Petco RANT

[fishfreek]

Ricky, Thank you for interjecting your acutal experence as an employee of PetCo. My question is what kinds of training did new employees go thru? Where they simply videos of how one is to interact with the customer or did they go deeper into acutal care of the animials of a speciic department?

[geckofrog]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I did infact visit PETCO yesterday and they did setup quant tanks out of my recommendation...the guy that knows what he is doing was out on vacation or something...while I was there he was drip acclimating a lot of fish.

They only had 4 clownfish and a goby die, not to bad I guess.

[Ricky@3rdshift]

Everyone in the store is educated on a broad general spectrum at 1st. I having some exp in Fish did get to spend time in aquatics and while there I learned how they operate as far was treatment etc... I am by far no expert, but do learn everything I can.

I do know as an emplyee you work mostly register at 1st, and get trained in areas such as dog food, cat supplies, etc... 1st, unless you have some previous experience. As you get more out on the floor, you start recieving specialized training and are actually tested on basics knowledge to become a companion animal specialist. from there on out you have mgmnt, and the regional companion animal "manager" to also call for special problems plus our store had a wide assortment of literature at our disposal for self training.

Ricky

[desda11780]

Originally Posted by Ricky@3rdshift

Everyone in the store is educated on a broad general spectrum at 1st. I having some exp in Fish did get to spend time in aquatics and while there I learned how they operate as far was treatment etc... I am by far no expert, but do learn everything I can.

I do know as an emplyee you work mostly register at 1st, and get trained in areas such as dog food, cat supplies, etc... 1st, unless you have some previous experience. As you get more out on the floor, you start recieving specialized training and are actually tested on basics knowledge to become a companion animal specialist. from there on out you have mgmnt, and the regional companion animal "manager" to also call for special problems plus our store had a wide assortment of literature at our disposal for self training.

Ricky

A close friend of mine worked at PetCo for several years, and her reports seem somewhat incongruous with yours. Yes, employees train and must demonstrate sufficient skills in certain areas... but these areas are CATS and DOGS, with a little BIRD knowledge for good measure. No PetCo employee, including those working in the fish dept., is required to have any minimum of basic knowledge, let alone to demonstrate this knowledge / proficiency, on ANY kind of aquarium / fish issues. Employees are trained generally (no fish info) and then as they advance, they may be given more specialized instruction, but never in fishkeeping / aquarium maintenance.

[Daryth Darkmoon]

Originally Posted by desda11780

A close friend of mine worked at PetCo for several years, and her reports seem somewhat incongruous with yours. Yes, employees train and must demonstrate sufficient skills in certain areas... but these areas are CATS and DOGS, with a little BIRD knowledge for good measure. No PetCo employee, including those working in the fish dept., is required to have any minimum of basic knowledge, let alone to demonstrate this knowledge / proficiency, on ANY kind of aquarium / fish issues. Employees are trained generally (no fish info) and then as they advance, they may be given more specialized instruction, but never in fishkeeping / aquarium maintenance.

That makes alot of sense based on my experiences with the local Petco. Every time I go in the other customers are in pretty much every department except the aquarium/fish.

I don't see how they can do well with their fish sales though since less than a city block away is a Petsmart that puts their selection to shame.

From what I've seen on my visits though, the tanks are clean and visually appealing. And most importantly the fish all looked healthy.

The employee working that section the last time I went in knew less than I do (which isn't much to begin with) but at least seemed willing to help.

[TCTFish]

The Petco Drama...well as a former employee of Petco here in So California where the company was first established and I worked closely with those in Corporate...this is what I have to say...

When I was hired, the manager sat me down and had me watch several videos of different types of animals and their care. Then I was given a test. Shortly after I had to go to an aquatics seminar with a bunch of other new employees.

To say that Petco doesn't have the materials to teach their employees is absolutely false. However, it is the responsibility of the Store Manager to make sure their new employee watch these videos, take the tests, and attend the aquatics seminar.

During a two year employment, I have seen one manager out of several (I worked in several stores as the company was expanding) allow new employees to cheat on the tests by giving them the answer sheets and telling them to copy the answers, but the aquatics seminar was impossible to skip. That still went on and the knowledge obtained goes as far as the attention span of an individual.

The person hosting the seminar was generally the company's most knowledgeable person in the area. The guy who hosted the seminar I went to was very knowledgeable in aquatics. In fact, his store was one of the few that had an exceptional aquatics section. Even with the limitations of Petco's aquatics systems, he still was able to keep his fish in good shape. Petco does try or at one point did try to pick out of their best hired to take on lead roles in livestock sections, but there is something else to keep in mind next time you go in and decide to try and test the knowledge of the poeple there. Corporate.

Corporate controls everything. From the systems used to enclose livestock to what cube has what animal with this brand bedding and water bottles over on this side, type meds to use with this type illness, etc. etc. They do have plan o grams for livestock just as they do with drystock. An example: I had problems when I refused to keep reptiles in Carefresh bedding as it was on their plan o gram. The bedding is too drying...it's too absorbant for reptiles to shed properly. The Regional Manager often overlooked this for me, but couldn't ignore it when anyone else from Corporate decided to ***** me out for going against what the company wanted. Reasons for my decisions which were based on the health of the livestock did not matter. I still got written up and my job title was threatened.

Don't be too quick to blame the employees. Often they want to learn the proper way to care for what they are in charge of, but managers and Corporate make that very difficult. If you want to place blame, place it on Store Managers neglecting their reponsibilities to their employees and Corporate policies that ignore their employees or pass them off as idiots.

