Working for Fastenal is like being married to an abusive spouse who beats you and then tells you they love you. - OUTSIDE SALES Fastenal Employee Review

1.0
May 13, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Friends do not let friends work at Fastenal. Fastenal has continually decreased the pay for their workers every year. This means that you will have to work that much harder and sell that much more this year to make the same as last year. Fastenal will also under resource you and under staff your store to the point that it is impossible to get out and sell more, then they will tell how much opportunity you have and it is your fault for not doing more.

Cons

Fastenal is extremely frustrating to work for, so let’s say you do manage to grow sales. What happens next is they will hire another sales person to handle the increased business, giving them half you accounts/pay. Or they will spin another store off of yours and you will lose half your accounts/pay to that new store. Now you are back to where you started, and they will tell you that all you have to do is go out and get more business to get your pay back up. You will never ever get anywhere, even though they make it look like you are commission based, in reality you work for a measly small salary compared to how hard they will make you work.

Explore other reviews about Fastenal

5.0
Apr 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good job to have during college. People are easy going and easy to get along with. Overall really good experience

Cons

Gets repetitive after a while

2.0
Jun 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I like my coworkers and my GM is a good .

Cons

The business model and lean staffing is simply unsustainable. Entry level pay, part time, little training, no commissions. Fastenal is focused on the sale rather than the customer. The wing it mentatility leaves customer service lacking. It's a roll coaster of putting one fire out after the other. They sale the position during the interview process but after your in there's empty promises with no real timelines for when the advancement is coming. Upper management seems out of touch with the day to day business. If you ask for help they simply say you have a good schedule. It's extremely disappointing that it has turned out this way because I was excited about the prospect of becoming an Account manager.

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