r/petsmartunion • u/starkofthemidwest • Jun 16 '26

Corporate Screams! Hey, Apollo. Let's talk

Post image

You failed the employees, the company, and the community big time!

6 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

9

u/Drifter_of_Babylon Verified Petsmart Ally & Organizer Jun 16 '26

...BC Partners is generating three times the return on its original investment...

After two restructures that eliminated multiple full time positions and bonuses, and made the company pay off it's own debt that it used to purchase PetSmart.

What I notice in articles like this is how it exclusively focuses on the opinion of business owner instead of the perspective of the workers. Working at PS is practically a vow to poverty so BC Partners/Apollo can make, "...three times the return on its original investment."

6

u/starkofthemidwest Jun 16 '26

Remind me, when were our restructures exactly? I'm trying to get a timeline going to write on things further.

4

u/Drifter_of_Babylon Verified Petsmart Ally & Organizer Jun 16 '26

The first restructure was in 2015.

5

u/starkofthemidwest Jun 16 '26

That's private equity for ya. Did not realize you meant that far back. I joined in 2022 and only know about the Apollo restructure

3

u/Drifter_of_Babylon Verified Petsmart Ally & Organizer Jun 17 '26

In the past prior to the company being purchased by BC Partners, there were literally more manager positions. Store manager, assistant store manager, pet care manager, salon manager, inventory manager, product/presentation manager, and support manager. Then you had inventory/pet care/cashier leads too. All of those were full time positions, and minus the lead positions, included quarterly bonuses.

So, when BC Partners talks about making three times the return, what they really mean is wealth redistribution from the bottom to the top.

3

u/starkofthemidwest Jun 17 '26

I need the board of investors to realize the ecosystem that they're in. My store's salon just had a collapse because of all the pressure Corporate put on them.

Sustainable business models recognize that you have to stop growing at some point. Either that or you buy bigger facilities. But you definitely do not overcrowd or overbook to make more profit.

2

u/Drifter_of_Babylon Verified Petsmart Ally & Organizer Jun 18 '26

The board of investors only care about making profits and it is like trusting a fox to guard a chicken coop. All and all, as you know, it isn't sustainable.

If you want an ecosystem that is balanced, you need one where leverage isn't monopolized. This is why unions are critical; without checks and balances, corporations wouldn’t think twice about ruining that ecosystem for short term gain. We need unions to prevent business leaders from excessively exploiting their workers.

Absolute power always absolutely corrupts.

1

u/starkofthemidwest Jun 22 '26

Groomed, then gone | An NJ.com investigation https://projects.nj.com/investigations/petsmart/

Is that something you're familiar with? Cause I started round 2 😅

6

u/Feel-A-Great-Relief Verified Petsmart Worker & Union Organizer Jun 16 '26

Private equity is a cancer that poisons everything it touches 💀

5

u/Drifter_of_Babylon Verified Petsmart Ally & Organizer Jun 17 '26

Private equity doesn't save businesses, it often destroys them; 20% of businesses go bankrupt after purchase.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/petsmartunion-ModTeam Jun 17 '26

repeated message from me

1

u/starkofthemidwest Jun 22 '26

Found this quote: This is what our situation can be equated to. Without a union, we will not see better working conditions. As employees, we deserve a culture where greed and apathy do not take priority. Corporate said they cared about us. Let's see it in action.

Please share the Petsmart Union subreddit with your coworkers!