Archived $11.50 pay

[FlowTeamChick]

Serious question, did those other companies have such large increases in starting rates though? I've been in retail for almost 25 years and with the handful of companies I've worked for the main reason veteran employees were making more was because none of them aggressively raised starting wages.

Also my go to question when discussing this, which no one has actually ever been able to answer btw---Other than ego, how does a new hire's increased pay negatively affect you?

The negative effect is on attitude. Right or wrong, the way we assess how valuable we are to an employer is by how much we're paid. This method tells me that my experience and knowledge mean nothing.
And your point about raising starting wages is valid. I still think there's a better way to treat the veteran employees.

 

[Kartman]

my experience and knowledge mean nothing.

Welcome to the Machine.

 

[FlowTeamChick]

hiring new people is more expensive than keeping around dependable veterans

This is so true. Yet Target can't seem to learn this and implement it.
As to the increase in starting wages and hours being cut, there may or may not be a causative link. But they did both happen at the same time, so what are people supposed to think. Doesn't matter if leadership and corporate deny it or not.

 

[IWishIKnew]

They both happened for some stores, but not for all of them. I'd love to see the algorithm for store payroll hours calculations, as I can't imagine it's simple. Particularly not so simple as "wages went up a few cents, drop hours for everyone" especially if stores want to continue to make sales goals. It's a balancing act, to be sure, and if your store hadn't been making sales or were forecast for a down period, yes hours will be cut and may be cut a bit more with the wage increase, but assuming your leaders are actually using allotted hours, instead of being assholes and trying to cut payroll in order to increase their own bonuses, I would assume there are many factors going into hour cuts above just the wage hike.

 

[BleacherSeats]

The negative effect is on attitude. Right or wrong, the way we assess how valuable we are to an employer is by how much we're paid. This method tells me that my experience and knowledge mean nothing.
And your point about raising starting wages is valid. I still think there's a better way to treat the veteran employees.

I totally agree that there should be some extra incentive for veteran team members. Based on what we've seen with the latest wage increases, it won't be through hourly salary but there should be something extra other than anniversary bonuses.

One previous employer of mine offered and extra 5% employee discount after two years of service. While it wasn't a ton, it was at least nice that tenure earned you something.

 

[berrsim]

You're free to quit and work somewhere else.

Seriously, the whining about increase in wages is getting a little ridiculous on this forum. I'm sure there was someone bitching about newbies getting the rate you got when you were hired, and so on all the way back to 1962. One of the things you sacrifice with longevity at any company on the planet is wages that keep up with starting wages year over year. Starting wages generally outpace merit & COL increases across the board, with companies doing market adjustments periodically to bring exisitng employees up to current rates (if your company doesn't completely suck, that is). That is what Target is doing here, though they're actually paying above market wages for regular retail.

There are usually tradeoffs with longevity in the form of benefits and job security and other things, but if you decide those tradeoffs are no longer acceptable, then quit and find a new job. That's how it works.

You seem triggered lmao, I asked a question and you assumed it was complaining. That's funny.

 

[YoNanas]

Ours is usually blocking very high traffic areas for this time of year like luggage and backpacks and part of the TV wall. I've seen guests climb over and through pallets/flats/tubs to look at stuff. If I ask if someone can move it so that it can be shoppable, I'm told it's going to be a while because either no one can do it or there's no space to put it.

I thought guests came first?

Ours gets done by 8am. I think you guys need to get better leaders who actually work and run all over from unloading trailer, bringing out pallets, cages, pushing with team, clearing floor etc. At my store, the Sr TL for the unload is awesome.

 

[ThreeCreeks]

I started at $11.50 in January and went to $12 in March. Recently (last paycheck) was up to $13.

I really couldn’t careless how much I make though. I like the work a lot and they’re kind of like a second family to me.

 

[Kartman]

Good luck with that.

 

[Llamanatee]

Ours gets done by 8am. I think you guys need to get better leaders who actually work and run all over from unloading trailer, bringing out pallets, cages, pushing with team, clearing floor etc. At my store, the Sr TL for the unload is awesome.

We are also down 2 leaders, one being STL and have lost many employees. As usual ASANTS.

 

[Llamanatee]

Ours gets done by 8am. I think you guys need to get better leaders who actually work and run all over from unloading trailer, bringing out pallets, cages, pushing with team, clearing floor etc. At my store, the Sr TL for the unload is awesome.

Wait unloading is done by 8 or all push? We start unload at 6 now instead of 4. When it was 4 and more than 5 people doing it, push was done by 7 or 8. But no later than that.

 

[ThreeCreeks]

Wait unloading is done by 8 or all push? We start unload at 6 now instead of 4. When it was 4 and more than 5 people doing it, push was done by 7 or 8. But no later than that.

Why did they switch from 4 to 6? We start at 5. Occasionally (once a month or so) we have a double truck and come in at 230. Once we worked grave from 10pm-8am. Honestly I wish Target would fork out the cash to work grave permanently. It’s so much easier to push without customers in the store.

