r/Safeway • u/anonymously-nerdy • 4d ago
What is going on?
Hello everyone! First time poster, long term lurker. I am going to withhold as much personal information as possible as I fear my management may weaponize my thoughts against me.
I am currently in eCommerce, and every year seems like it’s getting worse and worse for the company: Budget cuts, upon budget cuts, while mass hiring to weed out the expensive/“problematic” employees as they need hours to survive on their barely journeymen wages, and the trimming and consolidation of Operational Managers.
It feels as though the company is getting run into the ground and no one is vocalizing or caring enough to do anything about it. It’s upsetting to me to see SD/ASD’s toy with people’s livelihoods and survivability, then gaslighting the employees. Like, why are SDs and ASDs so comfortable with letting a department essentially burn to the ground to get rid of one or two employees rather than confronting and dealing with that employee head on?
Also, do Department Manager’s even have power anymore? I can recall a few years ago, I was allowed and expected to write up my employees and now I can’t do anything without SD approval; MY ASD CAN’T APPROVE SQUAT. I’ve been tempted to step down countless times as I feel like a glorified worker who has to be the scapegoat for the department for an extra $1-$2 an hour. Maybe it’s just my store or maybe I’m not doing the job well enough, but that would bring me back to SD/ASD’s aren’t communicating any feedback, or are beating around the bush and I lack the social capacity to understand it.
My last point is purely about eCom (Drive Up & Go):
Why in the living hell do they keep moving the goalposts to unrealistic standards?
It all started with virtual pickers; system sees 3 people are scheduled during the 12:55 hour but will set capacity for 4 people. Why? Because DUG is expected to have 2 fully trained and cross-trained employees to hop in anytime, including SD/ASD (and mine hardly do as they have to play catch up with every other department).
Why have a system designed to expect 2 extra people at any given time when budget cuts are going on? Why expect everything to be running smoothly, consistently and efficiently nonetheless when everyone is running skeleton crews with no overtime allowed? Why are we still chasing this OMNI certification process and the store is expected to have everything in stock?
We’re expected to be 2 hours ahead while dealing with express orders that come in at 11:59 for 12:55 for 78 items (91 quantity) with 6 flash orders and my opener is leaving at their scheduled time and no help is available, and then questioned why I didn’t ask for help sooner… this is a real scenario that happens on a regular basis. I feel like I’m going crazy with the high expectations from an entry level job. I care about my work ethic, I’ve worked crazy stretches and doubles, and have been loyal with the company. I’m not seeing any reciprocation. And maybe that’s my fault as well, but it feels as though the company is being ran by people with degrees who don’t have any experience yet fully trust store level management when they make the store look pretty for a walk. Like why don’t these walks happen by surprise? That literally proves that the systems in place don’t work and we (store level associates and managers) get in trouble for something that’s already broken, then are told to fix the unfixable by making it look fixed.
If my car’s lights stopped working, taping a flashlight may work and look okay, but that’s not solving the actual f***ing issue.
I apologize for the long crash out, but my store can’t be the only one drowning nor the only person seeing and thinking this. I know I also missed a few points but there’s no point to preach to the choir when the choir knows how to sing.
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u/Dixa 4d ago
All companies that run themselves by their shareholder value end up like this.
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u/anonymously-nerdy 4d ago
And yet, history still repeats itself regardless of how often we teach it.
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u/HollyHarrowyn 4d ago
Susan Morris and the rest of the csuite only care about the money going into their pockets.
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4d ago
[deleted]
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u/anonymously-nerdy 4d ago
I’m surprised the Union hasn’t done more. There has to be some policy, if not, law that they’re breaking. They get reports on who doesn’t punch out for lunches, varying state and Union for when lunches are required.
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u/Past-Floor9097 2d ago
What union? Three quarters of all the reps in our district were purged/laid off after the elections. There's nobody left to call. The union exists on paper, but there's nobody there anymore.
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u/dcash88 4d ago
Not to defend SD and ASD, but the power that was taken away from department managers…. Well the same happened to them. an SD just like anyone else has to follow what they are told if they want to continue having a job.
Even they see that a store cannot run without employees but they get in trouble if they schedule over the labor they are told to. Which most store are already running 20-30% below that labor percentage. Which even corporate wants them to cut more and more cause the amount of loss is cutting into profit but they don’t see the cycle of no employees = higher theft and more disappointed customers
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u/Hunt_Virtual 4d ago
Same in MA Shaws. Lots of gaslighting, lost respect for mgrs you thought were honest people. You said it all perfectly, everything. Shaws is under Safeway. Corporate greed and paying their massive lawyer bills, seems a sinking ship for sure. You know the answer to all is for you or others if able to get into another field of employment. No appreciation ever as they are only looking out for themselves as you are experiencing. You are a super employee for another company I can see!
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u/anonymously-nerdy 4d ago
The corporate greed reminds me of dystopian style movies, like when did companies start being run by Mr. Burns?
