Bad short-term, terrible long-term - General Manager, Outside Sales, Part-Time Fastenal Employee Review

1.0
Dec 7, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

With their excessively high turnover, it's always easy to find some part-time work in a down economy.

Cons

Working 55-60 hours/week for $30k/year is insulting. The board is constantly looking for ways to increase productivity and reduce labor costs. My margin/actives/scorecard/freight/sales have always been in the top quartile yet I ranked in the bottom 10% of earnings for professional salesmen in my city. Commission is a pitiful 3% on new, 1% on existing. Used to be 4/2% but some director must have wanted a bigger yacht. A few years back, they shifted many costs of business onto the DMs. DMs then began low-balling pay for all employees, cutting part-time hours, etc. They did this so they could earn bigger bonuses for running lean. No store doing over $250,000 should have only three employees. One DM I had would send 5-10 emails daily about how our margin/freight spread/actives/growth sucked. By month end, we'd hit our numbers and get a single line of congratulation followed by more hammering. "Good job on actives but now we need blahblahblah"

Explore other reviews about Fastenal

5.0
Jan 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This role at Fastenal has great benefits and has a lot of potential for growth.

Cons

The job responsibilities vary day to day. Lots of different requirements of the job.

3.0
Jun 9, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They offer training programs through their internal “Fastenal School of Business.” A few good mentors to guide you should you find one and if you’re willing.

Cons

* Work/Life Balance - No official WFH opportunities. Branch employees were told to report, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. 15 days of PTO (10 for vacation and 5 for sick). You don’t earn additional PTO until the start of the year following your 5 year anniversary. * Pay - pay is inconsistent and they find reasons to change your pay by eliminating and changing titles. Pay is below industry standard and is a base + bonus program for most roles. * Boys Club - Especially in MN/WI area. Positions created or filled for cast off tenured employees to find them another spot rather than termination. Promotions based on political moves instead of merit or opportunities for growth. Positions posted for new roles internally but sometimes not shared with teams to allow for those politically motivated decisons to fill a spot. If a role is only posted for 1-week vs 2-weeks, it usually means they have a specific candidate in mind to take that role. * Cheap & Tacky - Required to travel but not all meals are covered. Welcome to stay at hotel that offers free breakfast but no per diem for lunch or dinner. Some meetings or trainings might provide lunch. When traveling for team meetings or trainings, usually required to share rooms - sometimes with other employees you’ve never met. Encouraged to book rooms using discount codes provided by customers. There is a target room rate they’d like you to hit and sometimes it means driving out of the way. They’d rather the expense hit elsewhere such as fuel and travel versus the room rate.

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