Macy's West News and Happenings.

What do you think -- is this company going to survive and thrive? Are they looking to expand their staff, or do you think layoffs are inevitable?

How does Macy's West stack up against the competition?

I was hired as a 'full time' employee only to have them drop me, stating that it wasn't full time: it was 'seasonal' despite the fact that my contract said it was full time.

I really wouldn't recommend anyone to plan on working for this company long-term.

Macy's is "asking for resignations" an interesting way to cut employees and avoid paying Unemployment. Their earnings are down. Who will pay? The folks on the sales floor.

Host said: What do you think -- is this company going to survive and thrive? Are they looking to expand their staff, or do you think layoffs are inevitable?

How does Macy's West stack up against the competition?

Why do you ask these questions? Do you think Macys is struggling?

Okay, I had applied online for a PT cosmetics job...I was then told when I went to the group interview that they didn't have any openings in cosmetics at that location, even though they advertised they had. They sent me for a second interview at another store where I was told that they do not have any part-time position available...even though the HR person at the previous store said they had.

This is the second time that I apply at Macy's and get the run-around...I really won't recommend applying with them...don't waste your time.

Besides Nordstroms pays much better.

They did that same situation to my daughter twice. I told her not to apply with them again. It was cosmetics, also.

Macy's starts you at 8.50 (lucky to get 9$) they say they are not hiring full timers (i over heard someone on the phone) but they don't hire 40 hours. (you might get 36max or 32..)
Currently the managers do not want to have anything to do with changing your shift around. So if you need a day off you have to beg you co-workers, who don't want to help you out. So you end up calling in sick, a point off, you do not get sick pay and then your co workers are made at you for leaving them alone....you might get vacation..but you need to clear that with your co workers and your manager 4 weeks in advance. And what about inventory? you might GET to work from 9pm-5am or 5am to 1pm.. they make it sound so fun.. but then you might have to work 8 hours latter.. They company is doing well they bought out a lot of different stores ..what they are taking from the cashiers they are giving to the corporation.. better to work at Macy's corporation. or umm Nordstroms

Yes, I work for macys and yes the schedules are what you say. Also, HR is very strict on your accumulated points. The managers do not do much for you any more. They continue to want more and more customer accounts. They only will help an associate out when you need to switch with another associate that is not in the same department.

Ugggg.. you all need to get a degree and get a real job if you hate working for 8.50 so much.. Macy's = Retail; which means it's not going to be glorious working conditions and top pay. Cashiers are cashiers, it doesn't matter if you're selling high end fashion or hamburgers.

A macys associate is not considered just a cashier. Your top priority is to sell, good customer service and open customer accounts. That is hard work!! You have to work hard for your money and there is nothing wrong with working hard for your paycheck and rewards that go with it. If you are not happy with $8.50 an hour, ask for a raise!!

same thing just happend to me! i am highley skilled makeup artist who has worked in l.a. fshion week and other high end fashion shoes so i thought i was a shoe in! i went to the same group interveiw was there for about 2 and a half hours! the inerveiwer loved me and had the cosmetic manager come up immeditely. the cosmetic manager sat down, didn't ask me any questions and told there were no openings in the department, which florred me because A. why would they advertise it, and B. what the hell was i doing there if there were no openings?
After she said she just kind of took my app. and resume and walked away... without a word! i tracked down the HR lady that interveiwed us and told her my confusion and that i wasn't sure if the cosmetics manager and i were done talking or not, that she had just walked off! she said she would call the other malls to see what they had avalible...and she did...in womans clothing! i have no desire to make 7 bucks an hour in womans clothing! more importantly i didn't APPLY for womans clothing! now i see they just reposted the cosmetics jobs for all three malls even though they told all the ladies that their were no spots open! no wonder their stock is going down! if this is how they treat potential talent, let alone employees, than i can only imagine how they treat their customers! Shame on macy's for all the lies!!

Anybody from Pearlridge, Hawaii?

You may as well apply at a WalMart? Starting in Hawaii is $10.00.

