Aldo Reviews

Pros

-50% discount
-Managers are USUALLY understanding and nice
-Creates a good work ethic
-Cohesiveness of managers
-Nice shoes
-Dress casually

Cons

-Hours based on sph
-Ridiculous sales goals
-NO commission
-Constantly having to keep moving from floor to back room
-Have to sell things you KNOW don't work

Advice to Senior Management

Should give some compensation for the high goals they set, or at least more than 8.00/hr for associates and 9.00/hr for managers.

Pros

-50% off discount
-You'll meet great people who will be willing to help you out
-Teamselling! With your Aldo co-workers :)
-Conversating with customers
-Providing the best customer service
-ALOT of good Sales Experience from being able to sell to working the register.
-Contest will be hosted for most fashionable from each store. The chosen winners will be on Aldo's "style" guide book.
-Whoever makes the greatest sale will able to go on a trip to... I forgot if it was the bahamas or what.

Cons

-Discount is limited to $500 per season
-Discount is added up from Original Price, not discounted price
-Discount Can only be used in your Aldo 'home' store
-Cannot order online with your discount, so whatever shoes are in your home store you're stuck with that. If they don't have your size... oh well.
-You MUST but only from your home store, not in any other store. Sorry, but they can track it.
-There are sales goals, shoe care, handbags, and orders you HAVE to meet.
-It will reflect on paper, how your productivity is.
-This isn't just your average high school sales job, you have to work your ass off to get meet your goals so don't think you can just chill and walk around.
-Very VERY VERY competitive, especially where I work at since we are expected to get a higher amount of sales compared to other Aldo Stores.
-They always ask if we work in commission, because we are that competitive with sales.
-Some people can steal your sales when they're working at the cashier. *Happened to me once so far, and a pain in the ass because I got a lot of shoe care sales in that transaction.
-They can make you feel like just a number, if you're not meeting your goals. So just work hard & meet it.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't put a limit on shoes, after all we do model Aldo shoes. If not, then at least higher the limit of the discount. Let us buy from other Aldo Stores & Online! Stop hiring so many sales associates, it gets overwhelming!

Pros

-good pay
-incredible discount
-perfect way to keep up with trends
-great management
-fantastic team

Cons

-sometimes the goals are a bit unrealistic but for the company as a whole it's just about trying your absolute hardest and putting true effort into your sales.

Advice to Senior Management

I truly have nothing to say. From store manager to DM, they have been nothing but incredible to the whole team! I have true respect for this company.

Pros

Great atmosphere within store level, great employee incentive, good knowledge of products.

Cons

Discount has a max you can buy every few months, horrible communication from District Manager and Regional Manager, company provided next to no training at all. Although it seems promising when they promote from within, its normally because they are back dooring another employee out. Company expects manager to work EVERY weekend.

Advice to Senior Management

Not wasting my time, they dont listen.

Pros

The discount...good insurance.....and that's about it....

Cons

As a store manager
-kiss your life goodbye.
-work an average of 56 hours but get paid for 40. If I broke my salary down into an hourly rate I'm getting paid $10 and hour....yea.
-close every Friday and Saturday night working no less than 8 hours with a 30 min. Break and then work a double every Sunday. Miss one week and welcome to hell.
-be expected to work as many doubles as is necessary to make your week.
-expect your dm to come into your store, make a mess out of everything they want done, and then leave you to clean it all up.
-your dm will give you very little notice as to when they want to come to your store and expect you to be there even on your days off
-expect to be micromanaged the hell out of by your dm and regional.
-if something goes wrong it's "I'll fire you",or "I'll write you up."
-expect your dm to change their mind every 5 seconds

They say they're a company that's all about they're ppl. My associates bust butt and I'm only allowed to pay them minimum wage. And when the going gets tough and the company over budgets you, or messed up on your stores budget and you couldn't meet it, the higher ups aren't taking the hit, they punish you for it saying you didn't try hard enough. Hello? I think working 56-60 hours a week selling my butt off is proof enough in itself that I tried. And if that doesn't work, it's "fire everyone and re staff your store. And if that doesn't work well just fire you."

