It may sound little odd, but I’ve noticed among my colleagues (and former colleagues) that there are generally two groups or “two types of employees":
those who left here much earlier than planned
and those who stayed at Macy’s much longer than they thought they would.
I understand those who left earlier but not so much those who stayed here much longer than they originally intended?
7 replies (most recent on top)
Households making less than 30% of AMI are indeed considered to be "very low income", so I'd say you're spot on about those workers being employed at Macy's and the like. You also specifically mentioned middle aged women within that percentage. It would be interesting to take a deep dive of that 30% group to see how many of those women are single versus married, number of children, and educational levels. This is certainly an issue in our country. But this is only one slice of society and doesn't represent all people. The "average" person doesn't work at Macy's.
"However, I find that it takes 6 months for some to run the register."
Yikes. Registers shouldn't take 6 weeks to learn, much less 6 months. That sounds like an issue of desire and motivation. Those types of people aren't getting out of the lowest income levels until they they decide to change. Not being able to run a register for half a year? Just...no...
Stuff like that pretty much proves my point that a considerable percentage of Macy's employees are beyond help. People who want to avoid being "stuck" at Macys's will easily do so by doing the things necessary to avoid that.
And no, I'm not saying that all Macy's employees are id--ts.
In response to the posted response to the age of 32 as too old, I want to say that it shouldn't be that way, however, if you look at the CA Covid-19 Rent Relief Dashboard, you find that the largest group of approved applicants are 31-40 y/o white Non-Hispanic females with pay at / below 30% AMI. That is around $24,000 in more expensive cities. That sounds like Macy's pay. I hope this is not the new reality.
In response to the posted response to 5 years as the maximum time one should stay in a position...you might be right! Especially for low pay workers. I suppose if you are motivated you can learn most things in 2 years and you can do better selling big ticket cars or insurance. However, I find that it takes 6 months for some to run the register.If you are in a higher level position you might want to go 5 yrs. It depends on the situation. Sad!
With regard to teaching sales, at least pre-Covid-19 we spent a lot of time training and grooming people. A lot of this is by example. It also depends on the store. Some stores which had a lot of experienced people were a good place to learn selling skills. There is however a tendency for some new workers to hang behind the register and just ring. What really matters is the total dept sales and you only get great results when everyone is working as a team. A lot of different things count in actually selling something. I must admit, I don't know if this is true anymore because so many experienced people are gone. Selling cars or any big ticket item on commission can be pretty competitive. Working in a commission dept on the draw can be very competitive as well. We had people that worked in these departments go on to sell cars. (note-many commission departments don't effectively exist anymore)
The "New World Order" started more that 20 years ago during the Clinton Administration after the Cold War ended . Globalization is one facet of the "New World Order". It is in some ways similar to the Wilsonian "League of Nations" that occurred in the period after WWI and before WWII.
As far as people "ba----g on the door", I found some Macy's staffed with more people than in 2019. So there are many people that want to get their foot in the door and there are many new immigrants on the way or in the pipeline. It very well may depend on the particular store and location.
"It has become a place for your first job, a part time job while going to school (very tough if your manager isn't accommodating), a part time job for retirees, a summer job, or a training job (before 5 years you go work someone else in retail if you have a sales aptitude)."
I'm sorry, but this is terrible advice. Before 5 years? How about before 12-18 months? It's like retail lifers are only able to measure time in eons. Most jobs inside of a Macy's store are minimum wage jobs.
"This is not the old United States of America, this is the "New World Order". (Make sure to stick your arm out straight)"
Huh? If you want to change jobs it's as simple as researching the jobs you are interested and then formulating and plan to gain the skills you need. Write a good resume and network when you can. This isn't rocket science, and it certainly isn't a new world order.
Here's some better advice: don't work at Macy's at all, and even if you must, have a plan to leave not later than 2 years after starting. This advice applies specifically to people hired into non-supervisory, non-management positions. Sales floor jobs at Macy's aren't real sales jobs. They're actually cashier jobs filled by stressed out, poorly paid employees. Asking someone over and over to sign up for a credit card is not sales. Begging for email addresses and donations is not sales. This is corroborated by the fact that Macy's doesn't provide any actual sales training. New employees watch a few videos and "shadow" employees who probably haven't been working there much longer than the newbies.
