I worked for Half Price Books for more than 15 years, and the pros out weighed the cons for many years. When I left, I left feeling burnt out and disappointed in a company I worked my butt off for so many years. The expectations senior management and corporate put on the stores was ridiculous. Stores are seriously understaffed for the amount of work that needed to be done. The amount of vacation time you could accrue was great, but it was difficult to use up, because staffing was so tight.
Holidays felt like a piece of cake, if you can manage to get through a summer with Half Price Books. Customers might bring in 30 boxes of books that they couldn't sell at a garage sale, you sort through everything and come up with a few titles that you might be able to sell, then you get to give the customer an offer of a couple of dollars, as you stand there smiling, they roll their eyes at you and tell you that you are ripping them off. You then get to spend the next half hour cleaning up the mess and taking all 30 boxes out to recycling. Then you start all over again. Forgot to mention, that you are also answering customer questions, answering the phone and fulfilling orders at the same time. Meanwhile, five other customers have come in and are standing with more bags of books to sell, getting impatient because you can't get to them soon enough. Somehow, you also need to get the books processed and on the shelf, and deal with the hundred of DVDs and CDs that come in everyday and that are virtually worthless.
Many of the half thought out changes that corporate implemented, seemed reactionary and fear based and hardly fostered a positive work environment. When I started, I felt the thrill of something new everyday and what treasure was I going to find? At the end, it wasn't about the books anymore. I was shoveling them through as fast as I could and could have been working in any retail environment. I think Boots needs to let go of the claim that "we're all one big happy family". The company has grown to the point that employees don't feel seen or heard anymore. I don't think I can walk in the door of any of the stores for a very long time, and that makes me very sad.