I live in CA. Hawaii does not matter

I just got hired for part-time sales position in Stanford Macy's. I will be working in fashion design area. At first, I thought I will get commission, but my manager told me that you will not get commissions because you are only part-time employee. Wow, I can't believe people make such low salary. I asked my friend who work in San Francisco. He said because Stanford don't have union. Is that right? I really don't know too much. well, they offered me $10.50 per hour.

Here in Hawaii I applied and went to a pre-interview. I was offered 4 different positions. I was told she would call me back to meet with vendors. It has been over a week since then.
In shoes, coach handbags and shiseido there is a 3% commission off what you sell.
A position of Merchandiser/Stocker does not get commission.
Hope this helps some.

Hi,

Thank you. How about for part time employee working in clothing department. Do they get commission also?

Don in Waianae, Hawaii said: Here in Hawaii I applied and went to a pre-interview. I was offered 4 different positions. I was told she would call me back to meet with vendors. It has been over a week since then.
In shoes, coach handbags and shiseido there is a 3% commission off what you sell.
A position of Merchandiser/Stocker does not get commission.
Hope this helps some.

I am not sure. Will respond again if I speak to HR again.
Thanks

You are going to find across the board that retail is about the same. Some companies pay a little more (higher end) but pretty much it's a no growth, opportunity job.
It's not like it use to be 15 to 20 years ago when you got full time hours, pension, full benefits, and a living wage. It's on the low tier of service jobs.Only the upper level exec make money and some of them are incompetent as well.

If you are fortunate enough to land a management job you may make decent money. The only catch is you have to survive the politics,finger pointing,and stress sometimes not worth the wear and tear on your nerves. I think with the coming economic collapse and recession (housing bubble) especially in So Cal nobody is going to be spending on overpriced shoes and handbags. It's going to be a challenge just to pay for the basics in life. Americans have been on a drunken spending spree for the last ten years and it's coming to a end soon.

The stock prices on most of the major retailers are down. The consumer will pull back this coming quarter the holidays will be a disaster. I see dark days for retail for awhile. I know I'm not spending my money and neither are most of my friends.

To Ms. IGNORANT Julia in Sunnyvale, California

HAWAII DOES MATTER. The tiny little island of Oahu has 4 Macys stores and as for all of the other islands, I believe they have one Macys store on each of them. Being the small state that they are, I think they are doing pretty good, retail wise. And I do believe the Macys Associates in Hawaii do get better pay. Being only as big as a city in the "mainland", anything on Hawaii does pretty well.

You have me wrong. I did not mean Hawaii is irrelevant. I meant that Macys' policies in California are different than Macys in Hawaii. Read all the messages before you start calling names.

Just gonna give my knowledge of when I worked there a few years ago...

If you were working a non-commissioned position at macy's you were usually paid $7-9/hour and the only way to move up in pay was to ask for a raise (rarely given), go into managment, or transfer to a commssioned position.

The only commissioned positions at my macy's store were for cosmetics, shoes, furniture, jewelry, and toiletries (perfumes/colognes, etc). I had only worked in the shoe department and the pay for me was $7/hour + commission which was 9% from shoes and about 2-3% for everything else. This is where the pay varies.. I was an aggressive sales person so my hourly was around $12/hour while around the holidays (November-January) i was making around $15/hour. If you werent aggressive you only made the base pay. Also, don't get discouraged about the low base pay because the way macy's does commission, a lower base pay makes it easier to get a bigger commission check. This is because macy's expect you to sell (commission wise) what they are paying you an hour and anything extra after that is your commission. Heres an example, Lets say I am scheduled to work 30 hours this week so $7 x 30 hours = $210 base pay. You would have to sell around $2330 worth of shoes that week to make your base pay $2330 x 9% = roughly $210. Once you sell Anything after the $2330 that is now the commission you keep. So your paycheck for that week will be the $210 + the commission of sales over $2330 and thats up to you on how much you want to make. Your managers will also get on ur ass about selling the macy's credit line as well as they have a quota to keep but everyone who opens one or tries to (commssioned and non-commissioned) gets paid around $3-6 right from the register which is great for lunch =P. Man, i went all technical and stuff sorry, but all in all its a good temp job and I was actually thinking of going back just for the holidays =P

