David's Bridal Salaries, Bonuses and Benefits.

What are the average starting salaries, bonuses, benefits and travel requirements like at David's Bridal?

What do you like best about working at David's Bridal? Are there any great perks or special treats for employees?

I interviewed recently with David's Bridal and was horrified at the operation they have in place.

starting salary 7.50 an hour in NJ. (state minimum wage is 7.15)
commissions paid after 12,000.00 in sales per pay period (2 weeks)
commission is 8%
No mention of benefits
Each consultant to call 25 people every day worked and inquire about coming in to look at dresses.
Breaks and Lunches not guaranteed when busy.
No appointments needed for customers.
Bride gets dress she tried on. No special orders unless not in stock.
Prices are good but selection is limited to only a few designers.

The girls I saw were working hard, I was interviewed by 3 managers and all had different views of the company. The lead manager stressed to me that the work was hard and the pace relentless.

Pros; paid vacations,sick time, personal days for full -time employees. Discounts of merchandise.

Cons: our alterations department is under stress all the time. There is a lot of pressure to produce a certain $ value of alterations per hour, while fitting customers, answering the phone, answering questions from customers on the sales floor, assisting brides for their final try-ons, repairing dresses. We are supposed to adhere to a regular schedule in terms of fitting days, pick-up days, and sewing days. Our manager makes exceptions to these guidelines, then we get blamed and coached when the work isn't done on time and the customers are kept waiting.

We had to wait for over a week for the corporate Big-Wigs to send us a steam iron. (Our only one was broken) How are we supposed to do our jobs without one?

All of the informatin stated by Dayle is true. I started working at DB in December 08. I accepted the position for extra cash. Thought I could handle it, however, the work they expect feels more like slave labor. At $7.50 /hr. Yes, you can make a commission, but you actually need to cover your own payroll first, ie. 7.50 x hrs worked, divided thru total sales at either 4%,6%, 8%. anything over is considered your commission. With the economy in a slump sales are slow so there is no real commission. Oh Yeah, you can keep calling all of girls you spent 2 hrs dressing to see if they want to return to try again, and keep calling. I was told it takes about 6 months before you actually have a "following" and maybe make $10.00/$12.00hr with commission. You work every Saturday & Sunday. Scheduled hrs are different every week. Even being a sales associate you will find yourself steaming dresses for your customer (while doing this you are not on the sales floor selling, and by the way alterations get $15.00hr/ while you are trying to sell to make more than minimum wage. The job itself is physically draining.

Ladies I worked only two months and could go on and on about the negatives working for Davids Bridals. Positives, none.

By the way I am 54 years old, and had my own business until the economy starting to fall 4 years ago. I'm not afraid of hard work, but I believe that hard work must be dully compensated. I've worked corporate jobs,and other positions in small compainies. Quite frankly Davids Bridals isn't worth the effort with its present operations management.

Hi db, thanks for sharing, I'll be 58 in June, the comment was
real helpful, only 2 months...I had a similar experience but I lasted 1 year...Even hate to put on resume, but then again I may be asked where I was during that time....

I started David's Bridal recently. I quit, only after months of insanity, abuse, and poor management. How David's stays in business is beyond me, the company operates like it is the stone ages, and treats it's employees with disrespect.
OMG, I thought too that I would make money at this job, and I thought it would actually be fun...(NOT!!!) They want you to telemarket, and call your brides CONSTANTLY! I absolutley refuse to do it. Who wants to be hassled? They want you to sell dresses off of the rack, when everyone has put them on their body. You are repremanded if you "order" a dress, and then come to find out, the usually get it from another store, and it is not brand new.

I too lost my job to the economy, and thought this would be a fun way to make it through until another job came...until the economy got worse, and I was stuck there longer than I wanted.

If anyone is thinking about working there, think again! Unless you are a pushy sales person, and can clear OVER 12,000 in sales every 2 weeks,( to make your commission) call your 25 brides every day you work, ay 7.50 an hour...get a lunch if you are lucky, and stand on your feet in "dressy" shoes all day...then it's for you

I have worked retail for years but this is the WORST job I have ever had...McDonald's was better when I was a teenager. And I am over 40! Yeesh!

Sorry folks I too had to vent. That place was terrible. I would rather clean up dog poop all day long.

The salary at David's does start at $7.50 per hour. But I don't believe that it is as hard as these girls are portraying it to be, to earn a decent living at David's.

I've worked at a lower-volume store full-time for just over a year now. Last year, when everything was said and done, I made about 24K. Which is about 2000 a month. Broken down to an hourly wage, I did about $11.50 per hour. I got full medical benefits, as well as dental and optical. They also offer life insurance, long and short term disability. I took two weeks of paid vacation, which I was allowed to take during the slow season, when we are at an especially low volume.

Do you have to have a lot of physical stamina for this job? Yes, you will work your butt off. Is it rewarding? YES! You get to help women choose a dress for one of the most special days of her life, and they are very grateful to you for that help.

As far as telemarketing goes.. Calling my brides to follow up with them is usually HIGHLY appreciated by them. It helps me build a relationship with them, and consequently they spend more money with me, and are sure to ask for me when they call to book appointments. Therefore, I am more likely to hit the $12000 threshold for 8% commission. I didn't hit $12K every pay period. But I did the majority of them. And now with a year's worth of experience I am improving on last year's number quite a lot.

Commission sales jobs are pretty much what you make of it. If you are motivated to hit your numbers, you will hit them. Just listen to what your managers tell to you to do, and make your follow-up calls, whether you need to do 5 or 25.

I worked at a David's for almost three years. While the poster SalesJunky is right-you work your butt off and it's rewarding, that only goes so far as lower volume stores. I worked at a lower volume store - that's David's speak for having a sane amount of traffic in a day - once or twice and LOVED it. I even thought of transferring. But the David's I worked at regularly is the busiest in its area, and I can absolutely confirm everything the other posters said. The managers are under such pressure to make sales that almost everything becomes impersonal, and it's all the staff can do to make up for it. New employees are rushed through training, consultants and front desk people are worked until they feel faint, every manager gives a different answer to the same question, short notice is given on major changes like scheduling, and the appointments are RIDICULOUSLY overbooked. How can a staff of twelve handle 20 in an hour when you have the same number of walk-in customers? I'm so torn up about it, because there are parts I enjoy and the staff is nice. But it's so hard working in such a dysfunctional environment. Sometimes I think Slave-id's Bridal is more appropriate.

As an alts specialist, I never got above $11 an hour. The other staff in the room: Don't know what they earned, but the two full time women had worked there for 10 years.

It is an "off the rack" store - just like Macy's or Sears, you get the dress you tried on. That's why they can be sold at those prices. Yes, the store manager will be "coached" for ordering dresses she already has in stock.

They skimp on management. Our Alts manager was passing out her personal business cards on the floor, convincing women to have their dresses altered at her home instead of the store! She had her home customers call her at the store regularly. She often took in or delivered merchandise for her home customers at the store, too. (She is "afraid" to give out her home number, because her ex-husband may some day get it. Well, then, maybe a home business isn't for you)

The alts manager is supposed to be at the store Wednesdays and Fridays for pick-ups. One day, ours came in two hours late on a pick-up day. The emergency? Finishing a custom-made dress for a private customer at home!

I finally wrote to the president of the company. He cared a lot what was going on, even if the store manager and assistant manager didn't!