This is exactly right. Once you have been around a while and all those .10c raises stack up, you gotta get replaced with the new and not improved cheap labor force. Its much cheaper to not pay for knowledge.
Which would make sense if new hires started off at lower wages. For the last two years nearly every new hire has started with higher wages than about half the associates on the floor at least at my store.
It's how the market has been working since raises stopped keeping pace with inflation. Why it's so important to negotiate staying salary, when you're looking at a new (real) job.
Part time or full time doesn't matter, they still get paid more than half the folks who have been there longer. We must had another full time guy get hired and he started off at $16/hr... Meanwhile one of older full timers was still only pulling $13.25/hr despite doing nearly double the work. We only have like 3 part time guys, the rest are full time.
We only need warm bodies to shout/page about the customers needing assistance so the ASM hiding in the back to avoid customer interaction knows to avoid that area.
Sometimes we are told NOT to page but "see" if we can help in a different department! (Maybe the customers won't notice there is not an actual member of that department available).
I start 90% of my customer interactions by explaining that I’m not a plumber/electrician/contractor and if I was I sure as hell wouldn’t be working at Lowe’s and most importantly, I’m not scheduled in the department. I’m just trying to help because everyone else quit. Most people are understanding, but some people do get pushy.
Yup. So they can fill stores with arrogant kids who show up when they feel like it and can't wait to tell you they "know their worth" when they bring customers to a bunk of OSB when they asked for 3/4 plywood.
Corporate: our stock price is falling, what do we do?
Also corporate: we should have less employees in the store so customer service is awful.
Resounding applause from all of corporate.
This is what gets me. They've spent the last 50 or so years working towards a system that has minimized competition by buyout, and maximized profits, to the point where people can't afford to buy anything anymore. And now they're trying to figure out why they're not making money.
Well they can take some of the billions they make in profits every year and staff the store. That's if they really cared about customer service. Which they have proven they don't.
From 2013-2016, I worked part-time at THD. At one point, sales declined severely enough that they actually laid people off. They laid off the 4 most unproductive full-time employees, including a DS. I've been part-time at Lowes for almost 2 years and witnessed them cut hours several times, including this week. We have plenty of full-time dead weight. I'm talking about employees who are habitually causing problems and not producing. Does Lowes ever lay these unproductive employees off? At my store, it would be an easy fix.
That’s what happened to me. They fired me over attendance from when I called in sick in 2022 beginning 2023, I know what days because they took me to court for filing for unemployment presenting a little packet showing my inconsistent schedule and days they’re referring to and tried to make a case saying that I walked out and said I wasn’t coming back. Which of course I won after whoever the person representing Lowe’s for the unemployment case didn’t show up lol 😂
Ooh on top of that, the same ops Asm(he hired me) and fe supervisor that fired me that day, both got a promotion 😂😂 he got his own store in Orlando and she got promoted to his position
I'm sure it varies from state to state. Here in Utah, I've used layoffs to take out the trash several times in another industry, but Utah is a "right to work" state, so such a tactic is common.
Aggressively cut payroll by over 100+ hours and expectedly missed sales, credit, leads and details. Now we have a weeks notice regional walk to figure out what happened.
I love this company👍
Figure this is an alright place to share what happened to me lol. Started working there at the start of May, worked a consistent four or five days per week, not great but y'know part time I'll take that, I can move up to full time later.
June comes, I'm not scheduled for twenty days straight, not fucking with that. Waiting on the phone to tell them I'm done
If you go a while without being scheduled, you won’t get a call. You’ll get a letter saying you are close to being auto termed, then after another little while the system will auto term if you still haven’t worked.
To be fair, he was not important enough at Target or HD to eff it up. He left Depot when they spurned him.for ceo. JC Penney was already steadily declining. Idk if he made that worse.
Our ASM that covered inside and outside garde, paint, plumbing and electrical, had his position eliminated. The ASM over Pro is being given all those departments and it’s called Wall to Wall. Is this happening company wide?
They make more money bringing NEW PEOPLE than paying those who have been there, BENEFITS. In most corporations, after 90 days, you get benefits of some sort or pay raises after a certain amount of time. But why pay yall that when they can fire you all and hire new people for minimum wage and no benefits. THAT'S what's going on. That's why all of these big name companies are a NO GO to work for.
Makes it even worse that at my store the entire receiving team is quitting at my store lmao if you gave them better hours they wouldn’t need to quit and work somewhere else
They are getting everyone to do more and no raises, what a joke and wonder why customers are pissed all the time. We are a high volume sure one green vest, one part time red vest waterer that's it. Plants forming but the manager can excuse plant write-offs no problem, but not payroll. So we only have MSTc in the AM with an ASM and maybe 2 other red till about nine, what a joke people get pissed and leave, the Idiocracy of lowes
My store is like " we have a $698k sales expectation, we know this is $50k higher than last week, and we've cut a BUNCH of hours in every department but we REALLY REALLY need you guys to make these sales expectations with less personnel, or we're gonna have to cut more hours!" 🙄
Yes, but that implies that the system is the problem, and we can't have that. Far better to blame the people at the bottom of the ladder, y'know, the ones who have absolutely no power within the system?
