AutoZone – “Autozone will suck your life way”

Pros

Store Managers set the tone in the store, I set my store up like family. Decent discount, yet lots of sales floor merchandise can be purchased cheaper at Wal-mart. If you have a good district manager, the rapport level can build quickly and the store performance will soar. Good opportunity for advancement if you are an idiot and don't have a college degree. You can generally get the days off you want if you request them a week or two in advance.

Cons

KPIs are eventually going to be the downfall of this company. Checkout Challenge is a joke. Its just another way to make the average ticket higher. How many months can we keep offering fuel injector cleaners??? Same thing with Air filters with oil changes... we can recommend it and its easier to sell when its $2 off, but 25% of all oild changes with an air filter... cmon now... Wittdtjr is a good concept but you get a lot of managers pushing stuff that the customer doesn't need, like 2 tmp1's (anti-seize packets) for 8 plugs. I mean really upper management needs to lay off and let us do our jobs and not push crap down peoples throats. Also, SM's that are required to work 50 hour weeks is a joke. There is no need for us to do that, as the store would run just fine if we worked 40 hrs and gave the extra 10 hrs to someone else. Pay is below average as well. You cannot expect a redshirt making 850 per hour to know what is necessary to help some customers outside of say, tune ups. Same thing with PSM's making a whopping 11 per hour, it just doesn't work. Benefits are also kinda crappy, as health insurance is outrageous... my health insurance with AZ was 320 per month for myself and my wife, with the company I am with now for the EXACT same plan is 180.

Advice to Senior Management

Upper management needs to layoff on KPI's and raise store moral. Make employees feel valued.