Petco, at one point in time use to be a good aquatics source. In fact, at one point in time, it was the only livestock they ever sold...fish. No rats, hamsters, snakes, birds, etc. Just fish along with dry goods for fish and other pets.

As the company grew, they took on more livestock...small animals and birds, then reptiles. When I was working for them, the company was in the height of their expansion along with rival PetSmart. I got to work at several different stores on special projects of setting them up and getting them ready for their Grand Openings. Once they took over a local chain pet supply store here, the company went into turmoil. Didn't seem it from a consumer view, but from the inside, it was all too visible. The company ended up biting more than what it can chew so to speak and Petco lost a lot of their long term, good, well trained, hard working employees. They either had left on their own accord or were fired for petty things so their changes can ensue to their plans. Well...those changes ensued to nothing better and perhaps worse than what they once had. It is a shame.

Same thing happened with PetSmart, though a bit different senerio...it still ended up where they took on more than what they could handle; lost a ton of their best employees; reduced in store size and reduced stock as a result.

Both companies lost a lot of money, but since they are reliant on the stock market and dupped a lot of employees out of stock shares, they had enough to back their losses. Petco did at one point opt to get off the stock market, but I do believe they've gone back on. I'm not 100% sure of this, but if so, is listed under NASDAQ. PetSmart is also listed under NASDAQ.

I haven't cared enough for Petco after that point to know what's up with them now. This all went down in and around 1998.

What I can say for PetSmart is: Everytime I ever applied for a job at PetSmart I gave a nice resume that focused on a long term history of animal care and customer service. I was never hired and each time I would ask why and each time the answer was the same. They always told me, "You're over qualified". It's as if they don't want knowledgeable qualified people taking care of their livestock. IMO, that's *** backwards!!

[JeffX]

I used to work for petco. At my store their was no training for saltwater at all. When I took over I knew very little, and absorbed myself in as much knowledge as I could find. I was lucky enough to have two part-time guys who knew more than me, and were very helpful. We tried our best with that department, and actually had great success in sales and shrink while I was there.

I don't know how it is anymore, but I was in there the other day. I was not too pleased with them having two puffers in a thirty gallon, and a butterfly that kept flashing across the gravel. I do know that they like to overstock their tanks, and do not have QT tanks. When I had asked about setting up those tanks they said corporate did not allow those for reasons I don't remember.

I fought them tooth and nail several times about overstocking tanks, but store management always would adjust my orders after I submitted them.

[TCTFish]

Petco's store set ups (as well as Petsmart and ...forgive me...Walmart) leave very little room, if any to set up QTs, so they're quite ill equipt to handle diseases, wounds, and infections. Prevention is always nice, but when dealing with fish, it is hard to avoid illness among some of the fish. Many fish are wild caught, including FW (though there are more captive bred FW than SW...the mass majority of FW fish on the market are wild caught or farmed in their native waters). Wild caughts are always bound to have some sort of parasite or a surpressed immune system due to capture and transportation. As poor care as this is, at least they cannot hide any aquatic system problems. If they have a problem with sick fish...it'll be obvious to the consumer. Though no excuse to at least try to cut back on tank populations and not house aggressive fish with each other as preventative measures. You'll never find that at any of these big chain stores. Too corporate bound. It's not the manager's fault because the manager is also bound by corporate rules. People aren't so willing to lose their jobs for not footing what corporate expects. You need to hound the corporate offices for changes or better yet...get a corporate job and make the changes.

The aquatics seminars Petco had when I worked there covered the basics for aquarium care...for either SW or FW. The basics are the same between the two so they do cover that or at least intend to. I'll give them that much credit, but you know for a company that started as a fish store have really neglected what made them known. That is sad...and yes...there was a time when all they sold was pet supplies and their only livestock was fish.

[SHIFT_Unique]

i work at petco now, i am certified in all areas, aquatic, reptiles, small animals, and bird. but that was my choice. we have a new manager, he doesnt push his employees to learn what they need to learn. i have did all the studying my self and taken the tests, yes you take tests to become specialists, have to make a 90 or higher on a 100 question test.

ask for ick, yes ick is very bad at petco.

1. we have no quarntine tanks
2. tanks are run on sumps

as for medication. we do water changes raise the temp to 85 and add salt. petco is currently working on a ick medication to be distrubted to all petcos. it will be here soon.

the sherman store is a pretty new store. so you have a new manager and new employees, dont expect great establishment from a new store. it comes with time

training is broad, until you want to be associated with the specific areas where you have to study 6 books and take a 100 question test.

when our fish get ick, we put up signs saying fish under observation and dont sell them.

before you make false accusations about every single petco store, look at the big picture. i have been to several spectacular stores.
(Texas stores)
plano
richardson
wataga

etc..

we get a few odd balls that come in with a rant, that have no idea what there talking about, but your just a few out of the millions of satisfied customers that come to petco every single day..

let me add which has been in business for 42 years...

[Jchillin]

Originally Posted by SHIFT_Unique

before you make false accusations about every single petco store, look at the big picture. i have been to several spectacular stores.

(Texas stores)
plano
richardson
wataga

etc..

This was discussed on page 1 by the administration of this site. Take a look at it. No one has done that since the thread fizzled out several months ago.

Originally Posted by SHIFT_Unique

we get a few odd balls that come in with a rant, that have no idea what there talking about, but your just a few out of the millions of satisfied customers that come to petco every single day..

let me add which has been in business for 42 years...

The OP mentioned a specific experience and a specific store. The other posts were addressed.