For 18 years i gained much valued experience.
Pros
Again, the on the job training experience to be gained here is valuable. Conditions and employee morale here was wonderful until the mid-2000s. Benefits are pretty good too, and i believe that they still are as my wife still works there. The wages offered here are above average; although when i signed a severance package in February of 2013, i had not received a cost of living increase in almost three years (while the upper mgmt. was still receiving record bonuses and raises). A great place to work if all you want or need is good pay and benefits.
Cons
The biggest challenge here is that in the last ten years this company has turned into a full-on "corporation". Employees are given identification numbers which many times you will use instead of your name. It became very frustrating to work within a "process" filled structure of getting things done with your hands tied behind your back. This company has become suffocated by middle management who do don't understand the actual job or just don't care. A majority of them have an ambitious plan for themselves to elevate into the upper management ranks and don't care about their fellow employees much at all..they are afraid to make things better for fear that their superiors may not like it and remember it at promotion time. This company is very "clicky" as well. Who do you Facebook, party, golf, ride motorcycles, or kiss up to? If you are not "cool" or are not very good at kissing behinds and playing the game so to speak, you will not get very far here. Some people are okay with this, and may even thrive in this sort of environment and that's okay.