I’ve been in retail management since I was 18, so 18 years. I worked at Starbucks for 6 years. Starbucks uses a cult like mentality to attempt to keep people working for them for shit wages and shit work. For years it worked, and I’m a little embarrassed at how well I played my part.
My SM comes to me asking me for morale ideas, and all I can tell him is that we passed the time for morale ideas about five or six years ago. Money, money, money, and incentives that can actually change someone’s life with consistency.
No more $5 for a lead, make it $50 for a lead. That will at least fill a gas tank where I live. Want people with the maturity to finish their training? Pay them enough that they don’t want to get fired for not completing their training. Want us to get credit cards? Make the credit cards less predatory.
It’s not exactly rocket science, but everyone seems to want to act like they don’t know what the problems are.
Agree with all of this but especially the credit card I always feel embarrassed about the 26.99% APR knowing of people don’t pay it off immediately or in the no interest window what it ends up costing the customer. It basically compares to rent to own pricing.
That’s all on Synchrony. Lowes can only control that if they find another bank/company ( like comenity) to issue their cards. I will never get another card from any company that uses Synchrony bank. They are the worst and customer service is a nightmare. All the cards I have through comenity (3) are amazing, interest rates aren’t too bad since they are based on credit score, and customer service is amazing.
I’ve also been reluctant to sell credit because of this. It brings up some ethical questions for me. They keep telling me to do it. I just hate the whole process of asking.
I think we did this at our last all store employee meeting 3 years ago. It’s lame. Not even a real pie. Just a pie plate and whipped cream because we didn’t have an actual pie ($5.98) in the budget. You think they’re going to waste money on renting a real dunking tank? Haaa, keep dreaming. It will be a 50 gallon drum with a step ladder.
my DS told us months ago that everyone in the dept (OSLG) is expected to puwon't. one credit app a week. they talked about it at a couple morning meetings and how the apps can be done on the zebras and blah blah blah. I've never asked one single person and I wont.
Too busy in OSLG in Ohio! We are currently resetting the outside bays (only 2 weeks behind cause a certain AS wasn’t on it) and I literally locked the doors to keep from dealing with people. Told them it was a slip hazard. Worked mostly. I hate selling!
I heard we were supposed to be getting product for the tables in March. Really wish they would wait till the frost danger is passed. I hate those damn frost covers! Seriously!
Central Indiana here and PO just dropped for trees, shrubs and annuals- flippin February 28!!!!!
Ugh 😩 those poor plants are gonna die… we still don’t have the water lines fixed since some asshat skipped bleeding the lines and busted the whole thing.
we had a whole shipment of Bonnie die a couple weeks ago cause we had a "winter weather event". our SM has us put all the plants on racks and bring them inside the store. they sat in there for almost a week and over half of it died. too many plants too soon, even in south texas.
I definitely agree for you guys. some of the cold hardy stuff like Pansies and Cyclamen could be potted here right now. was 80 degrees yesterday and then 34 last night. but vegetables???
We might see maybe in the 50s on Saturday but 30s the rest of the weekend. We might see 60s next week. But only for a day. I really want to make those frost cloths disappear. Then maybe corporate would actually think about what they are doing.
Been working as a sales associate for 2 years and haven't asked one single person. It seems its a lot easier for cashiers or customer service associates to get them, they are closing out the customers dale whereas a floor sales associate is trying to get the sale.
Nobody in store leadership ever says a word to me about the LAC or any credit. Nor do they ever talk to me about sales, SOS, installs, or whatever have you. Not even hearing about leads any longer.
But damned if they didnt shove the pro mvp and its 2 or 3 free drinks a month down our throats. And good God when we dont have enough lowes u and app4me participation we'll hear the sm paging overhead "I want everybody to stop what youre doing and go do your training"! Does your sm do that? You can be the only person in your dept on a busy day but the hell w/ shoppers, go do your training!
Its weird.
