Hi, I have a couple questions about being a merch manager.

1. I know merch managers push freight out but do they also do the refreshes we get (I.e Toy Refresh, Food Refresh yadda yadda yadda)

2. Is it their primary job to pull expired merchandise out?

3. Are they a higher position than the regular ASMs?

Does anyone know about the college reimbursement if so can I please please get the link. I’ve asked my SM countless times, she said she would by the end of the day which lead to no avail. So I went up and contacted the district manager which again no avail. I just want some form of help to pay for college outside of myself if anyone has the link or know the website I’d much appreciate it.

Has anyone else experienced the customers who pile all of their items on your belt, then take off to find more items? Or the ones who check out , but are with someone who's still shopping & they expect you to wait on the other person to bring up their items to add?

Picked this black cat Halloween figure at my local Dollar Tree yesterday for $1.25, very cute, someone designing these in China are catching on to the antique/vintage Halloween collectors market. 😂 It'll sit with my collection of real antique and vintage Halloween decor, toys and ephemera. I might go back and try and buy a case of these to touch up and decorate.

This issue also stems from some personal issues but I know for damn well sure one of the main reasons is my job!

Listen I'm a minor, I went to get my hair done my hairdresser pulled a CLUMP of my hair out and said to me "This is stress. What's going on honey? I'm worried about you and your health because this isn't normal for people your age."

Work work work work WORK!!!! ALL I DO IS STRESS ABOUT FUCKING DOLLAR TREE!! I KNOW ITS NOT EVEN WORTH IT!!!

I don't wanna go back to work on Wednesday. 😭

Hello, so im a closing cashier and when I first started I was told the checklist could be filled out in any order and to get done whatever I could. However now im being told to complete the whole checklist every night, and to write a detailed note explaining why I couldn't complete any tasks. I don't know if this is even possible to complete with just myself and the ASM working nights.

I might have to quit. I'm already completeing 6-8 task per night.

PT/Cashier/disabled Been with DT 8 months. (First 2 months was helping building a store)

For the last six months, it has been open shift Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday perfect shift for me. The SM at the time loved it.

Now that ASM is in charge, he did his best to mangle the schedule beyond all belief. I had to call out on Monday due to the fact I make doctor appointments three months out.

At the end of my Sunday shift, ASM laughs and tells me oh by the way you’re working Monday!

By 1 PM Sunday, I had alerted other managers, including my old SM that I was calling in for my Monday 1230 shift (22 hour notice)

QUESTION: how do I get the rest of my schedule? I don’t want to go in and have the crew mad at me and I don’t wanna call and deal with the ASM.

(Our store does not know how to work Compass)

Sorry for the bad photo, but has anyone used this toothpaste before?

I'm using a burner account so this won't be connected to my actual account. After several years working for the company, working my way from Sales Floor Associate up to FT Ops (formerly FT Merch), I finally reached a point when I was able to clearly put my thoughts together, and felt a letter to our CEO was needed.

I wrote this letter after having to help (financially) an employee at my store make her rent for the month because our hours have been slashed and burned to nearly nothing. The employee has worked for the company for 5 years, and has endured everything that Dollar Tree, the company, the management, and the customers can throw at her, and she continually does it with a smile. However this particular day brought tears, worry, and a sense of helplessness to a normally bright, upbeat, and positive person. I stewed on this all weekend, until on my drive home today, I finally had the right words begin clicking in my head.

I know this letter probably won't go anywhere within the company, other than the secretary's e-mail inbox and then into the deleted folder. But it's something I felt very compelled to put out there to the CEO. I also put the same letter out to the Dollar Tree Universe.... These are my thoughts and opinions. Agree, or disagree all you want, but if you work for Dollar Tree in any way, shape, or form, this will all ring true.

This is for all the employees who haven't ever felt comfortable using your voice before. I hope my voice is clear enough!

-- Letter Starts Below --

Dear Mr. Creedon,

I am writing to you as a current Dollar Tree employee who has been with the company for nearly five years. I have intentionally omitted my name, store number, and location because I do not want this message treated as a complaint about a particular store, manager, or district. The questions I am asking are much broader than that.