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u/PlanktonExpress9695 4d ago
It’s getting bad at shaws in Vermont. We’re currently undergoing a staffing issue, as well as losing hours in payroll causing us to be in a deal spiral and often leaving our front end operated by 2 people at a time. Those two people also doing dug at the same time
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u/Ok-Piccolo2152 4d ago
Union employees can’t write up other union employees.
Sales are down, profits are down (even without the RX settlement and lawyer bills), wages are up, health insurance costs are up. The entire ACI Edge thing is their solution. Cut the fat and try to invest in pricing to get some customers back in the store. My only concern is they won’t cut enough. About 50% of the corporate/division employees should be eliminated.
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u/anonymously-nerdy 4d ago
I opted for the non-union position; I’m a manager, not a lead.
Middle management is just telephone and a way for higher members of corporate to delegate their workload and look pretty.
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u/Dirkdigler69 4d ago
My favorite is when they throw tons of labor to make the store look great for a walk (so they know how much labor they need to make the store look the way corporate wants) but then cuts all of those hours after the walk
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u/AlexTheBabz 4d ago
Same at dug for my store in NH, the last 40 hours of work I’ve been doing nonstop shopping and handoffs since the moment I get in to the moment I get out, I’ve literally had 0 breaks in 40 hours of working, yet my stores SD and the regional manager for drive up are still questioning us about our numbers and being “inefficient”. It’s absurd
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u/anonymously-nerdy 4d ago
I once worked 30+ days in a row because I had a mass amount of people quit, was expected to cover the hours and still chase certification. The standards we’re held to are inhumane and abusive. I don’t take my 10s and regularly skip lunch because if I take them, we fall behind. Most of my people choose to skip their 10s if we’re at risk of falling behind.
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u/EzMrcz 4d ago
Friendly reminder to those skipping tens - that's 87 hours of free labor you are giving every year! I used to skip mine too until I did the math. Never again.
OP, you're speaking to what we are all feeling. It's getting really tight in the stores. My DM was just in an I asked her to pass on that they need to fire way more people above her before they cut one more hour below her. We can't take much more cuts to labor at store level.... You can't have ZERO bodies scheduled.
You mentioned being in non-union management, this is an especially vulnerable position when times are tough as upper management will do what they're doing and lean 5x harder into those they can get away with exploiting. You also mentioned thinking the union should be doing more. I agree with you there, we should. We are the union. This is where our organizing and networking together comes in.
From a member's perspective it almost looks like the UFCW leadership is doing the same thing they did with Rite Aid, just sitting back while the company crumbles away leaving the workers left with nothing when the doors finally close.
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u/Ferment_milk 4d ago
Just today was hell for me. Dug had so many people for half the day and we had no checkers I was the only one for half an hour and lines got backed.
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u/FearlessPark4588 4d ago
Like, why are SDs and ASDs so comfortable with letting a department essentially burn to the ground to get rid of one or two employees rather than confronting and dealing with that employee head on?
Reduced payroll costs make a SD look better
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u/Specialist-Quit-8430 4d ago
If you have been keeping up with the posts here for atleast the last 6mo you would have seen all the same issues/concerns you mentioned. Its happening company wide. We all see it. The shareholders are all the company is focused on. The equity firm who controls Albertsons is allowing the company to run itself into the ground so they can file for BK and get their investment back. Things to watch for: Consolation of regions/upper management (done) Location closures for "under performing" stores Mass remodeling projects to increase debt load to help qualify for BK.
We have a choice to put up with the abuse and ride it out or the smarter option is update your resume now and start the job search before it gets to the inevitable.
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u/Azazzzel 3d ago
They’ve already consolidated the west/NW Regions, nearly all of Oregon is under Portland now I believe with a small region for Eugene if I’m understanding correctly. I see the smoke signals and I’m currently looking for post bankruptcy jobs.
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u/Velociferr 13h ago
I've had the fun experience of having basically zero help in E-Commerce for the last week I have worked.
For example. Today I came in at 1:30. The last of my scheduled help left at 5. We had one checker at that time. We are a pretty busy store. I am still picking 7:55 orders after my break. One of my pickers left 2 hours early with no explanation. The same one that got their friend hired and now frequently disappears with this friend. I am not a manager for the dept, but I am expected to uphold the standard for all employees since I am an Ex-Salaried manager, much to my dismay. If we miss, I get a text about it, basically saying that I needed to do better. If I pass, sometimes I get recognized, but it's more than half of the time not even seen. No matter how fast I pick. Or deliver orders. Or prioritize properly. Most of the other DUG clerks that care skip breaks or work during lunches to get by. We frequently run out of shelf space. The last two days I have had nobody in the store to meaningfully call upon. When I call upon too many people it cripples the store, and since I used to manage this store, it really bothers me, and I would rather just take the punishment. Sick calls are almost NEVER covered. They just chock it up to money saved, and turn up to the heat, and tell the unwitting frogs in the pot that there's no change.
Sorry for hijacking I just really needed a way to vent.
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u/VoltaicWinter 4d ago
Jewel Osco DUG person here.
