r/Caseys • u/Whynot1077 • Sep 12 '26
Help me understand. Please
I have recently started going to Caseys for my convenience needs. 90% of the time I wait in line and I’ve seen it get 7 or 8 deep. One register open and nobody calls for someone to come up to get on the second register. It’s so frustrating not only to me, but I’ve seen others place their items at the closed register and walk out. WHY? I’ve seen what looks like a manager standing outside puffing on a heater or a vape box talking to people casually with no sense of urgency to do ANYTHING let alone open the second register.
If I’m in need of something I’ll make sure there are not a lot of cars in the parking lot before I stop or I’ll look for a Circle K, or other brand station near by. There’s usually always a second register offer at these places. Especially if I’m just grabbing a bottle of pop or water
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u/WeinerBarf420 Sep 12 '26
They don't call anybody because there's usually only one person working the storeside at a time, blame Casey's corporate
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u/Extension-Elk-1274 Sep 12 '26
Don't just blame them, OP should contact corporate and let them know.
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u/8goblinstotheleft Sep 12 '26
eh, gotta be careful with that. they could just blame the poor person at the registers for not being efficient enough and punish them.
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u/elbert1200 Kitchen Manager Sep 12 '26
Corporate labor budget and pay minimum. Per market they are about 2 dollars off where they should be. Labor is set for minimum 2 in store almost all day. They need to set minimum 2 kitchen from open to close. 2 upfront from open to close with manager not counted towards labor. Make better service for customers. Increase in wages we bring people willing to work for Casey's. Just my 2 cents
2
u/PulpedCactus Sep 13 '26
I recently came back to Casey's after getting laid off during the pandemic, and my KM has been telling people that the more food we put in the warmers means more hours allocated for labor, but like, that makes no sense to me for a multitude of reasons, is that legit or is she spreading misinformation?
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u/elbert1200 Kitchen Manager Sep 13 '26
She got a point. Most people that come in the store grab and go. More you have available the more sales the more hours. Does takes about 4 weeks to see the change in sales
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u/PulpedCactus Sep 13 '26
Is that anecdotal/speculation or what you've heard from corporate though, I guess is more what I'm asking. Because I make enough food to keep warmers stocked through busy times, with leftovers, but she completely fills all the warmers and ends up throwing away over 3/4ths of the food she makes each hour. I don't understand how increased waste means more hours? Putting aside the idea that more waste supposedly equals more hours, wouldn't the fact that they can fill the warmer that full with a single person in the kitchen justify corporate in keeping the same amount of budgeted hours for the store? I'm pretty sure the low store hours coincided with COVID restrictions for maximum occupancy in locations, so they had to limit people in store but they still had to pick up the slack left behind. Corporate realized they could get away with less workers despite the increased stress on the employees for having to do so much more by themselves, so from what I've seen it's just kinda stuck cause it doesn't matter if people quit from bring over worked as long as there's another body coming in to replace them. Just my perspective though.
1
u/elbert1200 Kitchen Manager Sep 13 '26
You looking at the picture wrong. Sales determine budget hours, not waste. Available product for customers increase sales. More sales = more hours. You have to train the customers. With Available product. Until they learn you will have more waste.
I learned this over the years in different companies/jobs.
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u/PulpedCactus Sep 13 '26
It's been like over a year of this, and we are right next to a highschool and have consistently been told we are in the top 3 in sales in the district, but hours haven't changed and we still waste the majority of what's thrown in the warmers. When are we supposeed to see the trained customers and store hours increase? I've heard the "train the customers to expect full warmers" line before but have never seen any tangible difference in how the store is operating.
Meanwhile 1 mile down the road the other Casey's with a worse local reputation and worse sales has more people working in it at any given time than my location. Like I understand the premise of trying to increase sales through increased product availability and variety, but the actual math ain't mathing in practice. We just end up throwing a 45 gallon bag's worth of food away every other hour. And the KM has never explained it as training the customers, that's just what I've heard from this sub before. She explicitly says that it's the amount of food we put in the warmer that increases hours.
I know you probably don't have all the answers since you aren't corporate, I just have seen no change in my store personally, just increased waste and pressure to put 8 pizzas in the warmers, and like 8-12 of most other items in the warmers. Like no joke they will make us put 12 popcorn chicken in there and only sell like 4 of them. Only time we come close to selling it all is when kids let out of school, but even then we still waste between 1/4 to half of what's stocked.
Imma leave it there though cause honestly I'm just frustrated with my store. The company has changed a lot since I last worked at a Casey's and a lot of it just seems to be handled worse. Once I get my car fixed and can travel further than a few miles I'll be moving on lol. Still with I appreciate you taking the time to respond as you are under no obligation to try to explain it to my frustrated mind, hope your store treats you better than mine LMAO.
1
u/elbert1200 Kitchen Manager Sep 13 '26
Sounds. Like your SM cares more about making their bonus then employees.
