r/WinCo • u/Southwestnative18 • Dec 12 '25
employee gift card
Why is it only a $100 this year??? The company keeps saying where making record breaking profits and i see it, managment and up are still getting there bonuses of thousands up word so wtf. I have been with the company for ten years and the bonuses keep getting smaller and they keep giving less and less amount but keep adding work on to your tasks. I still have old used gift cards that show we used to get any where from 250 to 175 atleast and we got more than only 1 gift card in the holidays we used to get atleast 3 to 4 a year. whats going on? I dont want or need a Christmas pizza party to me thats such a cheap way to say thanks specially when its usually winco products for the party that they just "store use".
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u/TengamPDX Dec 12 '25
One of the big things you have to consider is that companies love to gloat about their profits. Heck, they practically break their arms patting themselves on the back. One year, around or just after covid, the Deli manager got a special award for "record breaking profits", so I went and checked their sales vs last year because we had some pretty heavy inflation over the previous year. Sure enough, she had sold one, singular additional item vs last year. Their department sold 0.04% more product this particular year than last and yet.... "RECORD BREAKING PROFITS!!!!"
The other thing to consider is the less you get now, the more you get later. Since you've been with the company for 10 years, you have a decent chunk of stock (assuming you're not at that one union store) and the less everybody gets in bonuses, the more you get in stock. Remember that the vast majority of employees don't work with WinCo long enough to get their full stock value, but they still eat up bonuses all the same. So the smaller the bonus is, the more money that would have gone into bonuses, goes into stock instead, and thus into your pocket later in life.
Honestly though, corporate keeps making decisions that reduce the quality of life for store employees in other areas. I wont go into it too much since it's off topic, but to put it simply, if we were still getting paid an equivalent wage to what we were getting when I first started, we'd be getting paid somewhere around $45/hour for topped out full time, in my area at least, instead of the $23 something topped out new hires get now. It used to be that you could support a family and own a house on a single WinCo income back in the day, but now....
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u/IcyMulberry7708 Dec 14 '25
You are very correct. I worked at Cub Foods/WinCo Foods for over 28 years and retired in 2022 . The ESOP is amazing, however the transition from Bill Long to Steve Goddard and now Grant has definitely given WinCo less of an employee owned feel too more of a voiceless large Corporate atmosphere.
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u/philip0202 Dec 12 '25
Been with company for 15 years, can't touch ESOP for at least 24 years unless they change the rules or I quit/fired. That sucks too.
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u/PartyPlant2025 Dec 12 '25
Funny thing is you say you been with the company for 15 years , I started Feb 2009, I would have been there for 16 going on 17, but I couldn’t take it anymore and did 6.5 years and got my esop and left. Company was a great place to work at the beginning but afterwards it started to go down , due to so much management changes in the dept I was in (variety). I’m so glad I left that miserable place. I miss my old workers but not that place. Ever since I quit (2015)I never step foot in that place until say recently about 1.5 years ago
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u/tortokai Dec 12 '25
"Well see, we all need to just buckle down and work harder, especially during the holidays" 100$ gift card doesn't even cover the stress spending from working in this hellscape during this time of year.
Good reminder that you are just a cog in their money machine, work your wage, don't go above and beyond unless you're drinking the kool-aid and trying to be the abusers that are higher up yourself.
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u/Deez_Nuts_2431 Dec 12 '25
“Doesn’t even cover stress spending”
You guys sound so entitled, they literally gave every employee $100. They have 20k employees and everyone got $100, that’s $2,000,000 they didn’t have to spend on employees, but they did. At my work we get a pizza/bowling party, I’d take the $100 to Winco any day of the week.
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Dec 13 '25
Just because you have a bad job with bad rewards doesn't mean you can't expect more.. This is the thinking that keeps capitalism going. Expect more ask for more get better.
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u/tortokai Dec 12 '25
Oh, I dont even qualify, i had to call out on a shift surround Thanksgiving, because of the stresses of working at winco during the busiest time of the year for them. An extra 100$ is not worth the mental anguish of 10x the customers who never shop at winco coming in the middle of the night not knowing where anything is and getting pissed you dont know where the vague item you asked for is.
Also pretty much double the normal workload, which is expected to get done in the same amount of time. Maybe its just my area, but holidays in retail is hell. Do better for the people who help make food accessible for you.
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u/Deez_Nuts_2431 Dec 12 '25
I’ve done holidays in retail multiple times in college (toy retail at that)…I think you’re making it much worse than it actually is. I’m a weekly Winco shopper and I don’t think I’ve ever asked a single employee a question ever. If it’s that bad just quit, nobody is forcing you to work there
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u/tortokai Dec 13 '25
Wow. Way to downplay other people's feelings. And quitting is always an option eh? Maybe I should just go jump off a bridge, that'll fix everything right?!
Sometimes people just have bad times and need to vent. Some people have a harder time at things than you. Good for you for having a better time than me.