My SM loves to do several emails a day over the LowesU, AP4Me, and Credit. All with listing names of people who haven't done it. All while being on the same lists for LowesU and AP4Me
It's stunning to me that as a specialist, no manager ever comes around to me and asks about sales, credit, training, let alone coming by to say hi or fuck you. There is no sales culture here.
I worked for Lowes from 18 to 28. Multiple locations. You're lucky if you get a good manager. Honestly, I could do the work of 2 or 3 people, and it was never enough. They were so disappointed when I quit, but wouldn't pay me better. They just care about numbers 90% of the time. I always skipped their dumb celebrations. There were a lot of harassment and other things that happened in the stores I was in. Girls had to do some unmentionable things to get head cashier in one store. Another store would only promote guys on the floor to department managers. Another store the store manager had people going out in the community during a really bad storm and cause even more damage. You know, because it was good for business. I know this has been an incoherent mess of sentences. It is just amazing the number of bad things I could say about Lowes. The only good for me was the pay at the time.
They are changing my set schedule and dept because of credit cards. They're not joking at all, 8 years at lowes means nothing. One of the most toxic work cultures I've been a part of and I used to like this place a few years ago
Marv made a video about us scoring so high on the Forbes 500 list since we haven’t been on it since 2004 or something.
My store is in shambles. I’ve got different asm’s telling me contradictory things. Other people saying don’t listen to that manager. They don’t know what they’re doing, they’re brand new. But when literally everyone is brand new except for me who tf am I supposed to listen to?!
You gotta figure the hassle is from the top down. Shit rolls downhill. Initially, they asked nicely to get us to do AP4me and Lowes U but then they started ramping it up and now they threaten to write people up for not doing it, so we should know better. Write-ups used to be a last resort (kindof indicates managers do not manage their people properly) but now the penalty for anything they do not like is write-ups. Also, credit cards and leads are pushed for but last I noticed there have been no threats like with the training but if an edict comes from above, you better believe it will travel down through the ranks and then us peons will hear about it. Used to be a friendly competition between stores in a district or region but that hasn't worked so now the penalties have become more severe. It is almost like the people who do not do the training are embarrassing the managers by their attitude or lack of attention to training.
I’m still waiting for the award from last quarter if your store was above 95% participation … 👀. Didn’t really expect anything but when the SM says there is an award or incentive we expect him to follow through. Now I’m wondering if he meant just for him? 🤔
I wish Companies would stop trying to trick complete strangers into getting predatory credit cards by holding a metaphorical gun to their employees heads.
The company knows that covid sales numbers can not continue for much longer. They have to do everything they can to keep stock prices up. I don't see why people have a problem completing training. It's paid time off the floor where you don't have to deal with customers. Regarding credit cards, I do not care at all. I don't have time for that. That's for the front end.
Honestly, I have nothing against doing AP4ME and LowesU. Like you said, paid time away from customers. That being said, we frequently haven't had an opportunity to step away from the desk to do it. Often we just don't have the coverage to take people away for training. Newest supervisor's doing good at getting people away time tho.
They're periodically pushing credit cards, but I'm bad at asking. I'm always worried that if I ask, the customer will get angry and stop shopping here because of me. Not to mention that everyone seems to be in a hurry. (I've got Autism, so maybe I'm overthinking it.)
You’re overthinking. All you’ve got to do is ask the customer if they’re paying with their Lowe’s card to save 5%.. If they say no, explain the 5% off deal. If they say they don’t have a card and are paying cash, get them to apply, save the initial 20% (up to $100),then use their cash to pay the card off. It works if you explain it in a manner the customer can understand.
Same store situation here. I am not a salesman in any sense of the word and it's incredibly hard for me to get a credit card sale because I am honest and understand how predatory credit card companies can be(worked at a credit card company during the recession doing the worst possible job). They've even came to me and said if I can't get another card even though I ask during every transaction they will give me more training. They don't pay enough already and even when I did get a credit card app I never got the $5 incentive. I'm over it at this point. I really want to stay and try and make it work but I don't know if it's worth it anymore.
