Gained a lot of experience and developed great relationships. But New Managers are paid less today
Pros
About 5 years ago Dollar Tree was run like a family business. Fun to be involved with. DM's had clout and were able to hire and promote more easily than today. Salaries in the past 2-3 years have gone to a grid. Meaning all new managers are paid about $12-$15k less than when I started 5 years ago. Negotiate everything. You'll do better financially when you can. Today, Dollar Tree is a Fortune 395 company and they're trying to act like it. Nothing wrong with that, except that it's been at the expense of the associates that work for them. Irrational senior management in Area and Regional positions can make life hectic. The job is 45+ hours a week, but almost every manager who wants to succeed works 55-60 hours a week. During the last 8-10 weeks prior to Christmas, Managers are expected to work six 10-hour days a week minimum. For which managers receive 2 comp days off in February. Two weeks vacation when you start and can go to 3 after 5 years. Generally a positive environment if you can hire and train your own associates. Loved the experience, believe it or not, and was a good stepping stone to my next position.
Cons
I had 6 District Managers in 4 1/2 years. It's the "fallout" position in the company so no manager if he wants to stay with the company wants to advance to DM. So the problems are at the Regional Mgr level. Total compliance is not a bad thing at all, but there is zero payroll to accomplish the basics in a DLTR store unless the manager works longer to insure that freight and recovery are done properly. Great associates can make a significant difference as well as a competent Freight Manager. I had both and it made it easier to cope with downward pressure from upper management.
