SCHWANS RIPOFF WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE A SLAVE? WORK FOR SCHWANS Marshfield Wisconsin

I am a wife of a current Schwan's employee. It is a hard life, but we have made ajustments and sacrifices. Unfortunately, Schwans is making another pay rate change.

We have survived the other rate changes the last 3 years. All have been described in the above letters. This new one is a doosy. If you are a currently employed CSM making more than 5850 in weekly sales, you should make the same wages. If you are not making the "magic number" you will be taking a substancial pay cut.

CSM's are having their base pay lowered to 26,000 a year. The new commission is 1% up to $899 in daily sales, 2% from $899 to $999 daily sales, and up. Now if your daily sales, every day, are $1101 you will actually get a small raise compared to 2010. The sales are based on a daily rates, not averaged weekly.

Think about that for a minute. If you have 2 days on your week that only earn you say $600 in sales, you commission for that day is only $6.

So imagine you are in my husband's position. For the last year he has been participating in an experiment. He has only had 5 route days. That means he is seeing every customer every week. The standard is 10 route days and seeing customers every 2 weeks. Now his district manger is concidering this grand experiment a success because the 5 days my husband is running are earning about $1500 more in sales every 2 weeks. The problem is that the sales weekly have gone down. Days that were earning 900 to 1000 in sales every 2 weeks are only getting 6 or 700 once a week.

So do the math based on 5 route days at $700 in sales a day. The managers get bigger bonuses because my husband's overall sales are up, but my husband's pay goes from 38,000 a year to 28,500!!!! For the same effort, same hours and days that now average $1200 every 2 weeks my husband is going to loose a third of his income. All because sales under the new pay scale are daily sales. The math says that my husband will now be making $9 an hour at a 60+ hour a week job while all of the other CSM's in his depot will be making $12 an hour.

Now the easy fix would be to call an end to the experiment and give my husband his other 5 route days back so that he can make a living wage. But this is not going to happen. The district manager is too enamoured with the sales increase to see what he is doing to our family. When this pay change is put in to place at his depot, which is soon, we will no longer be able to afford our home.

My husband is looking for another job, and so am I. Unfortunately the economy has not recovered well in our area and Schwan's employees are some of the highest paid. So even a new job will mean a substancial pay cut.

So don't tell me Schwans is a good employer. My husband has worked hard for several years, and is a good employee. But Schwans isthrowing us to the wolves for a $1500 bi-weekly sales increase.

Someone needs to remind these managers that their pay would go away if the CSM's walked out. Not the other way around.

First off I'll start by saying that I am an employee of schwans. I am a CSMT. I'd just like to say that not all depots are alike, however, we ALL abide by the DOT guidelines as far as working goes. We do not use written logs, so there's no erasing and changing times at Schwans. If people work more than the allowed time its because they've either cheated on their punch in or something seriously has happened. (Mechanical failure, inclement weather, etc.) Its not something Schwans encourages nor condones and if you are caught violating DOT regulations  its three strikes and you're out. As for long hours, yes that part is true. However I worked just as long of hours at my job with The Big Corporation. (No need to drag names into it.) I also got paid less there. I'm going to have to agree with the comment that this job is not for 90% of people. It is hard work and not every one can handle that. (not to dis on anyone or anything) As for 80-90 hours that's just not true. I dont know a single schwans employee that works that much except for maybe the LGM's and DM. CSMs go home at night (unless they're on an overnight schedule). We get to work around nine in the morning and we get back to the depot NO MORE THAN 14 hrs later. That's just how it is.
Now to get onto the whole commission thing. Yes we do get a commission but we also  have a base salary in case sales go down. Schwans isn't going to just give you a "tough luck" shrug and move on.  I am not even on salary plus yet and I bring home $971 and some change AFTER taxes, medical insurance and so on.
I would not say that people who dont make it with schwans didn't try, some of them didn't but not all of them. Schwans is a hard job, but at the end of the day I come home knowing whether or not I tried.

This is the thing, take it or leave it. I used to work at Schawns. I do not work there anymore because I was offered a job in which I could make more money. I wasnt looking for that job it just kind of fell into my lap.

Honestly Schawns isnt the greatest job in the world, but not the worst either. I have a bit of a problem with what a lot of people are saying. This is a job in which you do have to work fairly hard to make a good living, but that is a good thing. We as a society live in an era where people (generally) want something for nothing. They have a sense on entitlement. Schwans is a company who says you scratch my back I will scratch yours. Yes you have 12 hour days into work 18 not hardly. I was never as well as several depots as was at was never told to be in before 9 I had to leave by 10 that was it, and they didnt want me home before 9. So you do the math? 20 min to get ready in the morning 40 min to bank out at night, makes 12 hrs! The only time they wanted you in earliear was if you were on a so-called flex route and then you only had 8-10 hrs into it. They no longer run flex routes by the way.

