Rite Aid Reviews

Pros

The people I work with are amazing. Sometimes we have lots of fun.

Cons

Our hours are constantly getting cut and we can't keep up with all of our customers. Our customers are used to getting fast service, but we don't have enough people to keep our service as fast as it used to be. We also get yelled at and treated like crap by the customers.

Advice to Senior Management

You need to hire more people or give more hours back. Right now a bunch of people are looking for other jobs because they don't want to deal with the conditions there.

Pros

gain lots of knowledge through ever changing days. My immediate supervisor is respectful and extreamly fair, I enjoy my work

Cons

as with most retail,payroll is always a concern, sometimes communication could be better, in talking with people who work the same industry it seems our pay is a little low

Pros

Good Benefits, a large number of locations.

Cons

Poor long term vision. Very short sighted.

Advice to Senior Management

Target upper middle class and above. Targeting lower income will lead to further margin erosion.

Pros

-In 2007... very manageable. Enough resources at your disposal to get things done and WOW the customer. Store managers and assistant managers were salaried, exempt, and if things got bad (not that they ever did), could work extra hours to get the job done.
- Even with all the CONS below, it would still be manageable if you can get the right team working with you. GOD HELP YOU if take over a poorly ran store and are stuck with training, labor and morale issues.

Cons

In 2009...
-Store managers at locations with front end sales of less than 25000/week (all stores in Dayton) are Non-Exempt, Hourly employees that must punch a clock. There is no such thing as "whatever it takes" anymore... you work your 45 hours and go home. To cover the store, store manager must take unpaid 30 minute break every day, as well. I hadn't taken a break or punched a time clock in 15 years.
-There are NO Assistant Managers... the position is GONE. Your only hope for decent help is to get a VERY GOOD Shift Supervisor... and the really good ones are going to be pulled out for promotions due to rapid Store Manager turnover or go elsewhere because they cannot hope to make any more than $20K a year (current exceptions are demoted store managers, but they don't allow that anymore... noone can step down once they are a store manager... "ties up the pipes" with people that cannot be promoted to cover for the high-turnover store managers).
-170 hours (including my own) to run a 10000 sq ft store that is set up like a maze, so that Cashiers cannot help on any task on the floor.
- Managers spend 80% of their time working on projects that should not be done by management figures. Burger King had a good balance - Store Managers spent 20 hours on administrative, 30 hours on the floor & Assistants spent 10 & 40, respectively. That is normal, I think. Rite Aid... 38 hours on the floor working planograms, putting away truck, etc, 20 hours on administrative... and still doesn't add up to 45 hours, does it? Shift supervisors are usually 25 hours on the CASH REGISTER as the only person in the front of the store, 10 hours on the floor trying desperately to help the SM, and the other 5 covering employee breaks ON THE CASH REGISTER.
- Pay 40% lower than what it should be for the amount of work that is needed.
-Current company policy is that there is NEVER to be a moment of the day that someone is not in direct and constant line of sight of the door, to greet every customer (in itself not a bad policy, but cannot be done with such limited hours). Cashiers, in effect, are not permitted to stray from the register at all except for VERY slow periods, but these periods are the ones that the Store Manager or Shift Supervisor are the only ones in the store anyway, so no extra work can be done.
-Constant "ZERO-TOLERANCE" initiatives being launched, i.e. Backroom Inventory System, Freshness Application, the required script "Have you reached Gold Status with your Wellness+ Card yet?" Then the inevitable "Huh?" and a lengthy explanation while other customers wait in line. These are all good ideas, don't get me wrong. Wellness+ is a great program, and it needs to be pushed, but the labor allowances just aren't there...

