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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Pencils' Employees: A Revolving Door

Since I began my incarceration at Pencils over 7 months ago, over 2/3 of the original employees I worked with have either quit or been fired. The only consistency has been the assistant and general managers. I guess this shouldn't come as any surprise with management's reverse Robin Hood philosophy: steal from the poor (employees) and give to the rich (managers). This may seem like an exaggeration, but only the management is rewarded with benefits and bonuses, and a full-time job. The cost of training new associates, added to the cost of pilfered goods, only makes one wonder why would corporate not want to seek and retain honest, hard-working employees, and compensate them accordingly. Personally, I feel a bit reassured when I see the same employees year after year, mixing my paint or slicing 1/4 of hard salami at the local chain stores. That tells me something... unlike Pencils, where the faces constantly change.

12 comments:

  1. Actually the managers aren't rich - making $40,000 a year and up. $40,000 for 50 hours actually 45 hours when you include the lunches per week isn't alot of money. Remember the managers have constant stress and beat downs from the DM's - Why aren't the numbers at 100% today? We are here to make money! - Sooo... We are here to take the customer's money for the company but it is ok to pay us and treat us like crap right?

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  2. Managers don't have it any better. they don't get paid much more but they do get more hours. turnover has been terrible at 3/4 pencils stores I've worked at. but the management staff in my district has been 100% turned since I started. I'm the last one left. that's scary.

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  3. My store has been open since 1999 and I started a little more than a year later. Prior to my joining "Pencils", the store had already had 2 seperate GMs and was trying to find a new one when I got hired. Since then, the tally for GMs is now on #12 and we've had about 35+ assistant managers (including myself after I took a promotion to SM, then later OM).
    Up until about 3 or 4 years ago, 75% of our staff were 5+ year associates. Now, other than 1 person, not a single associate has been with the company longer than 3 years with most under 1 year.
    As maximum pay rates drop year after year and hiring rates barely meeting minumum wage and a laughable yearly raise, few people are willing to stick around with this company long enough to get into a position where pay rate is even remotely close to job demands.

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  4. Considering the fact that 11 years ago when I was hired in, the starting pay in my store was a respectable $9/hour and with prior experience, this could even be higher. Sadly enough, due to working in a printing company for many years before coming to Pencils, my starting rate was almost $10/hour and I started in the CPC.
    What makes this pathetic, is that now, 11 years later, with dozens more responsibilities and so much more to learn, an modern Pencils CPC Expert would be lucky to hit the same rate of pay after 5+ years. ($7.75 + .35/year).
    As a company, Pencils should be ashamed of itself for what it has become and how it treats the associates who work there.

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  5. So quit and get a different job, fat ass.

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  6. 10% unemployment..wake up read the news..ass fat. Easy to say, hard to do.

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  7. Obviously we have a "higher up" letting loose on here too. Awesome, I'll bet they've been wanting to call associates names for a long time!

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  8. Seriously, get a different job so you can complain about it instead. Fuck the news, its all bullshit anyway.

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  9. Nov 7th comment... are you retarded? The news is mildly bullshit but is accurate in the case of the economy. Look around dumb fuck, there more people with no jobs...leading to more competition and less available positions open to fill. My bad you probably plan on staying with staples huh?

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  10. I think we have a lifer for Staples commenting!

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  11. Assistant Managers don't make much. However some GMs do.

    My General Manager makes upwards of 70-80k a year and he sits around most of the time and does the least amount of work in the store. yay

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  12. We had a manager that made so much money , had a motorcycle, bought three porche Carreras, but at the end he got canned too

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