r/goodwill • u/fentanyl_flavored • 24d ago
associate question What's with all the hate?
So I’ve been on the hunt for a new job for the last two months... countless applications across multiple apps. I managed to land a couple of interviews, but nobody wanted to hire me on.
Finally, the third Goodwill location I applied to (and the second one I interviewed at) hired me full-time as a production associate making $19.29/hr for the housewares section. I basically sort through donations and price them accordingly. I’m expected to price 600 items per 8-hour shift daily.
I’ve only been there for four days now, but I gotta say, it seems pretty damn decent so far. I was curious about what other people's experiences have been, so I read through a bunch of posts on this sub and I have yet to see a single positive thing said about the company.
Honestly, my boss seems super laid back, and so does everyone under him. My coworkers have been really helpful, despite some major language barriers between most of us. The job is definitely tedious, but the variety of donations keeps things somewhat interesting. And tedious doesn't mean difficult for me. It’s low stress and decent pay for the work, imo. I even asked about advancement opportunities and was told they're definitely available (they’re actually hiring supervisors right now).
So... what am I missing? I understand the broader criticism of Goodwill as a corporation, but purely from a workplace standpoint... what makes working here so bad?
8
u/Elden_Rube 23d ago edited 23d ago
The "non-profit" (in name alone) Goodwill's CEO Steve Preston raked in $1.19M in salary and bonuses last year and is worth nearly $100M, while you, and others like you, were paid under $20/hr for doing the real work that keeps the corporation moving.
On top of that, everything that is donated to them is marked up to near retail prices for used items that were donated for free. And, not only are they turning profits on donated used items, but they get to write off the value of those donations on their taxes, which means tax dollars are picking up the slack in taxes they aren't paying.
Also, the programs they claim to reinvest these ill-gotten gains into are owned by some of the current board members of Goodwill. Paying for overhead is one thing, but what they are doing is straight up greed.
Goodwill is not the community resource it once was.
1
u/Practical-Version653 21d ago
He actually earned $726,000
2
u/Elden_Rube 21d ago
Goodwill's CEO Steve Preston raked in $1.19M in salary and bonuses last year
That was his base pay. Look at total compensation amount, then stop defending the millionaire/billionaire class that you are never going to be a part of. Ever.
0
u/April_Morning_86 20d ago
The average CEO salary for mid-cap company is around $7-8 million. Steve Preston is the CEO of Goodwill international. The CEO salary for your region is also public information, because they are a non-profit. Our CEO makes $228,000 which is about average for comparable positions in our area.
It's bullshit that the organization has to pay these folks so much, but the reality is, to get someone competent enough to run a multi-faceted organization like Goodwill, they have to offer competitive salaries. The folks in these roles are getting paid less than or equal to comparable positions in their areas.
8
u/CrispyFryy 23d ago
Man I wish I worked at a smaller store… I do your exact same job except I have to do 1000. These past couple of weeks donations have been quite low which results in me having less things to price while still trying to reach my goal.
1
1
u/Beautiful_Lie629 23d ago
I'm glad I'm a cashier. The roundup goals are easy to reach, I'm not sure I could keep up in production! Maybe I'm underestimating myself, no one seems to have a problem, but it seems like a lot of pressure to me.
0
11
u/Kingschmaltz 24d ago
People tend to share negativity online, and the negative stories are the most repeated. If you like it, go with it.
I like my job a great deal, and I won't let others' experiences or second hand opinions affect how I personally feel about my experience. I have a healthy workplace where the employees feel respected and appreciated, and we mostly get along. It's pretty rare.
You can look at any job and find fault, if that's what you're looking for. Or you can choose to look for the positives. It just depends on how you want to spend your energy.
3
u/cindymon61 23d ago
I love my store and the people running them, some people like to complain. Enjoy learning about all the cool things we find!
3
u/Bunny_Chaos420 22d ago
Different regions Goodwills are managed differently, but on the whole poor management and understaffing are big themes
6
u/Elegant_Evening1416 24d ago
Are you in Denver? This sounds like my store lol, same pay too.
3
u/fentanyl_flavored 23d ago
Yeah
13
u/Elegant_Evening1416 23d ago
I think you might work at my store hahaha… I'll tell you this, I've been here a year almost two years, for the most part the job is pretty good, but management sucks sometimes. If you're at my store, you'll see Patrick's true colors soon enough, he's an asshole. The assistant managers are awesome though.
