outside sales representative

route sales representative

laborer

chauffeur livreur

sales manager

UniFirst

I worked here as a CSR and I remember during my interview one of my supervisors made the job sound really great, but it ended up being one of the worst experiences I've ever had with a company.

The trucks were in really terrible shape and they didn't have sufficient staff to keep them maintained which was a huge safety risk. The only way you could get a somewhat decent truck btw was by working there for years and sucking up to a lot of managers. The management there in general was horrible, if they noticed you wanted to work extra hours they would manipulate you into staying late everyday and then would make a huge deal when it came to paying you overtime.

Management would also make mistakes, such as making false promises to their customers and then would throw their CSR's under the bus and blame everything on them when the customer decided to close their account with Unifirst. The environment there was extremely toxic and even though the pay was pretty decent it just wasn't worth the stress. At the end of each shift I would feel emotionally drained and would dread having to go back there again the next day.

The facility itself also wasn't organized very well at all and sometimes I would have to spend an extra hour or so trying to find something that was either missing or was placed somewhere else.

All-in-all, I would definitely stay away from this company if you want to keep your sanity.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Local management was great! GM, Sales Manager, Office Manager, Service Managers and all other leadership roles were friendly, hard working, patient and committed. Regional leadership is a whole different issue or ball game. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Seeing the leadership team under so much pressure from regional members and corporate with very unrealistic goals. One quit because of it. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Locally at the Calgary location seemed good. Friendly people. Supportive staff at most levels. Unfortunately the company boasts about family culture and fun culture but it isn’t fun. I’d like to work there and stay if the same management team stayed and the one that quit came back and regional team didn’t exist or micromanage them and all of us so much. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Not enough time out of the office to knock on doors and build my pipeline. Multiple days of phone calls that are mandatory. Lots of script reading and all staff have to role-play dozens of times and get certified to sell mats and uniforms. I noticed we are all being micromanaged by the regional managers a lot.

Long hours and it's nice being on your own while on route the support from management is very questionable at times. I get that while there are issues with customers that I myself can fix, there are some things I cannot and when I bring these issues to management weeks can go by before anything is done or they forget and blame you for the issues. This place gave me some experience in maintaining accounts but when you are expected to do 25-40 accounts in a day and you have to do inventory management, billing issues, new adds, deletes, exchanges it adds up in the day all while being on commission so trying to be efficient and quick while also trying to maintain account issues can be very time consuming. Oh did I also mention you are expected to upsell to accounts? while you do get bounsus for these it is a very low amount and they are mandatory. Training is a joke I got 2 days of training on a route and was set free to learn on my own, so be prepared for 4-6 months of asking a lot of questions and being very frustrated with the learning curve. I would suggest looking elsewhere but if you do need a job they will hire you, remember there's a reason they are always looking for new people.

I worked at UniFirst for several years in an office-based coordination role. The work itself was structured and had a clear purpose, and I developed strong organizational, documentation, and accuracy skills during my time there.

However, the overall experience was consistently stressful, with limited support, minimal advancement opportunities, and compensation that did not reflect long-term tenure or responsibility. Workplace culture tended to prioritize output over employee well-being, which contributed to low morale and a lack of belonging.

Toward the end of my time there, I had a manager who was more flexible and supportive, which improved the experience somewhat, but this felt like an exception rather than the norm.

This role may suit someone seeking stability and routine, but those looking for growth, flexibility, and a more people-centred culture may find it challenging.