 

[Llamanatee]

Why did they switch from 4 to 6? We start at 5. Occasionally (once a month or so) we have a double truck and come in at 230. Once we worked grave from 10pm-8am. Honestly I wish Target would fork out the cash to work grave permanently. It’s so much easier to push without customers in the store.

A lot of stores are switching to 6. Look at the Modernization mega thread.

Target wants employees to be available for the guests so that’s why stores are switching to 6.

 

[ThreeCreeks]

A lot of stores are switching to 6. Look at the Modernization mega thread.

Target wants employees to be available for the guests so that’s why stores are switching to 6.

Got it. We’re not switching thankfully.

 

[PackAndCry]

But then product isn't available for the guests because there's vehicles blocking it and there's 8 skids of unworked freight in the back.

 

[Llamanatee]

But then product isn't available for the guests because there's vehicles blocking it and there's 8 skids of unworked freight in the back.

Well yeah, I know that.
8, lol. More than 8. 8+ is usually just softlines.

 

[PackAndCry]

Well yeah, I know that.
8, lol. More than 8. 8+ is usually just softlines.

My store has a tiny backroom. There's only spaces for 8 skids on the line. If we put them on the other side of the line, too, SFS can't get 3-tiers out of our area so our ETL-Log banned them from being left there.

 

[Tessa120]

The negative effect is on attitude. Right or wrong, the way we assess how valuable we are to an employer is by how much we're paid. This method tells me that my experience and knowledge mean nothing.
And your point about raising starting wages is valid. I still think there's a better way to treat the veteran employees.

By your logic you were cheated before the general wage increase, not after. Wages never go up hand in hand with inflation. Inflation since the first minimum wage has been so much that if minimum wage kept pace it would be nearing $20 now. So in the past your merit raise meant in practical dollars you were still making less than the year before.

Grow up. My last job offered some really good pay increases every year. Starting pay sucked, and I actually felt sorry for the new folks who were making half the amount I was for doing the same work. Wages are not a competition. Your ego is your issue, not a window as to how unfair employers are for recognizing costs are outpacing wages.

 

[HLN13]

Random question, but does anyone know the timeline for the rest of the raises? They have 3 that they have to spread out over 1.5 years. I’m thinking after Q4 we can expect the next?

 

[Yetive]

That's my guess, but I haven't heard anything. I assume everyone will move to 13/13.50, including new seasonals, to make q4 hiring easier.

 

[Koreanassassin1948]

Hey everyone
I started working at Target almost a month ago and my starting pay is $11.50. My coworker told me that the store pay is $12.50 though, so I was wondering when my pay would increase to that wage

I made 12.00 + 1 for shift premium when I quit. I was making 11.34 at last review, then I was making 11.50 (I had no idea that I was making that), then now it's 12. I had been there nearly four years, albeit mostly part time. I can do everything in logistics, and almost anything in the store. I make as much as some 16 year-old who has no retail experience. On that principle, I do have an issue. The pay does not bother me; however, I think new hires with no experience should be making ~9.00 for the first 90 days, 11.00 for the next 180 days, and then 12.00. I started at 8.75 when I started in 2014.

 

[Tessa120]

That sounds so much like "uphill both ways in snow in July". Just because you got shit wages that couldn't cover living expenses because at the time the CEO couldn't live without that Rembrandt and second yacht doesn't mean everyone should get shit wages forever. Remember, when federal minimum wage was created it was expected that one person working 40 hours could support a family of four. Just because for a very long time business lobbyists had the money to make the government turn a blind eye to worker exploitation doesn't mean it can't end and workers become a valuable commodity again. Just because your ego is fragile and you know that you got shit on doesn't mean every future person has to get pay that is not balanced with living expenses. It's not a competition. Seriously does it hurt you in a practical sense for the pendulum to swing back to a balance between corporate greed and worker greed?

 

[Tessa120]

Further thought, you know what I think is going on. People feeling they are being treated unfairly and want everything equal to be "fair".

Well,
a) Life is unfair.
b) The definition of "fair" is not treating everyone equal. It's meeting people's needs, and if someone has greater needs fair is giving them more. I learned that from a speech therapist who worked for schools and saw how disabled kids needed more resources to get an equal shot at life. That's why you don't use the handicap stall in a bathroom; you can use a smaller stall but a disabled person can't.
c) Just because you were treated badly doesn't mean all future people should be too. If a guy is a mean drunk and beats his first wife and kids, after she leaves him and he sobers up and remarried should he beat his second wife and second set of kids in order to be fair to his first wife and kids?
d) For the person who started in 2014, in 2014 my rent was $1100. Now my rent is $1600. My groceries were roughly $120 a week. Now they are $160. $8.75 was shit unfair wages then, but it would have covered far more bills then than $9~ now would cover today's bills.

 

[Times Up]

Now my rent is $1600

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Renting in major metro areas can be even higher. In my area, 1600.00 is low end. I have my townhouse at 900.00 mortgage. I understand completely. Spot pay is not enough.