It's really tough to get hired at Costco. I'm looking to get out of retail completely, or else I would definitely try to jump ship.
I heard you have to know somebody who knows somebody whose "good friends with someone high up in corporate" to get a CHANCE at being hired. Well, maybe not the corporate part, but it DOES help to know someone who works at Costco. However, you can still get in and not know anyone,. It depends on how much they need people and if you fill their qualifications.
I personally know people who were fired from Kroger that were then hired on at Costco. Not exactly the best and brightest either. So, it's certainly not hard to get hired at Costco in my area. 24 hours per week is what they average.
Here's how it breaks down, whether you believe it or not, care to know it or not:
If you're long term at Kroger with all the pay and perks, just stay there. Do NOT switch teams, it's unskilled labor. You're luckier than many of you realize to have what you got.
If you're starting fresh or only been with Kroger a short time, sure. Go for the click bait of Costco or Target or any other retail competitor offering the sky, but delivering peanuts. Cause that's what they do---deliberately seduce over all the experienced help they can with promises of big wages....but then show you the real picture, which is non existent or exorbitantly priced benefits, part time hours, and / or crazy yo yo schedules you can't try to have a life with.
In summation: Stay if you're in, find something better than retail if you're not.
I'm not sure if I can be considered long term, but after working 5 years and doing my absolute best I only make $9.85 and there's no chance for full time, where I am Kroger does not want to hire full time and wants to get rid of full timers. My insurance is $22.50/week and deductible is high. I'd rather make $14.50 per hour than 9.85 with only 30 cent raises every year. It's depressing. Unskilled labor, yes. But some of us are care, take our job seriously and are killing themselves to keep customers happy and we should have merit raises, even small ones, but we don't. Depressing.
Here's how it breaks down, whether you believe it or not, care to know it or not:
If you're long term at Kroger with all the pay and perks, just stay there. Do NOT switch teams, it's unskilled labor. You're luckier than many of you realize to have what you got.
If you're starting fresh or only been with Kroger a short time, sure. Go for the click bait of Costco or Target or any other retail competitor offering the sky, but delivering peanuts. Cause that's what they do---deliberately seduce over all the experienced help they can with promises of big wages....but then show you the real picture, which is non existent or exorbitantly priced benefits, part time hours, and / or crazy yo yo schedules you can't try to have a life with.
In summation: Stay if you're in, find something better than retail if you're not.
This pretty much applies to me. Next year, I'll finally top out at $15.05 at Kroger. Yeah, it's taken a long time to get there, but I'm also full time, so I'm guaranteed forty hours a week. On top of that, my health insurance is just $4.00 a week. And on top of that, I've got a pension (that will hopefully be there for me in my later years) and I'm coming up on three years vacation + two personal days within the next couple of years. Yeah, I could probably do better, but I've pretty much got set shifts, a job that isn't too hard on the body and I've made friends (people that I've worked with and know my work ethic) with people at the district/division level if I ever should need them, so this is working for me while some investments I have (hopefully) come to fruition in the future. Yeah, I have my complaints about Kroger and sure, more money would be great, but yeah, I do think I would consider myself "lucky".
I remember when Target first opened here in my town. Somebody inside that bunch leaked a rumor that they were starting 'experienced retail workers' at 12-14/hr. Boy, you should have seen ALL the local folks from Walmart, K Mart, Kroger , and even convenience stores come running to their open house hiring party!
And that was when all those poor slobs learned the bitter truth: the starting wage was like 10. MAX.
Costco employees average $22/hr (I think top out is around $24-26). Most people I know at Costco easily pull 40 hours a week and can pull a lot of OT during the busy season. They also get insanely good healthcare, free food at the food court, free executive membership, huge discounts at their eye center, and of course the bi-annual cash bonuses which is up to 3k each . Warehouse hours are 10a to 9pm I think, which is pretty awesome for people that either open or close. They actually put enough labor on so everyone isn't overworked (Kroger deli here has 2 people around the clock, but I've seen Costco's with 5-6 people and they don't even serve customers) Kroger's just too cheap to pay its labor fair wages. Gotta keep those millions in the pockets at the top. Costco doesn't need union either since it treats its workers like humans.
Costco employees average $22/hr (I think top out is around $24-26). Most people I know at Costco easily pull 40 hours a week and can pull a lot of OT during the busy season. They also get insanely good healthcare, free food at the food court, free executive membership, huge discounts at their eye center, and of course the bi-annual cash bonuses which is up to 3k each . Warehouse hours are 10a to 9pm I think, which is pretty awesome for people that either open or close. They actually put enough labor on so everyone isn't overworked (Kroger deli here has 2 people around the clock, but I've seen Costco's with 5-6 people and they don't even serve customers) Kroger's just too cheap to pay its labor fair wages. Gotta keep those millions in the pockets at the top. Costco doesn't need union either since it treats its workers like humans.
Along with all the usual benefits of standard retail (ie holidays, vacation etc.) The reason it's so difficult to get hired is because nobody leaves. Their turnover is nonexistent, which is why their average pay is so high, everyone retains their raises unlike the revolving door of Kroger employment where everyone continues to start at the bottom with no benefits (which is their business model to make even more money off their labor) Your best bet is to know someone or pull off a miracle interview during their yearly holiday hiring season and perform well enough to keep you on (holiday season for them is early oct to early-mid jan before they let their temps go)
I tried applying for a Costco job and they didn't like the idea of me having two jobs. They lost my business for ever. They weed a lot of people out in the 90 day trial period. Ever wonder why Costco has no lazy or incompetent workers it's because they don't last long and go to Kroger or Safeway instead.
I'm not sure if I can be considered long term, but after working 5 years and doing my absolute best I only make $9.85 and there's no chance for full time, where I am Kroger does not want to hire full time and wants to get rid of full timers. My insurance is $22.50/week and deductible is high. I'd rather make $14.50 per hour than 9.85 with only 30 cent raises every year. It's depressing. Unskilled labor, yes. But some of us are care, take our job seriously and are killing themselves to keep customers happy and we should have merit raises, even small ones, but we don't. Depressing.