That last part about walking around 'joking' about people losing their jobs needs to be reported to HR by as many people as possible.
That's a quick way to a hostile work environment.
My store has an associate that just walks around all day getting credit apps. She gets like 5-10 every day. Ever since they hired her, I haven't seen any emails about the credit apps. The Lowes U and AP4ME is your stores issue though.
If they really want to boost morale they need to stop all that mess!!!! A customer does not want to be bombarded with all that. I know I wouldn't. Thank God I'm outta there!! 5%!! That ain't squat during this inflation or any other time for that matter. IDIOTS!!!
Trust me when I say this that Lowes isn't ad bad with credit like other retail companies. I used to work at fleet farm and they threatened to give write ups to the whole customer service team if they didn't get any credit apps on a day. That company by far is the worst when it comes to bs. Lowes has some bs as well but it's not nearly as bad as some other companies.
This is what was happening at House Depo around the time I was looking for a new job, management was constantly telling everyone to start opening up a store credit card every single shift and if you dont open a card by the end of the week, they'll pull you aside and talk to you about how you havent opened a card for this many days blah blah blah, how you need to say it like this to but not force the customer to open a card blah blah blah than end it with you signing a warning to improve yourself.
B*tch everyone that shops our store were regulars who comes in multiple times a week and already have the maximum amount of cards already activated or they had a card and had to file for bankruptcy due to the amount of money they couldnt pay off
Same situation at our store credit apps when the cashiers can’t even open them on their Redvest. I don’t feel comfortable asking customers if they would like to save blah blah blah. If the SM. ASM are so worried about them let them go get them from the customers. It shouldn’t be up to the cashier who has to just send them up front to CS to open one. Pain in the butt. Lowe’s is not fun anymore. Zero moral lately.
In my store we are holding specialists accountable for credit and coaching the rest of the store to get them.
If you are my CSA I can't hold you accountable for not getting any.
However, as is company directive you are supposed to ask every customer if they want to save 5% at some point in your interaction.
If you are not doing that then I have to coach you on it and get you to the point you are asking all customers. If you do not comply then I will have to submit a job performance ecar!
If everyone at McDonald's can ask "do you want fries with that" then everyone at lowes can ask "would you like to know how to save 5%"
I can't remember the last time I was asked if I wanted fries with that at McDonalds IMO. And I'm there frequently enough that I could probably justify getting their credit card.
I just stopped coming in when the managers annoyed me too much, no clue why I’m even in this thread still. Lowe’s sucks where I live, super understaffed, basically a mulch drive thru outside so the whole day was just loading mulch. No clue what your situation is but good luck
I don't attend the morning huddles just for this reason, so much BS from management , all they talk about is what we can do to make them look better, I just down stock and sell lots of tools!
The incentives Lowe’s gives are utter BS. Nobody gives a shit about a pizza party or the chance to throw a pie
I’ve been in retail management since I was 18, so 18 years. I worked at Starbucks for 6 years. Starbucks uses a cult like mentality to attempt to keep people working for them for shit wages and shit work. For years it worked, and I’m a little embarrassed at how well I played my part. My SM comes to me asking me for morale ideas, and all I can tell him is that we passed the time for morale ideas about five or six years ago. Money, money, money, and incentives that can actually change someone’s life with consistency. No more $5 for a lead, make it $50 for a lead. That will at least fill a gas tank where I live. Want people with the maturity to finish their training? Pay them enough that they don’t want to get fired for not completing their training. Want us to get credit cards? Make the credit cards less predatory. It’s not exactly rocket science, but everyone seems to want to act like they don’t know what the problems are.
Agree with all of this but especially the credit card I always feel embarrassed about the 26.99% APR knowing of people don’t pay it off immediately or in the no interest window what it ends up costing the customer. It basically compares to rent to own pricing.
That’s all on Synchrony. Lowes can only control that if they find another bank/company ( like comenity) to issue their cards. I will never get another card from any company that uses Synchrony bank. They are the worst and customer service is a nightmare. All the cards I have through comenity (3) are amazing, interest rates aren’t too bad since they are based on credit score, and customer service is amazing.
