Useful skills are gained but its Not a very Challenging job for a University student- Go in, do your job, and leave
I have been working there for almost 2 years now and though there are some positive aspects to working there like the pay and flexibility with school, my experiences working for Costco have been negative and I'm not impressed with the way the company works. Yes its true that they treat their employees well, but you basically have to work there for years to get what you want. A company like this runs its ideals based on seniority, so the people who have been there the longest tend to get what they want such as vacation, certain days off and so on. The managers can be nice people, but they really need to do a better job in terms of how they run the company and pick favorites which is lame. They help you out and such by letting you know what needs to be done but communication among employees is absolutely terrible. Work life balance for a college student is better when you're going to school because you only work there weekends, but the summer is horrendous for that. I told my manager that I wanted friday, saturdays off till September and she said it was fine, but these past weeks my days off changed which just ruins your week because you have to change your plans and whatnot and I wasn't even told about it.
In my case, I'm in University, so I don't get weekends off unless I book it off in advance due to their policy. Also another issue I've noticed working for this company, especially since I've been there a while is that they like to over-rely on you (students particularly
Prossunday pay, flexible with school, you gain some useful skills on the job (team player, working hard, communication skills)
ConsVery boring and repetitive, You're thrown in any department at times without warning, ridiculously short staffed, Favoritism, Lifers are too comfortable (over-rely on you), they are never happy most of the time which makes going to work bothersome, Management is disorganized, lack of communication, work-life balance isn't that great, company policies are run based on seniority
Great working team and Benefits, poor management and work expectations
Started off as a stocker while in school, got decent hours over the summers and holidays. Free membership was nice and i loved working with my team because everyone was focused on more than just pure productivity and the daily slog. Granted, merchandising in any retail job is tough but over time I got used to Costco. I got along well with most of the management team and never had any issues about work schedules or hours per week or even job performance. Lots of perks to merchandising such as flexible break times, less customer interaction compared to membership or front end employees, and a relatively relaxed vibe due to the lack of mental and emotional stress.
After graduating and some management changes, I was told I was no longer considered to be ready for opportunities I wanted to pursue. I came to realize that true to any other job, Costco is a corporation and you are merely an asset. I started seeing less and less people working and the demand for our performance increased constantly. The newest batch of managers after I left school and intended to work permanently at Costco, while nice people, seemed to have no sense of what they're supposed to be doing as managers, not workers. Upper levels of management seemed to also be ignorant of the limitations and capabilities of the team and the staff as a whole without acknowledging why performance seemed to be dropping. Hours were cut from our team at an increasing rate and a lack of bodies and training time meant some nig
a typical day at work started with grabbing a cart, some boxes, your bag with your allergy sign, table cloth, plastic table cover, hat, hairnet, and apron and putting on your hairnet and hat before heading over to the office to find out what product(s) you were demonstrating that day, retrieve all necessary paperwork, some necessary supplies such as 4-5 bags or boxes of large or small paper muffin cups or serving cups, and all of your purchased product(s) (if said product was food or drink). after everything needed from the office was in your cart you then headed to the back of the store and kitchen to grab your table or cooking cart and the rest of your supplies such as dishes before heading to set up where your product was located (or where 1 product was located if demonstrating multiple products) or before heading to cover a coworker if doing the later shift. once you arrived at your location for the day you set up your table, put the table cloth and plastic table cover on your table, put on your apron, put all needed supplies (such as 2 plastic serving trays) on the table put the boxes under the table with any supplies that wouldn't be needed immediately such as extra napkins and product, put all signs and price tags under the plastic table cover along with all paperwork and writing utensil, plugged in appliance if one was needed, prepared product by cooking it if necessary or putting it in a bowl start serving customers until your lunch break. at the time of your lunch b
I am speaking the Regent Ave, in Winnipeg only, I hear the other location is quite different in its mgt.
Of course actual job in practice totally goes against the safety training given in orientation. If a dept head or manager is asked whether someone should lift 50 pounds far above shoulder level, the will say not to. Dare you have another question or problem, you are identified as a problem, and are generally avoided or evaded to a degree....just keeping it real folks.
