I currently work as a stocker at Petsmart. A typical day of work consists of getting to work at 5 AM and doing nothing else other than filling shelves 'til either 12:30 AM or 1:30. The store typically takes in about 9-12 pallets of product in every truck day. All of these pallets have to be worked the next day with some exceptions. much of the stuff stocked is dog food bags anywhere from 5 - 50 pounds.
From this job I learned that big corporations are really corrupt. The first few months I worked here, I didn't really ask about breaks because there was so much work to do that you really couldn't take one. Bad move. I learned that one of my managers had been taking off 30 minutes off of my time every time I worked without me actually taking a break.
There's not much room to take a breather if you're a stocker. You get there at 5 AM and when the store opens at 9 AM, all the pallets you have on the floor have to be brought to the back. This makes the job twice as hard since now you have to move stock to the shelves using carts with customers roaming about. This wouldn't be that bad if the company would hire more than 2 stockers at once, the amount of product that goes in the shelves would be perfect for 3 people to tackle, but as one of the managers said "that'll never happen". Almost everyone that works here is part time as well with the exception of managers. Petsmart apparently cannot afford people having enough time to complete their jobs.
The co-workers are the
ProsNice back workout
ConsConstant lifting, no room for taking breathers, corrupt company, grueling hours, too much work for so little people
If you absolutely love animals and are capable of putting up with unprofessional, rude, and generally uneducated management then this is the job for you. Not one person I was working with said they were happy with their job. One exception was of one of my managers who was able to get away with being completely lazy: texting more often than working. This may only apply to the store I was working at but the management idea applies to many others. I was "kicked out" of one store for asking for a raise (to stock associate base wage) to compensate for the fact that I was hired as a cashier and was frequently scheduled to stock, at hours outside of my posted availability. I was more than willing to help out and expressed this desire to excel, but after being lied to about base wage rates I simply felt used. This was confirmed by multiple managers and by HR, however, nothing was ever done to correct it which led to my bold action of asking for the raise. The Manager that "kicked" me out was eventually fired for various racially charged exclamations in front of a racially and ethnically diverse group of associates AND CUSTOMERS. The last straw, which added to a metaphorical bale already too heavy to carry, was hearing my manager openly brag, in front of many customers and myself, about how poorly she treated customers. She is still employed and has not been reprimanded in any way. I take pride in my work and consider my efforts and accomplishments as an extension of my person, this c
Im an Early Morning Stocker and have worked at PetSmart for 2 Years. My start time would usually be at 4am and my teammates would be set at 5am and 6am respectively. Usually you'll be working with 2 people. The manager who comes in to check inventory and your Teammate. The manager needs to open the store so they come in at the same time as you. If you go In at the same time as your manager you'll first have to clock in than check if any price tags for the morning need to go out. you will than proceed to sweep the store, restrooms, than mop the important parts of the store while fixing anything that looks out of place or disorganized. You might have to replace the soap, toilet seat covers and toilet paper if the bathrooms don't have any. Than if everything goes smoothly and if the truck is on time your manager will offload the truck and get the pallets ready for you to pick up and take them on the sales floor to work. Load days are Tues, Thurs, and sun. Thursdays are the biggest load so most likely you'll have an extra person coming in to help at 6AM. Now that the loads being moved out It should be 5am and your teammate just clocked in and is helping you stock. You work from 5am to 6am doing load than take your break. since the stores censors turn on around 7am you'll want to be inside the store before depending on what time your break is. 6am, 7am, 8am. around 7am your last hour you will be putting out inventory. It sounds easy and its supposed to be, but managers want you t
ProsDiscount
ConsManagers, Not getting paid enough for your work
Managers are usually late to work every morning. My commute is about 30 miles to and from work, and I always arrived 15 minutes before the shift starts.
Mornings consist of stocking inventory throughout the store and rotating food. The amount of overstock for some items can be tedious. After you are done for the day, you must pack all inventory onto their respective pallets in the back room. Early morning stockers are also responsible for price accuracy.
