Do you guys work for multiple merchandising companies? I have a main merchandising job (30) hours a week and it is W-2. Thinking about picking extra work and the job I think about getting is also w-2 and not a independent contractor position. Is working 2 merchandising companies normal in this field?

I did it for awhile, but the companies were two completely different types of merchandising companies--one was clothing and the other was (still is) grocery, electronics, etc. The clothing job was very occasional work as well, but I think they lost their contracts in my area because they didn't have any work for me the last year I was with them. I think it might be hard to get your schedule worked out unless the second company is okay with you picking your jobs and making your own schedule.

I work for 3. One has a fair amount of work per week, the second is a weekly small service, the third is biweekly, 4 hours. I don't do any IC work any longer unless it is in excess of $25 per hour. I hate tax time with 10 1099's.
Smaller card companies, magazine distributors, fake flower merchandising all come to mind. You don't want to get hooked into a huge reset with the major merchandising companies. They can be very demanding.
What ever you find, make sure your #1 company knows you are looking for part time work, and make sure anyone you apply with knows you have another merchandising job.

I work on a great reset team. We work till finish and most times we finish in 3-5 hours (sometimes 2hrs) and get paid the full 7 hrs and I get paid $13.25/hr. with a 30-32hr workweek. We have a lot of good team players, that make our team run smoothly.

I got a call to work with one of the major merchandising companies and they were happy to accommodate my schedule and let me choose the jobs that I want. Also they know about the mandatory blackout weeks, since the district manager that I spoke to also worked on grocery resets, and they will give me work during those weeks. Manager seemed really nice and friendly. I think this company is going to be a good fit with my main merchandising job.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2016 09:39PM by DavePi.

I used to work full time merchandising for a soda distributor but, wanted to invest more time into mystery shopping. I now only throw soda on weekends. During the week I merchandise for a beer distributor, pick the days I am willing to work and never work past noon. Today I was off at 11 AM and completed 5 shops. Both companies are W-2.

sorry for the late response - I was on vacation.

I regularly work for 3 companies doing about 20 hrs per week. The clients are all major department stores and I usually can overlap my projects in the same shopping mall or plaza to fill a day minimizing my driving. I like to end my days before 2 PM to avoid rush hours and take Fridays off. I occasionally take projects from other companies on call, especially when I know the owner and can do a favor. I often fill in with mystery shopping for lunch. I used to do more before the Acosta mass phone call firing.

I tried doing more but when the holiday rush starts up in late September my 20 hrs become 50 and I don't want to juggle any more.

Before I basically retired last year, I worked for several merchandising companies at one time...all W-2 companies. Before National Music Rack (NMR) folded a few years ago, I had worked for them for 8 years. I also worked for Premium Retail, Convergence (now called Match Converge) and News America Marketing (NAM). After NMR folded, I ended up working for The Pet Firm (acquired by Acosta several months ago). NAM & The Pet Firm gave me most of my hours, and Premium and Convergence filled in as needed. I would end up between 25-40 hrs/week total. Now I'm basically retired and do very little merchandisng, and some mystery shopping. When I worked for NAM, I had a back bedroom that looked like a mini-warehouse from all the equipment we had to have on hand!! Once I got it all cleared out, hubby & I tore up the carpet and had laminate put down...put in a small desk and chair, re-arranged the book shelves, and now it actually looks like a small office!! I don't miss all the clutter, but I enjoyed all the jobs when I had them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2016 03:55AM by guysmom.

I do, and for the last 7 years have had a mix of w-2 and IC work. I've backed off the IC because I found out the hard way that underwriters do not look fondly on it. Starting this year, just 2 W-2 jobs, plus a few IC jobs as a favor to schedulers. One of my W-2 jobs just came out with a policy of no working for other merchandising companies. As it's part time only, with no option for full time, good luck enforcing that.

I can't image trade secrets about sock plan-o-grams are being passed around by merchandisers. Why the conflict of interest clause?

In my opinion working for several companies gets you more face time with the staff in a store. Not only are they comfortable with you in their stock rooms, they put items aside for you and bring them out for you when you are there, saving you the time to go looking for it. They also ask your opinion when new products come in making it easier when you get the call to merchandise it. They also tend to clean up the products that are merchandised first because they are generally organized and it take less time.

How would merchandising companies even know if you work for a competitor?

My guess would be the sign in book? Otherwise they won't know.
I guard my toy and card POG'S with my life! There may be corporate spies. NOT!
I work for two boutique card companies. In the same stores. I told them when I was hired about the other one. No problem. If there was a conflict of interest, you would think I would be a perfect example of one. I do my best and order realistically for both, so I am not personally conflicted at all.

I currently work for 5 companies and a Gov't subcontractor and am adding a 6th next week.

I dropped a few companies (and one dropped me) and frequently reject work from some of the companies to make it all work out.

I let them know right off when they hired me that I work for several other companies so the works HAS to be somewhat flexible (minimum 1 week window for assignments), it has to be local (tired of making routes) and that I don't do large resets (even though I did end up doing a few) . Oddly enough I actually enjoy cosmetic resets.

It works but I have to be extremely organized otherwise I can mix up the jobs / stores / assignments. I frequently get sent out by two different companies to do the same exact job, just in different locations. Those are times I really have to keep the who, what and where straight.

Some companies will auto-assign you work and you have to be vigilant to reject work that will throw off your schedule (I have one that routinely assigns day long projects 40 or 50 miles away - I just message no, not available). Most will allow you to reject distant jobs but expect you to cover all assignments within your "territory" usually a 15 mile radius. Others require you to opt in for work that they post on the portal, it just all depends.

Probably the hardest part is remembering who has a strict "report the same day" policy and who allows 24 hrs or more and working with their different reporting platforms. There is definitely a learning curve but once you get into a groove and do the same stores week after week it becomes pretty easy.

Some merch companies appear to have conflicts within themselves. I have done work for battery competitors in the same week.

I have worked for more than one company in the past, but it was too hard to juggle in fourth quarter.

There are some companies that "don't play nice together" and will not allow you to work touching products that are in direct competition to brands that they handle. (This is especially true when working directly for the manufacturer.)
I know if you have a Walmart dedicated position you generally are unable to work another Walmart dedicated position. The companies don't want the stores to be confused on who you are representing. (That's the line they give anyhow)
Always be honest about working for other companies. So many of the district managers know each other you never know when your name might come up!

@cm wrote:

Some merch companies appear to have conflicts within themselves. I have done work for battery competitors in the same week.

I have worked for more than one company in the past, but it was too hard to juggle in fourth quarter.

Some manufacturers are conflicted as well. I have worked the same product in the same store in the same week for two different merchandising companies. In this case I would do one on Monday and another on Thursday/Friday. I wonder why they went with different companies since I did this over multiple weeks.

Did a cosmetic end cap today. As I was finishing up, another merchandising company rep came right behind me and scanned everything I just put out. Mine is not to question why, mine is just to make darn sure I have before and after time stamped photos to prove I did the work.

Some manufacturers are notorious for sending out a second company to check on the work from the first company. What is really fun is when you work for both companies