I think that property and casualty insurance sales or perhaps a good car dealership would be a much better environment to gain actual sales experience. If store jobs at Macy's provided such great experience you'd have people ba----g the doors in to work there. T
My dad likes to remind of one the neighbors he had while growing up. He told me that the father in that household was actually able to provide a decent middle class lifestyle while working in a Sears store back in the 1960s. They were a family of four and they didn't really go without the stuff that they needed...that job at Sears provided very well for them. The retail field has really changed.
I will slightly disagree with the poster who said that 32 is too old for someone to turn their life around. If you said 50, I'd probably agree with you. When I worked for Macy's a couple of years ago, the 20 somethings working in the store weren't very bright. I'll give you one example: this girl was operating a vehicle without insurance...and she got into an accident. She actually went and purchased car insurance with falsified information after the car accident. Needless to say, the insurance company quickly realized what was going on and took legal action against her. It ended up costing her a ton of money in fines and legal fees. What's even better? She was actually telling everyone in the store how unfair she felt that was.
If you really want to turn your life and around and leave retail, you'll find a way to make that happen. But in order to do that, you need to have some basic understanding of how the world works. That girl working at my store probably didn't understand much of anything about how life works.
The younger hires in my stores were like that. I think that brick and mortar retail has become a race to the bottom. You aren't going to find a ton of people in this field with enough savvy to orchestrate big life changes.
In the beginning, Macy's paid (retail in general) a somewhat livable wage. This wage was very good if you had commission at a better quality store. However, over time, the situation deteriorated as workers did not receive the benefits of improved productivity. They thus could not afford to spend as much, and company profit margins suffered. Call in the bean counters. This led to cheap imports and the loss of domestic production. Price cutting followed. Eventually, benefits were cut or reduced. Pensions were eliminated. No one got a pay increase. In addition, the online business (Amazon) and stores like Walmart began eating into the business. A great recession didn't help. The rich got richer and the big got bigger. Hours went from 40 to 34. (In all fairness, Macy's can only afford to pay what it can pay. It has loans out and shareholders to take care of as well.) I noticed as the wages increased, the hours went down. 34hrs x $15= $510 = 40 x $12.75. (Hello, Does anyone work here?) If you shift to all variable and part time work, you don't have benefits to cover. Covid-19 made it easy to layoff older workers and managers with benefits. Now we have a lot of variable and part time positions. So this is where we are now. What is the path forward? It has been a big downward spiral for workers. It has become a place for your first job, a part time job while going to school (very tough if your manager isn't accommodating), a part time job for retirees, a summer job, or a training job (before 5 years you go work someone else in retail if you have a sales aptitude). As a career, it seems that there will be fewer and fewer upper level positions as the organization flattens it's reporting structure. There might be opportunities if you are in IT or Supply Chain or certain technical or marketing fields.
Getting back to your original question, many people came in when things were relatively good and for whatever reason (loyalty perhaps, enjoyed the work, lack of other opportunities, it fit with their lifestyle) stayed. For some, it might have been lack of other skills and the lack of funds to pursue other careers. Some may have started families when times were better and could not afford to take a chance and leave. Macy's hours did not make it easy to go to school (now you can do things online). Some people had other careers before Macy's and Macy's was just a job to tide things over until something better came along (for some, nothing better came along, they were already too old). keep in mind, that if you stay more than 5 years at Macy's and don't get promoted, you should leave. It gets harder and harder (due to ageism) to move up if you stay too long. If you are 22 and out of college, after five years you will be 27. You are not too old. If you are 22 and wait ten years you are 32. You are getting to be considered "old" by today's standards in many fields. The world keeps going faster and faster and schools have become like factories pumping out new graduates to take your place. This is not the old United States of America, this is the "New World Order". (Make sure to stick your arm out straight)
quit don't even bother with crupt backstabbing macys.. if your one of them managers who try to get people gone remember your next.. so it doesn't matter.. go get a real career not some sweatshop
I’m a much longer than expected. It was convenient to my home at the time. As time went on I had a good reputation and used it to stay somewhat near my home . Now after a heart attack earlier this year. Management is trying like crazy to make me go away. I’m now only staying to take care of some medical issues. Then I retire and go somewhere else till I’m 65. Their expectations of a 12 hour day everyday is to much. I have 35 years in . I think I did good for a company that doesn’t want me anymore. It used to be a Great company that you could be proud of. No your a number , and if you don’t care about you. Theirs no one else here who will