Joined: 13 Jul 2003
Posts: 9
| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2003 7:11 pm Post subject: which one is the best to move into | |
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Which one is the best dept is to move into.
i think after my 90 days is up i might leave (and go work in a computer store) or go into another dept. i want a dept that is good for begginer and easy to learn to. iam kind of leaning to outside lawn and garden. and for lumber hell no i heard its not good working in lumber. any suggestion. |
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Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 214
| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2003 1:55 am Post subject: Re: which one is the best to move into | |||
I'm not sure there is a best department noobieloader. Customers ask me everyday what the best countertop is, but everything has it's good & bad points. If you can find a department that you're really interested in, that's where you need to try and go. Someone who likes to work in their yard alot would be happier in lawn & garden and someone who likes to build things would feel more at home in the lumber department. I know some of you out there have noticed employees from one department spending alot of time in another department, that's where their interest is. Our stores would run alot better if the employees where assigned to departments they're interested in, instead of being told this is where you will work or else. |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 41
Location: out west
| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2003 2:25 am Post subject: | |
I agree Cabinetman. There is nothing worse then training a new associate who has no interest at all in what they are doing. I think that this all goes back to management not wanting anyone to be to comfortable in their position. Why should you be able to go home at night feeling like you might actually have enjoyed your job and learned something that was interesting to you! The more the stess, the more likely it is you won't stick around. You, as well as anyone, know how management hates to have people in the "  COMFORT ZONE"!
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
Posts: 24
Location: Southeast
| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2003 4:25 am Post subject: | |
| When I applied I told em that I had done appliances all of my life and they stuck me in OSL&G. I sent a friend up there to be hired outside, he even told them thats where he wanted to be and they put him in appliaces 2 weeks later. Go figure! Now I'm kinda glad I'm outside cause I cant imagine workin in that box all day! | |
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 214
| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2003 4:29 am Post subject: | |
| Very true oldskool, they hate us being in the Comfort Zone, they think they can get more production from us if we stay mad all the time. If we get to liking our jobs they're affraid we may want to stay, and if we stay they can't hire those three temperaries to take our place and save all that payroll money and get a bigger bonus. | |
Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 41
Location: out west
| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2003 3:56 am Post subject: | |
| I guess the best scenario is to use their bass-ackward thinking and say, "Put me in any dept. but......!", and that's the one you'll end up in! I guess the best info. I can offer is make sure you're comfortable with the wage, it may be a while before you see a raise! The other tip is don't make it(Lowes) your life. Believe me they will suck the life right out of you if you let them! | |
Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 30
Location: #606 Dothan, AL
| Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2003 5:47 pm Post subject: | |
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I would have to say the easiest department would have to be appliances, and yes I started in appliances as a loader back in 98. Then went to Flooring as a CSA, then I was the ADM/team leader over Paint/Home Decor/Furniture, then to ISLG as a CSA(got a raise too lol) then we went through Remerc. where I was the "Day Shift Captain" lol then I applied for DM in Electrical and got it.
Most people would tell you they NEVER want to work in Electrical but I freakin love it, reguardless of the 78 million products I have. When I took over Electrical they had an average of 16 PAGES of IRP's, and now we are down to maybe 3-4 for the whole department. I love a challenge and it has been tough, but we have all pulled together as a team and got it done(And yes "I" was working my ass off like my associates. I aint too good to get dirty, lol, ask any of them! I absolutely love my dam job!!!! 
Jonesy |
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Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Posts: 29
| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 1:27 am Post subject: | |
| appliances is by far the best paying dept in the store .and i have worked in all of them in just about all postitions ,,the spiffs right now are very good for even the bad sales people ..you can just stand there and take orders and make an extra $100 a week ...if you are good at it you really can do $200 to $250 per week ,,yes per week and i have personally seen weeks as high as $400 ...its all the same rules and same managers you want to make as much money as you can ... | |
Joined: 17 Oct 2003
Posts: 12
| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2003 3:10 am Post subject: electrical dm | |
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u must b out of yo mind homy 3 -4 pages of irp????
