Current Store Manager - Anonymous employee Dollar General Employee Review

Like any retailers, 1) Very tight payroll. I work on an average 45-50 hrs a week. One day off and a "half day" during the week. Some weeks I work more some less depends on what is going on. No retailer who is focused on customer service should NEVER have a single coverage. A store should ALWAYS have at least two employees for adequate coverage at ALL TIMES. Payroll needs to reflect customer service, safety for all and a positive atmosphere for all. 2) Low pay. When I came to DG I was an Asst Mgr at another retailer. I took a big pay cut! Saying that, I don't work 60 to 80 hrs a week either. I came to DG wanting to be a store mgr and in 9 months I am now a district manager candidate. Employees are not paid a lot but they also are not required to do a lot. Cashiering and occasionally stocking shelves should not require a $9 an hr employee. New employees can literally begin at $7.35 an hr and go to $9 an hr in 6 months if they are good workers and are willing to move to another store for a promotion and I am not talking a store 20-30 miles away. 3) The store support system is horrible!!! Employee Resource Center (ERC) is a joke. They don't speak english, can't understand them and they don't listen to your problem. They read a script and go through it to a tee before they even try to understand what you actually need. If I did not have prior experience I would be very frustrated with the lack of concern given to store issues. 4) The store registers are out dated. Having to ask every customer for a drivers license before the check can be "ran through" the register is unnessary. Every day customers should not be hastled with this every time they shop. Who keeps checks anymore anyway? No printing the checks out for them either. Debit/credit cards cannot decipher if they customer is ising a EBT card or a bank card.Very annoying for the customer and employee having to ask and possibly embaress the individual. No store e-mail. No live KPI's for managers to use. 5) New store managers are not, in my opinion, trained to be successful. Successful managers or self taught and rely on networking with other managers in their area. Work can be overwhelming and new managers are not taught time management skills. No training on hiring new employees or a guided training to develope store talent. Theerefore there is a lot of turnover. Store managers have no training to train asst managers for promotion and when a asst mgr does get promoted they can get very stressed, work a lot, get burned out, do not know how to treat employees which causes turnover, do not understand that this is not a 40 hr week job. Work to stay ahead, don't work to catch up on daily, weekly and monthly tasks. Paperwork is redundant and a lot is unnecessary. 6) Shrink is always a big deal in retail. DG has good tools to help control in-store shrink. The problem is the lack of training and store coverage to have these tools work effectively. DG believes that 60-70% of shrink is do to employees. If you use their numbers they are correct. Look closely at their numbers, they are using the wrong stats. Employees are easier to catch doing improper actions simply because they are there the most and therefore watched more closely. Allowing single coverage in a store of 7500 sq ft or larger is welcoming shoplifters or opportunties for disgrutle employees to steal. Camera's don't work if no one is around to use them like they are intended. Even if you see a customer stealing chances are you are busy with customers and can't do anything about it anyway. More floor coverage would help not solve the problem. Can't defensive merchandise the whole store either.