My Dollar General Experience
19 February 2022
Many of you think Dollar General is a great store to shop, and it was before corporate greed at many levels took over and jacked prices up through the ceiling, hurting their customers.
But is it a good place to work?
This is my experience, better worded “nightmare”.
Back in September, my full time job then (which I will eventually write about), was not good for multiple reasons, including incredibly low pay. I am always on the hunt for a new challenge, one I could use over 40+ years of hands on business education in.
My last challenge lasted over 20 years, sadly the jobs were outsourced overseas after the company was sold to an arm of the Shanghai Government.
I saw opportunities for Assistant Managers with Dollar General, thinking that the company was halfway better than where I was, I applied.
Within days of applying, I was called up an asked to come in for an interview, 50 miles away in La Vista, Nebraska, no worries, I needed to go into Omaha anyway. District Manager, Scott did the interview. At this point in my life, I should know beyond a doubt who is lying through their teeth and who was not. Scott was spinning a good one about how great things are, and that there are some stores that are bad and others great.
Job offer was made and accepted, but not at the rate of pay noted for Assistant Manager Trainees, of $18.00 an hour, I was told it should be $16.00 an hour. Additionally, I was placed in a “Management Training Store” in Fremont, Nebraska.
Let the Nightmare on West 23rd Street Begin….
Went to do the new hire paperwork a few days later at this store, and first impression was, “what a dump it is”. Dirty, Dusty, ceiling tiles removed as the roof leaked water, stocking carts in the aisles everywhere, and the Store Manager’s attitude is “she was there” and that’s about it.
Serious changes needed to happen, but there were more issues.
Counting myself, the store has a total of six employees. Two of them really great, two should be let go, and if you count the not so great Store Manager, that total would be three.
More on that in a bit.
Training was a huge issue. Like many companies, you’ll learn the basics through Computer Based Learning (CBL’s), which are a good start, but a good amount of things you will forget before you have to do them.
Real training was, the not so good “you’ll teach yourself how to do it” method.
So if I am to be an Assistant Manager, should I not have training on how to do such things as schedules, time sheets, and everything else?
Apparently not.
I was never even given credentials to log into any of the Management tools, instead, I was stuck using the Store Manager’s credentials, and any good corporate auditor would have a fit over that.
Dollar General like every business out there that relies on deliveries had their issues. Trucks would show up whenever they show up, and usually they did at the worst time. Many times the store was single staffed, just me, when that occurred.
Another issue, any store should not be single staffed, period. You are just temping fate, If something happens, robbery, medical issue, accident, and there is no other store staff on duty.
To add to this, my previous employer had a strict rule, “if two employees were not on duty in the store, the store had to close”. This occurred more than a few times, thankfully not on my shift. I was blessed to have many of great people working under me at that store, and most of them preferred to work when I was in charge. Our Customer Service ratings were great on my shifts, not so much so on the other shifts.
Now back to my store’s staff….
Our two excellent hourly employees at this Dollar General store were great. One moved on to another part-time thing as Dollar General does not pay their part-timers enough, nor do they give them enough hours.
Our other two employees were the Store Manager’s “pets” not to mention “Key Holders”, meaning they were “persons in charge” when neither Manager was in the store..
One was totally rude to customers and other staff members, and frankly I got asked plenty of times when I was going to let him go. Well, not my call at that point. Other was basically lazy and complained about everything, and was caught asleep so many times, I stopped counting, as well as my two great part-time employees.
You would think an Assistant Manager that is told they are full time should be easily getting a full 40 hours a week. If you think that, you are wrong. Most times I did not get even 30 hours, and the persons in charge were getting more than that.
As I said, they’re her “pets”.
To get those hours, it took, more often than not, six days working, with a day off, if I was lucky.
Traveling To Other Stores
With the staff shortages Dollar General has, we tend to be asked if we are willing to travel and work in “nearby” stores.
I did this twice, once in Columbus, Nebraska, at an even worse store than mine, traveling almost 100 miles round trip, and no reimbursement for my travel time and vehicle expenses.
