Borders Reviews

Pros

My manager and fellow team members were very positive and supportive. The work was challenging enough to keep it interesting yet not overbearing. Variety!! Great and diverse workforce.

Cons

The commute was absolutely horrible.

Pros

Discounts
meeting and helping lots Interesting people
Interesting products
Most of the in store management were decent people

Cons

retail-limited income
sometimes misperceived by customers
politics and secretiveness in upper management drove the company int0 the ground
Corporate pushed the idea of Borders being part of the local community, but then all but forbade any locally focused individuality.

Advice to Senior Management

no longer applicable.

Pros

friendly, Great Discounts, fun, easy going, good hours, good people, good drinks, changeling, good benifets, easy to move up, book check out

Cons

boring, repeatative, not much growth, out of business, a little strick on some things, new to the business did not trust people that been doing it for a long time.

Pros

People that worked on the buying side were very passionate about what they did.
Very relaxed work environment.
Made lasting friendships with people that worked there.

Cons

Compensation was on the lower side of the scale when compared to similar companies.
Work environment almost too relaxed, amazing that some were able to to hold on to jobs with how little was done in a given day.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more willing to listen to employees opinions about how the business is being run and give things an opportunity to work before changing your mind about a retail strategy.

Pros

Training courses were available for everyone. Several different levels of difficulty, example excel for beginners, intermediate and advanced. Mid level management very open and willing to train.

Cons

Not enough emphasis by upper level management on e-readers and their impact on physical book sales. Some opportunities missed as it relates to this.

Pros

atmosphere, culture, employees, customers, product.

Cons

poor choices by ceos and corporate over the years

Advice to Senior Management

too late now.

Pros

-My co-workers and fellow staff members were the best aspect of working for Borders. Over the years I got to meet some really interesting people and I learned a lot from them.
-Everyday access to huge amounts of fun stuff (books, cd's, dvd's, magazines, newspapers, cafe items).
-Employee benefits were good the first few years.
-Company generally seemed to care about its employees during the better times (Value of Employment surveys, as well as providing very good training to the employees at the store level)
-Large superstore bookstore atmosphere and ambience was a very interesting environment to work in.
-Employee discount was generous when the company was healthy.
-Considering this was retail, the customers who were pleasant to deal with, overwhelmingly made up for the customers who were unpleasant.

Cons

-Poor management and leadership in the upper echelons of the company.
-Compensation at the store level (i.e. booksellers, cafe staff, supervisors, assistant managers, general managers) was below standards at other retailers.
-Bonuses, vacation time, and personal time benefits were also below standards at other retailers and other companies
-The job transitioned from focusing on selling books, music, and coffee, to selling reward memberships. (No matter how great an employee you were in all other aspects of your work, the only thing that mattered was your percentage for reward sign-ups)
-Costs of benefits continuing to increase through the years, without much corresponding increase in merit pay for associates. (Merit pay increases, not much to begin with, were frozen for the last two years the company was in business)
-Level of training for staff was not as good in later years as it had been during better times as company tried to cut costs.
-At times office politics and favoritism played a part at all levels of the company.
-Dealing with customers who knowingly abused the store policies (i.e. coupon policy and returns policy).
-The feelings of job insecurity, because of the inability to get a customer to sign up for a membership card, or to upgrade to an annual membership card, led to sometimes stressful feelings from District Managers to General Managers to cashiers to booksellers.
-High rates of turnover, particularly in later years and in key positions within the company, creating a lot of uneasiness amongst the staff and in stores.
-Constant, unrelenting efforts to cut costs and save on as much as possible, mainly at the expense of the employees. (In one example, the company eliminated outside vendor cleaning of stores, necessitating the employees to do what were called "housekeeping duties". Many employees did not enjoy wiping, mopping, and cleaning store restrooms, and some outright resented it because they had never been asked to do anything like this when they started with the company)
-Certain elements of leadership within the company (over the years) trying to use strategies and concepts from other retail environments that simply do not work in the bookstore environment.

Advice to Senior Management

At this point I can offer feedback concerning the overall experience at Borders. My store is closed now, and the company has gone out of business. In my opinion, contrary to popular belief, the company did not go out of business solely because of new customer preferences related to e-reading. The company went out of business mainly because of poor leadership spanning a decade from 2000-2010. Thus, this is my advice and feedback for management.
1. Have the vision to recognize when changes are taking place within your industry, and create strategies and plans to respond accordingly. (the failure to comprehend the growth and importance of e-commerce and the related changes in consumer online buying patterns was a mistake)
2. Never lose sight of the fact that employees are the company's greatest asset. (Happy, enthusiastic, well compensated staff leads to great customer service, which leads to satisfied customers, which leads to customer loyalty, which leads to repeat business, which leads to greater sales and profits, which leads to the company staying in business)
3. Never outsource or contract out a key element of your company's business to one of your key competitors. (most business analysts have stated and agreed that the website partnership with a key competitor was a mistake)
4. An early, dedicated, focused commitment to designing, producing, promoting, and marketing a competitive e-reading device would have been a blessing. (as well as proper training on the device for staff)
5. Never open new stores in unprofitable locations and in unprofitable markets, especially those where your competition would not go.
6. Make sure that you do not get into lengthy, long term, unprofitable leases that you cannot possibly get out of.
7. Provide decent benefits and compensation to your staff.

Overall my years with Borders were a mix of wonderful memories (for all of the great employees I had the privilege of meeting and working with), to sad memories at the end. The lessons learned and the memories created will last for quite some time.

Pros

company attracted good people therefore it was a nice environment to work in.

Cons

The pay was typically slightly better than average.

Pros

Book loan program was great
Fellow employees were great
Love being able to see everything that comes out
Flexiibility for time off

Cons

Low pay, no raises in 4+ years
Daily threats to meet quotas
No accountability for upper management
Business plan appears to be "throw something at the wall and see what sticks"

Advice to Senior Management

Too late

Pros

Making friends with other employees and regular customers

Cons

Company did not have organized policies