I need your input.I currently run a market averaging 60,000 a week. My company has gotten very aggressive with ad items, pretty much giving the meat department away.My problem is the competition is 2 blocks away and customers are cherry picking us to death just running back and forth between stores for ad items.My personal situation is that I am selling as many ad items as a market that does 90,000 a week and it is killing my gross and now corporate has threatened to pull me. I have marketed everything to the fullest extent I even go as far as to not put ad signs up but the customers are coming in for those items.I have completely racked my brain.Save me guys give me ideas
This is only one of MANY reasons a person should never want to be a manager of any department in a grocery store in large chains. I'm speaking for my area where we're union and managers don't make much more money. $1.00 or $1.25 an hour I think. Just enough to support your cigarette habit which you should quit anyway. I don't know the money situation in your area.
Maybe in your area or in non union stores the non managers get almost nothing and managers get a lot more than that. In that case, I could see being a manager and dealing with the headaches.
Unless it would mean a huge cut in pay, my advice would be just don't worry about it. If they bust you down, it will probably be the best thing that could happen to you. It's their loss. Why should you worry about how much money the owners make when (if) they don't care about you?
Most of you are mangers and won't like my attitude. I think it's possible to be a great worker and at the same time have zero interest in managing.
I could make two lists. One with reasons to be a manager and the other with reasons to not be a manager.
The non manager list would be a lot longer.
I did have a manager who went out of his way to not sell ad items. He'd pull signs like you say you've tried. In addition to that, he'd not have certain ad items in the counter, or just a few packages. No huge deep double rows. He almost always had the best gross. This was a long time ago. Today it's not as easy to not have your signs up. That's asking for trouble.
Your right about the pay.Its only a dollar fifty more than my cutters for the headache,another thing is that they have set my gross where I cant meet my incentive for bonus.Its a catch 22 because they want me to sell less sale items but on the other hand never run out or leave it empty. They always want huge displays.Umm hello i figured it was a no brainer.Ive got a boss that says we are over trimming when he only was in my shop for five minutes all year.So I dont Ive racked my brain long enough.
bonus? WOW!! lol! they tell me i get one every week....a paycheck! lol!! maybe try putting limits as to quantities they're buying.as for worrying...don't sweat it. ain't worth it,larry's right! i'm making a buck and a half more an hour than my lead cutter and been there 12 more years...go figure
I see you have problems, been there, done that. lol
Last time this happen to me I was cutting a 28% gross profit and was told that it wasn't acceptable. that a 30%was the bottom line. the company was running a lot of meat items 10 cents over cost and you still had to trim it.
I made a cutting test on every piece of meat we cut.because the " Meat God " said the 30 % was there, I been in the business long enough to know what you need to sell something for and knew it wasn't there.
All my test showed him there was only about 26% in it and in the beef loin test we weren't getting our cost back by $2.00 SO there was no way I could cover the give aways and make a 30% gross.
In your case I think I would make a test on all ad meat items to show them they not getting the % they think they are. I would keep a record of the % made on ad lunchmeat items also.
When it come to dealing with the " Gods " you need your case in figures, talking want get it with them. PUT something in front of them they can't lie out of !!
By the way Butcherjohn, I agree with Larry, the little extra isn't worth the headaches !! Myself, I'm a Market Manager because of my wifes Bi-polar, Parkinsons and the cost of it. If she wasn't sick I would rather just be a lead cutter, most lead cutters run the market anyways and don't have to list to the " Meat Gods " B.S. !!
I think one of the best reasons to be a manager is the schedule. You get all early shifts and I guess most people think that's very important. You can get a certain day off if you need it. You don't have to request it. I HATE doing that and almost never do. It's about 10-1 the other way. Managers end up asking me for favors more than I ask them. Can you come in early? Can you change your day off? Sure. For me it's not so much that I need a certain day off. What I don't like is not knowing the always changing schedule until it's posted. I don't care what I get, I'd just like to know it a little sooner so I can make plans. People ask me if I'd like to play tennis next Tuesday. Sure, I'd like to, but I don't know if I can.
Want to get out of the business? A manager or asst manager can. With your all early shifts, you can go to night school. A regular cutter works nights and days never knowing which he/she'll get. Not possible to go to school.
This schedule thing isn't important to me. I'm single, no kids. I'll just take what I get. I all these shifts.
I've have 5 different shifts in 5 days many times. Just glad to be working at a great market.
So, for me, the writing of the schedule isn't enough incentive to be manager. For a family man/woman, it for sure can be. If you need a certain schedule, it can be worth it to be manager. If I had children, I'd like to be home for dinner with them. I'd like to write MY schedule, but I'd hate to write the department schedule.
"I can't tell you the key to success, but I can tell you the key to failure is trying to make everyone happy". I forget who said that, but that would be my downfall if I was a manger.
Hey there I just read your post and thought to myself that sounds like a Price Chopper. I checked out your profile and sure enough Im right.
I worked for Price Chopper for 15 years and managed one for about a year so I will tell you want I know. The first thing to remember is their "bonus" program is full of crap. Oh occasionally they give you a little but its alway " Oh your so close to hitting your goals ... next quarter you just need to work a little harder. " But then you still never hit your full goals. I could keep track of everything and know that my % should be right at 26 and then the numbers come back for corporate saying a 20 or 22 I never believed any of their numbers. Interestingly enough the only people that routinely recieved their full bonuses were people who were close friends of the owner or else had family that were big wigs at AWG.
So the BS at good old PC really wasn't worth it to me and I left for a good old little country store without bonuses and life is much better.
interestingly enough though after I left the meat sales have now dropped 5-10 thousand a week :)
There are a few options, but I know what you're going through, and you're likely to be screwed.
1. Sell your merchandising. Literally stand out on the case and sell people on how good the steaks are (if roasts are on ad), and for a little bit more, x steak will be better. I've found that most folks have questions, but they don't want or even care to ask. Engage them.
2. Tie-ins. If selling hamburger patties @ .99/lb., sell store brand cheese at retail via display.
3. Promote other products that gross and sell well. The frozen section is a good place to start.
4. Step down.
Seriously, I don't know how your store operates, but I have some ideas. If you're the bitch out of all the managers so the grocery manager & store director look like gold, step down. You'll never win. I know you likely have the fight in you, as most market managers do, but I've been through it, and it's not worth it. Being a lead cutter again made my life so much better. Sometimes the pocket money aspect makes you forget how much stress you can relieve, which in turn makes the others around you appreciate you more.
Our worst ad was $2.99 T-bones and $3.99 strips. In the summer. $110K/week market and only 5 cutters. Our gross for the week was about -80% with sales of almost $200K that week. Luckily, the meat gods had a plan to get us out of the rut, and they did. If they aren't behind you, you're just screwed. And I still despise cutting T-bones.
LOL
