Let me get this out of the way first: I love Kroger. I think the prices are pretty damn good, the products (with the exception of Simple Truth, and some of the service deli in my specific store) are good, and almost all of my coworkers are awesome, fantastic people I'm glad to have met.
But some of the ones who have moved on - willingly or otherwise - are even better. My old store manager inspired me as no boss or leader ever has, despite being a "hard ass" to some, she was fair, and great personality, and knew what she was doing in 100% of the cases. My old FES was a wonderful person, again, totally competent, friendly, fair, and I cried actual tears when she left to go to another store. Others have simply left for other work or were actually terminated, and most I cannot say too much good about.
One thing has come to surface in my mind: there are some key, systematic problems with the Company in general, that exacerbate other issues. OSATS and Q-Vision come to mind. The old (and certainly not a Kroger-exclusive) problem of networking, nepotism and favoritism, allowing incompetence to surface and thrive, at the cost of quality. And we're forced to try and increase productivity, while our keys of customer-service fist are (necessarily) as a result sacrificed. Most of us find we're torn between two competing roles - hard and fast, or slow and quality care. This is probably because of most of our competition - there's a move to "smaller, locally grown" type markets with an emphasis on quality products and compassionate, great customer service; but there's also our big competitors with an emphasis on speed, speed, speed above all. Naturally, Kroger finds itself trying to out-compete in both arenas, despite the contradiction, and so we're kind of a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. The middle-of-the-road store you go to because we're big and thus far, well situated.
All that aside. I'm talking about me. I was a bagger for over a year. According to more than one person "in the know," and to my own general observation, probably the best one - willing to do literally anything, able to do it fast and effectively, and able to know when things need to be done and to take care of them without having to have my hand held. But I needed more money, because lolrent. And I needed a better step up, because if I ever leave Kroger, I can't be having to explain to future employers that I was only a bagger (and for so long); that's not a discussion anyone needs to have happen. So after much pleading I finally got trained as a cashier and am now... a combo clerk.
Now, in our locale, combo clerks (used to) earn at least 60 cents more an hour than maxed-out baggers, while on the register. They record their register hours and get paid at the higher rate for those hours. Making it an incentive. But, while I was becoming a combo, the local minimum wage went up 1 dollar. So, baggers now make more than the combos made on the register. Worse yet, it seems that this raise has not trickled up to combos - because the old combo rate was also below the now-raised minimum wage, it was raised as well as bagger rates, and as a result, it seems that even on the register, combos get NOTHING more than any ordinary bagger. I and other associates are talking with the Union about this, because in the old contract at least, there's a stipulation that hours "worked at a higher category" (i.e., cashiering, or GM work) are to be recorded on a special maintenance form, so that they get credit for that work at that time - except now, we don't actually get PAID more for it, making the whole practice of recording our cashiering hours (not to mention, the entire purpose of becoming a combo AT ALL) completely pointless, apparently.
But, assuming the new contract and new laws work against me (making the position of "combo clerk" entirely undesirable), I'm faced with basically one option for advancing in pay. Because again, locally, the practice is that combo clerks (even though are trained as, and work as cashiers) are never promoted directly to cashiers. No! Instead, they must go through a department for some time (i.e., six months), before they are allowed to be promoted again to full cashiers. This makes, of course, no sense whatsoever - why would any department want another worker who is ONLY there as a stepping-stone, hoping to simply do the bare minimum so as to get the hell out of there? And, furthermore, why would any cashier want to have to do work OFF the front end for months on end, JUST to become a cashier? And again - why would any bagger want to be a combo, when apparently they could just transfer to a department, and then get their cashier training, without this intermediate and apparently silly step as a combo? But, mine is not to ask questions.
My only question is this: should I just go ahead and see about transferring to a department, endure my time there, so I can go back up front and do (basically) what I'm already doing, except at non-peanut wages? If so, which department should I go for? Meat, everyone agrees, is laid-back and fun - and our Union steward is the head there. But there's also the baking ovens of the service deli, the deceptively sweet sugar of the bakery, the unhappy toil of produce, and the chaotic labor of GM work (either at night - uck! - or during the day). And if not, should I just bail on the company in general, because at least now I can (technically) claim to have had cashiering experience, which should help me out a bit as far as future employment (most likely, with Kroger competitors)? Your thoughts.
First of all that combo clerk stuff is BS. 60 cents more for the time your on the register? Thats what an hour or two?
I would say meat (cutter pays the best and a skill you can take with you), produce (don't do cut fruit), and then dairy. Avoid the service departments, bakery, seafood, and deli. I like produce the best, generally on your own, can do it your way and not have managers hassling you (at night). Not much in go backs. Dairy has to deal with the rest of grocery too, and its more stress. Freight crew can be okay, but it depends on the crew.
First of all that combo clerk stuff is BS. 60 cents more for the time your on the register? Thats what an hour or two?
I would say meat (cutter pays the best and a skill you can take with you), produce (don't do cut fruit), and then dairy. Avoid the service departments, bakery, seafood, and deli. I like produce the best, generally on your own, can do it your way and not have managers hassling you (at night). Not much in go backs. Dairy has to deal with the rest of grocery too, and its more stress. Freight crew can be okay, but it depends on the crew.
Well, 60 cents more is better than zero cents more. My time on the register winds up being most if not all of my shift, so they're getting a really sweet deal out of it... me, not so much.
Also there seems to be a spam bot in the thread for some reason.
My contract has every non-managerial position at next to minimum wage - stockers/"clerks", cashiers, deli, produce, meat, customer service, you name it. The only ways to get more money is to accumulate time and max out the pay or get promoted. That's it.
So it's confirmed, under new contract, combo clerks do not get paid a single cent more than courtesy clerks. They just get the joys of cashiering and knowing they're such a fantastic bargain for the company.
