | Riverside, CA | Aug 3, 2014
Absolute Worst Company
Pepsi is one of the worst companies I have ever worked for.
My first month or so the person assigned to "train" me was late, incredibly rude and unprofessional, and barely taught me anything about my position.
I started off with no supervisor, so trying to get information involving the job was impossible. And when an assignment was incomplete, they'd all say "welcome to Pepsi"
You cannot trust ANYONE in the building. They'll use whatever information you give them and turn it around against you. People in different departments will throw your name under the bus so fast just to get ahead themselves. You'll be back stabbed before you even know it.
Once the Admin department finally got a new manager, she decided to change everything about policies, procedures (which is the one thing you don't do when you're new). She assigned us all a lunch schedule (the only department who couldn't just take a lunch when they wanted, and couldn't talk to any other Admin team). She would text and call you after work hours harassing you about reports and assignments - all the way up to 10PM at night. When you open up your email - imagine 20-30 emails a day, talking down to you, disrespecting you, and being obnoxiously condescending to you.
Oh yeah, she would hide in the camera room SPYING on you, time stamping your every move and then later question you about where you we're, watch what you we're doing and why you were doing it. Then, let's not forget her questioning your collea
ProsMonday through Friday schedule
ConsEverything
3.0
Delivery Driver | Oklahoma City, OK | Nov 20, 2014
Be ready for long days and hard work if you are a delivery driver.
Being a delivery driver isn't a job for everyone. The job requires long hours an being at work between 4 am to 6 am everyday. Working for Pepsi, most of there routes are setup for 12 to 14 hour days because they are so short handed.
For my time there, I heard of roughly 15 quitting. Most because of the long hours and the pay. Pepsi pays there delivery drivers like they are sales reps. After training, you are paid $570 a week base and .10 1/2 per case you deliver. During training you will ride with an experienced driver for maybe 5 days then you will work what they call a Geo route which is mainly 7/11's and On Que's. You will be on these routes until they have all of your access for the handheld ready to run on your own. I felt sorry for one the delivery driver managers Chris because he was always having to deal with people calling in or not showing up.
Pepsi has a lot of product they deliver so be ready. They deliver Sobe, Lipton, Starbucks. Rockstar Energy and Gatorade outside of the regular Pepsi products. The invoices for products are abbreviated so it will be rough figuring out what is what. Also you have to check your truck before noon daily and call in any shortages. If you do not, Pepsi will charge you for the missing product.
Advancement opportunities will not happen until you have been there for at least 6 months. At that point you can apply for anything within Pepsico. Locally, there isn't room to advance unless someone quits are gets fired and hope tha
ProsDay 1 Benefits, Free Drinks. Working on your own.
ConsPay, Long Work hours, Training. No advancement opportunity
5.0
Customer Representative | Saginaw, MI | Oct 24, 2013
Fast-paced, continuously evolving business with great opportunities
My work day is compacted with product sales, merchandising requirements, conference calls, face-to-face interactions with multiple customers, and timely deadlines. In addition to gaining a great deal of experience working in a fast-paced environment, I was given the opportunity to meet customers face-to-face and to develop those relationships through a number of avenues, such as: trustworthy sales deals, profitable margin opportunities, daily visits, sales plans, and data reviews. It was great to build trusting relationships with people based on ethical practices and good, honest feedback about sales. At the end of the day, I am looking to make my company profitable, as well as increase the profits of the customers in which I am servicing.
Management at Pepsi Beverages Company is constantly evolving. If there is a way to make a process(es) more efficient and profitable, Pepsi will do its best to make the necessary changes, in an ethical, moralistic fashion. I have always had great relationships with my supervisory staff, and I owe much of that credit to the fact that they are continuously spending time in the trade. They want to see, first hand, what we are dealing with on the front lines. All-in-all, my co-workers are helpful and team-oriented. Many times, we have to cover each other's backs, in order to make sure that the company succeeds. Although it may be a bit inconvenient at the time, it is what is necessary in order to make the business successful.
Pepsi Bever
ProsFlexible Hours, Good Compensation
ConsPhysically Demanding
1.0
Merchandiser | Las Vegas, NV | Apr 14, 2018
If you want to lose 40 lbs in a week, the best job ever
Working at pepsi has been by far the worst experience I have ever had the displeasure of having. Your normal day starts at around 4 am when you drive 10+ miles to your first store, and then have to clean up the mess made by the previous merchandiser. During this time, you are then berated by loading dock workers and grocery managers for not ordering enough product (which is not your job in the first place). Then, when you attempt to explain the situation and how to reconcile for it, they threaten you with a "kick-out", which is basically where they ban you from the store and report you to your supervisor (which then leads into more issues). After cleaning up the mess made by the previous merch, you then receive your product load, where you receive upwards of 8 to 10 pallets worth of product, some product is snuck into order to increase the 'commission pay' sales reps receive for each product sold, newer products = more pay, great for the sales reps but not for the merchandiers. additionally, Newer products = no place to go = takes up space in backroom = client gets angry at you. once finished with your first store, and taking upwards of 4 hours to do so, you are then expected to go immediately to your next store. If you are expected to arrive at a certain time, not only will your supervisor contact you and tell you to drop everything you are doing, but every so often the actual client will call you and yell at you over the phone for "being late". Not leaving a whole lot
ProsWork phone that tracks your every movement
Consno breaks, no lunches, no personal life on work days
4.0
Administrative Assistant | Mount Vernon, NY | Sep 26, 2012
Would be a wonderful place to work if business was handled like business without personal grudges.
