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.

[SHIFT_Unique]

alright sorry my mistake

[Crosis]

I'm naming a specific store, and I'm not trying to post slander or anything else...

6 nights ago I was in the Oceanside Petco off the 78highway here in california. I was there for rabbit stuff and naturally went over to the Aquarium area. The SW is a subject I'm currently getting into, First thing I noticed were 3 dead fish (clown, gobi, and a yellow tang) in 3 different tanks, I notified the clerks and pointed out the other clowns had ich. They just looked at me funny and said "the fish guy will be here in 3 or 4 days to take care of them" I responded you need to remove all the fish still alive and put them in a QT and treat them... I was just given a deer in headlights look... I went back to the store last night and nothing had been done, no signs posted and of the remaining clowns from my last visit 3 were missing... I promptly informed my wife we would not ever buy fish from Petco...

I will say the 3 stores I visit for PetsMart are decent and the majority of the personnel are all knowledgable in the SW and FW area... But that doesn't mean I will buy from them... I think sticking to the mom and pop fish shops who know you by face and name and take care of the stock and care about the customers and their success are the places to go...

(I am not, nor have I ever been an employee of Petco, PetsMart, or any other pet store...)

[jamesrm]

A few things to keep in mind:

Like most chainstores, Petco is looking to hire close to minimum wage help, to do what they are told to do and not to create policy. Most of those people would not go through a 4 week training course, or if they did they would probably expect a bit better pay.

My local Petco does a gppd job all of the way around the board. However, one that I have a family relative work at, he was ordered to put sick small animals in the freezer, as that was less expensive than medical bills.

I have witnessed farret cages so full of waste that flies had ..spawned.. in it.

Both cases were reported to the ASPCA, who has a lengthy file on Petco.

As I said, the local store where I live is great, better than Petsmart IMHO. But, like any chain store, it is going to be based upon two things: The knowledge of its minimum wage employees and how gready the managers (paid based upon stores revenue) will be with treatments.

I think that both of the cases above are criminal and should be strictly punished, but unfortuantely that is not likely to happen.

[bodie]

All of this debate about who is to blame leads me to one conclusion. Maybe Petco shouldn't carry SW fish. I don't want to get sued by anyone for libel, but so far this much seems to be confirmed.

1. Petco (and all chain pet stores for that matter) don't pay their employees a great deal and as with most chain stores, there is a lot of turnover.
2. Although there may be standards for training of SW, it all depends on whether the store manager ensures that the staff are properly trained.
3. I think we can all agree that keeping SW fish isn't easy or something that you can just learn in a day or two. If it was, there would be no need for a place like Aquarium Advice!

Those factors lead me to believe that Petco shouldn't keep SW livestock. I'm not claiming that all Petco stores are bad and I'll bet there are Petco stores that have SW livestock that are successful. But given that so many of us are chiming in with bad stuff to say about our local Petcos, it doesn't seem to make sense to keep it going unless they improve the stores that aren't doing well.

[Ziggy953]

It seems to me that the easiest way to impact a store such as Petco or Petsmart, is to just not buy your live stock from them. Most chain stores are bottom line driven and if the sales of certain items aren't there they will eventually stop selling that item. Demand = supply. If you don't like the practices of a store then put it in writing to that store or go up the chain to let them know. I have purchased fish from my local Petco and I have had both of them for nearly 2 years now. Non of us like seeing the animals that we keep being mistreated or not cared for, but the simple fact is WE can't control what everyone out there does or does not do. So, if you really want to impact one of these chain stores don't buy from them (live stock I mean).

[birdmike]

I would just like to state I bought my tank-raised Percula clown and scooter blenny from my local PetCo in Iowa City and they were healthy and are doing great. Based on my experience, it really varies from store to store how healthy and appropriately cared for the fish are.