Lol. I work for macys. Not the best job by any means but they DO give me 40hrs a week and started me @9.50/hr. I have worked there for 2 weeks and I plan to quit as soon as I find a more lucrative sales position. They offer a 5% comission on all sales over 1300 per day. Sounds reasonable right? dead wrong. If you sell less than that amount it counts against your comission earned. One might think "If I can sell I'll be allright"... Wrong. I am a sales MONSTER but I still get shafted here! Macys drags every employees comission down in one of (or both of) two ways. #1 they have everyone that works in your dept show up on the same day so nobody makes goal sales commission and/or they send you to a slow dept (childrens for example) where you will have 2-4 hundred dollars in sales as opposed to 13-30 hundred. This is the olympia washington store, I don't know about the others, but, dang...

Kungfuhustler in olympia, Washington said: Lol. I work for macys. Not the best job by any means but they DO give me 40hrs a week and started me @9.50/hr. I have worked there for 2 weeks and I plan to quit as soon as I find a more lucrative sales position. They offer a 5% comission on all sales over 1300 per day. Sounds reasonable right? dead wrong. If you sell less than that amount it counts against your comission earned. One might think "If I can sell I'll be allright"... Wrong. I am a sales MONSTER but I still get shafted here! Macys drags every employees comission down in one of (or both of) two ways. #1 they have everyone that works in your dept show up on the same day so nobody makes goal sales commission and/or they send you to a slow dept (childrens for example) where you will have 2-4 hundred dollars in sales as opposed to 13-30 hundred. This is the olympia washington store, I don't know about the others, but, dang...

I know exactly what you mean, Macy's trys anyway they can to prevent you from earning commission. That is why it is better to sell without commission because it takes all the fun out of being a sales associate.

I am offered FT position in macy's tacoma area.

When do I start getting insurance benefit like health, dental, and vision?

Is it HMO or PPO?

How long is the probation?

Please provide info.
I will really appreciate someone's response.

Your probation period ends after 90 days and there are various choices on what kind of insurance you want. You should get offered some insurance benefits after 90 days and then when open enrollment comes up you will be offered their whole medical plan.
If you have questions, you should contact 'Federated HR'. If you don't know the number to call, talk to your store HR and they will give you a card with phone numbers to call.

That was the most uniformed comment I read on this blog. Just because you have a college degree does not mean that you are guarenteed a liveable wage. I know many people (myself included) who earned EXCELLENT grades in college, got their degress, and are still trying to find employement in their career field, or get a job in their career field that pays good money. Most of us work part time at places like this to make ends meet and pay off college loans. The problem is that companies like Macy's don't want to share the wealth with employees who make their business profitable.

S in Aurora, Colorado said: Ugggg.. you all need to get a degree and get a real job if you hate working for 8.50 so much.. Macy's = Retail; which means it's not going to be glorious working conditions and top pay. Cashiers are cashiers, it doesn't matter if you're selling high end fashion or hamburgers.

You are right!! Macy's does not share the profits enough with their employees. They are only interested in making profit for Macy's.

Julie in Sunnyvale, California said: You are right!! Macy's does not share the profits enough with their employees. They are only interested in making profit for Macy's.

well julie... macy's is a corporation.. and corporations need to make a profit for their share holders.. of course theyre not gonna share too much with the employees..

Of course Macy's needs to make a profit! Most associates who are working hard for them are making those profits happen and they should be getting recognition more often for their efforts. Management gets all the credit and promotions;associates do not get recognized for their good work.

What gets me is if Macy's is so dissappointing why do people continue working there in there misery.
I felt similar working at WalMart because I worked very hard and got nowhere because I did not kiss butt the way others did to get ahead so after 8 years I finally left.
There is many jobs out there and more so if you have experience. You just need to educate yourself on preparing a good resume, learn to do a good approach and be aggressive as far as going to managers and places even though you applied for the job in any form. I am not saying it will be easy but it can be if you discipline yourself to perceive yourself in a way what interviewers want. You may even land a job that pays more than the regular $7.00 to $9.00 range.
My best to you all!!!!

