Pros
I started as a driver. As time progressed, I made it to the counter in an independant store. Started as a counterman for GPC Corperate. Within 2 years I was an ASE certified P2, and an assistant manager. There is room to grow, if you are one of the boys. You have almost unlimited resources to buy anything for anyone at any time. The counter crews are usually have years of knowlege, some were wrench turners, or painters, so there is always somone that knows somthing that you dont. We still have paper catalogs, and we know how to use them effectivley, which seems to be a major downfall of our competition.
Cons
MANAGEMENT ABOVE STORE LEVEL!!!... When you hear of a district manager, refer to himself as the "windshield" and an employee as "the bug" there is somthing wrong with the manager, not the employee. I work at a store in which the DM is almost 100 miles away, so we dont see him much. The stores are micro managed to the point in which really talented people are leaving because of it. Our jobs are threatened constantly with the phrase " Im not threatening your job , but..." sounded like a threat to me. We are in my opinion understaffed, the managers OFTEN work more than 65 hours a week, and mine seems to get berrated daily. I have been with the company for 17 years, and still wear a dark blue shirt. I was an assistant manager, but stepped down because of pay. You can choose to be an assistant manager and make 30k a year and work 50 hours a week, or make 32 k a year and work 40 as a P2. What has been happening lately is they ahve been hiring outside the company to fill openings, instead of promoting the people that have been with the company and deserve the chance.