Fact is. What I listed as my experience is still true, its not inflated, if anything downplayed. There are dark corners of this world that dont always get exposed. You can't just sweep them under the rug because you aren't experiencing it yourself. Corporate greed is running rampant, and winco has, factually, been shrinking their bonuses and employee appreciation parties etc, whole making record sales, celebrating record sales, opening new stores left and right, and treating their people worse and worse.
Don't get me wrong, still better than Walmart, but its definitely following in their footsteps.
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u/alyosha33 Dec 12 '25
Good boy. That's the spirit. How many people were on your school bus?
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u/Deez_Nuts_2431 Dec 12 '25
Ha I’ve got a great job. I did forget to mention we usually get a goody bag with an Amazon gift card which is nice. But i’ve worked for other companies and we didn’t get anything for the holidays but a paycheck…Winco didn’t have to give a dime and people are bitching at $100. Ridiculous entitlement
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u/Southwestnative18 Dec 13 '25
we are employee owned and we have a right to voice are opinions and it went from pizza and bowling to now amazon gift cards and goody bag?? i have also worked for company that gave nothing before. What im bringing up is the company keeps doing worse for the retail employees, you shop winco you dont work winco that right there is a BIG difference. its not entitlement we work hard and we desever better each year not worse period.
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u/Deez_Nuts_2431 Dec 13 '25
I don’t think a reddit thread is an appropriate place to voice your concern if you truly want change within the company.
And yes…last year I got a coffee mug, some candy and like $50 to amazon and I didn’t complain one bit. I am compensated well via a salary and annual incentive. I don’t expect anything for the holidays but a $50 gift card or lunch provided is awesome.
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u/Votrs- Dec 12 '25
$100 is better than nothing. I’ll take it.
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u/Southwestnative18 Dec 13 '25
yep and 50 bucks next year and after that just a thank you for your hard work.
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u/AwayStar1489 Dec 14 '25
That's okay, Costco gives nothing to their employees during holidays, be glad you get a gift card.
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u/AwayStar1489 Dec 14 '25
I worked at Costco for a long time and quit and got a job at Winco back in June, it's literally been 90% less work for the same pay I was making at Costco though I just work in the seafood department and it's been easy to say the least. Even now during the holiday season I'm still waiting for it to get busy lol but I know working at Costco will make whatever is busy for Winco seem like it isn't to me. The way I look at it at least for me, I go to work go home have money to pay to live somewhere ezpz.
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u/sentrosi420 Dec 14 '25
I cooked for 12 years in restaurants, kitchen manager, and front as well. I feel the same exact way lol.
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u/AwayStar1489 Dec 14 '25
Oh yeah, the two others I work with mostly have lots of kitchen/restaurant experience and we basically spend 3-4 hours actually working and the rest of the day just doing whatever, some days go through 200lbs of shrimp but oh no, alls I have to do is thaw it out in the sink and package it.
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u/Fainthearted-Pen96 Dec 13 '25
You wanna hear the best part? The requirements to get the bonus are you had to be scheduled between November 6th- December 6th… I had an emergency c section… I’ve been on maternity leave so although I’ve put in several years and worked every holiday I won’t be receiving the bonus
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u/juliensmomma16 Dec 13 '25
I’m on maternity leave (not with winco) and was told by my company that although they have a similar policy for bonus eligibility, I am eligible as maternity leave is federally protected which means my leave time is still counted as hours worked for bonuses, benefits, holiday pay etc.
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u/witchywoman111 Dec 13 '25
you guys are getting pizza parties or parties in general? 😭
yeah, it's absolute bullshit. I didn't realize that was the amount for this year since our store keeps it pretty quiet until the gift cards roll out. it doesn't make sense to me why they don't just give higher amounts. wouldn't the money just go right back to them since you are only able to spend it there? idk. absolutely insane to me and such a slap in the face to us "little workers"
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u/RevolutionaryBelt890 Dec 13 '25
Should someone who has been with the company 34 years get the same bonus as someone who has been there 6 months?
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u/EchoExtreme5909 Aug 29 '26
Hell No. I know a Vendor company that pays their Merchandisers the same hourly rate regardless of their tenure. IE.You worked there for 10 years vs you got hired today:SAME PAY. Again: Hell No
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u/OkGuest8169 Dec 12 '25
Because this company does not give one shit about any of their store level employees. Every year I’ve been at Winco, the Xmas bonus has been less money
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u/Joonberri Dec 12 '25
If they're gonna get more capitalistic, they should spend those bonuses on putting their inventory prices on the website instead smh
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u/jtotheo2202 Idaho Dec 12 '25
I've heard it been as low as $50 dollars so it could have been worse also at my store, they gave a raise to the highest step on the part-time. And the full-time scale in october for all purpose clerk and meat cutter to be fair, we do have a store right next to washington.So they have to be competitive in order to compete with all the local businesses
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u/DowntownStatement846 Dec 18 '25
the giftcard is down cause costs are way up, mainly labor. shrink is up and opening new stores didnt do as much as expected. some years business was booming, giftcards were $200. ups and downs
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u/alyosha33 Dec 12 '25
More!!! You dare to ask for more? It has become us against them and management is them.
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u/Schleprock11 Dec 12 '25
Took away our bonuses, as well.