[CatatonicBug]

Around here, the PetCo's are nasty places... None of the chain stores sell SW at all, but at least the PetSmart stores are clean and well-lit. The PetCo stores here in St. Louis are just sad places for fish. I try not to buy anything from them. However, PetCo is the only LFS I have found that sells submerged driftwood. I'm trying to find more LFS's and at least visit them to see what they are like, but for me, it all comes down to cleanliness, and the availability of what I am looking for. I know I can't expect the people in the stores to answer technical questions, so I never ask them.

[Christine22780]

I will only buy SW fish from them, if they are in a healthy tank, and a GOOD price!!!! Infact Ive bought 2 puffers and they both didnt make it...30bucks down the drain....Their cheap fish do well though! Im in there all the time, for my children, to buy dog supplies, and quick SW items....

I asked my husband to pick up a bad of salt, on his rush home for dinner....- I lifted it out of his truck and it started leaking, and spilling salt everywhere... I placed it down and it had clear duck tape all down the seam! The hole was next to the seam, which didnt have tape on it..weird... So I called up and asked if they usually place damaged items on the shelf with tape and they said the distributor taped it and they placed it w/o knowing of the problem?!!!!

Anyway, I was mad b/c it was everywhere, even in my house..He told me to use it all and bring back an empty bag for a new one. So- I was using it and it spilt all over me as well....I used scissors and cut it open to go faster and it spilt from 2 ends, it was terrible.

[FWaddict]

I can't really say I that I have experienced what you all have at Petco. I love my local Petco, they are nice, friendly people knowledgeable about the pet you wish to purchase. The only time I have seen their fish with ich at my store was when they had the fish in a quarentine tank and had a sticker on the tank saying the fish is under observation. If anyplace is truly a HORRIBLE store that keeps fish, it's wal-mart... I have been there before to pick up some Tetramin for my fishies and I took a look at their livestock... well maybe we shouldn't be calling it livestock... All the fish had ich. I would say a good 40% of them were still alive but the other 60% were either dead or on their way out stuck to the filter intake valve... So in my mind, Petco is the least of our chain petstore problems...

[pirateshake]

I used to work for petsmart. I worked in the fish section, the other dutys were small and fury, birds and reptiles. They made us water 20 videos and do tests. There were also 6 books 80 pages each, very small writing and tests after every 10 pages. After those books we took online certifying tests to make sure you are okay to work in these places. I saw people get fired for not takeing or reading the books in the time we were given. Usually a 2 to 3 month period. So it really is up to the manager to decided weather or not they are going to follow corporate policies. It also depends on how far you are away from the district or regional manager. If they do not visit your store often you can usually do what needs to be done to insure the health of your livestock without getting written up or losing your job.
The worst things ive seen are people just making up info as they go. It sucks but most of the customers that buy there are just getting whatever there child wants and they do not care about the correct ways of doing things even if you tell me. It would be nice if employees knew and enforced policy. But like someone said low pay equals high turn over rate. And more sells equal promotions : / Employees have the right to refuse selling of fish if the person buying the fish dosnt have an established tank or the fish requires extra attenchion and the person wanting to buy dosnt seem to care. But again it all goes back to the more you sell the more you get rewarded type of thing. And trust me, they know who sells the most. We used to get monthly prizes on who sold the most plants ( ever wonder why you see the same old crappy plants). You are not allowed to get more/new plants unless you can steadily keep X amount of dollars per month sells in on plants. Which is almost impossible to if you see the same customers all the time, they are not going to want all the same plants. I am sure that more and more people who care about there fishy friends will see and judge for them selfs which places are worth going to. Hopefully the LFS prevail, they need it, otherwise they go out of business and your stuck with petco or other chain stores.
and FYI the reason petsmart does not sell SW is they know most fish come from wild catchings and sense there very environmentally friendly and help with animal savings all over the place, if they sell fish and are being forced from there homes resulting in the corals to die and seas to change it would look bad from a media perspective. I asked, thats what i was told

sorry about the spelling or grammer, its late and i typed this fast