You have to buy your own uniform from the company, with prices that are over retail for similar clothes. Management is WAY out of touch with their employees. CEO complains of having less profit due to "demand for higher wages". Raises (once per year) at my store that consistently hit or was very near target goals were barely enough to cover inflation. Health insurance is terrible.
Busy stores that deal with many "backyard mechanics" are significantly understaffed as hours are based on sales that they're hoping to get from an average DIY customer, and neglect to take customer count into consideration. Also, they care little to nothing if you actually know how to help your customers diagnose a car, since they assume their computer software will do it for you (it doesn't). I was literally told by my regional HR manager that Autozone doesn't recognize ASE certification as something that I could get a raise for. Instead he said that is something that I should put on my resume. Great advice, Willie Banks, now i have a much higher paying job!
The commercial program is a joke. In metro Detroit where parts suppliers are bountiful, somehow Autozone thinks that charging 10% under retail is going to be competitive, and then question why the program is doing so poorly. Not to mention having minimally staffed delivery drivers putting parts delivery well over an hour in most cases.
If you are hired and have the skills to work on cars (actually, even if you don't) you are expected to be a parking lot mechanic. Even if it is -10 degrees out, you are required to put batteries, light bulbs, and wiper blades on customers cars.
The only thing senior and regional management were concerned about were numbers. If they would treat their employees like people that are looking for a liveable wage, autozone would be doing much better with people who were happy to come to work every day. Instead, most of the staff turned to other forms of relief and were stealing as much as they could without getting caught.
