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Half Price Books

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Half Price Books reviews

3.7

70% would recommend to a friend

(718 total reviews)
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Sharon Anderson Wright

64% approve of CEO

55% positive business outlook

Half Price Books has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 718 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Half Price Books employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

718 reviews
3.0
Oct 22, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Benefits, even though they have been curtailed. Still some of the best healthcare insurance and employee discounts one can get, especially in the Red State markets HPB tends to operate in. If you like books, music, and movies, this is the place for you. HPB is also a very diverse workplace.

Cons

Every store is understaffed, but that's American retail today. The buying process is stressful and will burn most folks out. Managers are constantly under tremendous pressure from corporate and the day to day operations of the store. Policies change or are reversed without any coherent planning. It's impossible to have a predictable work schedule, apparently. Working on the weekends or at night is inevitable.

2.0
Apr 17, 2014

Company good, Manger bad

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great benefits, great coworkers-like a family, great discounts and bonuses. Fair schedules and ways to move up in the company.

Cons

Office culture can be stressful when the manager does not care for the people. Plenty of sick time is given by the company but don't you dare use it!

2.0
Nov 2, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Easily the people in my store is the brightest and best group of people I've ever worked with. Merchandise discounts and benefits are decent, bonus used to be excellent.

Cons

Bonus checks have been dwindling while workload increasing. Expect micromanagement, unfair criticism and never praise if you work at my store, the turnover rate for my store is staggering large for a "hippie" company, over 25 people have quit or were fired in less than four years, NOT counting temp workers. Worst management I've worked under. Management was always unclear as to how not to tell customer that their crap was garbage, why their offers were low or why we needed their identification to process buys. Extreme fear of offending customers comes at the cost of undermining employees morale. Don't let its hippie roots fool you, this is a very corporate company, complete with multiple job reviews per year and harsh punishment. Everything you do will be put under a microscope, you will be surprised what comes up under these reviews.

Viewing 70 - 72 of 718 Reviews

Glassdoor has 759 Half Price Books reviews submitted anonymously by Half Price Books employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Half Price Books is right for you.