Worked there for over a year.  Had over 20 sales.  Solid team player... Very well liked because I treated my colleagues with respect and love.   I challenged myself daily and my manager from time time. Tip for her... There's more than your way!!!  She seems to want "yes maam's" working for her instead of an outside sales rep that wants/needs to know why!?   If you enjoy working for hypocritical, controlling, cunning people, Ajax Unifirst is the perfect place for you!  If not, run the other way!!!!  Ex. She hates her staff being late but she's late all the time. Makes excuses for being late like "picking up milk" for the kitchen. Lol. Anyways,  it's a shame because the sales staff and the customer service rep are great people.  That company could be greatly improved with a switch of leadership from the sales manager position!  Branch manager and service manager are okay to work with/for.

worked at this place for a couple of months, pay was decent until they started taking a couple hundred off for mandatory dentist insurance etc, granted my route was bigger than usual but if you have a long route day, they expect you to more or less be fast walking/ sprinting to get back to the office on time, majority of the new people get bad trucks. but management can be cool (only cause they more or less need you); i had a route on thursdays which i had to stay a couple hours later the day prior to pack up my truck (basically worked 24 hours in 2 days) had to show up at sho up at 4:15am on thursdays (this is with a fully packed truck) get to my first location at 5am and because the route was sobig i still didnt finish until around 4 even though i was promised an earleir finish time, and just because the management have been through this, they aren't empathetic at all, they just assume you should suffer too; if you have a family like majority of these guys, like lifting and getting home early most days its cool, but if you are young want a social life (i.e not going to bed at 7 or 8am) and dont like heavy lifting or stress, STAY AWAY!!!

The local service team works its butt off to provide a great experience to their customers, but the higher management at the regional and corporate level is toxic and unrealistic in expectation. They are obtuse and lie about compensation structure, create unrealistic goals based on other regions than the local one, and overwork their staff to the point of it become a merry-go-round. Their training is archaic at best, and they completely failed to honour any of my contract upon leaving. After a combined 7 years working there, almost no opportunity was provided for advancement. 

At first I was excited to get hired, and it took time to actually learn what my job entitled.  Early hours, and long hours, depending on your route.  Lots of factors that go into this job to make it better or worse.  It is hard work, but the pay is good too, so you decide.  I was a waiter and for real, I did so much less and made just as much.   It all depends on which restaurant or how good you are with people.  It is great for people who like to work alone and loves to work long hours.  There are perks, but you decide if it is worth it.  I enjoyed it while i was there, but there were a lot of long, boring, and tough days, goes with the territory, that is a job.  after working here i started buying lottery tickets,  just to give me some hope that one day It might end.  Try it, you never know, might be for you.  Save some money and get a new job.  good luck

If your looking for a great company that's organized, safety conscious, will treat you well and  has a great management team .....THEN FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE!
This company is the worse company I have ever worked for, although I wasn't there for long almost a year I have never seen such a place barely hanging on !! It is complete chaos, here is a list of problems that I had on a regular day!
Missing product consistantly 
Poor vehicle safety
No help from managers
Paper work errors, random adds to invoice
Price fluctuations
Clothes were always missing!
The consistent unorganized mess of trying to find your load not having enough wipes or hand towels for the customer then getting yelled at from the customer!!!!
Trucks with no radio or interior lights, warning lights on, doors that don't fully close......about 70%  of the trucks are illegal and shouldn't be driven ... This is a short list of a few of the problems I had experienced at UNIFIRST as a route  rep

The turnover is high in rsr`s......

Starting off the job was great, coworkers were great, management was great, then comes your 3 month probation, after probation they tell you that you will make comission instead of over time, but you only get comission if you have a route and your route is worth so much, tell you you will get money for bonus sales and extra work that you do, you do not. Don’t bother phoning in sick either, you’ll be met with a write up and a stern talking to about your “performance in the company”. You can slave yourself away for this job and the second you don’t come to work because you’re sick you are frowned upon and almost “shunned” in the workplace. Very culty mentality as in you eat sleep and breathe this job, and if you don’t, you’re not “part of the team.” Sales staff and front end staff are absolutely incredible though, always smiling, always greeting and communicating with you.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Outside sales representative 36 salaries reported	$57,569 per year
Route sales representative 4 salaries reported	$1,062 per week
Laborer 4 salaries reported	$19.07 per hour
Chauffeur livreur 1 salary reported	$27.50 per hour
Sales manager 3 salaries reported	$109,167 per year

Working at UniFirst: company overview and reviews

UniFirst

UniFirst ratings

Popular jobs at UniFirst

Salary satisfaction

Job seeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected