Pros
• Some friendly team members (your team members can be cordial and conversational, if they choose to be). • You're given the bare-bone basics of what you'll be doing every shift during your hiring process/training day. • A wide array of team members that are diverse (ethnically, nationalistically, and age-wise). • The pay is decent, IF (see below under Cons)...
Cons
• ...IF you're willing to work every shift your scheduled for, no questions asked (even if the company is breaking the law; see below). • The company breaks state laws regarding time alloted between shifts, claiming that they can because "every job site is a unique contract" (direct quote from my regional supervisor). Example: I worked a shift starting at 6pm in Hershey, PA (1hr and 10mins from home), & we didn't leave until after 1:30am (arriving home at 2:45am). I was then supposed to sleep, get up, and be at my next shift by 6am in Lititz (45 minutes away), meaning that at maximum, I was given 2.5 hours for sleep. The law (at least in PA) states that you are required to have a minimum of 8 hours between work shifts (not including travel time/sleep). This was repeatedly ignored/violated during my time with the company. • As stated by other former specialists, your pay does not reflect the effort necessary to keep up with more experienced counters. You WILL be given tedious areas to work at the start because no one else wishes to work them. Example: Among my first shifts was a bookstore, where I was tasked with counting all of the accessories (pens, pencils, bookmarks, and tiny objects with barely-visible barcodes). 2/3rds of the time, your scanner will not scan a barcode if it's curved, tiny, or not familiar with the item being scanned, meaning you will need to either type in each individual item's barcode by hand, or have a supervisor come and use an updated device and count it towards their rate instead of yours. • At time of hiring, you will be misled about the range of your "district" or "region." The hiring manager will make it seem as though the furthest you may go on a given day is 1 hour to 1.5 hours away. My last shift (unworked) was scheduled to be in Muncy, which is 4.5 hours away from my home (just shy of the PA-NY border), and unless you're driving yourself or someone else in your car with you, you are NOT compensated for your time/gas fairly. You are not paid for the time spent in-transit as a passenger on your way to work, even if it would take you longer to drive there than it will to work the shift. • You are required by the app used to schedule your shifts to approve ALL your shifts in a given week, BEFORE you request a shift change from a supervisor due to distance or illness. For example, if you're schedules for 4 shifts in a week, and 3 are within 20 miles while one is over 200+ miles away, you'll need to confirm that you will work all 4 shifts before you can ask for any changes to the 200+ mile shift. • The hosting store where you are working has the power to tell your supervisor to leave if they feel you're not moving fast enough. I was threatened by store staff on two separate shifts for not moving fast enough, and my supervisor refused to stand up for me or inform the staff that I was still recovering from a workplace injury that slowed my usual rate.