If you work hard and do what you are supposed to you can make 35-60 thousand realistically. If you wine and belly ache and dont want to work hard. Wants something for nothing then they would most likley have something bad to say about it all. The company has been in for 50 years and will continue to make it. They wouldnt be able to sustain that if they werent legit. Just some food for thought.

The previous post. I am not treated like a slave. I don't believe you are a route Sales person. If any of what you say were true, It might be a good job. Your examples are not the norm. 

I work for Schwan's home service and found some errors in the report. We work 12 hour days not 18 hour days. It would be illegal to drive for that many hours a day and we have to adhere by D.O.T. hours and regulations. We are strictly monitored by D.O.T. through our handheld computers and gauges on our trucks.

I do get paid a guaranteed salary. The start salary is as stated but there is no step down program. I have watched the three people hired before me move up to the 40k level or above in less than a year. I am well on my way too. Oh and they pay for our uniforms and boots too.

We get the guaranteed salary PLUS commission. Some people are making six figures on this job. I know, I have seen the paychecks. The company treats us like valued employees and we have complete input on all policies and new sales strategies. It truly feels like family there.

I won't lie to you the work is hard. You are outside in all elements, carrying frozen food which can be heavy and climbing in and out of the freezer doors of a truck. However I am a 42 yr old woman that was out of shape when I started and I have no problem doing the work. However, if you are willing to do a little work, show a nice personality and service all your customers it wouldnt be difficult to make money if it was just solely commission. Everyone loves our products and it sells itself.

As for the 6 new customers its only 2. I don't even have to work to get new customers as people stop me on the street to become new customers and my current customers constantly give me referrals. If you treat your customers well as in any business they will refer people to you.

 I have only worked there for 7 months and I have no problem finding my customers. In fact they schedule their days around me coming!!!! They do this for all the route managers. I have no idea where this disgruntled employee worked so I can't say he or she did not experience it. It is however not company policy and definitely not the norm. I have had the pleasure of helping out at several different depots in different areas and I have only had positive experiences.

Schwanman sounds more like a depot manager or someone from the home office getting on here to impersonate a new driver. The post sounds too idealistic. It sounds fishy.

Yes it is possible to sell a bunch of food off a truck. You may even sell 1300  after going to 54 houses. In some areas that may be possible. Who ever gets a schwans route, I hope you get one like that. You probably won't.

As far as L.G.M.s,  I can't say all L.G.M.s are pricks but mine was. He threw me under the bus on my last day. Judging by what I read on this site, there are probably quite a few L.G.M.s that are pricks.

I even have a friend who left a competitor to go to work for the Schwans vendor team (intentionally omitted which one) and his exact words were "Competitor is blanked up but Schwans is really blanked up beyond imagination" There is more to the story but for his own job security, I will omit the rest.


He tells me that Schwans is an absolute mess.

For the most part, I find it hard to believe that anybody working 15+ hours a day for Schwans would hop on line to post anything positive here. They would be too worn-out.

 Go ahead and stick around. You'll see the light or in this case the darkness.

I currently work for Schwan's home delivery and have found it to be a great place to work. I am the newest guy at the depot, but most of the drivers have worked for the company for 9+ years and still love their jobs.

Yes, it does involve long hours and more over nights than I would like, but other than that, it has worked out perfectly. They no longer use the 11% straight commission pay structure. You get a salary of 32,000/year as a CSMT and as a CSM you get $38,000 + commission). If you sell $5,800/ week you earn a 1% commission on top of the $38,000. If you sell another $600/day, you earn 2%, and the scale continues. A few of the drivers here make a lot of commission and sell more than $2500/day.

Today I ran a route with 54 customers and sold $1384, which is above the "quota". All the company asks is that you meet the minimum quota and have 10 hours of sale time each day. Many drivers who meet the goal in 4 days, have a 3 day weekend.

It is really not a bad job. The customers generally have their orders ready, and are expecting you to come. The boss does not give you a hard time. All you have to do is show up, run your route and you will make your base and commission.

Also, my uniform (pants, shirts, hats, parka, boots, etc) did not cost me a dime, it was provided by the company at no charge. The company also pays your hotel rooms when you have to do an overnight, and pays for your food on those trips.

First of all it doesn't take a genious or anyone with a brain to drive a small truck around all day and stop at various homes/businesses and ask for an order.   There is no sales involved.   All you must be able to do is follow directions and have a decent personality so that you can comminicate with the buyer.   A little product knowlege wouldn't hurt either.   An idiot can do this and Schwan's still has quite a few of those.  It's actually pretty sad to read all the various comments.   It is appearent that there are a few CSM's that will always be CSM's and those same people will continue to make their 35k.  The ones that have been with Schwan's for numorous years will make considerably more.  However, what is not said here is that it is impossible to compare each district to another.  What happens in the midwest or original Schwan's area is entirely different the the west coast or the south east.   For years now every positive comment has been from either new recruits who don't want people to think they are stupid or old-timers that have been on their route for 10 years.   READ THIS!!!   1 out of 10 recruits make it more than 90 days.   Hell, I know of no one hired into the company to a CSM position that makes it more than 90 days.   Typically they fall out just after the basic idiot training class.     

