Our SM has ordered us not to post on here or to reveal any company info anywhere, including on the private Facebook group pages. This is anonymous and I feel totally safe posting here. I only write the truth.
What do you all think?
14 replies (most recent on top)
I get that. Every one thinks their an “expert”, watching a YouTube video or reading something online. This osmosis has become the norm in this instant gratification world.
Working the floor with a commission for clothing sales at Macy's used to be a respectable full job that let you retire with a fat commission too. No one thinks bookseller knowledge is better than Amazon Reviews and GoodReads.
Wow 407 views and only 12 comments? We can do better than that, no? I need to read more dirt on this sleazy company.
Why do you need read dirt on a washed up comapny? If you are a current employee stop wasting your time on old gossip and get your resume together. Get a real job at a better company with great management like so many of the former employees. If you are a former employee...yikes, what are you thirteen? Go watch Gossip Girl if you want "dirt".
BN used to be a prestigious job. Booksellers knew their books. Now? Part time bodies that can barely shelve books correctly. ( at least in my store) Get rid of the full timers and replace with minimum wage employees. You DO get what you pay for !
The decision to stay isn't BN screwing you, and if you don't like what you know is a risky job with low pay that requires virtually no skill, it's you screwing yourself.
Truth !
Any id–t can do this job.
Barnes and Nobles is losing money, and has been for years. BN has to pay for store leases, electricity. Amazon does not. BN has to pay a lot of overhead for people to clean the bathroom, wipe the floors, and comply with all sorts of business retail regulation. Amazon does not. BN has to pay cashiers. Amazon's cashier is a computer program that requires no salary and no health insurance. BN has to receive and stock inventory. Amazon does this mostly with robots.
The fact of the matter is that books sell themselves, and primarily through word of mouth in Amazon reviews. The new ownership rightly cut as much middle management as it could. ObamaCare ensures that no one but management gets a full time job, because 30 hours a week requires health insurance, and just like every business predicted, the whole retail nation replaced full time jobs with part time ones. The only thing to do is to make BN as Amazon like as possible, and hope that giving people a coffee shop and comfortable chairs will generate enough sales to cover the costs of all this overhead, which means employees. And many people don't want to do that in Covid. BN will NEVER undercut Amazon as long as it has to pay for buildings and employees. And the fact of the matter is that even Amazon's book sales, both print and digital have been in freefall for years. Even libraries are places where people primarily don't check out books anymore, and the product is free.
It doesn't take much to run a profitable bookstore. A small space of curated books, a tiny lease, and a single person who will buy books, receive them from UPS, run the register, and clean the bathrooms. And you have to have a captive audience, like college students which BN wisely split off as Barnes and Nobles education, or perhaps you run a comics and anime shop that has a gaming room on the side, attached to the local college. Perhaps you have book fairs at daycares. BN today is just a showroom where you happen to be able to buy books, and the CEO is doing exactly what could be done, a model that was successfully pursued in the UK. But the UK doesn't have big box stores, and is a lot more population dense.
Profitability is sustainability. What could you do differently that would turn the company around? What can you do differently that would make your individual local store profitable. A lot of management functions have been transferred to the local stores, and it's for each store to sink or swim. None of you know any better, and if you did, you wouldn't be working retail at Barnes & Noble.
At the end of the day, the value of the work that you do and the knowledge you possess isn't worth as much as a software algorithm. With all the monkeys that BN has on its back, it probably couldn't stay in business even if all the employees were volunteers, because Big Box bookstores are a 20th century relic. Never confuse credentials with marketable skills. Iinstead of kvetching with the mentality of a victim for a job that can literally be done by pregnant high school dropouts, find a position that actually has a future. The decision to stay isn't BN screwing you, and if you don't like what you know is a risky job with low pay that requires virtually no skill, it's you screwing yourself.
Wow 407 views and only 12 comments? We can do better than that, no? I need to read more dirt on this sleazy company.
You can get fired/demoted/ transferred for incompetence and s-xual harassment but if you lick the right boots you will still get promoted! Way to go B&N, another incompetent manager sinking another ship!
Our store manager told us not to send customer receipts with ship from store orders because “stamps are expensive” hahahahhahahaha. This place is trash.
Yes !
Image is everything. And now that the public has found Amazon & other places. They realize they don’t have to put up with poor customer service. And, for the past couple of years not seeing their helpful, knowledgeable Booksellers, they know what a Shi**y company they are.
No doubt their “loyal” customers will return for the liquidation sale .
I would keep posting & I would be discreet about it. Just don't get caught talking about the site at work & don't get caught with your phone out, during work hours, either reading the site or posting on it.
They can legally warn you or terminate you for not doing work while on the clock. Just don't give them any excuse to do that to you.
Lastly, BN wants to control what employees know. They don't want you to disrupt whatever business they have left. They certainly don't want you to jump ship until you're they're ready to cut you loose.
And, they want tight control over public perception, so they will lie through their teeth up until BN's end. Image is everything.
Yeah, say what ever you want on or off the clock. It is your opinion and your right to say such things. If they fire you, be glad you no longer work for them or sue them and make them hurt. They deserve every horrible thing to happen to them. Down with BN, Daunt, RIggio.
They don’t want the truth out there. They’re in denial that people no longer think of them as having their once excellent reputation . They know the truth ,from sites like this, Indeed reviews, FB reviews, etc.
In a social media world they think they can control and spin the content. WRONG !
You can bet if there is another layoff or any other shady way B&N will screw employees, I will be the first to post the news here!