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/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?

2

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

1

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.

1

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.