People continue to work at Macy's because no one will hire them because there are not us citizens and Macy's so into diversity. Also, the US citizens that continue to work there are mostly older workers who need to support their families and other business will not hire them because they can train the young for less money and who will stay longer at the company.

By older what age bracket are you looking at.
I am 51 years young,had open heart surgery,have previous back and neck injuries but I continue to work the best I can by educating myself to what the employer wants from a employer. I went to college to beef up my skills, type 10 key and 45 words per minute and learned the proper way to do office procedures and I continue to learn.
I was in retail for 30 plus years as a Office Clerk, Accounting, Garden,Fabrics & Crafts, Ladies and Lingerie. I started out at McDonalds when I was in high school. I understand the foreigners but the american that had such opportunity I do not understand.

The age bracket is the late forties and older. The younger workers at macy's will move on, but the older workers who have come a long way will not leave because of seniority and decent pay. Other workers that are fifty and older that have low wages will not get hired elsewhere because of their age.

I suppose that depends where you are. Here in Hawaii there is a lot of jobs. Walmarts start at $10.00 per hour full time or part time.More if you go in a location where ther is high traffic.
I am 51 years young and left Walmart after 8 years 3 months ago. Our population consist of more Micronesians since a incident had happened to there land via the United States. I was job hunting and was declined in several jobs due to my desire of more money as I feel I should get paid for what I am worth. I went through a pre interview at Macys and was offered Cosmetics or Handbags. The interviewer was supposed to call me back but she did not. I thought that may be due to my age, however knowing my experience in retail should have squashed that. I saw the interviewer again at a job fair she told me to call her and I did but she still did not call me back so I gave up on Macys. I am glad I did not get in. The minimum wage her is $7.25 per hour. I am experienced. I did not want to go back to Walmart because of the hard labor for the less pay I was doing and not getting anywhere because I do not kiss butt but I am pleasant and do work hard.My department manager begged me to stay and said that I do the work of three people. I am happy where I am now. I do not need to do physical work at all and I love talking to the customers at a used car lot where I am the receptionist.

I thought since I am able to discuss matters with others on this site there is something very important I would like you all to be aware of. There is a scam going around as this has happened to me.
I was unemployed and picked up a Career Builder paper at my unemployment office. I put my resume on the site. A company contacted me and said I was a great candidate for the job. A week later I received a Cashiers check for $930.00 a letter and a couple of forms. This company asked me to do a mystery shop at my neighborhood Walmart-Moneygram outlet. I was to take the check to my bank, cash it and wire $830.00 of it and keep the rest for being a mystery shopper for this shop. When I wire it I was told not to put in any personal information of the recipient except for a made up name that included my last name as to pretend I was doing a wire to a family member in Canada as part of the shop. Well I went to my bank and asked them if the check was good before doing the job. The gal at my bank said it was good. I deposited and took out the $840.00 to do the job. I evaluated the clerk as asked. I went home and called the phone number which was a recording and left the reference number. A month later I got a letter with the copy of the check from the bank stating that this check was fictitious.
I went through 3 supervisors at my bank of doing 30 years of business with until I got back half of my so called job money.
I just want people to be aware of such scams and hope that this does not happen to anyone as it has to me.

Donna in Waianae, Hawaii said: I thought since I am able to discuss matters with others on this site there is something very important I would like you all to be aware of. There is a scam going around as this has happened to me.
I was unemployed and picked up a Career Builder paper at my unemployment office. I put my resume on the site. A company contacted me and said I was a great candidate for the job. A week later I received a Cashiers check for $930.00 a letter and a couple of forms. This company asked me to do a mystery shop at my neighborhood Walmart-Moneygram outlet. I was to take the check to my bank, cash it and wire $830.00 of it and keep the rest for being a mystery shopper for this shop. When I wire it I was told not to put in any personal information of the recipient except for a made up name that included my last name as to pretend I was doing a wire to a family member in Canada as part of the shop. Well I went to my bank and asked them if the check was good before doing the job. The gal at my bank said it was good. I deposited and took out the $840.00 to do the job. I evaluated the clerk as asked. I went home and called the phone number which was a recording and left the reference number. A month later I got a letter with the copy of the check from the bank stating that this check was fictitious.
I went through 3 supervisors at my bank of doing 30 years of business with until I got back half of my so called job money.
I just want people to be aware of such scams and hope that this does not happen to anyone as it has to me.