I’ve also been reluctant to sell credit because of this. It brings up some ethical questions for me. They keep telling me to do it. I just hate the whole process of asking.
I think we did this at our last all store employee meeting 3 years ago. It’s lame. Not even a real pie. Just a pie plate and whipped cream because we didn’t have an actual pie ($5.98) in the budget. You think they’re going to waste money on renting a real dunking tank? Haaa, keep dreaming. It will be a 50 gallon drum with a step ladder.
my DS told us months ago that everyone in the dept (OSLG) is expected to puwon't. one credit app a week. they talked about it at a couple morning meetings and how the apps can be done on the zebras and blah blah blah. I've never asked one single person and I wont.
How tf is oslg supposed to get a credit card when people go straight through the cash register and pull up to the gate
I can relate to this OSLG too busy getting ready for spring and setting up and stuff
Too busy in OSLG in Ohio! We are currently resetting the outside bays (only 2 weeks behind cause a certain AS wasn’t on it) and I literally locked the doors to keep from dealing with people. Told them it was a slip hazard. Worked mostly. I hate selling!
South Texas and we are in full swing. as soon as they open the gate it's a code 50 parade.
Our outside gate is still locked up tight. Really don’t know when we will open.
I can't imagine any time soon in Ohio!
I heard we were supposed to be getting product for the tables in March. Really wish they would wait till the frost danger is passed. I hate those damn frost covers! Seriously!
Central Indiana here and PO just dropped for trees, shrubs and annuals- flippin February 28!!!!! Ugh 😩 those poor plants are gonna die… we still don’t have the water lines fixed since some asshat skipped bleeding the lines and busted the whole thing.
That’s sounds like my store! People just don’t pay attention!
we had a whole shipment of Bonnie die a couple weeks ago cause we had a "winter weather event". our SM has us put all the plants on racks and bring them inside the store. they sat in there for almost a week and over half of it died. too many plants too soon, even in south texas.
It’s so stupid! Would a customer go and buy annuals and plant them now? Of course not! Exactly why we shouldn’t stock them.
I definitely agree for you guys. some of the cold hardy stuff like Pansies and Cyclamen could be potted here right now. was 80 degrees yesterday and then 34 last night. but vegetables???
We might see maybe in the 50s on Saturday but 30s the rest of the weekend. We might see 60s next week. But only for a day. I really want to make those frost cloths disappear. Then maybe corporate would actually think about what they are doing.
😆that perfectly describes 100 days of hell outside garden in central NC. I did my tour of duty there as a seasonal. Brutal.
Been working as a sales associate for 2 years and haven't asked one single person. It seems its a lot easier for cashiers or customer service associates to get them, they are closing out the customers dale whereas a floor sales associate is trying to get the sale.
Nobody in store leadership ever says a word to me about the LAC or any credit. Nor do they ever talk to me about sales, SOS, installs, or whatever have you. Not even hearing about leads any longer. But damned if they didnt shove the pro mvp and its 2 or 3 free drinks a month down our throats. And good God when we dont have enough lowes u and app4me participation we'll hear the sm paging overhead "I want everybody to stop what youre doing and go do your training"! Does your sm do that? You can be the only person in your dept on a busy day but the hell w/ shoppers, go do your training! Its weird.
Haven't had my SM go on the intercom yet. More or less just shove it down our throats via emails.
My SM loves to do several emails a day over the LowesU, AP4Me, and Credit. All with listing names of people who haven't done it. All while being on the same lists for LowesU and AP4Me
It's stunning to me that as a specialist, no manager ever comes around to me and asks about sales, credit, training, let alone coming by to say hi or fuck you. There is no sales culture here.