A typical day at work was dealing with customers, effectively troubleshooting issues, placing orders, emails, assisting union as well as management employees with different issues they may have. Reviewing and processing job applications. Checking manager's voice mails and emails following up and handling immediate service needs. When working with so many people on a daily basis (Customers and Co-Workers) I have learned to deal with many personalities. Some cases were very extreme, but in business you have to make sure that all types of customers are satisfied in order to ensure the business longevity and also to maintain a healthy work environment with Co-Workers. I learned different programs and procedures in order to be of better assistance to customers and co-workers in absence of upper management, hence making their office work lighter when they returned from the field. Management in my first 5 years there was great. Management was very fair in how the employees was treated. When the manager was transferred to another location and another manager from another location stepped in that is when everything changed. Everyone became insecure about their job status, always tension, many were getting fired. There were cliques being formed. Your voice was basically silenced as far as ideas, creativity, as well as suggestions. Co-Workers you have to find a way to deal with the many personalities in order to ensure a stable work environment. Though i have been highly effective in th
Pros401k, profit sharing, autonomy to some extent.
Conslow salary, on call even on lunch break, accountability
3.0
BCR | Taunton, MA | Feb 6, 2019
Great position to start off a sales career with but can use some improvement with changing market.
Pros:
You get to work on your own and manage a sales route by servicing accounts, executing sales plan, and pushing the Pepsi brands in your key accounts. You are in control of your own work for five days and you usually have the same merchandiser service your accounts on your days off weekly so communication is simple. Some routes have great commission rates in selected areas . Managers come and go every 1-2 years but most have had good attitudes, are hands on, and generally respect our position. There's a lot of freedom and perks in this trade that makes this position see little turnover for a reason.
Cons:
Routes are unfairly balanced and commission rates are declining yearly with dwindling ad activity from key accounts and hours are dropping from lack of work at times. The yearly pay for the BCR position is flat with little growth. It's the only position in front line where employees aren't making more every year (unlike Merchandisers, Warehouse, and Drivers who do). This position has the most risk because predicting yearly ad activity is nearly impossible so some route owners can have rough years. Year after year, senior peers have brought up this issue with HR but nothing is ever done about. You can have a store close down on a route or certain accounts with significantly less ads than what was predicted. Tough luck, you take the hit until the next re-bid.
Advice to management:
Putting together BCR routes should mean having them as evenly balanced as possible
ProsThe freedom of managing your own route. Decent pay.
ConsFlat/Declining pay in position.
Questions And Answers about PepsiCo
How long will it take for PepsiCo to call you back in after a scheduled interview?
Asked Feb 28, 2016
One week till e-mail to schedule assessment and interview. Completed assessment and interview at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday. Had formal offer the following business day. HR sent the background check link and appointment for drug screening the following day after I accepted the offer. But, this probably unique to my profession.
Answered Sep 10, 2020
Around 3 weeks. I never received a call/email though. I checked my Pepsi profile everyday and saw they went with someone else. Sales Rep - Relief Large Grocery/Mass Merch (FT/Days)
Answered Aug 26, 2020
If you were in charge, what would you do to make PepsiCo a better place to work?
Asked Jun 4, 2017
Start buying electrical vehicals and start spending towards solar power ... Rewards printed on caps to bring a brighter smile on customers ..
so many more ... But too much to type
Answered Mar 22, 2021
CEO of PepsiCola operating on high performance services in these critical times working hard behind the scenes to elevate a higher standard through the structural design to succeed. Attributes of all Ups stands for
We Are All In This Together
Working harder than ever for first class services Structural Honor
Answered Feb 6, 2021
What tips or advice would you give to someone interviewing at PepsiCo?
Asked Aug 24, 2017
Because of this pandemic Mine was via Zoom, and they told me before starting the interview about the cons. I appreciate that from the interviewer, telling me what to expect, the hours, the environment mostly all the negative aspects of the job. Not all places tell you the bad from the start. If you are good with that they go ahead with the interview.
Answered Aug 15, 2020
F Pepsi I had like 10 interviews for 10 different positions and never got the job for any knowing I had the experience
Answered Jul 3, 2020
What is the best part of working at PepsiCo?
Asked Dec 6, 2019
Compensation and benefits
Answered Nov 13, 2020
Getting paid weekly
Answered Nov 7, 2020
Does PepsiCo pay weekly or bi weekly?
Asked Apr 5, 2016
Yes they offer OT. We do get paid time + a half after 40hours