By the way,  someone said that this was the only job they could find.  To this I say BS.  If that's the case then maybe the problem is with the recruit.

Your not a salesman if you can't sell Schwans food.
It sells itself. I can sit my truck on the side of the road
and sell $500.00 without even trying. Yes, sometimes the
days are long, but if you set your routes up right, and can
follow the directions of Schwans 50 plus years experience,
you can become very,very successful. I struggled at first,
but listened, followed my managers instructions and it all
made sense. It's fun and easy. This is My business and Schwans
helps me. I'm well known in my community and people look
forward to seeing me every two weeks. Some people can't
get out to the grocery store every week and I help plan their meals,
make life easier, take some of the burden of planning meals. I average
over $1200.00, a day, five days a week, and people chase my truck
around town. You build relationships and the food takes care of itself.
It's not for everyone, but I love it. Yes I'm married, with three kids,
one in college, a junior in H.S. and one more is 10 years years old..
Great company and I get to taste test foods every week. Yeah baby!

Yesterday I had an interview at Schwanns. Before I went, I googled the pay scale as nothing is posted in the realm of compensation on their website. I found a link for ripoff report and thought I'd give it a look. Now I can understand that there will always be the person who hates whatever job for whatever reason, but what got my attention was the numerous posts saying how terrible of a company this is. I was so intrigued by this, yet also am unemployed and need a job like millions others in our pre-depression current era. I thought I would print out Justins post and all rebuttles and show them to the person interviewing me. After all I am the kind of person who likes to know what I'm getting myself into. The horrible job was sugarcoated as best as it could have been. The interviewer swiftly told the pay scale, and hours. I'm somewhat good at math, but he basically said I would be making 9 and change an hour and have to work 12 hour days. After hearing all this, and thinking "why the hell would anyone with half a brain want to work here?" I showed him what I had printed out. I asked the interviewer to explain why people would say such things, and he kept insisting that Schwanns is a great company and those are probably written by slackers or people who want a handout. He also accused me of being an undercover journalist (which I'm not), and if I worked for the BBB (don't do that either). He said you can look such things up about EVERY company. Basically, had I not read what you put, I would have taken the "some work is better than none" approach and subjegated myself to a new job that I would eventually hate. Thankfully I have had found work on my very next interview, and it's nice to know if I'm there more than 8 hours, I'll be compensated accordingly. Again thank you to all of you who posted.

Yesterday I had an interview at Schwanns. Before I went, I googled the pay scale as nothing is posted in the realm of compensation on their website. I found a link for ripoff report and thought I'd give it a look. Now I can understand that there will always be the person who hates whatever job for whatever reason, but what got my attention was the numerous posts saying how terrible of a company this is. I was so intrigued by this, yet also am unemployed and need a job like millions others in our pre-depression current era. I thought I would print out Justins post and all rebuttles and show them to the person interviewing me. After all I am the kind of person who likes to know what I'm getting myself into. The horrible job was sugarcoated as best as it could have been. The interviewer swiftly told the pay scale, and hours. I'm somewhat good at math, but he basically said I would be making 9 and change an hour and have to work 12 hour days. After hearing all this, and thinking "why the hell would anyone with half a brain want to work here?" I showed him what I had printed out. I asked the interviewer to explain why people would say such things, and he kept insisting that Schwanns is a great company and those are probably written by slackers or people who want a handout. He also accused me of being an undercover journalist (which I'm not), and if I worked for the BBB (don't do that either). He said you can look such things up about EVERY company. Basically, had I not read what you put, I would have taken the "some work is better than none" approach and subjegated myself to a new job that I would eventually hate. Thankfully I have had found work on my very next interview, and it's nice to know if I'm there more than 8 hours, I'll be compensated accordingly. Again thank you to all of you who posted.

