This family-owned company truly felt like a FAMILY-owned company to me. The CEO, president, and vice presidents made me feel like part of their extended family in many ways.

Pros

Family environment, good pay, opportunities for change and growth

Cons

Focus on tobacco products, excessively long shifts for those who worked in the warehouse

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Ridiculous Hours

Warehouse Order Selector (Former Employee) - Lacey, WA - January 20, 2023

Work is physically demanding, but fairly straightforward. Due to staffing shortages, hours are completely ridiculous: 14-16 hour shifts on average, sometimes 4 days in a row. If you only require 4 hours of sleep, you can hustle and get some serious overtime pay. Management cares very little about your personal well-being and expects you to show up and labor away for 16 hours with 3 total breaks.

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Harbor Wholesale insights

Based on 76 survey responses

What people like

Ability to meet personal goals

Areas for improvement

Overall satisfaction
General feeling of work happiness
Support from manager

Great place to work

Manager (Current Employee) - Lacey, WA - January 19, 2023

Great culture for a large company. Harbor really cares about the people who work here from the top down. Employees are encouraged to engage and excel and are rewarded for doing so. I would encourage any sharp young person to take a strong look at Harbor.

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Great Place to Advance Your Career

Truck Driver Class A (Former Employee) - Lacey, WA - September 23, 2022

A lot of really good people to work with and work for. They like to promote from within, so the management has done the work, and they have the experience and knowledge to help you be successful. Lots of opportunities for growth if you put in your time and are show interest and aptitude.They push a serious culture of safety, and it's not just talk it's the real deal. They're committed to safe driving and making sure you care for your personal physical safety as well.The work is hard, but it pays well, especially if you stick around for multiple years. As a delivery driver you're taking food and groceries into stores and restaurants with a hand truck, it can take a couple weeks or more to get used to the labor, but it's great exercise.

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Average Warehouse Job, for Good or Ill

Order Selector (Current Employee) - Lacey, WA - September 20, 2022

Typical warehouse job. "Safety first" until you're on the floor and speed comes first. Even "standard" rate is nuts. The hours are long (13 hour days are normal). Not a job you could do for long unless you want to destroy your body, but the pay is decent for this line of work, and the management is personable. You never have to work more than four days a week, so that's a plus.

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Great Management

Picker (Former Employee) - Lacey, WA - September 8, 2022

Always felt heard by the managers, was able to communicate effectively with them. Along with this, they worked to make the job stress-free whilst encouraging productivity in a great manner.

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Bait and switch

PM Stocker (Former Employee) - Lacey, WA - August 18, 2022

I left a company that I made more money with because I thought I was going to get $2000 signing bonus. It turned out that you had to work for a whole years to get the whole $2000. Then they say that you can make an incentive bonus, so I am like okay, I'll work extra hard and try and get their incentive. Turns out that the incentive was so far out of reach that it seemed like someone on meth and crack thought of the numbers. Work here if you like to work your tail off to try and reach an unobtainable incentive.

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Good people and fun job.

Driver (Former Employee) - Lacey, WA - August 14, 2022

Job is typical local delivery with longer days in the summer. The day goes by very fast and its always nice when the trailer is empty. Some days it's hard to motivate in the morning but the key is to knock out the first four stops quickly and then switch to cruise control. Definitely a young persons job as it is heavy repetitive work. If you're over 40 definitely find something else.

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Management kills this place

Fleet/facilities mechanic (Former Employee) - Lacey, WA - August 4, 2022

It wasn't a bad place until they hired a dude that worked there back in the day. He rolled in with a "harbor veteran" mentality and a little man complex you wouldn't believe. Totally killed morale and chased away several good mechanics in a few months. All of the management team was a total drag and the internal politics were rabid. If you're desperate give it a shot but if you cam choose pass on this joke of a "family" company

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Great place to learn and gain experience

Class A Delivery Driver (Former Employee) - Lacey, WA - August 2, 2022

Great place to learn the business and what all is involved both good and bad. You will work long hard ours and come close to violating DOT HOS on a regular basis.