No talking allowed for morning staff (4 am till opening). The management can't actually tell you not to talk at all, but they will tell you 'if you want hours, you need to be visibly putting in 150% which means, don't be seen talking.' I am not talking about standing around, talking and not working hard.... I mean, literally NO talking. If you caught talking by a supervisor, your yelled at from a distance to 'move it' or 'let's go.' I actually had no problem with this. What I did take issue with was the inequity of 'old-timey staff protecting their own self-interests (extra privileges).
Despite the great, thorough orientation the Costco organization gives, the Regen the management ( 3 store managers, warehouse managers, two-tiered dept. manager, senior staff acting as unofficial supervising roles to new hires) all exist in a work culture as if they are working in a union setting despite Costco not being unionized.
That is to say, as a new hire, you will be expected to work hard, lift he
Prosmostly nice coworkers
Consno talking allowed, even before store opens, dept management lets you know they have weight on you, you are rewarded by getting a hour or two extra of work, week to week basis
Coming from Canada, Costco’s pay sucks. $13/hr. Minimum wage is $12.65. That’s horrible, I can work at a restaurant with half the physical labour and earn more in tips. I was a Parttime/Fulltime, kind of confusing but I worked 40+ Hour weeks and was just considered part time. I was in freezer department which is notorious for being the worst position. Most people will get there at 2:30-10:30 with most managers asking you to stay till midnight. I get it a freezer is supposed to be cold but every week we had to spend up to an hour in each freezer to clean up the ice, and debris. We also 3 freezers. They don’t have gloves either, which is weird because the refrigerator staff did... but just imagine spending 3 hours in a freezer with no gloves at -30*. This is redicoulous, they also expect a pallet of 1000-2000 pounds of food to be completed/stocked and on to the next pallet in 5 minutes(some pallets can even get as heavy as 3500-4500 pounds if it’s a “miscellaneous” mix match of different products. That’s absurd. Mind you, you can go through 15-30 pallets in a shift. The only reason benefits are good is because once your 3 month probabtion is up, you’ll have some sort of back, knee or wrist issues. I hated working here simply because you have NO social life. The days you do usually get off are Tuesday/Wednesday or Wednesday/Thursday. If you want different days, might have to wait a few years. Want different hours? Might have to wait 20 years(according to coworkers). I had cowork
ProsFood court, let’s be honest here. Friendly coworkers & managers.
ConsNo social life. Terrible hours. Terrible pay. Unbearable conditions.
Costco Wholesale is a place that one can gain valuable experience from working. They may even choose to stay because of the competitive retail salary, and the fair chance of advancing their career through working full time.
As a front end assistant, the shifts given is usually variable. On a typical opening day, we get ready to operate the very front line of the warehouse through cleaning the areas and stuffing the tills with boxes for members/clients to use. The bulk of the shift is taken up by either operating as a cashier or packer. Often times, members change their mind on an item that they were about to purchase, and I can be tasked with putting the collective items back to their place. If I am placed on a later shift that extends through closing time, we go out to help cart-pushers put back carts in their respective places.
Going to Costco has immensely improved my communication skills and attention to detail regarding customer service. Not a single day goes by without speaking at least a couple thousand words to everybody, so an improvement in communication skills proves to be imminent working as a Front End Assistant. As one would expect, the hardest part of work is maintaining the enthusiasm and positive attitude in the face of the mind numbing work environment.
