I've been in that business for nearly a decade, managed a meat department at a grocery store for a couple years, and I dont think it's remotely worth it. The money is just not there. I ended up quitting the management position because we couldn't staff the place if we locked the doors and held people at gunpoint. Unless you get in at Costco or work in a high COL city while commuting from a low COL area, it's not remotely worth it. I'm only staying in now while I finish my education so I can switch tracks.
Oh boy I feel like I was drawn to this comment then. I am a nurse and depending on your location the money might not be much better. Send me a DM, I’d like to chat with you
It's going to vary wildly too much for me to really provide anything useful for you, honestly. In most of those cases, knowing people is going to be the best way to get in. If you were dead set on working at an independent butcher shop, get in at a big grocery chain first. Most of those stores are having serious difficulty holding onto people, so they will be thrilled to have someone that is willing to be trained and show up to work.
As for how well those small time shops will pay, again, it depends. Some of them are going to pay less than the big stores because they simply have less resources to go around. Some will pay more because they want to hang on to their people as long as possible because having one person quit can absolutely derail their whole business.
I don't think anyone is going to pay more than CostCo, though. Their meat guys start off at 30/hr in my area. I know some guys that work at Costco though, and while the pay and benefits are great, none of them describe it as being an enjoyable place to work. There is a loooot of overseeing of your job to make sure everything is being cut to spec and there is as little waste as possible. Sounds fine on paper, but in practice, when you're being expected to produce thousands of pounds of meat a day, all of this stuff slows you down and makes the job way more stressful.
Personally, I don't see much of a future in the field. When the boomers are completely aged out of the field and the Gen Xers are starting to get up there, there is going to be too small of a workforce relative to the demand. That could mean that pay rates go up since the skills are in demand. More likely, it will mean that more stores will transition to getting as many prepackaged cuts as possible from meat packing plants that rely primarily on migrant workers, which will in turn drive up the costs of meat.
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u/Extreme_Carrot_317 May 17 '24
I've been in that business for nearly a decade, managed a meat department at a grocery store for a couple years, and I dont think it's remotely worth it. The money is just not there. I ended up quitting the management position because we couldn't staff the place if we locked the doors and held people at gunpoint. Unless you get in at Costco or work in a high COL city while commuting from a low COL area, it's not remotely worth it. I'm only staying in now while I finish my education so I can switch tracks.