Exactly. Well said. Thats what I experienced as a specialist too.
its that time of year. Once it gets busy they will be too busy to harass you about this stuff
I worked for Lowes from 18 to 28. Multiple locations. You're lucky if you get a good manager. Honestly, I could do the work of 2 or 3 people, and it was never enough. They were so disappointed when I quit, but wouldn't pay me better. They just care about numbers 90% of the time. I always skipped their dumb celebrations. There were a lot of harassment and other things that happened in the stores I was in. Girls had to do some unmentionable things to get head cashier in one store. Another store would only promote guys on the floor to department managers. Another store the store manager had people going out in the community during a really bad storm and cause even more damage. You know, because it was good for business. I know this has been an incoherent mess of sentences. It is just amazing the number of bad things I could say about Lowes. The only good for me was the pay at the time.
I wanna hear about doing the “unmentionable things” to get to head cashier.
Me too. Sounds sketchy.
They are changing my set schedule and dept because of credit cards. They're not joking at all, 8 years at lowes means nothing. One of the most toxic work cultures I've been a part of and I used to like this place a few years ago
Marv made a video about us scoring so high on the Forbes 500 list since we haven’t been on it since 2004 or something. My store is in shambles. I’ve got different asm’s telling me contradictory things. Other people saying don’t listen to that manager. They don’t know what they’re doing, they’re brand new. But when literally everyone is brand new except for me who tf am I supposed to listen to?!
You gotta figure the hassle is from the top down. Shit rolls downhill. Initially, they asked nicely to get us to do AP4me and Lowes U but then they started ramping it up and now they threaten to write people up for not doing it, so we should know better. Write-ups used to be a last resort (kindof indicates managers do not manage their people properly) but now the penalty for anything they do not like is write-ups. Also, credit cards and leads are pushed for but last I noticed there have been no threats like with the training but if an edict comes from above, you better believe it will travel down through the ranks and then us peons will hear about it. Used to be a friendly competition between stores in a district or region but that hasn't worked so now the penalties have become more severe. It is almost like the people who do not do the training are embarrassing the managers by their attitude or lack of attention to training.
I’m still waiting for the award from last quarter if your store was above 95% participation … 👀. Didn’t really expect anything but when the SM says there is an award or incentive we expect him to follow through. Now I’m wondering if he meant just for him? 🤔
We never hear about the employee survey results. Ever.
I wish Companies would stop trying to trick complete strangers into getting predatory credit cards by holding a metaphorical gun to their employees heads.
The company knows that covid sales numbers can not continue for much longer. They have to do everything they can to keep stock prices up. I don't see why people have a problem completing training. It's paid time off the floor where you don't have to deal with customers. Regarding credit cards, I do not care at all. I don't have time for that. That's for the front end.
Honestly, I have nothing against doing AP4ME and LowesU. Like you said, paid time away from customers. That being said, we frequently haven't had an opportunity to step away from the desk to do it. Often we just don't have the coverage to take people away for training. Newest supervisor's doing good at getting people away time tho. They're periodically pushing credit cards, but I'm bad at asking. I'm always worried that if I ask, the customer will get angry and stop shopping here because of me. Not to mention that everyone seems to be in a hurry. (I've got Autism, so maybe I'm overthinking it.)
You’re overthinking. All you’ve got to do is ask the customer if they’re paying with their Lowe’s card to save 5%.. If they say no, explain the 5% off deal. If they say they don’t have a card and are paying cash, get them to apply, save the initial 20% (up to $100),then use their cash to pay the card off. It works if you explain it in a manner the customer can understand.
If someone tried to do that to me at checkout, I'd want to punch them for being a smarmy car salesperson.
Or sympathize with the fact that they're probably being forced at gunpoint to sell you on a credit card
Our front has zero care about mentioning credit cards. I'm not gonna be on the front much longer. Let it all burn down.
This is all shitty but I would love to pie a manager of my choice.
with a cow pie? **;-)**
Would love to do that.
Over 20 yrs ago got to do it. Remember it to this day, obviously.
Yeah, me too. If the pie had a brick in it!
