The Coles Thread (4 Viewers)

[babikakez]

Apparently our service manager has been asked to slash hours more than she's ever had to before, giving me a massive four hours next week.

I think it's pretty ridculous for a management that are trying to promote "no queues" to slash budgets resulting in even more queues, and even more annoyed customers.

I'm glad I picked up 6hours/week doing face-up for Grocery otherwise I would've been poor next week.

I bet the decision was made by some suit in Toorak who probably has no idea what it's actually like in the store.

Its end of financial year, thats why.

 

[CieL]

Don't get a job at fucking Coles.

I have seriously never been so angry at an employer in my life. This morning when I rocked up to work I was sat down and told that Coles has sold 45 of its stores to FoodWorks and we're one of those stores.
-> Business Spectator - News - Wesfarmers transfers 45 Coles stores to FoodWorks for $35m
if you haven't heard about it on the news already =.=

This is a selfish decision that the head office implemented, selling their stores along with their workers. It might not affect the young ones much that are just at service or packing, but it's a slap in the face for people who have been employeed there for years and are working their way up.

Sure, FoodWorks will still guarantee us a job.. but not our position.
I felt so bad for the office ladies that have been working there for 20+ years. I mean.. they might get transferred to being a checkout chick or a packer at 50yrs old. They never told anyone it was going to happen or they were planning on selling. They just did it and we don't have a say in any of it.

The thing that annoys me is that they've also implemented some lame rule that we're not allowed to transfer to another Coles for 3 months. We either stay and do whichever position they give us.. or resign.
My 50yr old manager is pissed off and has been crying all day because she doesn't know what's going to happen. Having no qualifications and at that age she wasn't even allowed to apply for a managerial position at a nearby Coles. Some other managers also have a mortgage and kids to feed.

I never thought a large company like Coles/Wesfarmers would be so irresponsible. I suggest you to not get a fucking job at a stupid place like this. Look for something better, you're just going to get kicked to the kerb and treated like shit if you work under this employer.

Thank god I'm still studying and planning to look for a career elsewhere, and this place is just somewhere to earn some disposable income.

 

[babikakez]

wow...thats really big. How much longer do you have left in your degree?

 

[greekgun]

lol ur just realising that coles are backstabbing tight ass scum bags now?

 

[townie]

thats really poor form, really, all employees should have been offered comporable positions at other coles

 

[babikakez]

thats really poor form, really, all employees should have been offered comporable positions at other coles

Exactly. The 'no transfer' clause is disgusting, IMO.

 

[gogdog2316]

thats really poor form, really, all employees should have been offered comporable positions at other coles

what doyou expect their a corporate enterprise profit > employees

 

[bdude]

Oh man, aren't the new "Sale" and "3 for 2" etc signs absolutely awful! Yellow on red is such a garish combination. Plus I got some idiots thinking it meant "3 for $2" not "3 for [the price of] 2"

 

[Trentyboi]

We're going to be getting self-serve registers in my store (which is a Central store, gets REALLY busy, but most transactions are less than 1 basket). I think over 100 000 people pass through our checkouts weekly. Something BS like that.

Anyways, I'm a bit worried that self-serve is going to cull my hours. I study full time and the only income I get is from Coles, and I don't live at home. If I end up only getting like 12 hours a week (14.xx an hour) instead of my average 20-25 hours a week, I am screwed.

Most of my co-workers at service either still live with their parents or are international students whose parents support them anyways. Not to say that I 'deserve' more hours, but I'm more dependent on working to you know, survive. If the worst comes the worse, I'll talk to my CSM and see what can be done. The only problem is everyone seems to ask for my hours already (and majority of them don't need them in my opinion, for reasons stated before). When self-serve comes, I can't imagine how bad it would be.

Broadly speaking, how good would Coles be in regards to 'looking after' their workers in this position? I just hope I don't get screwed over. I'm always like in the top 5 scan rates (we have over 60 checkout operators and supervisors I believe), but I guess it's 'descriminatory' for that to be an important factor.

