Customers, Publix does not care about you or associates
As a former (I walked out yesterday before I even clocked in) deli associate, at store 1533 in New Bern, NC… my review is specifically for the general public to understand why they are experiencing such a decline in customer satisfaction. I started at Publix in September of 2022. My first year was excellent and I believed the big Publix lie… that they care about their associates and customers. My initial pay increases were great. My ability to provide that ‘Premier customer service’ was easy. We had the appropriate amount of associates in the deli, to ensure we actually could effectively deliver that promise. It was at around the beginning of my second year when I realized that brand new hires, with no experience, were being hired at a much higher rate. Irritating but… I was still ok with my rate, knowing that my department manager and store manager were both pulling for me to be chosen as a contender for assistant manager (they weren’t. They were gas lighting me, and others, likely because they can quiet any grumbling about pay raises). They kept up gas lighting for quite a while. I finally decided I didn’t want it, as I watched the steady decline in the department, caused by corporate greed I began to really tune into what was happening at Publix. It was becoming harder and harder to provide the quality service that Publix is known for. We had an over abundance of part time associates, who just refuse to actually work, taking hours from the few part timers who actually do work. Corporate had already taken away, from managers, the ability to give fair merit based raises. Corporate soon slashed hours from every department. They keep jacking the prices. Associates can’t even afford to shop where we work. 95% of associates at my location are not happy and many customers are frustrated. So here’s what is happening. 1. Corporate is now solely focused on bonuses. 2. Managers are solely focused on bonuses, so we are shorted on supplies and product regularly to keep inventory low. Low inventory means higher inventory bonuses. 3. Being solely focused on bonuses means cutting the hours a department can schedule over the course of a week. 4. Being solely focused on bonuses means ever increasing prices (for the same product that other high end stores charge much less for) and fleecing their customers. 5. They know that the yearly Associate Voice Survey will result in them NOT making the Fortune 500 best companies to work for list… without many new hires to raise the score, explaining why they frequently hire too many part timers at an ever increasing base pay, while screwing over the long term, full time associates and taking hours from our proven part timers. The newcomers don’t realize that in a year, they will not be important to Publix. 6. They refuse to fire anyone, even during the first 90 days when the associates prove to be utterly useless and incompetent, forcing others to pick up the slack. We have one associate who has raised his fist at a female Boars Head representative and has yelled at many female coworkers and our manager. He’s still there, regardless of the fact that he’s proven to be aggressive and violent. It’s a hostile workplace and I’m so glad to have found the strength to leave. The PTO and free stock are NOT worth destroying my body, the complete lack of work/life balance, the inability to give customers the service they deserve, the incredibly high prices, having to work with people who are violent, incompetent and will never be fired. They are NOT the company they once were. They’re thriving on a reputation they once deserved, until the founder passed away and his heirs inherited the company and turned it into a greed machine. You aren’t paying premium prices to support a company who supports the people who keep it going. You are being fleeced so millionaires can continue to get wealthier, off your retirement, off your middle income paycheck (that would go much further at other higher end stores like Harris Teeter)