Yesterday I had an interview at Schwanns. Before I went, I googled the pay scale as nothing is posted in the realm of compensation on their website. I found a link for ripoff report and thought I'd give it a look. Now I can understand that there will always be the person who hates whatever job for whatever reason, but what got my attention was the numerous posts saying how terrible of a company this is. I was so intrigued by this, yet also am unemployed and need a job like millions others in our pre-depression current era. I thought I would print out Justins post and all rebuttles and show them to the person interviewing me. After all I am the kind of person who likes to know what I'm getting myself into. The horrible job was sugarcoated as best as it could have been. The interviewer swiftly told the pay scale, and hours. I'm somewhat good at math, but he basically said I would be making 9 and change an hour and have to work 12 hour days. After hearing all this, and thinking "why the hell would anyone with half a brain want to work here?" I showed him what I had printed out. I asked the interviewer to explain why people would say such things, and he kept insisting that Schwanns is a great company and those are probably written by slackers or people who want a handout. He also accused me of being an undercover journalist (which I'm not), and if I worked for the BBB (don't do that either). He said you can look such things up about EVERY company. Basically, had I not read what you put, I would have taken the "some work is better than none" approach and subjegated myself to a new job that I would eventually hate. Thankfully I have had found work on my very next interview, and it's nice to know if I'm there more than 8 hours, I'll be compensated accordingly. Again thank you to all of you who posted.

Yesterday I had an interview at Schwanns. Before I went, I googled the pay scale as nothing is posted in the realm of compensation on their website. I found a link for ripoff report and thought I'd give it a look. Now I can understand that there will always be the person who hates whatever job for whatever reason, but what got my attention was the numerous posts saying how terrible of a company this is. I was so intrigued by this, yet also am unemployed and need a job like millions others in our pre-depression current era. I thought I would print out Justins post and all rebuttles and show them to the person interviewing me. After all I am the kind of person who likes to know what I'm getting myself into. The horrible job was sugarcoated as best as it could have been. The interviewer swiftly told the pay scale, and hours. I'm somewhat good at math, but he basically said I would be making 9 and change an hour and have to work 12 hour days. After hearing all this, and thinking "why the hell would anyone with half a brain want to work here?" I showed him what I had printed out. I asked the interviewer to explain why people would say such things, and he kept insisting that Schwanns is a great company and those are probably written by slackers or people who want a handout. He also accused me of being an undercover journalist (which I'm not), and if I worked for the BBB (don't do that either). He said you can look such things up about EVERY company. Basically, had I not read what you put, I would have taken the "some work is better than none" approach and subjegated myself to a new job that I would eventually hate. Thankfully I have had found work on my very next interview, and it's nice to know if I'm there more than 8 hours, I'll be compensated accordingly. Again thank you to all of you who posted.

As an ex-manager for the company I have to say that one of the reasons I bailed was due to the illegal activity Schwan's upper management and DGM's were asking depot management to require of CSM's. I was a CSM for about 6 years before moving into management and only stayed with Schwan's for about 2 years after that. As a CSM, Route Manager at the time I was trained to log in once I drove 80 miles to start my route and then to log out when I left my route to drive 1.5 hours back to the depot. My route usually ended around 9:30 to 10pm only becase I had many customers who worked for a major employer in this area and they didn't get home until 8:30 pm. Typically there were 3 nights per week where I would return to the depot about 11pm. We were required to be in the depot by 8 am. You do the math! I only lived about 15 minutes from the depot also. This is the way I was trained and I never new any different until we got a new depot manager (LGM). He called me into his office one day and questioned me on my DOT times, HHT practices, etc. So I had no option but to open a big can of worms. I spoke up about the way we were trained and started following the rules as they are required by Federal Regulators. This Depot manager was termed for not meeting his numbers because he was following the rules of DOT. Then as a manger it became even worse and got to the point that I refused to lie, cheat, steal and falsify records in-order to meet my numbers. It's not worth it. As a manger you open the depot and you close the depot and you better be there 6 days per week.

Now, it appears from talking to many managers and CSM's that every district is operated differently but you can count on one thing. DOT rules are set by the federal Government. They do not change according to state or county and don't let anyone tell you different. I have been to a major DOT office. I have the regulation book provided by DOT to me. That's the day I walked out. Schwans is not a plus on your resume. It is a big negative!!

As an ex-manager for the company I have to say that one of the reasons I bailed was due to the illegal activity Schwan's upper management and DGM's were asking depot management to require of CSM's. I was a CSM for about 6 years before moving into management and only stayed with Schwan's for about 2 years after that. As a CSM, Route Manager at the time I was trained to log in once I drove 80 miles to start my route and then to log out when I left my route to drive 1.5 hours back to the depot. My route usually ended around 9:30 to 10pm only becase I had many customers who worked for a major employer in this area and they didn't get home until 8:30 pm. Typically there were 3 nights per week where I would return to the depot about 11pm. We were required to be in the depot by 8 am. You do the math! I only lived about 15 minutes from the depot also. This is the way I was trained and I never new any different until we got a new depot manager (LGM). He called me into his office one day and questioned me on my DOT times, HHT practices, etc. So I had no option but to open a big can of worms. I spoke up about the way we were trained and started following the rules as they are required by Federal Regulators. This Depot manager was termed for not meeting his numbers because he was following the rules of DOT. Then as a manger it became even worse and got to the point that I refused to lie, cheat, steal and falsify records in-order to meet my numbers. It's not worth it. As a manger you open the depot and you close the depot and you better be there 6 days per week.