does anyone in your dept do anything but pick their buts i remember an irp we had fashion 3 hits rough 0 hits meet it or beat it off[/url][/list][/code][/quote] |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
Posts: 462
Location: West Coast
| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2003 4:30 pm Post subject: | |||
so, how's the money overall? i have been thinking of moving on. do you make more or less than $20/hr? how are the working conditions? how do they do the schedule? |
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Joined: 09 Oct 2003
Posts: 16
| Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2003 5:40 pm Post subject: | |
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I am a speicalist in the plumbing deprtment. The money from spiffs is half way decent. I am good at getting a lot of special orders, but I spend any time i can "hide" from store managment looking through our catalogs and getting a good idea what we have. I also have the benefit of coming from a 12 year background of plumbing, so I know what is out there and how to do it. That beneift also has a very darkside. On a daily basis, I get pulled from working with a customer on a special order, to help someone fix there plumbing problems. Its sad to say, but I can spend 30 minutes with someone on a five dollar sale to fix there faucet and explaining over and over again what to do, as spend fifteen minutes with someone and sell them $2,000 worth of sos faucets and fixtures.
I am the only one in our deprtment with any real plumbing background, and it puts an extra large burden on me. This week alone, I had 3 different customers come in with there faucets wanting me to fix them. Each one I told no, i did offer the tools that they could use to take it apart, but I would not do it, as that is just a liablity I, and lowes is not ready to take. When I started in our department 6 months ago, our IRP was averaging 12 pages a day. I now have it down to under a page, and most of the time it is due to our extremely screwed up inventory (example, you get scanned for 1/2 inch copper couplings. None on the shelf and we show 3 on hand. Ok where are 3 couplings...talk about a needle in a haystack, and mind you that your fittings are booked when you do inventory in june, so that means you are realying on counts frm january.) The only thing that keeps me there is working with the customers, then I get a chance. I had a customer come in a couple of months ago that was getting a liver transplant. He was redoing his bathroom for his wheelchair. I sold him an sos ADA shower from aquaglass...New toilet, vanity , grab bars, medicine cabinet, and wall and floor tiling ( I really like doing a big sale from another department when working on a project like this). In total it was over a $7,000 sale. The customer called me after it was done, and had me over his house to see how it came out, and it was beautiful. He was very impressed with the outcome, as was I. The best part is he at first went to a Lowes closer to him, and no one could help him with anything on it. The total sale for this took me about 1 hour out of my day and was well worth it. Now back to what i said before about hiding from managment to read books. Plumbing has an enourmous amount of products available via SOS (the most in the store). There is no idiots guide to sos plumbing, or easy reference guide. The only way you learn it is to take time and go through the catalogs. Our managment does not see this. If I am sitting there looking at a new catlalog, or going through literature, I am wasting time. Instead of that, I should be downstocking, cleaning or zoning. Our store manager is never happy how our department looks. Ironically on our last walk by our district manager, he had his boss there, and his boss commented that we had the best looking plumbing department he had ever seen in a Lowes. Amazingly we have kept it up with being extremely short staffed. Oh well so is life in Lowe's As far as a department to go to, I would suggest one you feel comfortable with, and no something about the product. Lowe's training has a lot to be deserved. Most importantly, customers don't know if you are in expert in a field, or a person who can't even hang a picture with out calling for assistance, but we keep advertising we have the expert knowledge to help. In a sense that is false advertising, since our training needs a revamp and every store needs to be help accountable for the training of its people, and I'm not talking about stupid customer service races or playing survivor, but real product training for the department you are in. My 2 cents sunkelowe |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 41
Location: out west
| Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2003 3:34 am Post subject: | |
| Well sunklowe, I think your 2 cents is really worth about a buck-seventynine. You are right about the training issue. If more time were spent on training and product knowledge just think how little management would have to do. They would cut their work load in half or more. The main reason they exist is to field customer complaints. Customer complaints would drop off dramatically since most are because of mis-orders or missed orders or because of lack of knowledge about the product(wrong product ordered to match the need). In reality lowes does not want intelligent help, they want cheap help. When they do get help that is knowledgeable people can tell, and the result is just as you stated, that person is overwhelmed by customers wanting a competent salesperson. Lowes will pay to have management meetings in the middle of the day, when they could help on the floor. But they won't even consider giving up valuable sales floor time to the lowest paid employees so that they can learn and become that competent salesperson! | |