Pros

Snacks, free coffee

Cons

Long hours, poor equipment

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Jobs at Harbor Wholesale

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Non CDL - Box Truck Delivery Driver

Lacey, WA

1 day ago

CDL, A Delivery Driver

Lacey, WA

2 days ago

CDL, A Delivery Driver

Great if you don't care about your physical or mental well-being

Warehouse Worker (Former Employee) - Lacey, WA - July 29, 2022

This is one of those typical "Our company is family, but not really" type of jobs. They will claim to appreciate everyone in group settings, and literally claim to be family, but their actions beg to differ. If you aren't within the top 5 best employees (which means literally breaking your back working 14-hour days and giving up parts of your weekend) They don't care about you, and don't even try to make it seem like they do. Members of their management have been fired for literally bringing employees with broken bones to the hospital, the negativity from the upper management also spreads to the employees that have been there for an extended time, so expect to be hazed and bullied by people who get paid less than you. They will go out of their way to hire outside the company to fill higher positions as well, so if you don't brown nose your way into their pocket good luck getting a job beyond just janitorial or case picking. If you want an example of how little they care about their employees, when Covid struck in 2019 the company went out of their way to layoff half of the entire staff due to a maybe 2-3 month productivity decline. Then instead of calling those employees back, they just started hiring new people online once again. Not one single person that was laid off with me, had received any notice of being able to return. It was essentially a purge, and they would do it again in a heartbeat.They pay higher than minimum wage, but the work is fast paced, long, and difficult. Even at a few bucks past minimum it still isn't worth the pay. The hours are pretty sporadic as -

Pros

They pay you, the benefits are actually decent quality, and there are free sandwiches

Cons

Forced Long Hours, Poor Management, Poor communication

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Short term job

Truck driver/ deliveries (Former Employee) - Washington State - June 3, 2022

I worked there for just shy of two years, the company itself has good benefits, etc. you are gonna work long hours, A lot of running up and down a ramp. Routers don’t know how to read a map, you will waste a lot of time back tracking, I don’t know about all, but the supervisor I dealt with was useless, he didn’t get his hands dirty anymore. He would weasel others to cover routes he was supposed to cover himself ( other drivers on vacation, injury, etc).My co drivers were awesome, we looked out for each other, that was most of the support you will get. Trucks were showing up late too often, like three hours late, makes a difference when you’re supposed to start at 12:00 am, some businesses are not easily accessible in a truck and trailer during business hours. Hire on, get your experience, earn a decent wage, get your bonuses, and move on.

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A modern day sweatshop

Utility Worker (Former Employee) - Roseburg, OR - May 14, 2022

You get the whole, Long hours, culture of resentment from management and other employees for taking time away. Unrealistic demands from management, then catching them asleep or on their phones in the offices,Your paid fairly, But once you start living there, pay kind of becomes in material, But if you want to sacrifice every waking moment to make the rich richer go for it

Pros

Free almost expired food, fri-sat off

Cons

Work till it’s done means just that four hours or 20 it’s just normal

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Horrific stay away

Warehouse Associate (Former Employee) - Lacey, WA - April 19, 2022

Abysmal working conditions, egregious hours, abhorrent managers that will only help when you are hours behind. This place is a joke, not worth your time and pay is crummy for amount of time you'll be there every night.. STAY AWAY!!

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Long standing family business experiencing lots of growth but also the pains that go with it.

Graphic Designer (Former Employee) - Lacey, WA - April 8, 2022

Harbor isn't a bad place to work but for most, it will not be a long term career. Compensation is below industry standard and opportunities to advance are VERY limited, depending on which department you work in. The insurance benefits offered are also pretty mediocre... It can be difficult to find doctors that are in network and the out of pocket costs on most plans are high. There's also a huge schism between office and warehouse staff. I wouldn't call it animosity but simply a disconnect. The two halves of the company share a building but hardly ever interact and there can definitely be a feeling of the "other team" if one half isn't picking up slack during collaborative efforts (tradeshow prep, etc). Overall, I don't regret my time at Harbor but without significant advancement, I simply couldn't afford to stay even had I wanted to... The pay just wasn't enough to cover basic living for a family of three.