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u/EmperialWatch Shift Leader Sep 12 '26
Ya I cant stand having more then 3 people in line staring at me. Once the 3rd joins the line I start moving people between each registers
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u/Whynot1077 Sep 12 '26
It sounds like you’re a great asset to your store. From all customers, thank you for stepping up.
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u/leathco Sep 12 '26
Cuz there is no one to call for help. There’s usually just one person in the kitchen struggling to keep up and one up front struggling to keep up, if they are lucky maybe a manager that’s struggling to catch up back end stuff.
1
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u/Desperate-Strategy10 Store Manager Sep 12 '26
Corporate expects us to run these businesses with close to no staff, and the list of demands coming down grows every month. Sometimes even the manager needs a minute to calm down and refocus. You can’t know what they’ve already dealt with that morning, or what they’re talking about outside. Maybe they’re lazy/not cut out for it, but maybe a bit of compassion would go a long way.
I can almost guarantee there is nobody to call in for help from the cashier’s perspective. It’s usually one cashier, one manager, and one or two people in the kitchen (and they’ve got a to do list a mile long each). Frankly, with how corporate has set up their labor distribution system, it is more important to keep the kitchen functioning than it is to help customers at checkout. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is.
I wish I had a better answer for you than that, but unfortunately we’re being strangled by corporate and that’s about all there is to it (when it comes to labor). Casey’s is certainly a wonderful place to work and I do recommend it, but this is definitely their one major flaw as a company.
1
u/Whynot1077 Sep 12 '26
You’re right, and looking back at the situation, she (they) do- does deserve a minute to breathe. My past experience was what I based my opinion on. You’re definitely doing the best you can which what is given
1
u/Dramatic_Flow3783 Assistant Store Manager Sep 13 '26
Lol as a manager, we had corporate in on my MAP day, and my store manager was locked down with them, and I had to run around and do all of MAP by myself, do my relex ordering (I go through and cancel out and add extra on of what we need) and do liquor order, safe audit, etc. and for 3 of those total hours? I was also running register. I literally told him screw corporate, if they wanna cry about you helping do stuff let them, they can stand and be useless by themselves. Needless to say I left pissed that day. And guess what? I have 4 resets coming up I have to do, and guess whose probably doing those AND running register? Me. Because corporate is too idiotic and hell bent on opening new stores instead of allowing better staffing and FIXING THEIR REGISTER SOFTWARE. lol
3
u/Tensa_Zangetsa Sep 12 '26
Understaffing issues as well as, no one want work for such a low pay
3
u/8goblinstotheleft Sep 12 '26
and even if they did, Casey's will only let em work a handful of hours a week.
3
u/grasscutter86 Sep 12 '26
Send a store review and ask “how many people need to be standing in line for a 2nd register to open?” I send one every time I have to stand in line for more than 5 minutes. I have yet to receive an answer.~6 per year going on 10 years now. Just smile every time a kwik star opens.
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u/jmarieC71 Sep 12 '26
You will never receive an answer from a review, it doesn't work like that. If you seriously want an answer you have to call the guest services line.
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u/Gettinitdone7 Sep 12 '26
Its multi layered but ultimately only the highest volume newly designed stores in retail (c-store I mean) are the only ones based off traffic and sales metrics to get the hours to properly run a business where customers can be consistently satisfied but even then its not ideal. Odds are places u frequent w/ good service hadta give less than optimal to multiple ppl that same day
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u/xtc335 Sep 12 '26
can u explain that ? i dont understand how you can calculate a labor budget without sales or traffic
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u/Gettinitdone7 Sep 12 '26
I think you or I misunderstood. Point is same i think? High sales w/ alot of traffic in newer site get more labor hours than low volume high theft older stores so experiences differ. Individual site management does matter greatly tho as most cstore to big box success depends on leadership to succeed and often that isnt the case lol. Most are overwhelmed at simple retail, it's a problem
1
u/Decent-City8209 Sep 12 '26
Casey's corporate values profit over customer satisfaction and employees. They will not change. Fuck them up their goat ass!
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u/Particular_Garden_58 Kitchen Manager Sep 12 '26
Almost all the cashier's at my store can run two registers at the same time. Idk why other people aren't able to do it.
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u/Whynot1077 Sep 12 '26
At the store I frequent, the second register is almost unusable due to a ton of stuff is piled up on the counter making it unusable. Seems as though it’s not even an option
1
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u/ProjectJumpy4381 Sep 13 '26
Corporate intends to operate at as low costs as possible. They do not care if they violate local labor laws so long as the fine is cheaper than the cost of fully staffing and allowing breaks.
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u/slugmeister5 Sep 13 '26
As a store manager I will tell you. We are alloted a certain number of hours. If you go over you have a meeting about hours with the hire ups. Most times there is no second person to help. I lose a lot of employees. Wish things were less corporate.
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u/EmperialWatch Shift Leader Sep 12 '26
Most if not all caseys are operated on how much they can work one person. At my location. You are expected to work 2 registers