Management at this location was absolutely terrible. There was only one operations manager for early morning and they were very unorganized, causing employees to stay longer than the scheduled hours. Hiring manager and store manager do not acknowledge requests to transfer to a different location. A friend works at the Northridge PetSmart location, and they said that the truck drivers do not like stopping by the Newbury park location because they have to wait over an hour for the operations manager to clear the back room for space. Management was too lazy to set up my direct deposit after trial and error, and I did not get the forms for covered healthcare until I left.
Hardest part about the job is lifting. Can be a strain on your back if you do not lift properly. Cat litter bags are difficult to stock because of the tight spacing, and the bags are awkwardly heavy and difficult to move once placed.
Most enjoyable part was being able to have the rest of the day to yourself.
I was an early morning stocker, which meant I worked with two other people to fully download the trucks. Problem is, management does not understand how quickly you are able to download the trucks and fully put out all the product. They have a 'math equation' to measure how long it should take you, but it is almost always off. Even if you are moving no-stop, knocking out carts left and right, you will always end up with one additional pallet that you just couldn't get to.
Don't worry though, management will tell you about that one pallet over and over. On the off chance you manage to finish everything faster than projected, congratulations, now next time you'll have that much time to put stuff out.
Want to get certified in forklift or get a raise? Not gonna happen. They had one person doing the entire workload for two weeks, and when they asked for a raise, they outright denied them and lost an employee because of it.
The only positive part of this job was talking with co-workers. However, I got scolded for talking to my co-workers. While on track, on pace, and nearly finishing with a truck; we were told us talking was making us move slower. Ironically when they put us apart, we went even slower than before.
Petsmart overall is a pretty reasonable place to work DEPENDING on certain things.
1) Your Managers!
-if you have managers that arent organized then you are in for a hard work experience full of repeating the same tasks because people keep messing up.
-if you have an inexperienced Operations Manager then your hours will fluctuate. so if you are looking for constant hours ask your operations manager NOT your General manager.
2) Your Team!
-Wether it be the early stock team, petcare, cashier, or grooming you need to have a reliable team. If not then you are in for extended hours and a tough day of work.
-if you have experienced team members to ask questions and help learn things from them then you can get some easy tips on your job.
3)Yourself!
-You have to be responsible and learn as fast as you can to learn tips and tricks on your own.
-If interested ask the Presentation manager about getting certified on the Forklift! if a great thing to have on your resume and good to know how to drive heavy machinery.
I have worked at both a great store and a store that needed a lot of help so i can say that i have a good sense of BOTH sides.
The biggest problem for me is the hours. My hours have gone from 30 hours a week down to about 10 hours in a few months.
I worked for several months for PetSmart, Lake Elsinore as an Early Morning Stocker. The job was great, and I loved the work and the hours, what I didn't love was that I was expected to do the work of 2 or more people as one man and only had the Stocking manager as my only other help most mornings. The store would get very large shipments almost every morning, and most of the time we could not finish them in time... and on top of stocking sometimes we were expected to essentially reprice an entire store with only 2-4 people.
Needless to say because of my "short comings" with "speed" I was basically being muscled to either resign or get fired because I couldn't meet the store's insane expectations of its skeleton-crew stock team.
The managers were all very nice and respectful, and I don't blame them. I entirely blame their corporate superiors who expect too much out of too little.
ProsFun work environment, great hours, good managers.
ConsToo much work for skeleton crews, corporate managers are delusional as to what a 2 man crew can handle by itself in only 4-5 hours.
As a stock lead, it is my responsibility to keep the recieving area clean and organized. Unload the trucks and put the new products onto the sales floor. Any overstock product are then separated onto their correct pallets. An average weight of the products we carry are around 30 to 40 pounds. Anything heavier is done with a team lift. Safety always comes first. I would lead the stock team when the manager is not available. Most days I would work alone in recieving, working on sorting products. Visual checks are required of me or management, whoever drives the forklift first. Simple maintanence of the forklift is also required. The most enjoyable part of my job is working with an incredible team who taught me a lot about retail. Management and co-workers are very helpful and friendly. The hardest part would be getting used to a new department, but that always happens to new associates or associates who moved into a new department. I am very detail oriented and self-motivated.
