Pros
Good, hard working employees. Steady work in a growing company. Healthcare offered at just 25 hours a week. Good workout, never been stronger in my upper body. Decent pay and insurance.
Cons
Work is crazy physical and moves at lightning fast pace. Went in expecting to work hard, but was completely unprepared for 10-12 hour shifts of marathon/P90X type activity. You don't just lift heavy boxes of produce and meat, you do this for almost the entire length of your shift. Even at the register, employees are expected to scan a certain number of products per minute and this is tracked. Fast, faster, fastest. Company MO is to staff stores sparingly. In any 30 minute period, you will stock shelves, get called to a register, clean up broken eggs or jars, unclog a toilet and show a customer where a product is located and this cycle is on a loop for the duration of your shift. Depending on the store, shifts are all over the place. It is not at all uncommon to close one day (get off at 10 or 11 pm) and open the next (start work at 5 am). Every day needed off for life stuff must be scheduled. You'll work nearly every weekend and holiday and rarely if ever, have two days off in a row unless requested. Again, depending on store, it is rare to get off of work at scheduled time. At least 3 of 5 work days run over from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Extremely hard to work around real life. It's retail. For every 100 great customers, there's that one who you just can't please -- and they ruin your day. There are no real perks aside from insurance. There is a 401k with a company match, but match isn't put into your account with your contribution, but instead at the end of the year. So who gets the compounded interest on the match? There are no discounts for groceries, gyms, car purchases or rentals, day care, etc. You work. You get a 30 minute lunch break and you get paid. You will become insanely intimate with cardboard -- opening boxes, pulling it from shelves, stacking it, crushing it, and baling it. On the upside, if you're moving you have access to boxes.