However, Costco Wholesale treats their employees with a great amount of respect, and their hard work is recognized. This fair work environment encourages positivity, and it simultaneously teaches
ProsGood work environment, good management, good experience
ConsCan be very draining and have no energy left by the end of the shift
Might as well find something better while you can, especially if you're a student
My day is usually boring and all that. I go in, stock stuff before the store opens then find something to do before my shift is done. Overall, Its not a place where I want to work at after my degree. The management is pretty horrible. I get that you go in to do your job, but even that alone doesn't satisfy them. Managers should thank their coworkers as we work hard to do what you want. Some (not all) Coworkers don't treat you that great even if you work hard on the job. Yes you work as a team but a lot of people I work with have no ambition. I've been there almost 3 years and trying to move to the front end because a lot of younger staff work there, and the hours are more realistic. That's another thing, these hours aren't ideal, and if you're late you get a write up. Scheduling is horrendous as they make mistakes quite a lot on the schedule and I have to remind them what days off I originally gave them. I don't get benefits since I'm a student which is find cause its just temporary till I find something better. The job nature is fairly boring, routine and repetitive. Its just the people you have to work with at times that make it unbearable. Overall they "treat their employees well" but that doesn't mean that they value you as a person. The hardest part of the job I would say is that it can be physically challenging but that's about it. Also, once you do it over time, you don't really learn anything, and its not really a fun environment since people there just do it for the
ProsWork is easy to grasp, the CSRP makes things easier, you work with some good people
Consthe hours suck, alway short staffed, never get weekends off, terrible management, favoritism, lifers, bad scheduling
Excellent wages/benefits; Management structure needs work
In the sales department, most of the work was initiative based, which meant you'd have to pace yourself to stay busy if customer help level was low, otherwise most duties would be completed in 0.5-1 hour. Make sure warehouse was "show-time ready" every day, with all product faced and store kept clean, and assisting customers as well as other departments as needed. Management would fluctuate with how much attention was paid to the sales department, typically either non-existent or overly micro-managing, no happy medium. Got to deal with whole spectrum of customers, ranging from tech-savvy to clueless providing full range of customer satisfaction/interaction practice. Business-casual atmosphere was nice but had trouble defining at any given time where exactly it stood. Because of necessities of membership, theft and undesirable customer levels were quite low. Co-Workers were generally semi-educated, with fluctuating levels of morale dependent on policies being enforced at the time. Employees who did more were given more to do and kept to higher standards than others occurring in every department, which was cause for much disruption, due to unfair work loads/expectations. Management team had highly inappropriate behaviour with more attractive employees, causing favoritism and a few scandals which should have led to immediate firings based on company policy but almost always never did. Fairly good all-round camaraderie among employees, with a few exceptions. Hardest part of
ProsGood working hours, particularly weekends;good pay;good benefits;generally nice atmosphere
The COSTCO Winterburn rd. location in Edmonton,Alb let over 20 employees go on Christmas eve this year 2015 (shortage of work was on our ROE), who does that !.
My position at COSTCO was front end assistant, or better known as 'the person that boxes your groceries' . I didn't mind to work one bit,kept me busy and active,made the day go by quickly.
However.........
1.) At the winterburn rd costco in edmonton, when retrieving boxes from the box bins as they come to the to the front end, was just embarrassing, belittling and just unnecessarily humiliating. other front end assistant fighting over 'the good boxes', elbowing each other, stepping on each others feet, no ability to share with their co-workers, a general 'every man for himself attitude'. I've never seen anything like it at other costco locations throughout the city.
2.) NO COMMUNICATION between front end managers,especially on Saturdays and Sundays when 5-6 front end managers were in. All given different orders, to different front end assistants and no one's communicating who's doing what...when.
3.) They allowed the ethic workforce to speak their native language, making those of us that don't understand feel, awkward and uncomfortable, who's to say that aren't talking about others in an inappropriate manner. What you do on your private time is fine,working around others...not professional at all !
4.) While employed there, I seen well over 100 different employees come....and go. (should have seen it coming).
Title sums most of it up. I was part of an opening team and was among the first employees the new store would have. We were given strict rules about sanitation and procedures to follow, then shipped off to other warehouses to be trained.
We received two days of "training" which was just us being shoved around by the other staff and were told to ignore absolutely everything our manager had told us about the food safety standards and just write down the correct temperatures of food even if it was too low. If found out that the sheets are forged, we can get sued and brought to court if someone got sick so we always need to write down temperatures every hour.
However due to the constant lack of staff and management's version of helping including screaming at us for the fryer not cooking fast enough, we never had to time to write temperatures down without delaying customers. But because we had to slow down and sacrifice someone at a station, we'd get yelled at for making customers angry. Our supervisor was caught multiple times forging the signatures and temperatures but despite being reported to our boss no action was taken against her and all the blame fell on us. No one there should have been in a management position and we needed much better training, and considering all my teammates said their trainers completely ignored the temperatures too, they clearly either don't actually care that much or don't notice.