The management is helpful and understanding. The culture within my store is very accommodating and friendly. People accept you for who you are and love to point out the good things you do. There are opportunities to move up, especially if you're willing to relocate.
The hardest part of the job is dealing with the issues that arise from the corporate end of things. For example, when choosing a location to set up shop, they had a choice between the perfect location with plenty of space for a company such as ours, but due to its proximity to Walmart, they chose a much smaller location for us. We have good sales, so they send us large amounts of product we don't have space for, which creates stress for everybody in the store, increases the amount of damaged product the store has to pay for, and creates unsafe situations in which we are forced to carry large items up a narrow ladder to place in the storage we refer to as the "steel." The pay isn't a career pay, but it's a good job for students.
I have to say this is one of my favorite jobs. It's pretty laid back and the work is not hard at all. Every day you work is pretty much the same except for Saturdays. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays you come in at 2AM and usually leave around 9-10AM. You get there, you clock in, you re-stage the area you're working in so that pallets from the truck can fit, you work those pallets, and you're done. Simple work. On Saturdays it's different. There is no truck on saturday, so you're left to basically fill holes the whole day. Showing up on saturdays is pretty much pointless if you ask me, but hey I enjoy the pay and the hours so whatever they need me to do, ill do it. Most of your day is done without the presence of customers, the only times customers are an issue is when the store opens but most days you're out before they even get there. Pay is a little above minimum wage. Once you get used to a new sleep schedule everything is fine. Management is fantastic at my store, but I can only speak for myself.
Need a quick opinion about my current status with this company...
I started as a part-time stocker exactly a year ago @ $7.51 with 14 hrs a week minimum. After a 8 months, promoted to lead stock. And with more training with various tasks, I'm now making $8.34 with 23-30 hrs. More during the holidays. Btw, these ain't including breaks. As of now, these are the set of skills I learn and execute on a daily basis as well as flaws as a PetSmart employee:
-Efficient forklift operator. (Probably one of the quickest if not fastest in my store to unload trucks and separating pallets with absolutely not product damage)
-Always keeping an organized and cleared receiving backroom.
-Can execute a negative inventory report, holes report, and inventory adjustment using SAP. (I was issued a password)
-Locate, print, and file required high dollar reports (truck days)
-Execute POG and resets successfully while taking time to help others.
-Cashier skills and always jump on available registers when lines exceed 3 customers.
-Usually its 2 (me and presentation manager) of us working trucks until a 3rd comes in to help 3 hrs later (not always). But by that time, I already have all of dog and some of hardgoods already worked.
Flaws: Always give customers an honest and helpful answer to the best of my ability. But I don't sell puppy kits as much as other cashiers. Although I'm quite quiet and keep to myself, I never ignore a customer down the isles whether they have a question or not. By quiet, I don't mean outcast, I get along with everyone in my stor
Questions And Answers about PetSmart
How often do you get a raise at PetSmart?
Asked Jan 2, 2021
Yearly
Answered Jun 9, 2023
No Raise At All
Answered Jun 9, 2023
What is the promotion process like at PetSmart?
Asked Dec 23, 2020
Long and arduous
Answered Jun 9, 2023
Performance review on a point system..and the raise typically under
.50
Answered Jun 9, 2023
What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Asked Mar 13, 2020
Helping customers learn about pets before purchasing them. Maintain the well-being of pets in store.
Answered Apr 14, 2023
Fun. Enjoyable and always learning something new.
Answered Apr 13, 2023
What is the best part of working at the company?
Asked Dec 25, 2019
The animals!!! I love caring for them and helping the new pet parents to get everything they need to properly care for them!! The smiles on kids faces when they are getting new fish or pets!!
Answered Oct 5, 2022
Seeing the animals
Answered May 13, 2022
What is the vacation policy like at PetSmart? How many vacation days do you get per year?
Asked Jun 12, 2020
If you’re just a regular associate, it is accumulated by your hours worked.
Management is allotted amounts that vary
