Fareway ???

[majorcyfan]

Once again, you can't lump all stores into one. Prices are different at every Hy-Vee, I know this for a fact. Comparing Fareway to Hy-Vee is like comparing Wal-Mart to Target. Each has a certain type of customer. There is also a lot of difference between the smaller old school hy-vee and the big ones.


I agree with what you said about assistant managers and below. They expect you to work your *** off for not that much money. The only thing that keeps those people there is that they think that some day they will be a director and make a mint. I think working at a place like HV is a good place for young people. It will make you really appreciate your non-retail type job. I nearly want to cry when I hear recent grads complain about working at places like Wells Fargo and Principal. My last year at Hy-Vee:

Didn't get paid OT because I was management (not really)

Worked every single holiday for a whole year except Christmas day, because we were closed

Switched between first and 2nd shift every other week

Never had a whole weekend off

Nearly got stabbed at the E Euclid HV

Had to send employees home early to cut costs. Guess who then does their job?


And that last year was one of my best years at HV. Don't ask me about the time I was night stock manager.

You know the score and so do I.......

 

[Bigguns]

And you don't think the city of Ames and Somerset subdivision didn't help contribute to that? Look at the grief they are giving Casey's. Their model up her for businesses needs to be lessened to get more places that people want.

Maybe you haven't noticed how conservative the city of Ames tends to be. It's not exactly like they are welcoming and pushing business growth in the town. Look at what Petco and BWW had to deal with.

I just wish they would have built the new Fareway in West Ames or on the other side of Bloomington. Ames has a school district with declining enrollment and the city planners, if thats what you call them are not helping. Part of a cities growth includes a stable school district. I do agree the Ames 'Smart Growth' supporters are anything but smart.


We sure wouldnt want to grow the way Ankeny has been growing.

 

[wxman1]

My summer job this summer is working in a concession stand for the Cedar Rapids Kernels...it's not great but it's a job. We have tips cups and to tell you the truth I probably wouldn't tip if I was the customer until I got the job, when it's super busy you are randomly running out of food because demand is very high and you can't keep up...basically food service and providing great customer service isn't easy at that point imo if you feel you have gotten good service for the situation you should tip.

 

[isumills]

That's the rub with HyVee...I've seen 50 cents and higher difference on identical items between HyVee and Fareway cause the HyVee was greedy or never did price comparisons correctly.

The Grocery industry used to quote a 1 % profit on average for grocery stores, they may or may not have been accurate, the truth is, you have to look at the volume of grocery sales, mega millions spent on groceries, and oh, I forgot to mention, the 1% profit is after all the bills are paid like leases, light, heat, salaries, etc on probably the most stable business there is.........We all eat


Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike HyVee, I just understand the differences and different roles HyVee has taken versus what Fareway has done.

The ax I do have to grind against HyVee corp is the way the previous CEO, the one who always fingered his diamond ring as he talked on TV and massive ego, ran off many, many Asst mgrs by squeezing more work out of them till they broke and left HyVee....There was a time when the store expansion was slower, and the HyVee corp went back and tried to squeeze more out of each store, across the board. How do I know? lots of good Asst Mgrs I had known suddenly went to work for food brokers that I then saw at various food show around the Midwest. I talked to them and they were candid with me cause we had had always a good relatiuonship.....They just got tired of working to death for not as much money and lack of foreseeable upward promotions.

Fareway has always tried to be just economical food distribution, whereas HyVee has tried to give people what they want, more one stop shopping.......You just have to justify that you are going to pay for those extra services cause they come at a price.

Oh, And I saw a former retired HyVee co worker of mine and a current HyVee worker both shopping where I do last week.....at a Fareway.........for better prices and better meat. And no, I didn't go to HyVee to pick up my dry cleaning....LOL

I don't know why it's so difficult to run the suggested retail given by the wholesaler. You don't have to go exactly what is suggested, but buying a product for $1.55 and then selling it for $2.49 just doesn't seem fair to the customer. I've seen Dahls and Fareway go suggested price(which is around $2.00) without even batting an eye. They seem to be in the game for the customer a little more than the big guy in town(excluding Wal-Mart, we all know thats a whole nother animal there).
I use to hear from the Hy-vee guys about margin and how they need to make a certain % margin on everything. My response was always " well you can take dollars and cents to the bank to deposit, but I don't know many that deposit margins." They didn't like that comment too much.

 

[majorcyfan]

I don't know why it's so difficult to run the suggested retail given by the wholesaler. You don't have to go exactly what is suggested, but buying a product for $1.55 and then selling it for $2.49 just doesn't seem fair to the customer. I've seen Dahls and Fareway go suggested price(which is around $2.00) without even batting an eye. They seem to be in the game for the customer a little more than the big guy in town(excluding Wal-Mart, we all know thats a whole nother animal there).
I use to hear from the Hy-vee guys about margin and how they need to make a certain % margin on everything. My response was always " well you can take dollars and cents to the bank to deposit, but I don't know many that deposit margins." They didn't like that comment too much.

They didn't like my comment either of you pay the bills with dollars and cents and your customers only see the dollars and cents of your pricing , not your margin. Please keep that in mind when you price our products.

I retired early about 10 yrs ago cause I could, but got bored and went back to work, calling on HyVee stores in Iowa and Neb.......found that some of the pricing coordinators have a huge EGO.......Not with me or the products I sold but with other reps and their products.....Saw and heard sories about how the PRICING CORD SAT AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD IT SEEMED.......Seemed a little power went to their heads......Too bad, saw this with our company long ago and saw one of my sales team very frustrated with the Asst Mgr on a power trip while the Store Mgr was gone..........Told my sales person to come back the next week and then let the Store Mgr know about the pricing error, not in their favor, and that the Asst was too busy to listen to us about it. Problem solved, good relations and dealt with the Mgr from then on. What goes around, comes around to bite you.

Now extremely retired.

 

[majorcyfan]

I just wish they would have built the new Fareway in West Ames or on the other side of Bloomington. Ames has a school district with declining enrollment and the city planners, if thats what you call them are not helping. Part of a cities growth includes a stable school district. I do agree the Ames 'Smart Growth' supporters are anything but smart.


We sure wouldnt want to grow the way Ankeny has been growing.

The orginal plan about 10-15 yrs ago was for Fareway to build whe the Kum & Go is located on OLD HWY 30 & SOUTH DAKOTA. City of Ames put the damper on that plan and only as of late did they finally get the new one up and running

 

[borc4cy]

Since I work at Fareway and have for the last 7 years. I can tell you all you nah sayers are wrong. We price match any store (walmart dahls hyvee aldis target..) sure our selcetion isnt the biggest but if youve ever worked in the grocery business you be glad its not. I love it there and wouldnt want to work at a dahls or hyvee. I going into thoses stores and it makes me want to puke. They are trying to be a walmarts little brother selling clothes, gas, etc... Stepping away from the ma and pop store that Fareway started out as...

 

[RING4CY]

I wish people who work at Fareway would learn how to bag bread and put it in the trunk of the car correctly and carefully. Since it's always is on top of the cart, they always put it in first, and that's where it gets smashed.

 

[wartknight]

I wish people who work at Fareway would learn how to bag bread and put it in the trunk of the car correctly and carefully. Since it's always is on top of the cart, they always put it in first, and that's where it gets smashed.

I can't get bread at HyVee without it getting smashed. My wife just laughs because it ALWAYS happens.