Now, it appears from talking to many managers and CSM's that every district is operated differently but you can count on one thing. DOT rules are set by the federal Government. They do not change according to state or county and don't let anyone tell you different. I have been to a major DOT office. I have the regulation book provided by DOT to me. That's the day I walked out. Schwans is not a plus on your resume. It is a big negative!!

As an ex-manager for the company I have to say that one of the reasons I bailed was due to the illegal activity Schwan's upper management and DGM's were asking depot management to require of CSM's. I was a CSM for about 6 years before moving into management and only stayed with Schwan's for about 2 years after that. As a CSM, Route Manager at the time I was trained to log in once I drove 80 miles to start my route and then to log out when I left my route to drive 1.5 hours back to the depot. My route usually ended around 9:30 to 10pm only becase I had many customers who worked for a major employer in this area and they didn't get home until 8:30 pm. Typically there were 3 nights per week where I would return to the depot about 11pm. We were required to be in the depot by 8 am. You do the math! I only lived about 15 minutes from the depot also. This is the way I was trained and I never new any different until we got a new depot manager (LGM). He called me into his office one day and questioned me on my DOT times, HHT practices, etc. So I had no option but to open a big can of worms. I spoke up about the way we were trained and started following the rules as they are required by Federal Regulators. This Depot manager was termed for not meeting his numbers because he was following the rules of DOT. Then as a manger it became even worse and got to the point that I refused to lie, cheat, steal and falsify records in-order to meet my numbers. It's not worth it. As a manger you open the depot and you close the depot and you better be there 6 days per week.

Now, it appears from talking to many managers and CSM's that every district is operated differently but you can count on one thing. DOT rules are set by the federal Government. They do not change according to state or county and don't let anyone tell you different. I have been to a major DOT office. I have the regulation book provided by DOT to me. That's the day I walked out. Schwans is not a plus on your resume. It is a big negative!!

As an ex-manager for the company I have to say that one of the reasons I bailed was due to the illegal activity Schwan's upper management and DGM's were asking depot management to require of CSM's. I was a CSM for about 6 years before moving into management and only stayed with Schwan's for about 2 years after that. As a CSM, Route Manager at the time I was trained to log in once I drove 80 miles to start my route and then to log out when I left my route to drive 1.5 hours back to the depot. My route usually ended around 9:30 to 10pm only becase I had many customers who worked for a major employer in this area and they didn't get home until 8:30 pm. Typically there were 3 nights per week where I would return to the depot about 11pm. We were required to be in the depot by 8 am. You do the math! I only lived about 15 minutes from the depot also. This is the way I was trained and I never new any different until we got a new depot manager (LGM). He called me into his office one day and questioned me on my DOT times, HHT practices, etc. So I had no option but to open a big can of worms. I spoke up about the way we were trained and started following the rules as they are required by Federal Regulators. This Depot manager was termed for not meeting his numbers because he was following the rules of DOT. Then as a manger it became even worse and got to the point that I refused to lie, cheat, steal and falsify records in-order to meet my numbers. It's not worth it. As a manger you open the depot and you close the depot and you better be there 6 days per week.

Now, it appears from talking to many managers and CSM's that every district is operated differently but you can count on one thing. DOT rules are set by the federal Government. They do not change according to state or county and don't let anyone tell you different. I have been to a major DOT office. I have the regulation book provided by DOT to me. That's the day I walked out. Schwans is not a plus on your resume. It is a big negative!!

I see how everyone here talks about working more than 12 hours, which is completely true, the company tried to do this to me. I was terminated for a real strange reason. I have contacted my local State Troopers office to have Schwans investigated for the hours of service violations. I would recommend everyone at Schwans calling the police/State Troopers regarding this. As an employee that drives their truck, Federal law states you must have atleast 10 hours off work before returning to work. It sounds like to me that Schwans is having their employees Forge their log for drivetimes and worktimes which is a felony. My boss made the employees do this as well. More of us ex employees need to contact state and federal agencies to fix these problems.

Schwans does try to bait new employees with talk about 12 hours max, and big money. Then Schwans hires employees and fires some within 2 - 4 weeks for bogus reasons.

This is what I got out of Schwans: Come back to work before the 10 hours is up but do not log into your handheld computer. Go ahead and complete your pre-trip inspection. Then after you're at the office for an hour feel free to log into the handheld. If you get back late at night, go ahead and log out of the handheld and then complete your work activities. It's a joke

I see how everyone here talks about working more than 12 hours, which is completely true, the company tried to do this to me. I was terminated for a real strange reason. I have contacted my local State Troopers office to have Schwans investigated for the hours of service violations. I would recommend everyone at Schwans calling the police/State Troopers regarding this. As an employee that drives their truck, Federal law states you must have atleast 10 hours off work before returning to work. It sounds like to me that Schwans is having their employees Forge their log for drivetimes and worktimes which is a felony. My boss made the employees do this as well. More of us ex employees need to contact state and federal agencies to fix these problems.

