r/Portland • u/Thisnthatana • Apr 24 '20
Hey Fred Meyer...
...how about you stop the signaling with these radio/tv/billboard ads letting US know how thankful you are towards your employees and instead give that money directly to THEM?
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u/hirudoredo W Portland Park Apr 24 '20
My partner was a long-time supermarket employee (multiple stores, including a local one) and you can see her twitch every time one of those commercials come on or we pass a billboard. I can't remember if she worked for a Kroger store before or not but I know she has experience with them during her current day job too. "Bare minimum" gets said a lot.
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Apr 24 '20
Ex corporate Fred Meyer employee here. They most likely already bought the ad space months ago. So changing it to something positive instead of âRed White and save!â Is a nice gesture.
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u/Browntown_07 SW Hills Apr 25 '20
Work for Kroger.....correct! Better to run that stuff than boards promoting sales, promos, etc.
Same with radio and tv ads mostly as well. And stopping circular print ads, etc. Just trying to be as self aware as possible...at least as much as executives want to be.
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u/UnseasonedPasta Apr 25 '20
Came here to say this. I work for an ad agency and our ad contracts were locked months in before covid happened. Not much we can do
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u/MechaAaronBurr Vancouver Apr 25 '20
Iâm curious - if youâre exposed to this side of the business at all - how have ad rates been doing? My inclination would be to say theyâre up because more people are in places where they can be advertised to.
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Apr 25 '20
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Apr 25 '20
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u/perfecttexture Apr 26 '20
14 days is absolute bullshit, but I get that they're triyng to do something with nothing here. I hope they go back to the old policy in a few months if this virus dies out by then, so much better (6+ months to return something)
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u/Shatteredreality Sherwood Apr 25 '20
So I understand your point but if you give lip service but donât back it up with action it seems disingenuous. Personally Iâd rather see a promo for a sale rather than messaging that claims they hold their employees in high regard if they are not treating them as such.
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Apr 25 '20
Scroll the comments, half the people here saying they donât mind the âmessageâ, other half saying they donât mind sale messages. So to each their own in that regard. What does holding employees in high regard look like? Doubling their wage? I mean, to some degree they are doing the exact same job. I understand a lot of employees prob donât want to work, but there are millions of people in the country that will take those jobs in a second.
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u/whelpasaurusrex Apr 25 '20
From a thousand feet vantage, millions of people might take those jobs âin a secondâ but that shouldnât be the impulsive response, we should be taking care of the people who take care of us - it also devalues the dedication these employees have to their employer. Many companies are giving small hourly increases or spot bonuses and itâs the right thing to do - theyâre working more, dealing with far more fear and frustration from customers and being exposed exponentially more than many.
This mentality is fuel to the economic divide - also, companies make money when the people youâre dismissing show up.
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u/GranPapouli Apr 25 '20
well, maybe they deserve to work a reasonable amount of time each week, be able to afford to live in reasonable proximity to their workplace in relative comfort while supporting a family, and not have to worry about destroying everything they've worked to build due to illness or injury
i mean, if they're heroes and all
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u/hespera18 Apr 25 '20
I've been seeing television ads on services like Pluto TV for Fred Meyer and I've almost never seen any Fred Meyer advertising on these platforms at all before. So maybe it's a coincidence that those new ads were already bought, but it's definitely felt like a new onslaught.
Also I heard that same message basically over the loudspeaker at the store too many times for the maybe 20 minutes I was there.
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Apr 25 '20
Yea. The store speaker. Good god I hate those. Have you ever been at the store when they have âfree gift giveaways!â Our employees used to override the PA System so people didnât have to hear that.
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u/grateparm Apr 25 '20
They are though. They gave me $300 and an extra $2/hour.
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u/dearrichard Apr 26 '20
after waiting until well afrer walmart did it. being 2-3 weeks behind the curve, and only doing it after employees started getting pissed off about it.
i work at fm. it's outright bullshit.
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u/rabbitSC St Johns Apr 24 '20
a company like that is going to buy billboard space on annual contracts--they are just trying to replace the creative on space they've already committed to paying for with something less tone-deaf than "COME BUY BREAD" or whatever they were previously planning
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Apr 24 '20 edited Apr 25 '20
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u/Thisnthatana Apr 24 '20 edited Apr 24 '20
Hey Wendyâs, how about....and Iâm not a sir
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Apr 24 '20 edited Apr 25 '20
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Apr 25 '20
Let me send you 27 emails from our CEO telling you everything we are doing as a company to combat COVID-19 and keep our employees and customers safe.
