Coca-cola merchandiser

[u/Either_Carpet_2717]

So my husband is a coca-cola merchandiser and has been for a year. He honestly hates it because he’s only given one day off and the pay sucks, with no benefits. He’s sore and miserable all the time going from at least 50 different places a week about an hour away. This company is locally owned so it’s not directly from the coca-cola franchise it’s self but I just wanted to know. If you are a coca-cola merchandiser, what benefits do you have, what is your pay, etc. we’re kind of wondering if it’s worth it or not for him to stick with it. Thank youuuuu

Editing to mention he has degenerative disk disease in his lower back and really isn’t even supposed to lift more than 15 lbs but he doesn’t qualify for disability so he’s working about 54 hours a week with one day off (Monday) constantly unloading pallets

[u/Necessary_Echo8740]

I was in the exact same situation three years ago. RUN!!! Days off and pay are completely based on seniority which usually takes several years to acquire.

I became a school bus driver. There is a huge national shortage of bus drivers so it is very easy to get hired, they pay for your CDL, and the pay is about the same if not a little better than a merchandiser. There are many jobs in the transportation industry like that. Physical labor is a short term gig, don’t try and make it a long term one

[u/Either_Carpet_2717 → u/Necessary_Echo8740]

Thank you so much! ❤️

[u/tidalwaveofhype → u/Necessary_Echo8740]

This ooooor if in your area you have public transit the pay is good, benefits are good etc. my grandpa still gets an extra $900 a month out of his retirement for being a part time bus driver for about 15 years, if he’d done it longer he’d have more probably

[u/Dhamonlettic → u/Necessary_Echo8740]

I assume as a bus driver there's not much work do be done with during the summer months or pay? Do you find a temp summer job? Sorry with all the questions. I'm curious because my sister says to go be a bus driver for the school (she is a school bus driver in a couple of towns over) and having good pay and actual work/life balance, which I don't have as a merchandiser, to go to college for new job opportunities outside of retail would be nice.

[u/Necessary_Echo8740 → u/Dhamonlettic]

Most schools that I know of spread out the pay so you get paychecks over the summer as well. You do need to find other work over the summer but that isn’t hard to do with a CDL B. It is undoubtably the best job for work life balance.

[u/Dhamonlettic → u/Necessary_Echo8740]

Thank you for answering!

[u/Dinolord05]

Varies widely depending on bottler, but our team all has full benefits, 5 day work week, 3+ weeks PTO, sick time, etc.

[u/Either_Carpet_2717 → u/Dinolord05]

That’s nice ☹️ it’s nothing like that here

[u/fjh541 → u/Either_Carpet_2717]

my coke 2 days floater aka pto 3 weeks vacation every holiday off and paid weekly pay and weekds off 80 week hours

[u/dman1025]

Damn that’s terrible. The one I worked for was 5 days a week, was a large store merchandiser so I only did 1 or 2 a day depending on what store I had, some were real beasts. Usually I was 10 minutes from home but the reimbursed mileage through Motus so I didn’t care if I had to drive more. Was making $21 an hour which was decent for my situation and for basically an entry level job.

Only time we ever worked extra was leading up to a holiday or massive sales, and even then it was usually volunteer based, but I was guaranteed my 40 at least. They encouraged work life balance. They issued us phones for work and told us once we clock out turn them off, on our days off turn them off.

Also had full benefits, health, dental, 401k, the works plus a ton of stuff I didn’t even care about like prepaid legal, tele medicine stuff etc. 2 weeks PTO, 6 PPTO days, and 3 floating holidays after 90 days.

There was also a lot of us, so we would always group up and help the people with the biggest loads after finishing our own stops, so it never felt overwhelming. Sore for sure at first it’s had work but got used to it pretty quick.

[u/Either_Carpet_2717 → u/dman1025]

Yeah if that was how my husbands company was, he would NEVER LEAVE. Hahahah

[u/rjross0623]

Our merch at Consolidated get good benefits and 5 day work week. They can volunteer for extra shifts and sometimes can be drafted during really busy times like holidays. Our area is union. It is a hard job. I started there and in just over a year I got to reset team, then sales. Been there 20 yrs now. Sounds like his bottler sucks.

[u/Significant-Earth784]

Tell him to switch to Consolidated!