Schwans does try to bait new employees with talk about 12 hours max, and big money. Then Schwans hires employees and fires some within 2 - 4 weeks for bogus reasons.

This is what I got out of Schwans: Come back to work before the 10 hours is up but do not log into your handheld computer. Go ahead and complete your pre-trip inspection. Then after you're at the office for an hour feel free to log into the handheld. If you get back late at night, go ahead and log out of the handheld and then complete your work activities. It's a joke

I see how everyone here talks about working more than 12 hours, which is completely true, the company tried to do this to me. I was terminated for a real strange reason. I have contacted my local State Troopers office to have Schwans investigated for the hours of service violations. I would recommend everyone at Schwans calling the police/State Troopers regarding this. As an employee that drives their truck, Federal law states you must have atleast 10 hours off work before returning to work. It sounds like to me that Schwans is having their employees Forge their log for drivetimes and worktimes which is a felony. My boss made the employees do this as well. More of us ex employees need to contact state and federal agencies to fix these problems.

Schwans does try to bait new employees with talk about 12 hours max, and big money. Then Schwans hires employees and fires some within 2 - 4 weeks for bogus reasons.

This is what I got out of Schwans: Come back to work before the 10 hours is up but do not log into your handheld computer. Go ahead and complete your pre-trip inspection. Then after you're at the office for an hour feel free to log into the handheld. If you get back late at night, go ahead and log out of the handheld and then complete your work activities. It's a joke

I see how everyone here talks about working more than 12 hours, which is completely true, the company tried to do this to me. I was terminated for a real strange reason. I have contacted my local State Troopers office to have Schwans investigated for the hours of service violations. I would recommend everyone at Schwans calling the police/State Troopers regarding this. As an employee that drives their truck, Federal law states you must have atleast 10 hours off work before returning to work. It sounds like to me that Schwans is having their employees Forge their log for drivetimes and worktimes which is a felony. My boss made the employees do this as well. More of us ex employees need to contact state and federal agencies to fix these problems.

Schwans does try to bait new employees with talk about 12 hours max, and big money. Then Schwans hires employees and fires some within 2 - 4 weeks for bogus reasons.

This is what I got out of Schwans: Come back to work before the 10 hours is up but do not log into your handheld computer. Go ahead and complete your pre-trip inspection. Then after you're at the office for an hour feel free to log into the handheld. If you get back late at night, go ahead and log out of the handheld and then complete your work activities. It's a joke

Joel - with all due respect, why would you want to work for a company like Schwan's when you have 3 degrees? All you need is common sense and that's enough to tell you to get out! Schwan's Home Service is going down, fast. They are like a sinking ship. You should contact me.

After I left I was offered a depot in Fla that most people would have killed for. I was lucky that in spite of my DMs feelings towards me, my good work reputation had got all the way up to Lenny and he wanted to keep me as well.

I still browse Schwan's jobs and even saw a few that I thought about applying for. To be successful at any level you need to be on par with what the route guys work(12-15 hours a day). In my postion now I make more than Schwans and basically work 8-5 M-F. As much as I liked it I will NEVER work those hours again unless I am starving. There are people that don't mind working that and I didnt for a while.

Ultimately you have no life and when I left I breathed a sign of relief. If Schwans offered me an office job in Marshall( I have 3 degrees) I would consider taking it.

From what I have heard its not going well there. Its a great career for someone, just not me.

If the company is so good and as you say "it's what you make of it" then why are you not still with the company in some capacity? You say you got run off, so if that's correct then giving the timing why did you not return to this employee/family friendly "goldmine?" The truth is, because it is not! It is not as everyone is told in an interview or in "NEO".

Now, I agree the company appears to be incredible. That's providing you are willing to meet the demands and "marry" them. Let's see, you need to be willing to work from 8 am to at least 10-11 pm 5 days per week, in some district depots you must work a 6th day everyweek. Equipment, ie, trucks are old and in need of serious work in many of the depots. Many of the customers you begin to build your routes with are old customers that have been abused, lied to and mistreated. The new CSM has no clue as to the ant pile they are stepping into when they arrive. The sad part is, in many areas Schwans has an excellent name and consumer approval is very high then in other areas the Schwans name is "mud."

Unfortunatly Joel, Schwan's is not the company it once use to be. The entire organization has changed as has the management and infrastructure. To a certain extent I agree with what you have said. But since your departure in 2006 nothing is as it was.

My title is correct, Schwan's is what you make of it. As an ex 3 year employee I will say my positive was more than the negative, in general Schwan's was very good to me. I had good managers and in 3 years got as high as an Assistant LGM.