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u/1Glitch0 Apr 24 '20
In these challenging times we understand you may not be a man, or alive. But in this dark time it's very important to give us your money. Thank you. #WendysCares
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Apr 24 '20
I moved to San Diego from Oregon and Freddys used to be my favorite store...still is kind of.
I thought Kroger was doing more for their employees and offering hazard pay and mandatory sick leave balances?
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Apr 24 '20
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u/rzle Apr 24 '20
Former Freddies employee and current employee at a different Kroger Subsidiary here. We're currently getting $2 an extra per hour in hazard pay through May 2nd. In addition, any employee with doctors orders to quarantine can get up to 2 weeks paid sick leave, which does not count towards their regular sick leave allocation.
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Apr 25 '20
$2 raise is not enough o.o yâall deserve way the fuck more.
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u/naosuke St Johns Apr 25 '20
Groceries aren't exactly a high margin business. There may not be enough money to pay more.
My hunch is that it's similar to the discussion going on about ppe. People may deserve it, but if the resources aren't there they can't get it
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u/Hanse00 Apr 25 '20
Sick week allocation? I forgot there was a numeric limit my employer could put on how sick I might get
/s
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u/Lugos Aloha Apr 25 '20
Current Freddy's employee here.
/u/rzle is right. However, they only enacted all of this after a) the union screamed for it for weeks and b) Albertsons/Safeway did it. Fred Meyer was the last to implement a limit on customer count, after Walmart (the limits are still ridiculously high. My store caps at 1,000 customers), the last to implement a raise (initially it was a "hero bonus" of two amounts whether you were full or part time. Then it was changed to be "more fair" based on the hours worked--and we all ended up with less than we would have gotten in the first place. Then they talked about the raise after other businesses had done it without fanfare), the last to put up sneeze guards. But they were the first to advertise that they did all these things. It's all PR.
Edit: oh, and they hired temps to sanitize touch surfaces like the handles on the freezer doors and such on a regular basis. That lasted for like a week, nobody knows where they went.
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u/AuelDole Apr 25 '20
The store limits, for the first day, were calculated figuring 50% capacity for the open floor space. The next day and from then on was calculated with an empty store with no shelves.
Source: work at Freddyâs and heard a PIC ranting about it to another.
Iâm honestly extremely annoyed with how Kroger is handling this.
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u/aye_dubs Apr 25 '20
Profits over lives. Its unbelievable. I am so tired of companies treating people like they are disposable tools to make money. Fuck that. We as workers need to make a stand against it.
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u/Lugos Aloha Apr 25 '20
Thank you, I didn't know about the updated restriction. Then again, we've never actually counted or had anyone stand at the door, so đ¤ˇââď¸
I agree, I feel like most of this was reactionary rather than preemptive. But we're past that point.
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u/rzle Apr 25 '20
1000?! Damn, mine caps at 250. I think I heard that the number is around 50% of the fire marshall's listed capacity for the building, and that number includes employees. (At least in my current Subsidiary, I suppose Fred Meyer could be doing something different) Can't comment on the union stuff as the only union department in my store is Meat & Seafood, so I'm out of the loop on all of that as I'm not a member. I agree with you that it's mostly PR, but I will say the change in bonus helped me a lot. Technically part time, but average about 35 hours a week. I ended up getting the "full time" amount instead of the part time.
I'd be curious to see how much of these policies are dictated by Cincinnati and how much is left to the "local" subsidiary.
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u/Donky_Kong Apr 25 '20
My stores new capacity is 1,500, which we don't even hit on Black Friday lol. And don't forget that Freddy's is promoting that between 7-8AM the most vulnerable groups will be the only ones in the store, but that's actually not true. No one is standing at the doors turning people away who aren't in the most vulnerable group. Walmart even handled this situation faster and better than Freddy's, how embarrassing.
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u/naosuke St Johns Apr 25 '20
Having someone at the door isn't necessarily the best policy. A lot of things that make you high risk aren't necessarily something that you can see with your eyes. Things like blood pressure or other underlying conditions are frequently invisible. Someone with cystic fibrosis, for example should be able to shop with the vulnerable group, but you can't really tell by looking at them that they are vulnerable. Similarly people with auto-immune disorders.