I began my career with Dollar Tree as a Sales Floor Associate. I subsequently advanced into part-time management and then full-time management, serving in both Merchandise and Operations roles. I mention this because I have experienced Dollar Tree from several different levels within a store, including the same entry-level position held by many of the associates I now help manage.

I recently spent some time reading Dollar Tree's corporate and careers websites. I was struck by the language the company uses to describe its relationship with its associates.

Dollar Tree describes its culture under the heading “Making People Our Priority.” The company says that “it all begins with people” and that when associates feel “genuinely valued and supported,” they have the foundation to “grow” and “thrive.”

The careers website tells prospective employees “Your Workplace Should Make Your Life Better.” It says that associate development and welfare are a top priority. Elsewhere, Dollar Tree speaks about “The Value of You,” investing in associates, supporting associates and their families, providing opportunities for growth, and creating an environment where every associate has a voice.

I believe those are admirable principles.

After nearly five years working inside a Dollar Tree store, however, I find myself struggling to reconcile those principles with the economic reality experienced by many of the people working at store level.

So I would respectfully like to ask you some questions.

What does Dollar Tree believe it means for an associate to “thrive”?

For an associate earning minimum wage and routinely receiving fewer than 15 hours of work per week, what does Dollar Tree believe that employee's financial life is supposed to look like?

Does Dollar Tree consider whether the number of hours it provides an associate is sufficient to make that employment economically meaningful, or is the primary consideration simply whether the store remains within its allotted payroll?

In states where the federal minimum wage of $7.25 applies, even 40 hours per week for 52 weeks produces annual gross wages below the federal poverty guideline for a single individual. Many Dollar Tree associates receive nowhere near 40 hours per week.

How does Dollar Tree reconcile that reality with telling prospective employees that their workplace should make their lives better?

There is another aspect of this that I believe deserves serious consideration.

In the Dollar Tree store where I currently work, every associate and every member of management relies upon some form of government or publicly subsidized assistance (yes, this includes the store manager, and 2 full-time Assistant Managers, and the part-time Assistant Manger).

That assistance takes different forms depending upon the individual: food assistance, housing assistance, heating or energy assistance, Medicaid, subsidized healthcare coverage, or other programs.

I recognize that one store cannot be presumed to represent Dollar Tree's entire workforce. But witnessing this firsthand raises a question that I believe is entirely appropriate to ask of the company's CEO:

Does Dollar Tree know how many of its employees rely upon public assistance to afford basic necessities?

Does the company track it?

Has the company ever studied it?

Does the company even care?

And if Dollar Tree does not know, how can the company objectively determine whether its commitment to helping associates “thrive” is actually succeeding?

I also question the relationship between payroll and the company's expectations of its stores.

Store-level managers are expected to recruit good people, train them, develop them, motivate them, retain them, and create an environment in which they feel valued. Yet those same managers may have so few payroll hours available that they cannot offer a good associate more than a handful of hours per week.

What are we supposed to tell that employee?

How do I tell someone that Dollar Tree values them while simultaneously explaining that I cannot give them the hours they need?

How do we retain talented associates when another employer can simply offer them more hours?

And when those employees leave, does Dollar Tree view that primarily as a retention problem at store level, or does executive leadership examine whether the company's labor model itself contributed to their departure?

Your careers website prominently features employees who have built successful careers with Dollar Tree. I appreciate those stories because, in a smaller way, I am one of those stories.

I started as an associate and advanced into management. Dollar Tree gave me opportunities to advance, and I would be unfair if I pretended otherwise.

But that raises another question.

What about the associate who never becomes a manager?

Not every associate can mathematically become an Assistant Manager, Store Manager, District Manager, Regional Director, or corporate employee. Advancement opportunities are important, but advancement cannot be the only mechanism through which employment becomes economically sustainable.

What commitment does Dollar Tree make to the employee who remains an associate?

Does that employee's work have sufficient “value” to warrant enough hours and compensation to provide some reasonable measure of financial stability?

There is also something I have wondered about from the management side of the business.