Heres the basics....The hours on ANY level are long as a driver expect to be in at 8am and back at 9-10 PM. You need ot service people, build new customers and drink the kool aid they give you. If you are successful or at least giving the effort your job is always safe. There is a lot of change going on and all of it is not always good. Thats the same with any company as our times change. The companies we work for are not the same ozzie and harriet ones our parents did. The truth is that they still are running off of a 50 year old business model that is trying to be tweaked.'

With the long hours and change involved I have seen a lot of people get angry and some screwed, thats just life. I had a DM that didn't like me and ran me off, well once I was ran off I dropped enough to make sure she was "run off". What goes around comes around. In general its a good company and not for everyone.

In regards to the manifesto above written by the "disabled" wife I see a lot of holes in the story. This is someone who is clearly focused on the downfalls of others like the referrals to DOT violations, ect. I don't know the story but you don't get run off from Schwans that easy unless you did something highly illegal. Its my guess his dismissal is in regards to something other than route cards or "renewing wedding vows". It also seems to some degree she is the problem since she is the one making the stink and writing on here rather than the husband. It also is of no concern to the report that they missed "one" payment and had a washer repoed, you can bet this story like the Schwans story is only one side and not accurate.

I am not a flag waver for Schwans but people in general have a tendancy to blame others for problems then accepting responsiblity.

Its not for everyone but its a good company, hope they pull through with this economy.

This will be the only testimony that you need. DO NOT, and I warn you, do not work for this company. Every moment you are there will be another moment of wasted time in your life.

Yes, Schwans, so I heard, was once a good company to work for. The way I see it now is the worlds largest pyramid scheme. Inferior, overpriced products sold by grossly overworked and underpaid employees.

Take it from me. I worked there for a year and a half and during that time, I saw Schwans change my pay structure no less than five times. Each time, I'd get a little less and it was done very cleverly. I started out making $800 a week and that fizzled very quickly. If I wanted to stay employed there, I was forced to be in the depot no later than 9am and was ridiculed if I brought my truck back before 9pm. None of this includes time preparing for your routes before hand and prepping your truck, doing your books, etc., before going home. You are away from your house no less than 14 hours a day with Schwans. Your wife and kids won't know you any more. Trust me on this. The promises of a decent living are a lie as its all politics. The biggest butt-kissers and only the luckiest get the few decent routes that exist and have to work their butts of just to maintain them at all.. Everyone else takes the leftover crap and will either burn out, quit or get fired.

One of the biggest things Schwans has going for it is a massive propaganda machine. They make you believe that there is nothing else out there for you to do. That it doesn't get any better than what you have it at Schwans. They pump you full of lies about how much better their product is and how great the price is and you're expected to carry that to the customers who, once they wise up, realize they're getting ripped off.

In the end, I started realizing that Schwans was creating a pimp/prostitute relationship with me as they forced me to work more and more for less and less money. They wanted me to work over 60 hours a week and pay me less than 39k per year. They constantly threatened me with discipline and fired people to make examples. They denied me my vacation time on a regular basis and wouldn't allow me the excused absenses for the fifth day of work as originally promised. If you happened to have a big night with some decent sales they treated you with smiles but if you had a rough day, they'd start asking questions, criticizing and picking at everything you did. The constant threats got to be too much. They even promoted their top route guy to a manager and gave him the sole position of keeping an eye on and ratting out other drivers for stuff. It truly is no different than a George Orwell novel. I sware to you up and down. If you work for this company, you'll be sorry.

Anyone who rationalizes and argues with us about this is a dooped puppet. I did the same thing for a year, argued points with guys who got burned by Schwans. In the end, I wised up and realized that i was being taken advantage of. And believe me, you are one of the lucky few if you end up making the money that I made there. Most guys are being robbed of their lives.
Don't sell yourself and your family out with this company. If you're looking for a job, just keep looking. Why do you see so many Schwans ads in the job search sites. Because its a sucker mill!

Just a breif cooment. It is what you make of it. Yes the hours are long but if you worked 18 hours in a day with them you would have made way more than that. It is ture it is a hard job and sometimes you get bad routes but you can make great money at it. I have worked for them off and on for 5 years. I used to make 60,000 plus before i left the first time. I have been with them again for over a year. It takes time and energy to get to that level. I am not there now but see great potential with my routes now. In a time where thousands are being let go form there jobs Schwan's is going to give everyone a pay raise.

I have never worked an 18 hour day and not made less than 300 dollars for that day. Again it is not an easy job and is not for 90% of all who allpy. But if the circumstances are right it is a great place to work.

My husband was recently fired from his CSM job at Schwan's after putting over two years of his life (not to mention our families) with this company. We, meaning my husband, myself, co-workers and customers are dumbfounded by this decision to let my husband go.