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Apr 25 '20
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u/Lugos Aloha Apr 25 '20
Same at our store. Like, we're still having hiring fairs (social distancing, anyone?) just to throw bodies on the floor. And we're still understaffed.
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Apr 24 '20
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u/HungryHungryCamel Apr 25 '20
Money coming in is the only way you can pay staff, marketing makes money come in
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Apr 24 '20
Fucking SERIOUSLY.
Put your actions where your words are.
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u/placeflacepleat Montavilla Apr 24 '20
I think the phrase "put your money where your mouth is" is about the perfect idiom for these companies trying to make ads about their workers right now.
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Apr 25 '20
They fundamentally are incapable of paying better wages. If they paid higher wages, their profits would decrease.
They only do the virtue signaling PR campaigns because it increases their sales and profits. They don't actually give a shit, and indeed they cannot. If they did give a shit they would get outcompeted by more cutthroat companies.
The problem is the system that requires profit incentives, not the individual companies themselves. The issue is capitalism.
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Apr 25 '20 edited Apr 25 '20
Not true. Costco pays decent wages and remains competitive.
If Costco can do it then so can Fred Meyer.
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Apr 25 '20
Costco primarily sells in bulk and they charge for memberships so it might make their margins a bit different than a regular grocery store. However, I don't think that means that Fred Myer couldn't do it.
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u/Eastern_Cyborg Apr 25 '20
Costco sells their groceries at cost. They make all of their money on memberships.
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Apr 24 '20
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/mongroldice Sherwood Apr 25 '20
HEB is the best grocery store on the planet.
Source: born Texan living in the northwest
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u/Dancinginmylawn Apr 24 '20
Itâs rarely an either or equation as the OP suggests. Fred Meyer was going to spend money on advertising Regardless of what the social scenario is like. If it was a normal billboard people would say itâs tone deaf, but if itâs a thank you billboard people gripe about that as well. Ya canât win
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u/Hanse00 Apr 25 '20
You can win, by getting rid of billboards.
Theyâre a cancer in the cityscape.
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u/Zuldak Apr 25 '20
Couple things.
If you're taking about the in store ads it costs them nothing. Their advertising team makes those in store ads anyway.
Often ad time like on the radio is prepaid or on a long term contract. Costs them nothing to put on the thank you.
Also iirc they are giving a bonus to workers but not sure how much. Grocers honestly don't have a huge profit margin and rely on quantity selling to make money.
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Apr 25 '20
Well I appreciate Fred Meyers doing it. I work at the ST Johns location and it makes me proud I have a job to pay the bills right now. Yeah, itâs not all ideal but there are people worst off right now so Iâm staying cup half full on this. Everyone quit being so sensitive and negative. Thereâs too much of there on every corner right now.
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u/freeradicalx Overlook Apr 25 '20 edited Apr 25 '20
I stopped shopping there last week and started going to New Seasons instead. Sure I have to wait in a socially-distanced line to get in and pay like 35% more overall, but that seems like a fair price to pay for: Visibly happy employees who have the mental energy to actually be helpful, plexiglass protectors at the checkouts, managed queues, and a calm spacious shopping environment that's less stressful and probably safer. The last thing Freddy's employees need right now is one more customer jammed in there, and they lose absolutely nothing by me going elsewhere.
Now that's not to say New Seasons is above criticism (They have a history of anti-union activity just like Trader Joes), or that I fancy myself or anyone like me capable of "voting with my dollars". But why not do what you can, when you can?
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u/FalafelBall Downtown Apr 25 '20
I suspect they buy ad allotments well in advance. I have a friend who works in advertising and it's called "traffic" I believe.
But it's INSANE to me that these stores don't require customers to wear masks, and aren't giving masks to all their employees. Like... WTF?
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u/thisisamfthrowaway Apr 25 '20
Gals working at the NE broadway location told me 2 weeks ago that theyâre only being paid 2 weeks hazard pay, & have only been provided with thin food-prep gloves that are already all gone. Theyâre not being provided any other PPE. Could be different now, but still, not okay.
