My experience working @ Fry's Electronics!

[Bacardi151]

i thought i'd evaluate and give some insight on Fry's just like somebody had done so for BB

i worked there approximately 4 years ago until i got fired (thank god for that, as i was sucked into their evil society, and missed out a whole year of school)

1. 60% of the sales people are are high school graduates or high school drop outs, 35% either never went to high school, or they are concurrently enrolled in a JC. 4% lies about graduating college, and 1% are actual college graduates with a degree in CS and had no luck in their own industries.

2. The sales people climb their way up from being a CSR or a sales assistant (meaning they simply put stocks back to the shelf) the first 6 - 12 months

3. Cashier's starts off with minimum wage + $0.5, at a later point down the road they will become "certified" CSRs, which results in them losing their 50 cents and instead are compensated by earning a 0.23% of the sale they ring up at the counter. Hence, they do not, i repeat, they do NOT, give a ratsa** about customers that are only buying $499 or less, as it is a waste of their "precious" time.

(hint on cutting the line and get fast customer sevice: load your shopping cart full with expensive merchandise and walk by the cashiers at the end of the counter, they will wave you down to their register, and when you get there, tell them you decided not to get the 2000 dollar computer and just wanna pay for your $8 floppy drive. at this point, they cannot deny customer service to you)

4. Supervisors are nothing but 1 or 2 year experienced cashiers that happend to be promoted as manager's knows they do not attend school, hence can fill in overtime hours. Unfortunately, these previous-cashiers-turned-into-supervisors also gets an eccentric swollen big head after the promotion.

5. You will not be hired if you tell the managers that you attend college. They encourage you to drop out and build a career within the Fry's society. During the first week of training day, the Store manager will tell you a story that they were drop outs and are now making 6 figures a year.

6. Merchandises that are returned are thrown all over the place during QC, at several occassions there are missing things inside the retail box due to that.

7. When Fry's delivery department is understaffed, they will pull out one or two cashiers to fill up those spots. I came in 7am once and i punched out at 2:30am due to the fact that i was pulled out for a delivery. can't complain though, they granted my double overtime.

8. Sales people already know how much of a discount they can offer you, don't think it'll make a difference when they say they have to talk to their manager, there's no talking going around. They will ask for the highest price they think you can offer, and they will gradually throw in some discount and appliances, but there is a limit.

there you go, but i'm sure most of you guys already knew this

 

[AgentEL]

interesting... a parody thread with a purpose

 

[BlamoHammer]

How much do the salespeople get paid?

 

[machintos]

I didn't know we could bargain at fry's??

 

[SynthDude2001]

What is Fry's like, exactly? I've never been to one, but one of these days I intend to drive down to Houston (or to Austin) to check one out...

 

[gistech1978]

i believe it.

fry's employees dont seem to be the most knowledgeable bunch in my experience.

at least at the northwest drive location in dallas.

 

[mpitts]

I don't care what the people at Fry's know about the products they sell.

People here are generally educated and able to do their own research. I go to Fry's knowing what I want. I don't need some kid fresh out of high school to tell me what to buy.

I can never figure out why so many people here bitch about how the staff of a retail computer chain (pick one) doesn't know what they are talking about.

 

[LtPage1]

i hate frys. its a huge warehouse. painful to shop at.

 

[thomsbrain]

i've also found that, as a customer, indicating that you have anything resembling a clue what you're talking about will result in either a quickly absent sales representative (if you're lucky) or a flat-out insulting and rude one (if you're not). fry's is the worst place in the world to buy anything, but sometimes it's the only convenient option when you need something fast.

 

[PolarNorth]

...if Fry's is the worst place to shop at, what is the best? Best Buy, Circuit City, Compusa....??

Personally I like Fry's, all things considered, heads and shoulders above the mentioned stores.

 

[Bacardi151]

fry's is probably not the worse place to work at, there's always a handfull of youngings there that actually knows their stuff when it comes to Stereos, and computers, and that honestly don't care much about ripping the customer's off, but these are mainly just sales assistants and do not make much, if any, commission. a good sign to tell if this person is honest is to see if his manager calls him in a lot, and you see him take care of more than one customer. These sales people will try to rush you on buying something. I'm sure you all know that, and that's how most sales people are, so looking for help from a sales assistant would be better off, and they have the title inidcated on their badge.

i was prohibited to visit the fry store i worked at, but i honestly didn't mind because i really didn't like how fry's was after working there and knowing their little secrets and what their products are really like. now that i've moved to a different city where they're not aware of me being banned from shopping at fry's, i still don't go there unless they have a good cpu/mobo combo, but be cautious, i've seen these mobo and cpus, they have a massive return percentage.

and i also completely agree that most people, in here, already know what they want and how much to expect it for before going there, unfortunately there's always that small exception

 

[jagec]

Who has a college education and works in retail, anyway?

