Vantaggi
I have to admit that the best Pro comment I can make is in regards to my Unit Manager. She (TH), without any doubt, was the most pleasant, enjoyable and professional "boss" I have ever worked for...ever, and that speaks a great deal (I have been in the workforce for 45 years). Though new to her position, she approached every day and every thing with a positive outlook and friendly, relaxed style, able to stress importance and urgency of tasks without being dictatorial and threatening (the current day mis-management style so many companies are using). She allowed me the space (freedom) I needed to perform my duties and responsibilities, understood and respected my experience, and did not "over manage" me. What a refreshing experience in today's retail environment! Thank you (TH) for a very enjoyable working experience. I was also blessed with being able to meet, and work alongside, some very dedicated, hard-working associates that Walmart is lucky to have. Sadly, no matter what store in what market location, they go extremely unappreciated by store management as well as by Walmart. It even appears, to outsiders like me, that Walmart must be teaching this horrible style of management to their management personnel because it runs, in varying degree's, at every single location. Everyone, in today's workforce, is being asked to do more with/for less every day. Everyone is living with more and more pressures every day, which is why it is important today, more than ever before, to treat fellow workers, at every level, with respect, consistency and a touch of humanity. As a Retail Coverage Merchandiser (RCM) you are at a very entry level position. I likened it to being the ground supporting the corporate ladder. The position is designed to assist your accounts, mine being area Walmart's and Sam's Club's, in fulfilling merchandising and promotional activity of specific wholesaler's, mine being Kraft Foods and Proctor & Gamble. You are there to help the customers...your accounts...your clients...your company. Everybody wins! If the accounts would only embrace your presence, which they do not. Acosta's overall benefits package is respectable. Work-life balance in pretty good alignment. I can not speak toward opportunities for advancement because that was not my particular goal or motivation. I appreciated the opportunity to work for Acosta, it simply did not pay well enough to continue.
Svantaggi
The pay is minimal...mileage reimbursement is extremely inferior (it should be illegal)...but you do know that going in. Clients appear to, occasionally, fall into today's "micro-mis-management" style when technology provides too much information and companies don't really know what it all means, let alone, what to do with it. Decision making needs to be made out in the field, not from behind a desk. Lessons, good and bad, are better taught and learned hands-on, not in the sterile and protected environment of the office with you head stuck behind the latest electronic contraption. Hopefully, some day, someone will again realize that simplification, real education and experience can be a very successful, beneficial and profitable business model. But, by far, the greatest CON is to witness, up close and personal on an every day basis, the deteriorating, debilitating management style running rampant by large corporations to "bully" and "threaten" their employees to do what they "think" is best for their own selfish job security and future. Shame on Walmart and to all the other "followers" that have bought in to their horrible example of Human Relations. Grow a pair, stop being a follower, and learn how to lead!