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More change and hardship - did anyone else read this in the Wall Street Journal today?
"Under the changes planned for April, Whole Foods’ 470 locations will no longer allow brand representatives to promote their products or check to make sure they are stocked and displayed correctly."
"One company that promotes brands in Whole Foods’ stores said it is laying off half of its employees in response to the grocer’s decision."
I wonder who promoting company is...
"Under the changes planned for April, Whole Foods’ 470 locations will no longer allow brand representatives to promote their products or check to make sure they are stocked and displayed correctly."
"One company that promotes brands in Whole Foods’ stores said it is laying off half of its employees in response to the grocer’s decision."
I wonder who promoting company is...
That will change the face of Whole Foods and they may as well change their name to Kroger2. I don't pay $6.99 for a slice of cheesecake so I can be treated like an Albertson's/Safeway or Kroger/Smiths customer is treated. I pay that for the education about the product and to know they will source local products as much as they can. They will be getting their goat cheese from China soon enough instead of the local family who's gone through the government hoops to certify their product and have the local pumpkin patch party every year. It's another shameful step toward corporate ownership of everything that is human. Ok, maybe not that far, but geeze! I'm cancelling my Amazon membership.
Me and Thomas work 4 Crossmark
Acosta is gobbling up all the good accounts but with more money comes greed!!
Don't worry guys we're all going to be toast in a few years. Walmart will have this merchandising thing down pat and they'll start their own company. RETAIL SUXS RIGHT NOW!!
Acosta is gobbling up all the good accounts but with more money comes greed!!
Don't worry guys we're all going to be toast in a few years. Walmart will have this merchandising thing down pat and they'll start their own company. RETAIL SUXS RIGHT NOW!!
Oh, I thought you meant the name of Walmart's merchandising company would be "Retail SUX" because the Australian A$$hat thought that would be a great acronym for Standatd Underlying Exponential, byahahaha hilarious
Bahahaha! I've been on the retail business for over 18 years...in one way or another... and getting to turn an old man while working in Walmart SUX!! I heard Crossmark is getting all of Advantages accounts since the partnership with Sas fell through. You guys ever worry the manufacturer is going to cut out the third partner vendors and how would we go about applying or even knowing for that matter??
Oh, did it? The Advantage/SAS fell through? W
WW. I can't imagine Crossmark being able to handle all of Advantages work, we'll see. Hiring directly would be the right thing to do, as far as I'm concerned. I've worked for manufacturer's who hired me directly and they pay more and get far better results! They would still need a marketing company, however for their commercials, pop, etc. There's definitely changes coming. Last year a basic merchandising job for Frito Lay starting pay was pretty close to $13 plus bonus', bringing your end of year pay to between $15 and $17 an hour, not bad. I just say an ad the other day for the same job offering $10.50. These lower paying companies are spreading their germs. I would keep an eye on the Manufacturer's website's job board. Sign up for all the ones you're interested in and provide your email for updates in your area! HTH Pool Supplies (Arch Chemicals), Revlon and Smucker's are among the larger companies I've worked for directly and there are many small ones! Smucker's, primarily, is handled by Advantage right now but I expect that to change. Good luck to you and every merchandiser out there!
WW. I can't imagine Crossmark being able to handle all of Advantages work, we'll see. Hiring directly would be the right thing to do, as far as I'm concerned. I've worked for manufacturer's who hired me directly and they pay more and get far better results! They would still need a marketing company, however for their commercials, pop, etc. There's definitely changes coming. Last year a basic merchandising job for Frito Lay starting pay was pretty close to $13 plus bonus', bringing your end of year pay to between $15 and $17 an hour, not bad. I just say an ad the other day for the same job offering $10.50. These lower paying companies are spreading their germs. I would keep an eye on the Manufacturer's website's job board. Sign up for all the ones you're interested in and provide your email for updates in your area! HTH Pool Supplies (Arch Chemicals), Revlon and Smucker's are among the larger companies I've worked for directly and there are many small ones! Smucker's, primarily, is handled by Advantage right now but I expect that to change. Good luck to you and every merchandiser out there!
One would think after being laid off since September 9 that Acosta would stop shipments to my house of candy trays and point of sale materials to be placed in stores. These items in no way could have been "in transit" via UPS for four weeks!
No, I was WM Core, with three supercenters. The items are not the usual monthly Core supply box, but trays for Mondelez end caps.
received a phone call from a friend who works with Advantage and previously was with Acosta. Last Friday Acosta let go another 159 merchandisers and thus time there were 93 unit managers and district managers given the pink slips. Times are so hard for Acosta right now! Even many of the so-called hundreds of new hires had their employment offers taken back.
Were u busted 4 sitting in ur car? Stocking features from home instead of backroom?