Benefits are great they really are, but it wasn't worth
ProsGood Benefits
ConsBad training, Bad Management, Bad Layout of Building, Preference Given to Higher Position, Breaking Food Safety Laws
2.0
Ingeniero/a en prevención de riesgos | Chihuahua, Chih. | Mar 28, 2018
Pésimo, área de Gerencia con empleados que dan mala reputación a la empresa.
Administración que no toma en cuenta tus aptitudes para ofrecer puestos.
Panaderos sin poder explotar sus talentos siendo desperdiciados en otras áreas.
Todos los trabajadores tienen que doblar ropa por varias horas de su turno sin excepción a pesar de que tienen trabajo pendiente que no pueden dejar incompleto y tienen que hacer horas extra sin paga ya que le dan mas prioridad al aspecto de la tienda que a cosas más importantes.
Aunque el empleado necesite o su Gerente de área le pida quedarse tiempo extra, Recursos Humanos niega el pago de las horas extras trabajadas, aun así cuando el Gerente de la tienda haya autorizado tales horas, o en algunas ocasiones el pago de tales hora/s termina siendo pagado meses después.
Preferencia por el área de panadería siendo la única área a la que aprueban horas extras sin excepción y pasan por alto el robo de producto, la producción y el consumo de la merma.
Gerentes, usualmente mujeres, son ascendidos principalmente por su trato interesado con otras personas y/o relaciones sentimentales con otras empleadas/os y no por su desempeño, nunca dan el puesto a quien se lo merece por su puntualidad y excelente desempeño en su área ya que no se asocia con los de gerencia haciendo favores fuera de su área.
Recursos Humanos pasa por alto muchas cosas y cuando ya no te necesitan hacen hasta lo imposible para correrte de la empresa, por ejemplo, un gerente ofreciéndole un bocado de pan a un empleado general de la tienda para ser captado por l
ProsOfrecen caja de ahorro, fondo de ahorro, servicio de gastos médicos menores y mayores.
Costco starts off their employees at $11.00 and your pay moves up from there based on hours worked. Even part time employees can get full benefits and the benefits are some of the best in the industry. I pay $32/month for pretty much everything and it's not skimpy coverage. Wisdom teeth surgery was paid in full and most prescription co-pays come out to 10 cents per pill. The main reason I took off a star for compensation is that they make it very difficult to get a full-time position, and employees with more seniority will almost always be given preference. It doesn't matter what your education level is or how well you perform. I often find myself giving pointers to supervisors who are promoted over me because of their seniority. This is counter-intuitive and unfair to the most competent employees. One more thing: tips are not allowed. If they catch you accepting a tip from a member, even if the member insists, they can fire you over it.
I had to take a star off Culture/Values for the same reason. They take customer service very seriously and maintain a serious code of ethics. The shady stuff that other retail jobs have tried to pull on me will never fly in Costco. Even if they don't treat you great, they definitely treat most people fairly and stick to their principles. The only flaw in their values is that they do not value education and merit as much as they should. They definitely benefit from it, but don't reward the best employees accordingly.
You will not find a more
The co-workers here are really incredible. Everyone is so easy to talk to and always willing to help. Especially the supervisors, they do care about you and want you to succeed and they always give insight and tips & tricks so you can perform better. Unfortunately, the small things throughout the day that are out of your control, can really be demoralizing and just ruin the experience.
For example, when you are done picking and have a wrapped pallet, your scanner might say fluid load, Route 20, Stop 3, position RIGHT. So you go to the loading area and look for Route 20. The problem is, your scanner is not synced correctly to the written map they have next to the truck. So, if you don't go into the trailer and check the ordering first, you are screwed. This eats up a lot of your time, which overtime, will diminish your pick rate. Not only that, but a supervisor or one of the loaders will see what you are doing and be like "what's it telling you to do?", you say "to load", but they don't realize you need to double check the ordering. This gives off the illusion you are not working / doing it correctly, when you are. It's hard to explain, but it doesn't feel good.
I've mentioned this to my supervisor and they have told me it's fine, always make sure you double check the ordering, they will give you time (to help with your pick rate). Which is nice!
