Rite Aid Reviews

Pros

The staff was like a big family. Get to build lasting customer relationships. The environment was professional but very friendly. I feel comfortable bringing up any issue to my supervisors and manager.

Cons

Hours are demanding, and you have to learn how to work around your schedule. But if you're good at time management, this would be no problem.

Advice to Senior Management

One of the things I appreciated best at the branch I worked at is that my manager and supervisors treated me as an equal; they valued my opinions and they back up their employees in front of difficult customers.

Pros

It's a good part time job to maintain while in school. Helps pay for gas and school. The best part is the people you work with in the store. If you get a good store, it is like having a second family. It can actually be fun to work. If you get a bad store... good luck.

Cons

Senior management is generally incapable of doing anything useful. They get mad about stupid things, worry about the unimportant things... and overlook the important ones.

Advice to Senior Management

Start focusing on the efficiencies of the company instead of sitting in your office. Visit the stores and actually provide CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Most DM’s have an undergrad degree in business. I guess we should expect nothing less from them.

Pros

You can find great coworkers. You have something new to do every day. When I first started with the company 12 years ago it was very different. They cared about the employees and the community. I wasn't treated unfairly and got along with pretty much everyone from my cashiers to my district manager.

Cons

Too many new policies which are intended to gain new customers but instead distract from good customer service. High management turnover rate. People are being promoted to store managers after as little as 6 months of experience and very little training in some cases, therefore setting them up for failure. Any problems with management or other employees that are reported to human resources are not always kept anonymous and confidential. Pay and benefits are terrible. You are constantly made to feel like a thief, since internal theft is more important to the company than outside theft. You are lucky to have a manager that compliments for hard work. Corps. expectations are far too high and it is often said they should try working at store level to see exactly what it is like for the employees. In my case I had a manager who liked to play the blame game and point fingers at everyone but herself. She was rude and sometimes down right meant to customers as well as employees. She had 4 different managers all of which had been with the company for at least 6 plus years walk out on her in less than a year, along with numerous customer complaints and still the company backed her and did nothing in the way of disciplinary action. I wonder how her just barely one year of experience proved her right over everyone else, including the customer. So much for caring about the customer experience or employee morale Rite Aid.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop expecting miracles, people can only do so much and if your staff is unhappy so are your customers. Also, it may help to make better decisions when hiring or promoting management. Rite Aid has an extremely high turn over rate in some areas and it's worthwhile to look into why.

Pros

Good pay for interns ($14 as P2, $2 raise each year)
Good number of stores to work for, flexible hours if manager is fair

Cons

Bad reputation for treating employees poorly, which may hold true for techs and cashiers
Bad management of resources - laid off 12 interns out of 16 due to budget constraints

Advice to Senior Management

Letting go so many of us in such a poor manner just adds on to the bad reputation Rite Aid has and will be the last choice for many pharmacists.

Pros

Close to home. A fair wage for a starting supervisor. Fun people to work with. Always get the hours i am looking for.

Cons

Stressful place to work. Extremely fast paced with no chance to rest. Management treats associates like second class citizens. Always short staffed. Never enough time or resources to get the immense amount of work done daily.

Advice to Senior Management

More people on the floor at all times.

Pros

Fun atmosphere, Great shopping discounts

Cons

Poor Pay
Corporate will never listen to managment or associate ideas

Pros

Good pay while it lasted.

Cons

Poor communication between corporate and store, poor policies making, we were required to drop everything we were doing and greet every customer that walked in the door even if we were already helping another customer at the cash register, the cash registeres do not face the main entrances, but if we did not turn our heads to greet each and every one of them, we would be fired, corporate management has no care towards store employees' well-being. I was told I would be receiving training for becoming a manager when I took on the job at one of the Rite Aids in eastern Oregon, not only did I not receive the training I was promised, when there was a direct opening for me to advance, they brought in someone who knows someone from corporate, soon after that, everyone realized that the new manager is not at all a hands on manager, but he would sit in the office all day, and go home early. It's not what you can do, it's whom you know, the new manager soon brought in his own friend and cut everyone's hours way down just so the payroll doesn't anger the corporate. Very negative place to work for. Never any positive feedbacks from anyone.

Pros

Rite Aid benefits are competitive in the market place. Rite Aid compensates its staff appropriately.

Cons

Given the current economic situation Rite Aid is operating in a challenging environment.

Pros

Retail experience
Face-to-face customer interaction
Good hours for part-timers

Cons

Little room for advancement to higher jobs

Advice to Senior Management

Provide opportunities for even the lowest employees on the totem poll to reach the highest levels. Sometimes, the best employees are those that are found from within. At the time, there was no way to reach corporate if I started as a clerk. It would have taken 20 years to reach a District Manager position.

Pros

My specific store was a great place to work once we got some decent management. I was there for almost 5 years, and the guy who hired me was terrible. He eventually got transferred. The manager who was there for my last 3 years though was the best boss I ever had. He made sure everyone's schedule was as flexible with their personal lives as he could manage (which was great for me since towards the end, my mother was sick and I was pregnant).

Also, my store was really a family environment. My co-workers and Management were great friendly people, the core team (the ones were were there for 3+ years) gave great customer service.

For dress I was allowed to pretty much wear anything except jeans Although I would dress nicer for the interview.. And they let me get away with constantly dying my hair - anything from red to black to pink to purple.

Only reason I left was because my mother died and I was forced to move. out of transportation range.

Cons

Again, the guy who hired me was terrible. he only gave time off and praise to the workers he thought were attractive, and was very open about it. Besides that, my complaints are all with the company and not the store. First, pay sucked. I received only $7.65 an hour when I left in July. Also while store management was good to us, Upper management was terrible to store management. My boss pretty much worked 7 days a week, and was expect to show up for at least part of truck when his wife was in labor.

Advice to Senior Management

You say you want your employee's to be good people and have a family - give them time to be good people and have a family!