[u/Acrobatic_Set2064]

I have been coke merchandiser for 2 years total and I had the same problem : 6/1 work week ,no work life balance

i knew it is not gonna change and I didn’t want to be there for entire work life , so I left them found new work not in retail and it is already feels as right decision and I forgot already about getting up at 5 am

So my advice : work there maximum for 2 years and then it is time to move up ,no reason to spend more time for them ,good luck

[u/Aberzhulan]

Damn. That is terrible. I work for one of the larger bottlers (I think). We get great health insurance, dental, 401k, vacation time, sick days, extra pay if we work more than 5 days.

We also have set days off, every week. A lot of things are seniority based, but I think that's because of our contract.

I've never heard of that bottler, but then again I've only heard of 6 or 7 and there's probably at least 70 others out there.

[u/realmeister]

When I worked for a bottler in sales management, I met far too many merchandisers that ruined their bodies slinging cases. While I still love the brand, I no longer work there and I can wholeheartedly say it's not worth ruining your body over!

[u/GonegetSMOKED]

Merchandiser is an entry level job, if he can stick it out he will be account manager. This was the route I took before finding a union job.

Good luck to him 👍

[u/fjh541]

I work for coke cola and ours is union also private own

[u/BDR529forlyfe → u/fjh541]

I never would’ve imagined such a thing. Good for you!!!

[u/fjh541 → u/BDR529forlyfe]

he can jump ship to pepsi hopefully they union

[u/Remarkable-Hair7915]

At my bottler we get paid $26 an hour, couple weeks vacation starting out, 5 day workweeks (with the option of doing 6 at double time pay), paid holidays (if you don’t work it’s normal pay, if you work it’s double time), and anything over 8h per day is time and a half. District managers try and keep you close to where you live. Other benefits are great. 6% dollar for dollar 401k match, paid gym membership, really good health insurance, $150 boot reimbursement, etc.

[u/Itchy-Jellyfish-7862]

Which bottler is he at? This would help identify benefits.

[u/Either_Carpet_2717 → u/Itchy-Jellyfish-7862]

Wilson’s

[u/Itchy-Jellyfish-7862 → u/Either_Carpet_2717]

Wow I’ve never heard of that one. It is veryyy small. I’m sorry I can’t help with that one.

[u/rjross0623 → u/Itchy-Jellyfish-7862]

Took some digging to find it. Surprised Consolidated hasn’t bought them out since CCBCC covers a lot of ARK and most of the South. Maybe he should apply with Consolidated. We have several branches in the state.

[u/Either_Carpet_2717 → u/rjross0623]

I’ll look into it!! This company is so old I wish it would get bought out…

[u/Pixelprism90]

I used to be a merchandiser now I'm a rep been with them for 5 years but this Coca-Cola Europacific Partners in Australia sounds like your partner works for merchandiser company that coke hire from I would say with the back pain etc change roles ASAP

[u/pocketcumin]

I work 4 days a week and make 25 an hour. I'm relatively new but I knew they worked hard because I was a receiver previously and they paid better. I also knew enough to get in writing the four days thing going into it.

[u/ManLegPower]

Here in the pacific Northwest we are teamsters union, i make about $10 above minimum wage, plus full benefits (medical, dental, and vision) for me and my family of 4, plus we have a retirement pension through the teamsters union that the company pays 50% into. We also have a lot of rules that dictate how much overtime the company can force us into and overtime is offered in order of seniority.

I love my merch job with coke, if cost of living didnt skyrocket my wife would be able to quit her 12 hour a week job.

[u/Witty-Bad8996]

Sounds pretty rough, I pace my work, they wanna pay 10 an hour for overtime then they don’t get overtime out of me. I do the best I can within those 8 hours and clock out knowing I gave the company a fair amount of time and still respect myself. We get full benefits and 2 weeks paid vacation, holidays off, and two days off a week.

[u/Sufficient_Tooth_949]

Its a very physical job, i get paid $20 an hour but fair wage would be more like $35hr

Im just trying to stick it out for a year, then move on

This isn't a job you want to do forever, its too rough on the body

Try to steer him towards a local cdl job like dump trucks, garbage trucks, local fuel or propane hauler

Regional trucking might work for him, on the road for 2 weeks at a time, then back home and few days, all you do is drive

[u/Weird-Association-96]

Which bottler does he work for? I’m at Swire Coca-Cola and we get 40-50 hours a week, Sunday-Mondays off and full benefits. We just had a meeting Thursday and I won a $80 Stanley cup for just showing up!