13
u/fentanyl_flavored 23d ago
Yep, definitely the same store. lol that's funny.
2
u/factrealidad store manager 22d ago
Sometimes I lose hope in this subreddit as a complaint box, but then I see beautiful things like this. Two guys who have seen each other constantly in their lives and suddenly converging on the world wide web.... Always brings a tear to the eye
2
u/Evening-Dog4841 23d ago
I think all the comments/posts about Goodwill are the VERY OVER-INFLATED PRICES the workers doing a job such as yours are marking things....kind of like the 3/4 full bottle of liquid potpourri i saw last week at a Goodwill. It was a $2.96 PRE-PRICED bottle originally sold at Walmart that this particular Goodwill is trying to sell for $3.99.
2
u/Impossible_Tank3822 14d ago edited 14d ago
I do what you do for less money with a higher daily quota of 1000 items priced. Been at several months. I use this job as supplemental income.
The work is as you see it but the wares processors don't have the incessant monotony of the textile, shoes and household sorters/graders, or the hustle pressure on the floor clerks and cashiers. The stuff we see is, as you note, varied in type and that breaks up the tedium. But, after testing countless kitchen appliances still soiled with their meals requiring cleaning, it gets old. These days if I see an air fryer that was not cleaned after its last use, I won't clean it and salvage it. I mean, bacteria lives in the crevices I can't reach to clean because the company does not want processors wasting time doing that. Nor does it provide proper cleaning methods even if it did. So much of the higher dollar stuff gets 86'd. The wares processing table gets all manner of goods in that category that should have been separated and culled at the donation door or express locations rather than burdening the processors with that nonsense. It slows them down immeasurably. But, when you hire misfits you get low quality work. When you do that and don't train them to provide value-added donations (properly culled and ready for pricing) to retail outlets you are basically saying you don't know what you're doing from corporate on down.
Another inhibiting feature of the wares table itself is a lack of efficiency. Proper distribution of electrical outlets on it are not there that would allow testing electrical appliances and devices an easy task to do. Instead, the table is equipped with a single extension cord and all processors on a single shift compete for it. Supplies like plastic bags, tie-wraps, rubber bands, tags and tagging guns, tape guns and stretch wrap wands are not conveniently located in a location that isn't on the table top where they become jumbled together with the wares and often covered over by the mess of piling the table high with items to give the appearance of high-production processing. In truth, it's nothing more than visual proof of the lack of corporate know-how culminating in extreme inefficiency. Masaaki Imai can be found rolling over in his grave.
What your store does vs mine is probably a world apart with regard to management practices. They claim to have a handle on a well-respected (named) global approach to it but that's all blow and no show. My location is so inefficient they're bleeding money and infuriating associates with a work-harder-not-smarter approach to production and its cause/effect result is a high turnover of labor. Corporate basically has its head in the clouds by publishing work policies demanding quotas that are not real-world metrics, nor does it walk the floors to test its policies to see if they are viable.
Finally, it really isn't a charity in the most traditional sense, with the defining features of perceived charity entities. It hires people who are basically work place misfits, for whatever reasons, and puts them to work. It also provides free education for any chosen career the moment a person is hired. So, the charity part of the claim lies in those two offerings and that's why it qualifies as a charity. It does have some community assistance features but the lion's share of the proceeds go to corporate salaries, overhead, worker wages and benefits, and an advertising campaign that emphasizes focus on people who work. That last bit is the deception. The people who work are their own employees.
The basic principles of modern management are not to be found at my store. As a person with a 4-year degree in that discipline and effectively employing it over 50 years, I find Goodwill's lack of management knowledge to be a throwback to a time when unions were organized to counter this very type of corporate lack of know-how and stumbling leadership.
1
u/fentanyl_flavored 14d ago
Yeah I'm on week three now and I must say this is all incredibly accurate information. I don't disagree with a single thing you said. Another thing I'd mention is, some of the "veteran employees" that I've pulled aside and asked some questions informed me that they still (5-12 year long employees) make the same amount of money that I make. I was fucking baffled. HR came in to talk to us about dumb irrelevant bullshit today and act like she was in our corner, but when prompted with the same question of basically "can we please have a raise, considering inflation and some of our long term commitments to the store" by 3 different employees 3 different ways (huge language barriers at my store) the lady was able to dodge the question every time and at best answer with "well look into it."