I still dont know why some people still fall for these scams... i mean DATELINE NBC has done stories about it and yet people still fall for the same scam over and over.

They so many money scams out there. If it is too good to be true, don't do it!!

This happened off of a job website that our unemployment company in our state recommends.
The applicant put up her resume and companies contact the unemployed for hire.
This could have happened to anyone and has happened to several already. The manager at Walmart said that several people has gone into the store asking to cash out these cashier checks. The bank even said these checks were good.

This unemployment company should be notified about this problem immediately, so others do not get scammed. They are responsible to fix this problem since they recommended this website.

The unemployment company is run by our state. I informed the Director and he said he will look into it. The state is responsible for allowing such material in there offices and promoting it.

Donna,
Great! I'm glad you looked into it. Knowledge makes you more powerful and not vunerable.
Be thankful for being you
Happy thanksgiving!

Thank-you for being so kind. I usually hear sarcasm from people. This could happen to anyone vulnerable that needed the money.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Happy Holidays!
In hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka E Hauoli Makahiki Hou! Merry Christmas And Happy New Year!!!!

Macy's is struggling. They went through the motions of consolidating divisions. It only added in a layer of management which takes away from real work, since all they do is attend meetings. After laying off over 1,000 people in the mid-west alone, they now have come up with an hourly wage chart for new hires in the stores. It's either $7.25 or $7.50 to start. HR Managers have a 50 cent incentive they can use, but the VP of HR in New York will come down on them like there is no tomorrow for giving the extra .50 cents per hour. It does not matter that you have prior selling experience or hold a masters degree. It is what it is.

Don't get roped into thinking that the benefits are any better. They aren't. You can do better by getting health insurance from a private HMO in your area. Better services and more cost effective. And as a last note, stay away from the May Co. Profit Sharing Plan. Employees that originally were working for the May Company when Macy's purchased them were never given the option or opportunity to to get into Macy's 401K retirement plan. May PSP is a big rip off. Get your own Roth IRA and you can do a LOT BETTER!

I have a few things to add to some previous comments. First off, to whoever said they are in California and thus do not care about Hawaii should rethink the title of this forum. The title is Macy's West. Macy's Pearlridge was the second best seller out of all of the Macy's West stores last I checked. I suppose that makes their comments relevent. To the person making comments about it being just a cashiers job and those of us complaining needing to get a degree, how about those of us trying to pay for that degree? Considering what Macy's expects from their employees, their treatement of those employees really needs to improve. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard managers ramble on about how they support their employees and stand behind them, but I have yet to see it. Opening store credits truly is the only thing that matters. Forget the amount of extra hours you put in to help out when things are busy, forget the amount of effort you put into keeping your area neat and organized, forget how well you are able to hold your tongue when a customer starts to confuse customer service with servitude, forget how many times you have smiled and asked how you could make things better after a customer throws something across the counter at you because it came apart in the washing machine. If you do not have those credits, you are nothing in a managers eyes. You really and truly would be better off working at a WalMart. You will make more, have a chance at a raise, and actually get to stand behind the counter and act like "just a cashier", since that is all anyone sees you as anyways. And the biggest benefit, you can stop gagging everytime you say the word outstanding.

You have me wrong. I did not mean Hawaii is irrelevant. I meant that Macy's policies in California are different than Macy's in Hawaii. You are right Macy's management does not care about all the hard work, just sales and express credit. It's the management who gets promotions and rewards for our efforts.

hank tank in San Lorenzo, California said: well julie... macy's is a corporation.. and corporations need to make a profit for their share holders.. of course theyre not gonna share too much with the employees..