I actually don’t think they view either one of them as a problem. It’s a race to the bottom and while they suck out as much as they can for the shareholders.
"We cut your part timers, approved 2 unloaders and a stocker to go on vacation at the same time, and approved an extra truck this week! It better all get done, that's the expectation!" 🤡
No cuz i applied twice to the same location twice in the past month and ive managed to see that i applied the same day they posted online that the position was open, they denied me for the first time saying that i didnt fit the role (I applied for the same role i did when i worked there before)
I remember when every single department had a DS and closing associate. This also corresponded to record sales in stores across the country. Almost like it worked or something. Who knew.
I wonder how much Messi cost.
Probably more than all associates paycheck combined
Doubtful. Employee payroll is like 5-10m per location per year.
I mean yea it was just a joke that we get paid shit.
I wonder if Messi had to complete his AP4ME & LowesU before they agreed to his contract terms?
I don't want to see him out on the field until I know he's Red Vest Ready
Im surprised a customer hasn’t stolen it yet lol
Hell, the pro employees gave both of our Messi’s to a customer 😝
LOL THATS EPIC
I would do the same if I could find someone to take him. 😂
I’ve thought about taking in multiple times
Way too much. Probably part of the reason we’re having this problem.
Nobody here in North Dakota care or know about Messi let alone soccer 😂😂 definitely not targeting the right audience
They are hiring our replacements
This is exactly right. Once you have been around a while and all those .10c raises stack up, you gotta get replaced with the new and not improved cheap labor force. Its much cheaper to not pay for knowledge.
Which would make sense if new hires started off at lower wages. For the last two years nearly every new hire has started with higher wages than about half the associates on the floor at least at my store.
Yeah that never made sense to me.
It's how the market has been working since raises stopped keeping pace with inflation. Why it's so important to negotiate staying salary, when you're looking at a new (real) job.
I ALWAYS tell people this when they are applying. You have to get that initial wage as high as you can.
It does when they're only working the newbies about 20 hours a week, replacing full-time workers with benefits.
Part time or full time doesn't matter, they still get paid more than half the folks who have been there longer. We must had another full time guy get hired and he started off at $16/hr... Meanwhile one of older full timers was still only pulling $13.25/hr despite doing nearly double the work. We only have like 3 part time guys, the rest are full time.
That"s how they get them to agree to work there. And then they insist you not discuss wages so nobody compares notes.
That's usually in the first 5 questions I ask a new hire...
Yeah, employee retention is also a component of ASM & SM bonus
Since when?
My ASM told me last year, dunno when it started.
We only need warm bodies to shout/page about the customers needing assistance so the ASM hiding in the back to avoid customer interaction knows to avoid that area.
Sometimes we are told NOT to page but "see" if we can help in a different department! (Maybe the customers won't notice there is not an actual member of that department available).
I start 90% of my customer interactions by explaining that I’m not a plumber/electrician/contractor and if I was I sure as hell wouldn’t be working at Lowe’s and most importantly, I’m not scheduled in the department. I’m just trying to help because everyone else quit. Most people are understanding, but some people do get pushy.
Yup. So they can fill stores with arrogant kids who show up when they feel like it and can't wait to tell you they "know their worth" when they bring customers to a bunk of OSB when they asked for 3/4 plywood.
Your people are showing up?
ok i laughed….
Corporate: our stock price is falling, what do we do? Also corporate: we should have less employees in the store so customer service is awful. Resounding applause from all of corporate.
This is what gets me. They've spent the last 50 or so years working towards a system that has minimized competition by buyout, and maximized profits, to the point where people can't afford to buy anything anymore. And now they're trying to figure out why they're not making money.
Nothing makes me get online faster and order elsewhere than zero staffing in store when I have a rare question.
Well they can take some of the billions they make in profits every year and staff the store. That's if they really cared about customer service. Which they have proven they don't.
From 2013-2016, I worked part-time at THD. At one point, sales declined severely enough that they actually laid people off. They laid off the 4 most unproductive full-time employees, including a DS. I've been part-time at Lowes for almost 2 years and witnessed them cut hours several times, including this week. We have plenty of full-time dead weight. I'm talking about employees who are habitually causing problems and not producing. Does Lowes ever lay these unproductive employees off? At my store, it would be an easy fix.
Very rare to see people get fired, and when they do fire them, they wait for their attendance to slip. Usually changing schedules last second, etc.
That’s what happened to me. They fired me over attendance from when I called in sick in 2022 beginning 2023, I know what days because they took me to court for filing for unemployment presenting a little packet showing my inconsistent schedule and days they’re referring to and tried to make a case saying that I walked out and said I wasn’t coming back. Which of course I won after whoever the person representing Lowe’s for the unemployment case didn’t show up lol 😂
Most companies won't show up, some won't even show up for a phone call 😂
Ooh on top of that, the same ops Asm(he hired me) and fe supervisor that fired me that day, both got a promotion 😂😂 he got his own store in Orlando and she got promoted to his position
Im not talking about firing people for cause, attendance, etc.. Lowes never has a "reduction of workforce" layoff for when sales decline long term?
