Pros
Good basic weekly income, opportunities for commision every 2 months or so with competitions ("power routes") on route sales.
Cons
Horrible insurance through Cigna. In my area there's a long list of proivders but I found out that only a handful of them actually take Cigna or some limited form of it. Cigna pays very little compared to other insurance companies, and they have no dental. Unifirst gets there dental through Metlife which is horrible as well. Long hours on route (50-60 hrs a week) with very little support from managment, basically taking advantage of a lot of UniFirst customers who are really paying weekly for nothing. Salesmen who sale the acounts lie to the customers,making promises we can't keep, and we look like the bad guys. Clothes are suposed to be replaced every 2 years but it is not kept up and what they do not tell them is that they get charged service/emblem/speical size charges for replacing the clothes that are worn out after the 2 year period. UniFirst traps customers in a 5 year contract that automatically renews, they make it hard to quit, making the customers send a certified letter 60 days in advance of renewal date to cancel. Basically they make you feel bad for upholding these cruel policies, among many other things. It's a horrible working enviroment. Managers use scare tactics to get you to improve performance rather then building you up, they are constantly threatening to fire people. After a long day on the route,when we get back to the loction to do our "cash-in" we hear managers talking behind the backs of the other RSR's ("route guys"). There are not enough people to help when a driver needs to call out. The only people that are avaible to run the route when someone calls out are the managers, so they make you feel bad for calling out, talk behind your back about it and give you alot of grief even if it is a legit reason. For example, my wife had a baby, and I took two days off (most people would of took at least a week) and I got a lot of crap about it, they even asked me not to take off for the baby at all. I could go on and on, but basically you work long hours on most routes...50-60 hours a week, with no hourly pay. They say we are on "commission" but in reality we are on sallary with a ppossiblity of making commision sometimes. They have a $550 a week guarantee, which is basically your salary. I have worked a long 10-11 hour day and got back to the location to find a customer called over something small (normally a fault on there end or a company shortage that I had no control over) and they want to make you go all the way back there to fix a small problem that can wait and not pay you anymore for it. They will even call you on saturdays to make "hot shots" to run bar towels or mats to places. You get treated horrible by management with very little suport. The pay is not wourth the greif and stress of the job. It is even harder if you have a family. I realize that in some locations it may not be so bad if you have a good branch manager but in my location it was absolutely horrible!!!!!! In almost 2 years I saw a high turn over of management and other employees. Also RSR's/managers do not clock in there, they do not keep track of your hours, but have you sign a slip each week stating that you only worked 40 hours probably so they can get away with over working you more for nothing.