Second trip was shorter, to Valley, Nebraska, about a 30 mile round trip, but still no reimbursement for travel time and vehicle expenses.
By the point the Columbus trip had come and passed, and not getting even 30 hours a week most of the time, or two days off, I was already well into looking to replace this job with something else.
IT Issues, Major Ones
Store had serious IT issues as well with the cash registers. From pretty much day one, registers crashed frequently every day, credit card readers froze. Despite multiple calls to their IT Help Desk, nothing was ever done. Store was losing revenue each and every day, not to mention customers who decided to go elsewhere.
Christmas Eve alone, with one of two registers totally down, the store took at least a $3,500 to $5,000 loss in revenue from customers fed up with waiting, or unwilling to use the self checkout.
Sales plummeted further in the aftermath of the Christmas Eve disaster.
Insurance Mess Up
Company’s annual enrollment process was a pain in the keyboard, and ultimately, even after having confirmation of my enrollment being completed successfully, an issue with the health assessment, in order to get a lower premium rate, was messed up. It was reported, and when the issue was resolved, it wiped out my benefits enrollment, not to my knowledge until I checked in early January.
Of course with the insane premium cost, and less than 30 hours per week, I could not afford it anyway. My former employer had a total of 145 stores, and some other entities it ran, and insurance rates, through the same company, were substantially lower than Dollar General’s is.
End of the Line
All of these concerns were brought up in a letter left on the Store Manager’s desk, as well as letting her know, I would be out for many days due to an health issue that was aggravated by the working conditions.
Called in every scheduled day and left messages stating such too.
I was told they had no record of the letter, or my calls. On both, the “pets” probably figured out what the letter was about, and destroyed it, not to mention it is easy to erase voice mails on the store’s phone system without anyone knowing.
Dollar General’s HR Dispute Process is a Joke.
Armed with all of my documentation, it was sent in electronically, and not taken into consideration, what so ever. A totally rude person by the name of Dustin in their Corporate Office raised his voice constantly during the call.
Hey, Dustin, I have that on digital recording, and I knew when I answered by your tone of voice that your mind was made up.
Not a good thing, I was in your shoes and chair a few times in HR functions at two companies, I came into every issue with a clear mind as a neutral party, and more often than not, sided with the employee, not the company’s “line”.
I did the same when it was a customer / guest, listen and come up with a resolution that benefits all parties involved.
Bottom Line....Dollar General Is Not A Good Company, Period
Maybe it was a good company, a long, long time ago.
Today, it is not the great company started in 1939, back then there were values, and people that knew how to build great businesses, even in the depression era, that succeeded.
This company’s aggressive expansion has come with a price, the company does not care about their customers, or their employees, or how their stores are ran.
Remember the old saying in business, It’s About QUALITY, Not Quantity!
Quantity companies that have hundreds or thousands of stores, simply cannot last, look at how many big and medium store chain failures there have been in the last 50 years. Ever think K-Mart would fail?
Or Sears?
Or Woolworth’s?
Or (fill in the blank)……the list goes on and on and on.
Quality companies last the test of time.
Who Will Fail First...Dollar General or Walmart?
I was asked not long ago which would company would fail first, Dollar General or Walmart?
Most might say Walmart, but take this into consideration.
Dollar General is for the most part controlled by private equity investors, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts, and Citigroup.
Private Equity Investors, especially liberally controlled ones, only care about one thing, getting the money out of everything they have their leaches in.
Walmart is still controlled by the Walton Family, through shares hold in the family trust, plus their leaders, past and present, and associates, past and present hold shares, those groups, when combined, have controlling powers, not some private equity firm or corporate raider.
My vote for the one to fail first, based on my experience and knowledge of both companies is easy.
Dollar General will fail.
(Footnote as required under securities laws: The writer of this article, besides having intimate knowledge of both companies from being employed by such, holds a position in Walmart Inc., shares, but does not hold a position in Dollar General Stores shares. Walmart Inc., position has been held for well over 30 years, and has no plans to buy or sell any shares.)