When stores successfully meet increasingly demanding operational expectations despite extremely constrained payroll, does that success demonstrate efficiency—or can it inadvertently reinforce the conclusion that the store can operate with even fewer hours?

At what point does efficiency become understaffing?

And how does someone at the executive level know when that line has been crossed?

I am not naïve about the economics of retail. I understand that Dollar Tree is a publicly traded company, that labor is a substantial operating expense, that stores have budgets, and that profitability matters. I am not suggesting that every part-time position can or should become a full-time position.

What I am questioning is where people fit into that equation.

When Dollar Tree publicly says “Making People Our Priority,” what does priority mean when that principle comes into conflict with payroll expense?

When Dollar Tree speaks about “The Value of You,” how is the value of the hourly store associate reflected in the decisions made about wages and available working hours?

When Dollar Tree says that an associate's workplace should “make your life better,” how does the company measure whether it actually does?

And when Dollar Tree says its associates should be able to “thrive,” is financial stability part of the company's definition of thriving?

These are not rhetorical questions.  I would genuinely like to know the answers.

There is an enormous distance between the executive offices of a Fortune 500 company and an associate unloading a truck, stocking a shelf, operating a register, recovering a store, or wondering whether next week's schedule will contain enough hours to pay for groceries?

I believe understanding what happens across that distance matters.

Dollar Tree's corporate website says that the company strives to create an environment “where every associate has a voice.”

I am one of those associates.

After nearly five years with Dollar Tree, I am using mine to ask whether the reality experienced by the people at the bottom of our organization truly reflects the values being expressed at the top.

I sincerely hope someone in your office will be willing to answer.

Respectfully,

A Current Dollar Tree Employee

Our last dm had a rule where management had to check all 50’s and 100’s and we have a new dm and was wondering was that an official rule in writing somewhere

so the other day I was at work and another cashier and I had one headphone in our ear and here comes one of our managers saying that we can't have our headphones in and that we need to take them out. she continued to say that the only reason she has hers in it so she can communicate with our store manager even though whenever you come near here in the office or when she's putting in her numbers on the register you can hear music playing. Is there any policy stating that we're not allowed to have a headphone in and if so wouldn't the policy also have to be followed by the managers? She's always coming up to us saying that we can't do something and then making an exception for herself

Whose bright idea was it to make the food reset due the same week as the FoM? Ugh. What a PitA!

We are down to 3 managers in my store, SM, MM, and me. And even though I am the only ASM, I do have a 2nd job. So I informed my SM that I have to work on a specific day for a meeting at the 2nd job and he went off on me.

Then why am I quitting? Because the 4th manager got fired and SM had 0 backup.

Also

SM wants to fire me because im not recovering enough, and I won't come in 2 hours early on specific days because I have kids.

So yeah

No

DONE

Im turning my key in tomorrow and walking away.

☝🏼☝🏼👍🏼👍🏼😎😎

I’m a senior in high school who works as a regular part time associate. Over the summer I was working 35 hour weeks, but when school started again I dropped down to 15 hours. This was expected since I can only work evening shifts and weekends, but I have recently noticed my coworker who is also a senior in high school still has 35 hours a week. I mentioned this to one of the assistant managers and he was saying it’s because she’s one of their best workers since she can stock really fast, and how they just don’t have the time to teach me how to stock right now, and if I really wanted that many hours. It just felt a little unprofessional, it’s not like I was offended or anything, but the store manager has taught me how to stock. I had cashiered while stocking almost every shift over the summer. I’m just a little confused on how she has double my hours because she can stock so well. They will schedule us together and have me cashiering while she stocks full time. I’ve been looking for a new job currently because I can’t afford to go to college making 200$ every two weeks.

We’re getting a smart safe in my store and I am…. Confused.

What do you mean no change goes in the smart safe? My deposits are always with change, maybe once every six months will we have an even total. From what I understand, I’m not allowed to put change in my deposit bag????

I (ASM) am high-functioning autistic and just wondering if it’s a misunderstanding on my part.

Thank you.