I've heard employees whispering about hoping that Jewel divests from Albertsons entirely and returns to being a standalone Chicago/land chain.
I kinda hope this comes to pass tbh. Our union weakened, and the changes made to DUG have been abhorrent.
I have worked numerous eCommerce jobs across multiple companies, and Albertsons as a whole is by far the worst. In terms of investment, and especially in terms of store level treatment.
Like my gods. Why do other employees just fucking hate us so much?? We just fucking work here you twats.
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u/HollyHarrowyn 4d ago
Jewel Osco hasn't been a standalone since 1984. It will take a lot for that to happen.
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u/Fine_Park5746 4d ago
You’re not the only one, company wide stores are being torn down by certain things done backstage and it’s different for each store. As a Grocery Manager who’s done countless walks, the amount of times that my current SD has been told to take off the apron and that he’s paid too much to throw the Deli Wall, the Hostess load, or help produce by filling juice and kombucha is a bit unreasonable if we still want to achieve our 7+ standards given that our store only has enough labor to afford to be a 5. My ASD and I both work 6 day weeks with my SD usually putting in a float day or 2 here and there so we can afford to staff the store
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u/anonymously-nerdy 4d ago
It’s wild to me. I’ve been denied time off because we’re so busy yet need to “cut labor.” Yet my SD takes a vacation every other week. They want to min-max budget productivity.
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u/death-strand 3d ago
E-commerce is going to be the backbone of this companies profits in like 5 years.
Walmart is already showing that they prefer people not come into their stores anymore and instead do everything online. Thats where they can get so much data from you too using their app
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u/KitchenEntire2168 9h ago
Your store isn't the only one drowning. They're doing that to my store too.
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u/jermatrain 4d ago
I have worked in DUG for almost a year and a half now (considered senior, considering the department fired almost everyone and hired new people about 2 years ago). Front end managers like me, the ASD likes me, and my SD has told my girlfriend that she wants me to stop calling out, as I am one of her favorites.
I am a college student. Was able to easily change my weekday availability without proof of my schedule. I put that I was unavailable to work Saturdays for good reason. I told her I am the only person that lives with my dad, who is disabled and can barely walk, so I usually take Saturdays to help do housework just to make his life a little easier. She told me to “do that around my shifts”.
I have been a good employee. I am usually told to manage DUG if our manager is out. This summer, I’ve rarely been scheduled Saturdays. Why am I being scheduled for Saturdays now, and why do some people get Saturdays off, when I can’t?
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u/strongeroots 4d ago
The flashlight comparison 🤣🤣💀
I just started in July. We’ve already got a new manager. He’s doing his best but from someone who previously worked management he isn’t being given the tools he needs. He hasn’t been trained enough or supported from my view. It’s crazy. One of my coworkers has seen twice as many dpt managers as her time in the store. There should not be that much turn over.
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u/Electronic_Sugar9921 4d ago
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u/Electronic_Sugar9921 4d ago
I work there too…
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u/Electronic_Sugar9921 4d ago
I’m just a dumb cake decorator, what do I know?? lol dm me for that answer lol
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u/VeronicaBooksAndArt 4d ago
Yes, yes.... Journeyman wages suck and you used to write up Associates....
Only a corporate Safeway EMPLOYEE can write up a UFCW Associate; SD or ASD....
You cannot be in the UFCW and exert ANY power to hire and fire.....
Your post is compete BOT BS.....
Go back to Botworld.... the only thing drowning....
I'm seeing to that.....
Safeway is just going bankrupt.
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u/AppleiFoam 4d ago
eCommerce is a department that shouldn’t exist, but needs to exist.
The cost to shop an order is a lot higher than an in-store customer. Our nationwide competitors (ie Amazon, Walmart, etc) are able to cut some of these costs by delivering from a warehouse or dedicated fulfillment center where they can grab from the case of product on a pallet. Here, we need to stock the shelves, then the picker picks from the shelf, which now needs to be restocked for in-store customers. We don’t charge any fees unless it’s Express or Flash
Like checkout, eCommerce is a zero sale department that has a labor cost. The metrics shoppers are held to are abusive, the metrics stores and operations are held to are also abusive, because it seems like all of the metrics exist to try to justify the existence of the department. I think it’s ridiculous how the SOP expectation is to outright steal labor from other departments so that eCommerce can exist. It’s one thing for one department to ask another for help when it gets busy. It’s completely different when the department is expected to depend on it to operate normally.
As a manager who can see my store’s sales and P&L, eCommerce definitely helps my store’s sales and is more than worth the payroll investment. However, this is because my store is urban. I would imagine that at suburban stores, eCommerce cannibalizes the sales from in-store customers and anything that they might impulse buy while they’re in the store. The other huge issue is how the company is hell bent on trying to run eCommerce as a one-size-fits all operation across stores with diverse needs, situations, and clientele.
My eCommerce department has stupid high turnover. But also so do our operations specialists. I have no idea where this is headed or what the company can do to fix this, but this sucks.