Are there any good jobs in retail anymore?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Are their any “retail” jobs that pay well?

It used to be the big department stores like Sears, Dillards, or Montgomery Wards had a professional high paid commission sales staff where say a person selling washing machines or vacuum cleaners at Sears could earn a good middle class income. You could also do well selling business suits in a high end mens store.

As a side note I’m not a woman and dont shop there. Do women working in selling dresses and such in womens clothes and accessories stores make much money? Do womens fragrance or makeup saleswomen make much?

But now with discounters like WalMart and Best Buy, theirs no big money selling household appliances, dishes, or electronics. Few people buy expensive business attire and you can get some of that from discounters or even online.

Now as I understand it car salespeople still do well.

Also jewelry seems to still have a big markup and income for commission sales.

Do we have any well paid retail jobs anymore?

2

Depends where you are but in my part of the country, supermarket workers are unionized and earn a decent wage (as far as the largest chains go, at least). Those who started 40-50 years ago are under the contract that was in place when they were hired and they do very well, particularly in the benefits and overtime, as well as topping out their pay scale at a higher point.

When I worked for Safeway, circa 1996-2008, I was under a much different contract but I was still earning over $20/hour my last year. I believe I had started at about $10-11/hour and received union-mandated automatic $0.50 raises every 6 months until I hit the top of my pay scale after about 5 years; the last few of the automatic raises were like $1.50-2.00, so you got big bumps at the end for sticking around. I was living modestly but comfortably on my own on that, and still had enough to build up a savings. If I had a family on just that income we’d have been quite poor living in this area, but with a working spouse earning at least a similar salary we’d have still been solidly middle class.

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3

I work for a big box store (not Wal-Mart, not Target - it’s a regional chain with 200+ stores) and while I’m not getting rich I am making a living wage for my area. I have money to cover my basic bills (food, clothing, shelter, utilities, gas) with about $100-150 left over at the end of the month (some of which, admittedly, I spend on small luxuries like books or an occasional restaurant meal). I have a 401(k), and coverage for medical, dental, and vision care. I have little to no debt (sometimes I put something on a credit card and take 2-3 months to pay it off, most of the time not even that) and modest savings. I have not yet topped out my pay scale in my current job so if I keep my nose clean I can look forward to earning more. There is a path to advance to more responsibility/pay if I want it.

It is very much a retail job and it pays enough for a decent living. You might not be in the upper middle class, but definitely on the lower end. The higher paid store managers/directors do even better financially, although with a big trade-off of more time and stress required for the job.

So yes, there are still good jobs in retail. Not as much as there used to be, but they are out there.

4

if I can ask, do you sell a particular product category like clothing, electronics, appliances, or tools? Or do you work in general around the store? Are you on commission sales?

5

Right now, I am working part of the time as a cashier and part of the time in the cash office - meaning I balance the store’s books every day I’m in there, review and set up every till in the store by 7:30 am, maintain the lottery ticket inventory, do some modest maintenance on the above, run a lot of reports, try to explain/resolve issues, and write more reports. And if I get done early with that I get to do whatever is needed around the store until the end of my shift.

Prior to all that, I worked to stock shelves, set up shelf areas for stock, worked the garden center, drove a forklift, occasionally helped unload semi-trucks, tracked inventory, and done a few other odd jobs as needed/required. I’ve worked in (as I said) the garden center, the OTC pharmacy/hygiene/cosmetics area, general household goods, toys, hardware, automotive, sports, pets, and clothing (have occasionally helped out in grocery, but not that much).

I started part-time, was good enough they started calling me in for extra shifts when people called off sick or just didn’t show up, then offered me full time work. That’s when I started getting into “decent wage” category. Back in my jack-of-all-trades period when they could put me into almost any area of the store I was earning about $1.50 less an hour than I am now - still an amount I could live on if I had to, but I must say I enjoy having a bit more money. They can still put me to work just about anywhere in the store, and do at times.

EVERYONE starts off at higher than local minimum wage here, even the guys pushing carts in the parking lot and pushing brooms inside. Granted, in some cases it’s not much above minimum. A full time stocker makes enough for a single person with no dependents to get food and shelter - it will be tight, but doable. With government assistance, you can eke out a living for two (I know, because at one point I did it).

We have NO commissioned sales at all. EVERYONE is either hourly wage (most of us) or salary (store director and above). We do have some incentives (a bonus for each customer we sign up for store credit card, a reward for preventing theft) but no commission. For awhile we were awarded a quaterly bonus based on the store’s profitability (the best one was nearly twice our normal weekly paycheck - thank you, Tony Preckwinkle) but last year they changed to simply raise everyone’s wages everyday instead of the quarterly bonus. Also gave us more paid time off.

It’s not paradise but it’s a decent place to work if you can manage to show up on time and actually, you know, do some work. Like I said, you’re not going to get rich but you can be comfortable in a modest fashion. And they don’t give a damn if you have a second job or run a side business to supplement your income - many of my co-workers do just that.

6

Wegman’s (3), Publix (12), CarMax (33), REI (46), Nugget Market (81), Sheetz (85), Custom Ink (86) and Patagonia (100) are on the 2019 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list.

I don’t know why Costco isn’t on that list, though. It’s routinely touted as a great place to work. Here’s an article about the list compiled by Indeed in 2018, where Costco is tops. It also includes Aldi, Statbucks and Publix.

7

A friend of mine works in a high end luggage retailer and does pretty well. Of course, that’s the type of business where you can spend hours helping one customer because the purchase is going to be quite expensive. He’s helped some celebrities as well.