Another note, how much does it cost to join the SDA? I was thinking of doing that before self-serve comes (in September) if it's not too expensive.


Thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bdude]

Anyways, I'm a bit worried that self-serve is going to cull my hours. I study full time and the only income I get is from Coles, and I don't live at home. If I end up only getting like 12 hours a week (14.xx an hour) instead of my average 20-25 hours a week, I am screwed.

I don't know if Coles will have them, but maybe you could ask to be trained to be a Self-Service Assistant.

With regards to how many hours you'll lose, I think it will depend on your CSM, the number of rostered operators on at any one time is probably going to be cut, but I believe Central stores only have a few, express-only checkouts, so I don't think they would be cut too drastically.

One good thing I've learned is always try to make yourself available for call in shifts, get in some of the supervisors' good books of who to call first.

 

[Trentyboi]

Every single register we have is an 'express' register

 

[babikakez]

We're going to be getting self-serve registers in my store (which is a Central store, gets REALLY busy, but most transactions are less than 1 basket). I think over 100 000 people pass through our checkouts weekly. Something BS like that.

Anyways, I'm a bit worried that self-serve is going to cull my hours. I study full time and the only income I get is from Coles, and I don't live at home. If I end up only getting like 12 hours a week (14.xx an hour) instead of my average 20-25 hours a week, I am screwed.

Most of my co-workers at service either still live with their parents or are international students whose parents support them anyways. Not to say that I 'deserve' more hours, but I'm more dependent on working to you know, survive. If the worst comes the worse, I'll talk to my CSM and see what can be done. The only problem is everyone seems to ask for my hours already (and majority of them don't need them in my opinion, for reasons stated before). When self-serve comes, I can't imagine how bad it would be.

Broadly speaking, how good would Coles be in regards to 'looking after' their workers in this position? I just hope I don't get screwed over. I'm always like in the top 5 scan rates (we have over 60 checkout operators and supervisors I believe), but I guess it's 'descriminatory' for that to be an important factor.

Another note, how much does it cost to join the SDA? I was thinking of doing that before self-serve comes (in September) if it's not too expensive.


Thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

If I were you, I would try so so hard to get a PPT contract. This will guarantee you hours, and although it pays less, the benefits outweigh this.

In my experience, managers don't give a shit about who 'needs' money more than others. If they work hard, thats it. You can't rely on this.

SDA membership costs vary depending on how much you work in a week. If its under 10 hours, its about $3, 10-20 is about $5, 20+ is about $7. Which is shit considering that a 15yo pays the same as someone on adult wage.

 

[Trentyboi]

Well, like I said before, I'm always like in the 'top 5' scan rate things, out of over 60 workers. This is pretty good as I work like 20+ hours a week and some only work one shift, longer you work, harder it is to have a good average I guess. This is only after there for a few months.

Anyways, if I went for PPT there might be a small problem. You see, I am studying full time and every semester my time-table will change.

Perhaps I should ask her. No harm in asking, right? By the way, thank you.

 

[bdude]

Anyways, if I went for PPT there might be a small problem. You see, I am studying full time and every semester my time-table will change.

PPT doesn't mean that you'll work the exact same shifts, it just means that you're contracted to work a particular number of hours each week.

If your uni timetable changes, you'd just tell your CSM the hours you're available.

 

[Grissom]

All permanent employees get a roster, dickhead.

 

[babikakez]

Most PPT employees have their rosters reviewed every three to six months as well.

 

[Trentyboi]

But in regards to my CSM's point of view, would she be benefiting at all by putting me on PPT? I think I'll wait if and/or when my hours get cut down. Also, I think I'm going to join the union during the summer break so that I can apply for the textbook scholarship and get myself $1000. Apparently like everyone who goes for it gets it. Could be $2000 a year, would help out a lot.