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Middle management lacking

Territory Sales Manager (Former Employee) - Washington State - March 7, 2022

Middle management need to stop creating busy work for their TSM's. Why go through the process of hiring great people of you do not invest real time in their training.

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you can advance quickly, and on the way up you have several different ways to get production bonuses

Operations Manager (Current Employee) - Portland, OR - January 26, 2022

This company really cares about the employee no matter where you start. An order picker is just as important as a truck driver.Management really tries to make you feel as you are a part of a team. You have many different avenues to advance in this company.Everyone is really nice and helpful. Pay and benefits are great.Summer can be long hours, but they try to give you 3-day weekends.

Pros

friendly environment, informative meetings, management will Suprise you with a lunch or on hot days Ice cream, always willing to help answer questions

Cons

can get warm in the summer

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Great company to work with.

Delivery Driver (Current Employee) - Lacey, WA - January 24, 2022

Harbor Wholesale is a wonderful place to work. They take care of their employees, and make sure they are happy. The management team is very supportive in you meeting your goals to succeed and grow within the company. I enjoy everybody I work with, the hours, and having most of the weekend off. The health benefits are amazing, plus they match your 401K contribution up to 3% or 4%.The paid time off (PTO) is pretty nice to have as well.You can learn a lot from the managers/supervisors. Most of them have been here for 20+ years and are willing to show you the tricks of the trade and give you solid advice on how to succeed. These peoples wisdom I don't take for granted, and appreciate it very much.Working in the inclement weather can be brutal at times, especially if you are not prepared.I enjoy being able to deliver to our customers, meeting them all and building relationships with them. I also enjoy the routes that take you all over, the places you may have never been or knew existed. I have seen some of the coolest places, and met some of the worlds best people out on routes.

Pros

Drivers are provided with sandwiches water bottles and a snack cabinet, Mainly a consistent schedule, The management team in supporting your goals valuing your input, Health benefits, Weekends off, Growth within the company, Great opportunity for overtime, Holiday pay! PTO!

Cons

Working in the inclement weather. (to some), Being stuck in traffic on a route, The earlier start times (1am-2am)

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Fun place, not to hard of work, but definitely a good challenge each day.

Reach Forklift Operator (Current Employee) - Lacey, WA - January 20, 2022

I’ve been at harbor for while, I love it. Each day is a race with productivity numbers. Wonderful way to challenge yourself and to compete with others for fun.The work environment is very excepting of all walks of life. Main reason, I decided to work at harbor.

Pros

Flexible, helpful, genuine, kind, friendly.

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Great company, mission and positive culture where your voice is heard

Marketing (Current Employee) - Lacey, WA - December 13, 2021

This culture is so positive, caring, and so many people have gone out of their way to help me. The company truly cares about your career and where you want to go. The managers have many conversations with you about what motivates you to help you achieve your goals.

Pros

career growth, compensation, Inclusive work environment, valued team member

Cons

Growing pains

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Incredible support for advancement, ownership of job, and family interests.

Specialist (Current Employee) - Lacey, WA - December 2, 2021

Harbor is a place where you are embraced as an individual first, and then a worker, second. Harbor is a big, friendly corporate family and they mean it when your manager asks how are you doing, or what do you need to feel valued, or how can we help you succeed. With the pandemic there has been more of an isloated feeling when working remotely but meetings are frequent just to connect and managers definitely have the pulse on this. It's easy to reach out and chat with a manager or co-worker. Ideas are always welcome, too. Incredible culture and perks, all kinds of stuff. The president of Harbor walks around and just talks to anyone and everyone, all of the time. He places importance on every single person and position, there is no heirarchy of arrogance, and negative actions or gossip about others is not tolerated. Great place to be.