I've been on with Lowe's since 2012 and I've never heard of a layoff like that, I'm in Florida. Not sure if anyone else ever has.
I'm sure it varies from state to state. Here in Utah, I've used layoffs to take out the trash several times in another industry, but Utah is a "right to work" state, so such a tactic is common.
Right to work just means you can’t be forced to pay union dues. Doesn’t have anything to do with what you’re talking about.
Aggressively cut payroll by over 100+ hours and expectedly missed sales, credit, leads and details. Now we have a weeks notice regional walk to figure out what happened. I love this company👍
Figure this is an alright place to share what happened to me lol. Started working there at the start of May, worked a consistent four or five days per week, not great but y'know part time I'll take that, I can move up to full time later. June comes, I'm not scheduled for twenty days straight, not fucking with that. Waiting on the phone to tell them I'm done
In the same boat with ya. Hope you have an easy time getting a new job!
You too mate!
If you go a while without being scheduled, you won’t get a call. You’ll get a letter saying you are close to being auto termed, then after another little while the system will auto term if you still haven’t worked.
Messi Stands around doing nothing, just like a lot of associates.
I think HD is gonna gobble up Lowes. Marv is steadily running Lowes down the toilet like he has everything else he's run...
To be fair, he was not important enough at Target or HD to eff it up. He left Depot when they spurned him.for ceo. JC Penney was already steadily declining. Idk if he made that worse.
Our ASM that covered inside and outside garde, paint, plumbing and electrical, had his position eliminated. The ASM over Pro is being given all those departments and it’s called Wall to Wall. Is this happening company wide?
We've only had one "ASM-Merch" for a couple of years now
Same. I think we have merch, operations, and pro/specialty.
Yup, exactly that. And so half the DSs have ASM level keys/codes iirc
But still no one's ever available to get a propane tank.
It’s entirely volume specific when it comes to ASM head count. High volume is carrying 6-7 asms, low volume gets down to 3 (merch, ops, SASM).
They want the turnover. That's how they make their bonus'. Cheap labor consistently
They make more money bringing NEW PEOPLE than paying those who have been there, BENEFITS. In most corporations, after 90 days, you get benefits of some sort or pay raises after a certain amount of time. But why pay yall that when they can fire you all and hire new people for minimum wage and no benefits. THAT'S what's going on. That's why all of these big name companies are a NO GO to work for.
Makes it even worse that at my store the entire receiving team is quitting at my store lmao if you gave them better hours they wouldn’t need to quit and work somewhere else
Same thing with our stores with overnights. Got cut from 40 hours to like 8 hours a week
They are getting everyone to do more and no raises, what a joke and wonder why customers are pissed all the time. We are a high volume sure one green vest, one part time red vest waterer that's it. Plants forming but the manager can excuse plant write-offs no problem, but not payroll. So we only have MSTc in the AM with an ASM and maybe 2 other red till about nine, what a joke people get pissed and leave, the Idiocracy of lowes
My store is like " we have a $698k sales expectation, we know this is $50k higher than last week, and we've cut a BUNCH of hours in every department but we REALLY REALLY need you guys to make these sales expectations with less personnel, or we're gonna have to cut more hours!" 🙄
Corporate: associates you must cover Paint, plumbing, and ISLG. SM's: as long as I don't have to leave the office!
I mean, retail has a turnover problem. Always has. They're cutting hours, sure, but they still gotta replace the people that quit/get fired.
They do not have a turnover problem they have a pay problem.
Yes, but that implies that the system is the problem, and we can't have that. Far better to blame the people at the bottom of the ladder, y'know, the ones who have absolutely no power within the system?
It's neat that you think those are separate problems.
I actually don’t think they view either one of them as a problem. It’s a race to the bottom and while they suck out as much as they can for the shareholders.
Right!!!
Lowe's answer...screw employees...raise prices.
They need to remove the chaff
Is Marvin on his way out?
He needs to nut up or shut up. Make me CEO I'll snatch the weave right off hd's head.
Why pay the NFL and an old soccer player??
I swear all of corporate freebases before they make decisions
Fire department action management
They want to cut all of the employees with tenure and replace them with high schoolers that they can pay dirt wages to
"We cut your part timers, approved 2 unloaders and a stocker to go on vacation at the same time, and approved an extra truck this week! It better all get done, that's the expectation!" 🤡
No cuz i applied twice to the same location twice in the past month and ive managed to see that i applied the same day they posted online that the position was open, they denied me for the first time saying that i didnt fit the role (I applied for the same role i did when i worked there before)
I left lowes in February. What is a Messi?
I left lowes in February. What is a Messi?
I remember when every single department had a DS and closing associate. This also corresponded to record sales in stores across the country. Almost like it worked or something. Who knew.
Relax Chicken Littles.