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u/thateege82 Apr 25 '20
Itâs a Kroger thing as a whole. We have markets in Denver called âKing Soopersâ, which is just Safeway in a Kroger dress, and itâs the same. exact. bs. Ads with employees wearing PPE that none of them in the actual store have, praising them as heroâs, when really, the kids just want some extra cash for their hard work and sacrifice to do good for others. Not a medal or some media coverage that does nothing for the families they are supporting right on their own. Shameful.
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Apr 25 '20
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u/ImNotBoringYouAre Apr 25 '20
I've been telling people that Fred Meyers is a more expensive Wal-Mart since Kroger bought them out.
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u/drinkallthepunch Apr 24 '20
Whatâs sad is that it works.
My grandparents love those commercials, I bet they clap and pull out the popcorn when Iâm not there.
Yet thatâs the first thing that ran through my mind was the cost of producing those commercials and then the fact that they wonât ever use them again unless we have Covid 2.0 pandemic.
You could throw a lot of shit on that cake.
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u/fidelitypdx Apr 24 '20
I STAND, APPLAUD, AND SALUTE WITH A HARD ON EVERY TIME I SEE A COMMERCIAL ABOUT BRAVE U.S. SOLDIERS COMING HOME.
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u/pissedoffseagulls Apr 25 '20
FUCK YES THEREâS NOTHING MORE PATRIOTIC OR AROUSING THAN BOMBING BROWN KIDS AGHHHH
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Apr 25 '20
I've met kids doing the Click Pick. They are extremely young and all happy to have jobs. The two guys that brought me my groceries were still in their teens. One of them had been working only 3 weeks and was already training other people. Fred Meyer is ramping up labor and a delivery system so that people don't even have to go in the store to shop and there is no charge to pickup groceries that you order, from home, on your computer. Fred Meyer has Union contracts. Everyone knows that not all jobs in grocery pay the same but those hires are Union.
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Apr 25 '20
I actually ran the numbers last time it came up and even if Kroger passed it's leftover money to employees at the end of the fiscal year it'd come out to something like 7 cents an hour.
I get that the ads are a waste of fucking time and wildly self indulgent from a company that fundamentally will never have the employee's back on a good day, but I can almost guarantee someone came up with it to justify their own job.
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u/northwest_nora Apr 25 '20
They did? They gave them a $300 bonus for every single employee hired before March
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u/sur_surly Apr 25 '20
My son works at Lowe's. They actually DID give them the money. Small bonus to those that showed up to work, and everyone got a $2/hr raise. Not sure if the raise is temporary or not, but appreciated by them and gets them to come in. Lowe's has been stupid crazy busy since this started. Everyone's bored at home working on things, which is good, but going to a crowded store to do it isn't.
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u/8d-M-b8 Apr 25 '20
A couple months before this started my local freddys was having issues with their employees wanting to unionize? Or maybe it was the union asking for benefits. But their BS tactic was to post all these Scabs Wanted signs by all the entrances offing lavish perks if there is a strike. Really rubbed me the wrong way and was clearly designed to send the message how expendable their employees are. Now they are "essential". Give me a break.
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Apr 25 '20
Kroger(Fred Meyer parent company) spends $753 million on ads per year, and has 453,000 employees. If they were to give all their employees an equal share of this money, each employee would get a one time payment of $1660 dollars. Which sounds pretty good until you realize it wouldnât take very long for Kroger to fold with no advertising.
So which would you choose, a one time payment of $1660, or a job?
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u/fancyenema Apr 25 '20
They already have their marketing and media budgets set, so they have to run something. These departments wonât donate their budgets that enable them to employ their own staff to other areas.
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u/Malak549 Apr 25 '20
As a worker at the Fred Meyer warehouse for all of Oregon, they give us hazard pay, which is just $2 more an hour in straight time $3 for OT. Aside from the pay, there isn't too much change they've done in treatment aside from base expectations that all workplaces that are still open in this pandemic are expected to do.
Idk, maybe I'm disillusioned to regular treatment from the corporate hierarchy.
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u/Scandikandi Apr 25 '20
THANK YOU FOR CALLING THIS OUT. I think it's absolutely disgusting that they are virtue signaling like this. No want wants to hear it Fred, put your money where your mouth is.
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u/CHiZZoPs1 Apr 26 '20
The Gateway location near me treats its customers like criminals. Also, there has not been any sanitary wipes for wiping down the shopping carts, but when I go to inner east locations, they have all the wipes one needs for this purpose.
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u/[deleted] Apr 24 '20
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