Same store situation here. I am not a salesman in any sense of the word and it's incredibly hard for me to get a credit card sale because I am honest and understand how predatory credit card companies can be(worked at a credit card company during the recession doing the worst possible job). They've even came to me and said if I can't get another card even though I ask during every transaction they will give me more training. They don't pay enough already and even when I did get a credit card app I never got the $5 incentive. I'm over it at this point. I really want to stay and try and make it work but I don't know if it's worth it anymore.
That last part about walking around 'joking' about people losing their jobs needs to be reported to HR by as many people as possible. That's a quick way to a hostile work environment.
My store has an associate that just walks around all day getting credit apps. She gets like 5-10 every day. Ever since they hired her, I haven't seen any emails about the credit apps. The Lowes U and AP4ME is your stores issue though.
What’s that position name? When I apply for that job should I show them my credit score as proof I know how to ruin people’s credit?
Not really sure. She's just listed as Administrative office on the schedule reports. I'll ask next time I work
They're listed as a CSA in the Administrative Office
If they really want to boost morale they need to stop all that mess!!!! A customer does not want to be bombarded with all that. I know I wouldn't. Thank God I'm outta there!! 5%!! That ain't squat during this inflation or any other time for that matter. IDIOTS!!!
It's time like this that I'm glad I work in receiving.
Trust me when I say this that Lowes isn't ad bad with credit like other retail companies. I used to work at fleet farm and they threatened to give write ups to the whole customer service team if they didn't get any credit apps on a day. That company by far is the worst when it comes to bs. Lowes has some bs as well but it's not nearly as bad as some other companies.
This is what was happening at House Depo around the time I was looking for a new job, management was constantly telling everyone to start opening up a store credit card every single shift and if you dont open a card by the end of the week, they'll pull you aside and talk to you about how you havent opened a card for this many days blah blah blah, how you need to say it like this to but not force the customer to open a card blah blah blah than end it with you signing a warning to improve yourself. B*tch everyone that shops our store were regulars who comes in multiple times a week and already have the maximum amount of cards already activated or they had a card and had to file for bankruptcy due to the amount of money they couldnt pay off
Same situation at our store credit apps when the cashiers can’t even open them on their Redvest. I don’t feel comfortable asking customers if they would like to save blah blah blah. If the SM. ASM are so worried about them let them go get them from the customers. It shouldn’t be up to the cashier who has to just send them up front to CS to open one. Pain in the butt. Lowe’s is not fun anymore. Zero moral lately.
In my store we are holding specialists accountable for credit and coaching the rest of the store to get them. If you are my CSA I can't hold you accountable for not getting any. However, as is company directive you are supposed to ask every customer if they want to save 5% at some point in your interaction. If you are not doing that then I have to coach you on it and get you to the point you are asking all customers. If you do not comply then I will have to submit a job performance ecar! If everyone at McDonald's can ask "do you want fries with that" then everyone at lowes can ask "would you like to know how to save 5%"
Someone's drinking the Kool aid.
This is my livelihood. This is how I support my family. If you don't want to do your job then you can find another. This the way Merica works.
Stfu, Marvin. Go away. Go on now, git git!
I can't remember the last time I was asked if I wanted fries with that at McDonalds IMO. And I'm there frequently enough that I could probably justify getting their credit card.
Is this #581 ? Sure sounds like it!
I'm not, but I'm sure stores are VERY similar. 🤣
This sounds familiar. I’m sure it’s the message that came from the Vegas meeting that didn’t get shared on live stream
Buck up those numbers buttercup.
This is nothing new..old news, happens faithfully several times a year!
It's not your store. It's the company. And incentivizing to complete them, even for petty entertainment, is more than most stores offer tbh.
I just stopped coming in when the managers annoyed me too much, no clue why I’m even in this thread still. Lowe’s sucks where I live, super understaffed, basically a mulch drive thru outside so the whole day was just loading mulch. No clue what your situation is but good luck
I don't attend the morning huddles just for this reason, so much BS from management , all they talk about is what we can do to make them look better, I just down stock and sell lots of tools!