In his first year with the company he achieved three club levels and very nearly grand slammed, meaning all four club levels. My husband up to the time of his firing was still in the President Club level (the third level), but apparently that was not good enough for his bosses.

It is apparently OK, for one person to flip a truck, rear-end another vehicle, and have many DOT violations and still be employed for this company. However, it is not OK, for your route books, which you could not find to update, before taking two days vacation off for an important family event (a renewal of wedding vows through your church), to be incorrect. Which would you think to be a bigger liability to the company?

I would like to know how if you are still achieving club levels matching the previous year you are not making the numbers you should. When your partner seldom if ever has new customers, but you manage to keep bringing in new ones on a regular basis, never mind that you took your route from $700 days to $1,600 + days. That a particular driver in your depot is notorious for dropping customers after they don't purchase from you two times gets away with continuing to do so and others in the same depot after stopping at a customers house several months without purchase is reprimanded for dropping that customer (when you have well over 100 customers you must see on that route day any way). Why certain drivers seem to get all the product they need to win contests, but others who have pre-orders for those same items never seem to have all their required product loaded on their trucks. This is in no way a slander against those hard working loading crews as they are even more maltreated than the drivers in many ways.

Imagine finishing off a two day stint of driving and delivering, getting back to the depot and filling out all your paperwork and having the boss pull you into his office, and telling you, "your done, hand over your keys and your wallet, give us your deposits for the last two days", and then be escorted off the premises. My teddy bear of a husband who wouldn't hurt a fly, the man who came home in tears afraid I would leave him for losing his job, having to be escorted off the premises, not allowed to stop to say goodbye to his fellow co-workers, one of which being a close personal friend. Being told that they stopped his direct deposit (he was supposed to be payed on Friday), and that a check would be mailed to him. Come Friday, no direct deposit, no check in the mail, bill collectors hounding us for money, and no money to pay them with as my husband never did receive his pay - who is responsible for the late fees? How is a family of four (two grade school children and a disabled wife) supposed to support themselves? Absolutely, no warning, and no logical reason for the termination to occur just days after renewing your wedding vows to a spouse you have been with for over 11 years. Thanks to this mess, (we were one payment shy of paying off a dryer) we have lost our dryer, our television and our t.v. stand (to tell you the truth the TV is not a loss, but how am I to get my clothes dried in the beginning of winter and absolutely no dryer and an early snowfall).

I don't want to be pitied; I am glad in a way he no longer works for the company that took my husband away from us 4 days out of 7 (two overnights), I just don't want to see anybody else go through what we have in the last week (seems like a lifetime). We feel for my husbands customer, who prior to him taking over the route went through several drivers in a span of a couple of years. Many of these customers have become an extended family - my husband would share us with them and likewise come home and share them with us. I will no longer miss the long nights when I stayed up worrying whether he would make it to his final destination in one piece because the road conditions were so treacherous.

If you are considering a job with this company I would like for you to consider all that you have read on this web-site before you do. I will pray for all the Schwan's "widows/widowers" out there, as you are the ones who are left to take care of your family on your own as your spouse is out there trying to eke out an existence for you, only later to be chewed up and spit back out by bosses who are "for family" but not really.

If you have gotten this far thank you for "listening" to my ramblings and I genuinely hope it has helped.

To Robert & other readers, please check my detailed reply and information on how to avoid the $1.00 surcharge & our pay scale on the thread titled, "Schwan's ripoff a home delivery service, now charges the customer $1.00 fuel surcharge!" In that thread, I mention that one could ask the route drive to use a previous buying customer from that day to avoid the $1.00 fuel surcharge & I've listed a chart of how our commission pay is based. McDonald's 40 hour work week is looking better all the time.

Some of the things you missed are that you have to clean your truck out at night, do your paperwork, fill out a load sheet for tomorrows load, go to the bank on the way home, all of this after working 12-14 hours on your route. Don't fall for the line that the people that don't make it at Schwan's didn't try. Who in their right mind wants to go to 100 houses per day not knowing if someone is home or not, whether they have any money or not to pay for product, and knowing that if you don't sell anything you don't get paid. My Dad retired from Schwan's after 21 years for a measly $50,000 lump sum. I do know that they now have a 401k program, but part of that contribution comes out of your commision. Also, you have to buy uniforms and pay for part of your insurance. Oh, by the way, if your truck breaks down and you can't work, guess what you have to run a day behind which means you have to work on Saturday to catch up. Boy, thats sounds fun. Granted I haven't worked for Schwan's in 25 years but from talking to my Schwan man, not much has changed. In fact with their recent price increases and the $1 surcharge I quit buying from Schwan's. I would recommend going to work for McDonald's before working at Schwan's. At least if you worked two full time jobs at McDonald's (40 hours) each you still would work less than you would at Schwan's and make a lot more money. Finally, at least when I worked at Schwan's, NO PAID HOLIDAYS. What a great company.