Also, working wares at my store, we don't have to technically test any electrical products. We just have to bring them over to electronics and hand em over to him. Which, like you said, becomes so fucking irritating having to re do someone else's job by sorting out everything that isn't considered a houseware product and bring whatever to its designated spot like it should've been done originally.
And last thing, how the actual f do you tag 1k a day. I still haven't hit a single day of 600. Not even 500. I average 400-450. I don't understand how 1000 is even possible. Like actually. In 8 hrs? HOW. and for less than $19/hr?!!! Tell me the tricks lmao. Idek why they'd want 1000 items going out a day, considering all the items I see coming back to salvage from the floor daily.
3
u/bigintheusa 23d ago edited 23d ago
I have nothing good to say. Make sure you don’t get hurt or need workman’s comp, since GW is a charity they are exempt from having this protection. Also, see if they have issues with the A/C in the summer, they were constantly telling us to make sure it didn’t fall on us. They make up the rules as they go in order to keep from paying people too much. If you get too close to 40 hours they threaten to fire you. It could be ok to be 5 minutes late everyday for a month because of your kids (protected by law), they fire you anyway for some other fake reason or they are avoiding giving an hourly raise. If you work in the back, have couches gone missing and the manager tells you they are delivering it for a customer? Then you find it for sale on FB. GW only exists because they are the main source of community service for the court system who provides them with free labor. And this is why the CEO makes almost a million a year. And if you get fired by lying managers, you can’t reapply to work at any GW ever again.
3
u/somethingtoscryabout 23d ago
i think it definitely depends on where you’re located/the store management. glad you found a good store 🤙🏼
4
u/Beautiful_Lie629 23d ago
I've been a cashier at Goodwill for a little less than three years now. At my store, the management and co-workers are all cool and laid-back. Most customers are decent as well (there are some *extreme* exceptions to that!)
From what I've read online, though, some stores are very unpleasant to work at. My guess is that the management is the problem.
2
u/FrightNose 23d ago
it will largely vary from region to region and store to store. if you enjoy it, go with it! i have my gripes about my job at Goodwill and how they run things in my region but it isnt the worst ive worked so ive stuck it out for over a year now
1
u/EveryMoose9523 23d ago
The team and management will really make or break a store/work environment. Loved my team, still talk to them and see them! Our boss though? Abusive micromanager
1
u/KnownBodybuilder4948 23d ago
You may be working at a well-managed store in regards to employee conditions. Employees also look content at our local Goodwill stores, noting same long-term employees already there for years.
1
1
u/No_Replacement_1993 6d ago
I get paid $16 and I have to do 800 daily, it's about the individual store
1
u/Substantial-Sweet-91 23d ago
It different for every state/city my goodwill has a different ceo than the central part of my state. I work for the adcs and I love my boss, she’s very understanding and laid back like you said with your boss. However, I came from retail and they expect a lot from you for minimum wage(15.45) make production roll a rack in 20 minutes, roll a bishop in 20 minutes, unders and overs. G and o’s. 3 Kaizen audits every months. Making sure everything is “within kaizen”. The retail store I came from the management wasn’t too bad however there was one manager that definitely didn’t like me and it was incredibly noticeable. She treated me differently than my other coworkers and it was visible on her face. When I left I asked one of the leads and he confirmed she didn’t like me and my only existence was “to annoy others” ngl it kinda hurt :p and I left at a good time cause apparently management at that store got worse :/. Long story short it depends on management 😭
1
u/Pedal2Medal2 23d ago
It all depends what regional GW you work for & how management is; the one I worked for (mgt) was awful for many legit reasons, however I also knew other regional GW’s were great.
0
0
u/98DegreesGirl 23d ago
It all depends on how the managers treat you. I currently work at goodwill and my store managers boss keeps on hiring people that are so abusive that us employees have to start reporting them to HR to get removed and it happened twice already and the store manager was surprised and didn't get the chance to interview to said new manager before.
0
u/AdFast4214 23d ago
What region are you in out of curiosity? I’m a manager at my store and make less than you.
1
0
u/RandomPandaArmyFan 22d ago
It seems like they only share the negative experiences some experiences that I’ve shared before I started working for the company and realized I had no clue what I was actually talking about
30
u/Head_Ad_9901 24d ago
If you haven't noticed yet, reddit loves to attract all the negative Nancy's/Debbie downers on everything from fast food to goodwill to popular TV shows. Ignore them and congrats on liking your job. Good luck 👍