The part left out here would be the fact of how those individuals which make up the Macy's corporation itself are worth BILLIONS of dollars. It is most understandable to desire profits when conducting a business but it is not acceptable when those big-wig individuals so blessed are clearly being gluttons so to include allowing and promoting to their employees (which are direct factors in their making such obscence amounts of money) that it is okay to work for poverty wages, little or no benefits, rare or no recognition, and sad to say the list can go on. Such ugly behavior towards your employees are never to be welcomed or desired by anyone possessing common sense and a sense of decency for one's fellow man. Basically an associate at Macy's is just filling their day with something to do only to not be at home consumed with worry about ending up living on the street which is exactly where they are headed by their continuing to work at Macy's which is ironic to say the least.

legalove in California said: The part left out here would be the fact of how those individuals which make up the Macy's corporation itself are worth BILLIONS of dollars. It is most understandable to desire profits when conducting a business but it is not acceptable when those big-wig individuals so blessed are clearly being gluttons so to include allowing and promoting to their employees (which are direct factors in their making such obscence amounts of money) that it is okay to work for poverty wages, little or no benefits, rare or no recognition, and sad to say the list can go on. Such ugly behavior towards your employees are never to be welcomed or desired by anyone possessing common sense and a sense of decency for one's fellow man. Basically an associate at Macy's is just filling their day with something to do only to not be at home consumed with worry about ending up living on the street which is exactly where they are headed by their continuing to work at Macy's which is ironic to say the least.

I agree with that the treatment of employees by management is disgusting. They expect us to act like robots; our opinion or a disagreement is not allowed. They don't notice you unless you have "loyalty". What you said about associates working at Macy's is just filling their day with something to do, is bull! Women who have worked their for years take their job seriously and have a career to support their families, to save for their retirement, help their children through school or maybe a second income to save money. Many students work there to pay for their education. So, it's not just to fill their day! I happen to like working there because I learn something new everyday. Some Customers can be total jerks, but that's their problem not mine. I just provide the best customer service that I can with every customer that wants my help in the store.

I had the same experience this past weekend regarding the Cosmetic Dept opening. There is a new store opening in Gilbert, AZ. As an Esthetician I applied and got a confirmation email to attend the group interview. Like the other person in Tuscon, was told that at the "interview" that there were no openings in Cosmetics but in Fine Jewerlry and Shoes and that there was only one or two full time postions available. We had a round table discussion discussing Customer Service and our thoughts on it. We were told about how amazing Macy's is, we were told about the Customer loyalty card (Macy's credit Card) and their expectations regarding that. Off to the one on one.

She told me that they have four full time positions which dept would I be interested in? My choices were Men's wear, women's wear, childrens, and Intimate apparel. I said Children's or IA. Great she says. Signs me up for an interview at 8:30. Called to confirm my interview at 8:45. No big deal. I get there and wait and wait. The lady tells me she is so sorry but wasn't expecting me as I wasn't on her list. She takes me an area of the store with low lighting asks some questions, and was called to a meeting. She basicallys says she would love me on her team, she will call me later that day. Welcome to Macy's. But earlier a woman there said she was offered a job only to find out at her follow up appt., that there was no job for her, and no she is not hired.

To make matters stranger, I get a second email inviting me to a group interview for cosmetics after I already did this interview. And we discovered they are having a job fair for cosmetics in Scottsdale in a couple of weeks.

Why would they do that????

I went today with my friend who has interviewed twice with Macy's pure waste of her time, given the fact they try and act as if they are partial to hiring anyone with experience as longs as your schedule fits theirs. Not true the hiring managers couldn't be more prejudiced if they tried. Good luck working for another company who needs to get their act together before they get sued.

And as far as working retail there is nothing wrong with it, career choice or not. Lots of students usually go for these jobs and seniors and anyone else who needs the income or extra income. But realize everyone is not going to get a degree or can afford to, so before you assume what someone can or should do. Realize the nation you live in everyone is really not afforded the so called American dream, what a joke.

Good luck to those who are really doing your best to find work and keep working, no matter what your circumstances are.