Another issue is there are several wireless dead zones in aisles. A lot of co-workers experience this as well. This hap
Truth about Costco, the reviews below sound fake ;)
Gday from Australia we have know 3 Costco warehouses, heaps of burnt out overworked employees and are managed by a few NOT all idiots that just got the promotions because either they are american, kiss behinds very well or they have personal relationships outside of work (everyone knows whats going on outside work fellas ;))
We all seen the induction video, we promote from within.
Employees will be promoted within 6 months to a year.
Not a good idea telling this to 480 newly hired employees.
Which after 2 years are still being harassed by management for not clocking on time for lunch, or being tormented for not being as fast as superman.
I love it when jobs are posted on the notice board, because it makes me feel like I have a equal chance like anyone else. WRONG they already know who they are going to promote (the behind kissers).
We are told everyone should apply to show your interest,
Ahhh...
Mate you gentlemen already know everyone is interested how about this..
Don't post up jobs that you have already filled, it's just playing with the perspective of the employees in Costco. (yea they say things like, I tell everyone the managers are like nazzis, but the company is excellent).
What happened to take care of employees?
Ohh yea that one only applies at the induction, shhh
Funny how it does not say anything about managers on the code of ethics.
It should read: Just do as they say, never answer back, only they know best any new ideas might get you counselled.
Haven't you
Prosgreat video on day 1
Conscan't think of any, it's so great like the roman empire
I left my full time job of 8 years to come here seasonally. Everyone talks such a big game about Costco, “Oh it’s awesome!” , “Oh, it’s worth it!”
I would say the only thing Costco has going for them is their insurance and Benefits. Really cheap and good. But, it comes at a price.
The micromanaging is ridiculous. The superiority complex of the “supervisors” (people holding the clip boards at the front end) was astounding. I haven’t been treated like an incompetent child since I was 16 at my first job. So at 33 with tons of experience in high stress jobs, I was baffled. I was effortlessly doing their work (it’s mindless, you just have to be fast, basically manual labor all day).
But I would occasionally get a supervisor who would come up to me. Point to the ground, as I’m hauling butt boxing groceries. And say, “that piece of paper next to you, it needs to be picked up. Make sure your area is clean.”
Or a day before thanksgiving and the lines are all the way into the clothing section. I had a supervisor come up to me as I’m boxing groceries and say, “I want you to sweep up the picnic area (the red tables where everyone eats their hotdogs and pizza). Although Costco employes someone to go around cleaning all day. I had to stop and do it. So I get it done in 10 minutes (I used to be a housekeeper at a hospital years back, I’m very fast). This seems to irritate the supervisor, and she tells me. “No, I want it done good and points to a couple who just stood up and d
ProsGreat insurance, benefits, retirement, mindless work
ConsNo set schedule, micromanaging to the extreme, physically demanding, demeaning
Costco is what you make of it. I worked there part time for 2 and a half years. Started selling TV’s.. then applied to customer service (Membership) for a dollar raise. After nearly losing my mind in customer service I ran for the hills to the Tire Department. Finished my time there. I eventually left because I was getting burnt out... Since I was the new guy in the tire shop, and since we didn’t always have cars to work on, I would constantly get sent back and forth between the shop and the registers up front to help the cashiers... this is called working “THE FRONT END” Dun dun dun....
For anyone that hasn’t worked the front end of Costco before (packing groceries and cashiering), it can be quite arduous. Sometimes the lines never end. And people will load their cart until they can barely push it. Sometimes they have two carts! So guess what you gotta take all that stuff out, put it onto the belt, and then pack it all back into the cart without squishing or missing anything. On Holidays it can be an introverts worst nightmare. I’m talking lines back to the rotisserie chickens!! I heard a seasonal guy came in and quit on the first day before his shift was over... Oh, and everyone has to help out on the “front end” when it gets really busy. You don’t have a choice. (Unless you work in food) If need be they can and will send you outside in 90 degree weather to push carts. And they don’t discriminate!! If you are new, chances are you will be pushing carts at some point. Front
ProsPaid holidays, Free food during inventory, Benefits are great, Free membership, job security
ConsSchedule is erratic, People can be rude, Takes a toll on your body, Costco becomes intertwined with your very existence
Great health benefits, but very inefficient management and a constant overburden of work.