So in other words, if you have no personal life, no spouse, no children, if you like long hours with little pay, constant pressure, being micromanaged, constantly being threatened, and putting up with a company that only sees dollar signs....then Aldo is the place for you.

Advice to Senior Management

Lay off. Appreciate your people. Stand by your word. Get it together.

Pros

- Great Discount
- I made some amazing friends
- Wardrobe freedom
- Easy to get time off

Cons

Where do I begin...
- Life threatening sales goals. It doesn't matter how long you've worked there, or how reliable of an employee you are. If you don't meet your numbers, you are crap to them.
- Hours are a crapshoot. A less-than-great sales week will mean drastic hour cuts.
- Disrespectful management treats you like just an object (mine was particularly crude)
- Expect to be worked to the bone, but receive no benefits or incentives
- Worked my ass off to meet their sales goals, but still received minimum wage with no commission.
- When the store meets budget, the store manager gets a bonus. The associates who worked their butts off get nothing.
- Employees are not paid what they are worth and they are not valued at all. Don't like it? They'll replace you. You are completely expendable to them.
- Employees are hired based on looks, which leads to completely incompetent associates and a high turn-over rate.
- Managers play favorites, and then wave it in your face when their favorite outsells you.
- Management constantly tries to pit associates against each other. They'll come up to you on the sales floor and say "Lauren is outselling you... What are you going to do about it?!"
- It's difficult to make sales when we never have the sizes that customers need. Not every customer wants to order and wait over a week for their shoes. But once again, if the customer doesn't order, it's treated as the associate's fault...
- Completely unprofessional environment. My manager constantly made inappropriate comments about associates and customers.

Advice to Senior Management

Value your employees and recognize how hard they work, even if they don't meet their sales goals. Understand everything that associates are up against... (cheap customers, customers who are only in the store to play "dress up" and not purchase anything, etc.) Believe it or not, it's not ALWAYS the associates fault when the customer doesn't buy anything. Lighten up on the pressure. Also, SPH (sales per hour) should not include the time that associates spend cleaning, pulling orders from the back, and other tasks that are performed off the sales floor. And, for the love of god, stop trying to pit the associates against each other. It creates a hostile environment that isn't enjoyable for anyone. I made some great friends at Aldo, and we didn't appreciate being treated like we were supposed to kill each other. I think that this could be a good place to work if TEAM goals were enforced instead of individual. My store always performed better when we were allowed to have fun with it.

The reason I left Aldo is because a new, extremely unprofessional, manager came to my store. He wanted to hire his own staff, so therefore gave the old staff virtually no hours, and alienated the top performers (including myself). Professional, huh?

Pros

Fun environment, great co workers, good discount

Cons

Bad experience, horrible manager, over worked

Advice to Senior Management

Just because a manager has high sales, does not mean they are fit to be manager.

Pros

Good employed discount. You will advance fast,

Cons

They will never give you what you deserve, it is a cheap company. No recommended.

Pros

50% discount. Easy to get time off.

Cons

Low pay. Close to no hours. Hard to get a raise. District manager is a sneaky person.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop being so sneaky.

Pros

Fun working enviornment that brings new challenges everyday
Great product
Great training and support from my DM
Growth opportunities for anyone willing to work hard for it
Results are what get you noticed
My DM pushes me harder than any other leader I have ever had and is behind me 100%. Her passion keeps pushing us to want to be the best
Top performers are recognized

Cons

If you are not a hard working employee do not apply to work at ALDO
Discount limit should be unlimited
More hours needed to properly train all employees and provide the best service

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you are doing, great leadership is not easy to find, I am grateful for my DM's advice, knowledge, direction, talent and even toughness.