 

[Dragnov]

Why were you fired and banned from your Fry's?

 

[kermalou]

Originally posted by: Dragnov
Why were you fired and banned from your Fry's?

too educated

 

[Dulanic]

Originally posted by: PolarNorth
...if Fry's is the worst place to shop at, what is the best? Best Buy, Circuit City, Compusa....??

Personally I like Fry's, all things considered, heads and shoulders above the mentioned stores.

Each individual store is different, some Best Buy's suck beyond all belief, some are decent. Here Circuit City is the best of the rest. That is this specific area, but Im sure it isn't everywhere.

 

[Bacardi151]

Originally posted by: Dragnov
Why were you fired and banned from your Fry's?

a bunch of us college students started to eat for free at their cafeteria. the first 3 months they fired 15 people (all college students), 3 months after that, i was part of the other 15.

 

[Bacardi151]

Originally posted by: Dulanic

Originally posted by: PolarNorth
...if Fry's is the worst place to shop at, what is the best? Best Buy, Circuit City, Compusa....??

Personally I like Fry's, all things considered, heads and shoulders above the mentioned stores.

Each individual store is different, some Best Buy's suck beyond all belief, some are decent. Here Circuit City is the best of the rest. That is this specific area, but Im sure it isn't everywhere.

and the thing about fry's is that, it's family owned, and most of the store managers had to go through several stores, not just within california. the AVTA manager (which i found to be a cool dude), moved to the store i worked in (in cali), from arizona. unfortunately he left fry's for best buys i think. so overall, fry's has mainly the same d1ck managers in many different stores. and a many of them are very young and incompetent.

 

[Bacardi151]

Originally posted by: BlamoHammer
How much do the salespeople get paid?

a cunning good sales person in the AVTA department makes around 2000 on a above avg a week, give or take. around holidays like thxgiving and xmas they make about 800+ more than the above avg a week.

i'm not so sure how much the less experienced makes, they dont like to show me their paychecks....so there's a clue right there. but i dont blame them for making less, since the managers dont help them out with customers as much as they do with the long termed sales veterans. but i'd say you have a good chance to climb the ladder if you work in either the avta or comp sales.

 

[Bacardi151]

Originally posted by: jagec
Who has a college education and works in retail, anyway?

i would just expect some of the managers to have a business (management) degree or something down that line

 

[ReiAyanami]

there rebate system or lack of, is still a mysterly

 

[PolarNorth]

Originally posted by: Bacardi151

Originally posted by: BlamoHammer
How much do the salespeople get paid?

a cunning good sales person in the AVTA department makes around 2000 on a above avg a week, give or take. around holidays like thxgiving and xmas they make about 800+ more than the above avg a week.

i'm not so sure how much the less experienced makes, they dont like to show me their paychecks....so there's a clue right there. but i dont blame them for making less, since the managers dont help them out with customers as much as they do with the long termed sales veterans. but i'd say you have a good chance to climb the ladder if you work in either the avta or comp sales.

Uhm, whats AVTA? Audio Video television accessories?

Also, thats pretty damn good, 2K a week is cusping into 6 figures yearly pay, more than entry level engineers. What kind of hours do you have to do to make that much?

 

[shopbruin]

Originally posted by: Bacardi151

Originally posted by: BlamoHammer
How much do the salespeople get paid?

a cunning good sales person in the AVTA department makes around 2000 on a above avg a week, give or take. around holidays like thxgiving and xmas they make about 800+ more than the above avg a week.

i'm not so sure how much the less experienced makes, they dont like to show me their paychecks....so there's a clue right there. but i dont blame them for making less, since the managers dont help them out with customers as much as they do with the long termed sales veterans. but i'd say you have a good chance to climb the ladder if you work in either the avta or comp sales.

if you ask me, all the money is in components. you HAVE to get a quote to get hd's and cpu's out of the monkey cage up front. you get one CPU and then usually they'll grab all your other stuff and add it to your quote, telling you "it'll be easier to ring you up in the front."

although in avt, you are more likely to sell the PG then you ever will in components, which is where the real commission dollars are.

components sales, i'd see them have 2000 in commission a week. i didn't always see the AVT paychecks but the good ones could do that too.

mangers make commission too. man i remember when they first switched to commission, i went to visit some of the people i worked with. one was promoted to sup in front checkout and she kinda wanted to go back to cashiering because she made more.

 

[blahblah99]

Fry's is good if you go in and know EXACTLY what you want to buy. If you have no clue and want to ask for advice as to which Brand is better, you're better off asking a stranger off the street.

 

[boyRacer]

Off topic but there sure are a lot of shoplifters at FRYs... they always have opened boxes all over the place... obviously missing their original contents.

 

[Gulzakar]

they're return policy is totally relaxed...can't complain about that...not to mention they have hired some real hotties at the Concord Store