With SDA, I keep getting told that you can 'claim it back on tax'. By this, do they mean that the percentage of payments made to SDA that are tax are given back at the end of the financial year or the actual majority of the lump sum paid over the time period is returned to you as you'd be a low income earner. If the later is true, how would the SDA make money if you get something like 90% back when most of their members might possibly not even be full time workers? I guess it would be the earlier of the two, like most other things, you just get a percentage of the tax paid back, not a percentage of the 'fee'.

I did try to talk to my SDA representative today, but it was 4pm and it was so busy.

Another random question, do you guys have different priorities? We always have level 1 priority for service (very busy but small store), but I'm never heard any other 'levels'. Guess it sounds better?

And why is it that we aren't given the reason why EFTPOST cards are rejected (bar incorrect pins)? I recall when I worked at Kmart, similar to that of a giftcard, we would be told the reason in which the card was rejected. Perhaps Coles has more issues with privacy or it was introduced between me being transferred from check-out to general merchandise at Kmart and beginning work on registers at Coles.

One last thing, split clearances. These are so crap, when I started (never trained), I was only told that clearances simply couldn't exceed a certain limit. Hardly anyone at my work does clearances, so when I started (usually 3/4pm and I usually end up changing registers 2/3 times to work my way back closer to supervisors section as they bag up) I kept doing clearances until there was a 'safe' amount of money in the tills. No one told me that you can't do more than one clearance in an hour. So then I got a heap of those excessive clearance forms, haha.

The bit that's more retarded is, I start late in the day, and it's pretty much guaranteed that there'll be a shitload of 50's and sometimes like 6+ 100's. If the person did a clearance before I started but there is still one needed (many of my co-workers are scared of doing clearances I think, because you can't count the notes, have to guess, and they're afraid of getting an excessive clearance form?) and I do a clearance within an hour of the last person doing one, I'll get an excessive clearance form. Like I'm supposed to know when someone did a clearance before I started.

I'm not bitching or anything, just, I'm not really sure what I should do sometimes. I don't want to have my CSM or the store manager for example see my till and be like: "wtf, why haven't you cleared it?" when it's not my fault. Although, my CSM hasn't talked to me about my excessive clearances (had over 10 for sure), perhaps she knows that I'm not being a retard.

 

[whatashotbyseve]

But in regards to my CSM's point of view, would she be benefiting at all by putting me on PPT? I think I'll wait if and/or when my hours get cut down. Also, I think I'm going to join the union during the summer break so that I can apply for the textbook scholarship and get myself $1000. Apparently like everyone who goes for it gets it. Could be $2000 a year, would help out a lot.

It was $80 a couple of years ago, certainly won't be $1000. Maybe $100. Which is more than your fees. Not worth joining just for that imo.

With SDA, I keep getting told that you can 'claim it back on tax'. By this, do they mean that the percentage of payments made to SDA that are tax are given back at the end of the financial year or the actual majority of the lump sum paid over the time period is returned to you as you'd be a low income earner. If the later is true, how would the SDA make money if you get something like 90% back when most of their members might possibly not even be full time workers? I guess it would be the earlier of the two, like most other things, you just get a percentage of the tax paid back, not a percentage of the 'fee'.

Think of the union as an insurer. They only pay money out if they have to. Often it is a one way street. There must be close to a million people eligible for the SDA, if 20% join and pay $5/week, that is $1 million/week. They would be raking it in. In regards to claiming it back on tax, say your union fees are $200 a year. This would be taken away from your gross income. You will not get $200 back, rather a portion of your respective tax bracket - perhaps 25%, so $50 in that example.

 

[babikakez]

I've only received $60 textbook vouchers. Not a sole reason to join, IMO.

 

[bdude]

No one told me that you can't do more than one clearance in an hour. So then I got a heap of those excessive clearance forms, haha.

I got told off for excessive clearences too and I was like WTF, how am I supposed to adhere to a "rule" that I wasn't even told about, sorry I'm not a mindreader.