No loyalty, other than to share holders! - General Manager/Outside Sales Representative Fastenal Employee Review

1.0
Dec 8, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Industrial Sales Experience - Provide vehicle during business hours - Job opportunities - Experience working with a large High Performance Organisation

Cons

- Low base pay, and comissions are a joke. (unless you have big accounts assigned to you) - There are many job opportunities, not 'career' opportunities. (They create more part-time jobs, than full-time jobs) - Incompetence in upper and middle management. - Life/work balance suffers, especially if you're part of an underperforming store (where they don't pay for overtime) - Too many hats to wear (as an OSP, and/or GM), I was doing everything from sweeping the showroom floor to handling collections; and I was out on the road getting sales on a daily basis. - Stores are grossly understaffed and il-equipped for the work that needs to be done. - Unrealistic expectations - Comraderie will get you ahead in this company, hard work doesn't matter. - High turn-over, they constantly change employees (because they usually hire PT's, and not professionals) - Poor customer service retention. Fastenal is an industrial sales company that is also a high performance organisation. This means, they want to do more with less. They don't mind not paying salaries that are close to the national average because they can find someone else to do the work for a better price. They are only loyal to their shareholders.

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.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All