Hy-Vee's weirdest business decision yet?
- Thread starter JP4CY
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FWIW, I go to Walmart and Fareway for groceries; only to HyVee if it's a significant add item like a meat special. On the other hand, I don't understand HyVee removing the service full scale delis with a sit down ordering cafe/bar (at least in the Ames stores). Looks to me this move was a looser! Any thoughts???
To quote the great philosopher, Ron Swanson: "Not only does this thing exist, but you've deprived everyone of cake!"
$300k+/ year 30 years ago. Certain stores were gold mines for CEO's but they were trained not to be show boats. I think they now struggle to make more than $100k. When I worked at Cedar Falls in high school, which was a really strong store, the bakery, deli, and meat manager all made a ton of money but worked HARD.
"One Hy-Vee store manager earned more money last year than the president of the company. "I have no ego problem with that, " says Ron Pearson, president and chief executive officer."
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have a family friend who worked 30 years and worked up to a store director before retiring in 2020
totally believe he made $300k+
but also never had a thanksgiving week, Christmas week or 4th of July holiday off his entire career. probably worked either a saturday or sunday 50 weeks a year. thats the trade off i guess.
They used to be heavily tied to their stores performance which was why they always made you cut your teeth in a smaller store. If you could land one of the metro area store director jobs you were making BIG TIME money.
My last year, I had one holiday off, which was Christmas. Every single weekend. One week 6-3, next week 10-7, and the next week 3-11. My God, I thought I was on top of the world when I got a 8-4 M/F. They used to dangle that store director commission over your head, while they paid every other position like crap. I have no clue how they keep top talent now, which may be part of the problem.
The store in Indianola, before it got enlarged, was more profitable than any des moines store except the old urbandale store. The same year indianola announced the new store, I think he retired. If I remember correctly, those small stores were 100% commission and if they lost money, they paid hyvee. I remember the freezers going down on year and the director had to pay hyvee.
Back in those days you would see store directors unloading trucks, throwing stock, facing shelves, and sacking groceries. Now you never even seen one in the store.
That's because they can't find qualified people who want to handle the stress/work of running a store. Many people want a job that is 5 days a week, sitting in an office working 8 to 5, no weekends or holidays.
I am comparing the price of a dozen eggs, not an 18-count. The shelf price at Hy-Vee for eggs we buy is $2.69 per dozen. You said "Hy-Vee's sales are really good" I took advantage of sale price that was better than Aldi, or Target.
Johnston Hy-Vee has always been high priced, everyone who has ever worked in a DSM area Hy-Vee store could tell you that.
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I am comparing a dozen, grade A eggs prices from this past Saturday, at three different retail stores.
KidSilverhair
Well-Known Member
Yes I know. You might be surprised to learn 18 eggs are usually priced about 50% higher than a dozen at the same store.
The dozen-egg price at HyVee at the time I’m talking about was like $3.29 or something, and Target was $2.19 (just going from memory). My point that at certain times HyVee eggs can be considerably higher than Target or KwikStsr stands. And I didn’t even mention with my RedCard I get everything at Target for 5% under the shelf price.
The biggest issue was they lost their way in regard to customer service. When Randy Edeker took over he took any amount of pride employees took. He tried to standardize everything and you lost the ability for employees to bring their own strengths to the job.
I’m still shopping there because it covers what I need but starting to consider other options. Now you get employees who are no better than anywhere else. Last week I bought some stuff that had manufacturers coupons and the cashier tried to scan all of them and take them instead of half because it was buy two get $1 off. When I was there they never would have accepted an employee like that. Now that seems standard if not good because she tried to actually apply the coupons.
I worked at Hy-Vee for 15 years and spent 11 in management, including senior leadership roles in stores. I understand retail pricing way to well even being out of it for many years.Yes I know. You might be surprised to learn 18 eggs are usually priced about 50% higher than a dozen at the same store.
The dozen-egg price at HyVee at the time I’m talking about was like $3.29 or something, and Target was $2.19 (just going from memory). My point that at certain times HyVee eggs can be considerably higher than Target or KwikStsr stands. And I didn’t even mention with my RedCard I get everything at Target for 5% under the shelf price.
Eggs, milk, bread, and other staples were items we used to loss leaders at times.
We're cheap, we buy That's Smart eggs, not Hy-Vee.