Advice to Senior Management

1 - When the efficiency measures are in place... THAT'S when you cut the payroll back. Not months before ANY of them are on-hand.
2 - Don't bite off more than you can chew... Signs sell merchandise, sure. I agree. BUT two months of 12000 signs to hang, while setting up other new programs and topping the cake by cutting another 5 hours a week from the stores. That is what we call a bad idea in the real world.
3 - I loved the idea of the new ad order system, workforce management, the walk sequence and the signing program, backroom inventory, and the freshness app. Every single one of these I thought of myself when I started with the company in 2007, and wondered why, with all of the money and resources we had available, we couldn't do these things in a way that made sense. And I agree whole-heartedly that a store can be run with 170 hours AFTER all of these are put into effect and in place. But to cut the hours before that is like buying a new car when you can just barely make your house payment. Bad, bad, bad execution, guys. This could have been done so much better. Once they are in place they are easy to maintain, if you can keep up with the other things. But if you can't keep up with the other things because you can't get anything done because you're throwing everything you can spare at the newest ZERO TOLERANCE item... I wish I had never taken the job.
4 - The Associate Engagement Survey is a joke. Taking the results from this survey and pegging it on the Store Manager is not going to improve the company. Ask your employees directly how they feel, rather than hiding behind a vague or misleading question. Without fail, unless the Store Manager tells the team that the company wants to know how HE/SHE is doing on these surveys (which I refused to do), they will believe that the company wants to know how THE COMPANY is doing for its workers. I let the questions speak for themselves, without trying to sway the results. THAT is how your people think you are doing. <END RANT>

Pros

good hours if you can get on the schedule. Indoors, don't smell at the end of the night like you would if you had a restaurant job. Easy work but repetitive.

Cons

low pay and unorganized while acting like it was the employees fault. We just didn't have what we needed to do a good job. Corporate acted as if they had never worked in the retail area of the pharmacy.

Advice to Senior Management

Take this statement to heart "low pay and unorganized while acting like it was the employees fault. We just didn't have what we needed to do a good job. Corporate acted as if they had never worked in the retail area of the pharmacy."

Pros

Many shift options that vary within the store

Cons

If you are competent, they will use you. Once they are done and you are set to make decent money, they'll find a way to get rid of you and hire someone off the street for less money.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the associates that are in the stores. They are your link to what the customer wants. All too often you try to make changes and implement procedures without ever having set foot in a store, let alone working in one.

Pros

Cool management, cool customers, Time passes quick, Health care benefits for employees who meet the required hours/week. Management allows flexibility with schedule

Cons

Not much potential for growth, low wage compared to workload, Low budget given to staff, Not enough help during heavy traffic business hours

Advice to Senior Management

Management is pretty cool. They allow flexibility to work around a schedule of a college student. Very accommodating. Provide reasonable amount of help to make up for low budget hours

Pros

Bosses and supervisors are friendly and understanding. However, certain situations are difficult to predict and thus it becomes difficult sometimes.

Cons

The company does make several ill-advised projects and ways to promote business, but in the end it is either not justified or not able to sustain itself.

Pros

Employees recieve 20% off in the store, and my coworkers are very friendly, not counting my manager.

Cons

The store will be charged $2000 if an employee receives 4+ complaints. We're severely penalized for doing the tiniest things wrong, but all of our hard work and good deeds go unrewarded.

Advice to Senior Management

Be nicer to the employees that keep your store running somewhat efficiently and reward them for doing a job well done.

Pros

It is all who you work for. My manager is constantly teaching us how to advance, how to do better for the company and ourselves. You make lots of friends with the customers and coworkers. You learn how to shop, the games that you can play in retail. It is fast paced, work goes by quickly.

Cons

Working holidays are a must. The pay is basically just above minimum wage. The company does not appreciate the cashiers only the store management. Your raises are $.25 a year. It is all who you work for. Bad management = you will hate your job. More and more responsibilities are placed on your shoulders with little to no pay increase. Cashier responsibilities get boring and repetitive, Shift supervisors get more interesting projects but also more stress and tons of multitasking.

Advice to Senior Management

I love helping people, I love designing sets, but the stress and the limited pay is not worth it. Increase pay, and I would have stayed a long time. I think the company is turning around but way too slowly.