There were a few people who were terminated recently because the Kraft Representatives were in the stores and were assigned to introduce themselves to the Acosta Associate assigned to that store, primarily to discuss getting the feature displays in the stores. Those Associates were not found in the stores, they were in their cars. Others were reported to be stocking in Target stores from the home to the feature displays instead of stocking from the backrooms, if they were stocking at all. Since 350 people were terminated, as you say, where are they and why aren't they talking about it in the industry? That would be a discussion that would be happening. Obviously, that's what I'm talking about.
I was not in my car. I'm one of the few who enjoyed seeing how much I could bring out from the back room and get displays built. WM has always emptied from the shelf to keep a display full or at least it is that way on my area. Customers frequently mentioned to me how empty the shelves were and I could only do so much!
Where did you hear that the Advantage/SAS deal fell apart? As far as I know it is still a go.
I know for a fact the Advantage/SAS partnership still a go.
There is no way, imho, that Advantage's marketing peeps couldnt strike some kind of a deal. It would be the end of them!
@LeslieKay111 wrote:
@Shop-et-al wrote:
I just don't think we will see much change. People will still be hired to merch Walmart if the vendor is determined to do so. My receiving department had not even heard of these new rules! Implementation will present some challenges. Walmart counts on vendors to pay to have their product merch'd because they do not hire or give enough hours to Walmart employees to properly service Walmart branded products let alone everyone elses!
*I agree with you. My receiving department didn't know anything and didn't think that it would make a difference. Walmart merch teams thru the buyers are being restricted but you can still get in thru the Marketing department at Walmart or send in a team if you are a direct supplier. (Which Wal-mart prefers anyways.) Wal-mart wants the product merchandised so that their employees don't need the hours to do it. Less payroll for Wal-mart. But I do understand the consolidation going on because there are dozens of people in the store at any given time. We sign in but no one knows where you are or what you are doing.
I guess it wouldn't surprise me if Wal-mart started their own merch teams and charged vendors to use them. But if that's the case why not charge them now and give Wal-mart employees more hours. I work for a supplier and I seldom to never see a Wal-mart manager in my area. I don't think that she gets many hours. Half her department is my company's product and that is covered. I have things still pending because I can never find someone to do the Wal-mart side of the project. I need them for pricing and shelf tags mostly.
@LeslieKay111 wrote:
I have things still pending because I can never find someone to do the Wal-mart side of the project. I need them for pricing and shelf tags mostly.
If you are a supplier, you should be able to do those things with SPARC.
Former mystery shopper, current merchandiser.
Exactly. Go get a printer from the sewing table (underneath it) and connect your sparc app to that printer and print away.
It costs $15 a year for each merchandiser. Hmmm, I wonder if AG or HM will even pay for that.
I heard from Acosta before being laid off that the company was not renewing SPARC licenses, and soon would be transitioning to the same system that WM uses, I think its called Volt?
I was hired recently by Acosta for the purple team and they wouldn't pay to certify me for SPARC. Seriously how do you work that team with out SPARC? Sorry I don't want all the managers to hate me. The Unit Manager said they "heard" something new might be coming after the new year.
beth, i know it sounds silly but you could offer to pay the $15 no way i would work in walmart without sparc
spicy1, I wouldn't either. After a week of training and realizing this I told them the job wasn't right for me. I would have drove the managers crazy without sparc and I wasn't about to do that.
@spicy1 wrote:
There were a few people who were terminated recently because the Kraft Representatives were in the stores and were assigned to introduce themselves to the Acosta Associate assigned to that store, primarily to discuss getting the feature displays in the stores. Those Associates were not found in the stores, they were in their cars. Others were reported to be stocking in Target stores from the home to the feature displays instead of stocking from the backrooms, if they were stocking at all. Since 350 people were terminated, as you say, where are they and why aren't they talking about it in the industry? That would be a discussion that would be happening. Obviously, that's what I'm talking about.
If Acosta Associates were employees and not ICs, that information is considered private and protected under HIPPA. But inquiring minds want to know.... Was there a miscommunication? Were the employees on a legitimate break? Was the car the best place to... eat lunch brought from home? Debrief? Commune with supervisors? Avoid being like those other Acostas that we read about who allegedly ran around in the stores?
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu
They are employees. What information is considered private and protected? There could only be miscommunication between their car seat and their a$$ about the best position for a four hour sit. Acosta does not give 4 hour paid breaks. Lunch, omg. There is no debrief, that is a military term adopted by some mystery shoppers and some companies. If their supervisors were there, they wouldn't be fired because they wouldn't be sitting on their a$$e$ in their car. What did they do when they were allegedly running around in the stores, I didn't hear about that?
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