My typical day at work begins at 5 a.m. First thing in the morning I key out (remove product from our inventory) products that have either been returned by customers or damaged/expired within the warehouse. Usually takes between 1-2 hours to complete this task. Depending on the day of the week, we will ship salvage or donation items, process RMA paperwork from vendors, and manage inventory of items brought through RTV.
I've learned that through hard work and perseverance at this company, you can move up fairly quick, but there are quite a few politics in play that will keep you from doing so if the time isn't right. Typically when a new job is posted, they will interview all of those applying, but pick someone who is getting paid the least out of the candidates and usually does not have the experience for the applied job. If you're too good or valued in your specific department, very rarely will you be able to move or get promoted out of that department even though you are heavily qualified for the new job posted.
Management at my particular warehouse is very poor. Very focused on payroll and cutting hours/people in order to save the warehouse money. Very poor planning when it comes to department moves or rearrangement, usually we will move a department 4-5 times within several days before it actually stays in that arrangement for a few months at a time. When major moves are planned, there isn't enough manpower to finish it before the store opens (10 a.m. - So roughly 5 hou
Prosmedical, dental, and vision benefits
Consinefficient management, overloaded with jobs/tasks, lack of communication between managers.
3.0
Food and Beverage Assistant | Aberdeen | Oct 14, 2018
something else
I started costco at a delicate time in my life and i have to give them credit that costco helped me develop and growth and helping give me the time to find myself and become the hard work and confident worker i am today. The pay and the pay rises are amazing once your past the three month probation period. The holiday pay and benefits and pension plan are very generous compared to most companies with entry level basic jobs like this but honestly there was so drama.
The store i worked at everyone was shady and rumors spread like wildfire it wasn't even funny. so many people were trying to throw others under the bus professionally and socially. Literally the department managers are trying to screw the others over with the warehouse managers and it's like whats wrong with you. I was lucky to have a manager i did for the last year at costco cause she made things so much better for a lot of us and we honest about what was going on and how she hated the changes that were forced on us which were the worst thing. The management and how they handled doing new things. Like for example they would get an email saying we couldn't do something 'give cups for the drinking fountain' or be something equally stupid and if you forget and did it cause you were off the day they started the new thing you'd get into trouble or yelled at just cause. There were also certain time we were put on the line of health and safety. Like I almost emailed HR because our warehouse manager wanted me to do so
ProsFree membership, great benefits, great pay, flexible hours
Consfixed 5 day week, poor management, shady coworkers, negative workplace
Questions and answers about Costco Wholesale
How often do you get a raise at Costco Wholesale?
Asked Nov 7, 2022
1040 heures
Answered Jun 2, 2023
6 months
Answered May 29, 2023
How often do raises occur at Costco Wholesale?
Asked Oct 12, 2018
every 1040 hours
Answered May 30, 2023
Every 1040 hours till top rate, then annually for hourly
Answered May 30, 2023
What is the promotion process like at Costco Wholesale?
Asked Nov 7, 2022
Ancienneté
Answered Jun 2, 2023
You just get raises through hours worked. No real promotions unless you apply for a higher level position.
Answered May 26, 2023
If you were to leave Costco Wholesale, what would be the reason?
Asked Mar 15, 2017
Ambiance de travail toxique, la gérance ne voit aucunement que nous sommes des humains et non des robots. Ils abusent de nos capacités physiques et de de leurs pouvoirs. Aucune appréciation du travail bien fait et du dévouement des employés. Sécurité mise de côté au détriment de la production. Si besoin de 3 employés pour faire un travail ; 1 seul employé devra effectuer ce travail. Surcharge de travail. Conditions de travail immorales. Tromperies et mensonges pour faire des promotions. C'est toujours l'employé qui est responsable de tous les mécontentements des membres. Gros roulement d'employés.
Answered Mar 13, 2023
Horrible management..not worth it to working here especially if you are a part time worker. Disgusted to the utmost with this company!!! Racist, racist,and pure racist!
Answered Jul 6, 2020
How should you prepare for an interview at Costco Wholesale?
Asked Apr 13, 2017
Always wear your smile and give a 100% customer's service!