I work at Dollar Tree in Canada as a part-time associate, and I’ve noticed that our store gives us pretty limited hours compared to some other Dollar Tree stores in my city. From what I’ve heard, employees at some of the other locations are getting slightly more hours than we are.

My manager told me that she’s currently running our store with only around 160–170 labour hours per week. Because of that, I’m only getting a limited number of hours as a part-time associate.

Is this normal for Dollar Tree? Do most stores have such limited labour hours, or does it depend heavily on the store’s sales/budget?

I do have a second job at McDonald’s right now, but I’m planning to quit because honestly, I really don’t like the job there. 😭 So I was wondering if it’s realistic to expect more hours at Dollar Tree, or if the hours are generally going to stay limited.

Would appreciate hearing from other Dollar Tree employees in Canada about how many hours your store usually gets and how many hours you personally get

Hi!! I'm the person that mentioned becoming a new ASM and also wondering any tips I could have beforeband. And right now I'm finally working with a newish cashier tonight for closing. So far the things I've done to make sure she's comfortable and to make sure I'm doing things would be

- reassuring her that she can call me for any questions, regardless if it's small. Since she's still understanding the system, I don't want her to think that she can't ask questions.

-helping her out with any register transactions that she will need help with, or explaining to her what she should do on the register for different things.

-giving her backup whenever she dings me to front, or sometimes when I'm recovering and notice a line is a bit long, I hop on without saying anything

-Also checking up on her to make sure everything at the front is fine.

As for me I have mainly been recovering and cleaning the store, I would do some stocking too, but I'm a bit skeptical because I know our merch manager is very specific on stocking things and may not like it if I start messing with some of the things in the backroom. I'm also planning on working through damages and trash when I get a chance too. But I feel like I can be doing a lot more, I know our DM was the one who gave me the recovery task, but I know I can accomplish a lot more within the time I have.

To be clear, i mean leaving the case to the cashier, where a customer can't snatch it and walk out, and letting them know that somebody is buying the whole case, NOT placing it in the customers shopping cart). For the record, my store managers are great, this is out of my own curiosity, since some hotdog swallowing DMs are foul

Hi, so I’m a cashier at Dollar Tree, and I work at a pretty small store on the edge of the suburbs. We don’t have freezers, and we average around $1,000 or less in cash for our deposits, so it’s safe to say our store isn’t exactly a major concern for corporate.

Our Store Manager left in April to move to Florida, and our ASM quit to take a better job. Our Freight Manager was then promoted to Store Manager, and they promoted an associate to ASM who claims to have previous management experience.

My main issue is with the new ASM. I close with them fairly often, and they seem extremely scattered and confused during closing. Because of that, we’ve been getting out much later than we used to. Sometimes we don’t finish until 9:30, and one night we didn’t finish until 9:50.

What frustrates me is that I’m now getting in trouble for supposedly not helping enough with closing. I’ve been working here for about a year, and I’m doing the same closing tasks I’ve always done. When I close with the other managers, we’re usually done around 9:10. So I’m having a hard time understanding why I’m suddenly being blamed for the late closings when my routine hasn’t really changed.

Another issue is that the ASM will frequently come up front and run the register instead of working freight. Since I’m normally the closing cashier, I already don’t get many opportunities to work freight. My usual closing responsibilities are things like balloons, go-backs, cleaning, and the register. When the ASM takes over the register, I’m left with very little to do.

It’s especially frustrating because the ASM has already gotten in trouble for having low freight numbers, but they continue to spend time running the register instead of working freight. Meanwhile, I’m being criticized for not being productive even though the tasks I normally have are being taken away from me.

On top of that, I feel like I’m being heavily micromanaged. I’m constantly being told to do things differently or to do them “their way,” even though I’ve been doing these tasks for about a year and the other managers I’ve worked with have never had an issue with how I do them.

I’m not against being corrected or learning a better way of doing something. What bothers me is that the expectations seem to have completely changed without anyone clearly explaining what I’m supposedly doing wrong.

I’m not really sure what I should do at this point. I want to do my job and meet expectations, but I also don’t think it’s fair to be blamed for things that seem to be caused by poor organization or unclear expectations from management. Is there anything I can do about this?