Question about working at LCBO/Wine Rack

[rocketdan9]

My wife is thinking about working at LCBO/Wine Rack due to her passion for wine and other alcohol and good benefits they offer.

However correct me if i'm wrong but i heard they almost never hire full time anymore. Was also curious how much a customer service rep gets paid per hour(range).

Lastly for anyone who has gone through the application process or work there right now, what is the best way to at least get your foot in there and hopefully get the most hours possible?

Is there an advantage to have a certificate in alcohol and wine/bartending? Fine restaurant server experience? being bilingual ?

pardon the million questions but any advices will help my wife alot

thanks

[drey2k]

Hey I work for a wine group that deals directly with the LCBO.

One thing I know for sure is that being bilingual is gonna give her an advantage.

[Bleys007]

You won't get hired full time in a retail customer service position. Generally the best bet is to get in during the Christmas rush, and use that to get yourself in part time. I worked Christmas of '07 and heard that promotions to full time generally took seven years of seniority.

Now there may be call centre or other customer service positions I don't know about where being bilingual would give you an edge. I do know that a lot of call centres are hurting to get bilingual reps, so that may be an option if they have a position like that.

[rocketdan9]

thanks for the feedbacks guys.

You won't get hired full time in a retail customer service position. Generally the best bet is to get in during the Christmas rush, and use that to get yourself in part time. I worked Christmas of '07 and heard that promotions to full time generally took seven years of seniority.

Now there may be call centre or other customer service positions I don't know about where being bilingual would give you an edge. I do know that a lot of call centres are hurting to get bilingual reps, so that may be an option if they have a position like that.

So 7 years working as pt in theory will lead to ft position huh. Wow thats alot of years. How many hours min to how many hours max can pt work??

What is the pay range for CSR ??

[Bleys007]

thanks for the feedbacks guys.




So 7 years working as pt in theory will lead to ft position huh. Wow thats alot of years. How many hours min to how many hours max can pt work??

What is the pay range for CSR ??

$10 in '07 for Christmas help, $13 for casual (PT)

I assume pay rates go up. I'm sure they bump up PT to 40 hours if they can during christmas rush. Best person to ask would be someone currently working PT at the LCBO, or a manager at one of the retail stores.

[rocketdan9]

anyone else have feedback about getting a job at lcbo/wine rack? thanks

[hehehaha]

$10 in '07 for Christmas help, $13 for casual (PT)

I assume pay rates go up. I'm sure they bump up PT to 40 hours if they can during christmas rush. Best person to ask would be someone currently working PT at the LCBO, or a manager at one of the retail stores.

$10?? isn't LCBO's cashier's pay is $20/hour??

[rrfan]

The wine rack, is owned by a company called Vincor, they are also involved with the Ontario Wine Industry. They as far as I know are not affliated with the LCBO, but are licenced to do business by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission.

It would probably be easier to get a job with them, the have over 150 locations, but the pay and benefits would be less than the civil service pay of the LCBO.

Not too long ago, the individual store manager at the LCBO had alot of say on applications and hiring, that has since changed with it done all through the head office. You do get in part-time usually at Chirstmas, then hope to struggle with 8-15 hrs per week or even per month, depending on the store and other factors.

Wage rates are less for casual, then about $17 per hour for part timers up to $23 etc:
Look for yourself at the 2006-2008 collective agreement, it appears to have decent pay and great benefits and many job titles available.
I doubt that you would get anything close to that at the winerack.
http://www.opseu.org/lbed/lbedcollec...eement2006.pdf

[BornRuff]

$10?? isn't LCBO's cashier's pay is $20/hour??

Full time and permanent part time workers are paid very very well at the LCBO due to their collective agreement. There dosen't seem to be many part time workers making less than $20/hour(thought to be fair, I should also point out that there isn't a whole lot of upward mobility from there. Few people make over $30/hour, and they seem to mostly be people with skilled jobs).

Because of this, the LCBO employs about 60% of all of their staff as "casual" workers, who they pay as low as $12-13/hour.

You can see their collective agreement here..

http://www.opseu.org/lbed/lbedcollec...eement2006.pdf

Salary info starts at page 64 as labeled on the pages(page 70 of the PDF file).

[rocketdan9]

thanks guys for more info and the links

Can you guys clarify casual employees are hired by the managers in the store?? i don't see postings on the website(mainly pt position) but do see casual help needed ads outside the stores

From there common sense will tell me with casual experience working at lcbo, at least having a hs diploma (with being bilingual and having certificate in wine/alcohol course being highly advantageous) pretty much help someone nail a perm pt position. Someone correct me if i'm wrong

[gwaxl]

it's a joke. managers are uneducated, power-mad half-wits for the most part. you top out at about $12/h after 4 years of working there. the union that represents staff in the gta negotiates largely for the benefit of full-time wine merchants - of which there are 2, i believe, with company allowance of up to 4. one of them is the union rep, go figure. thanks to the slow-moving union, there have been times when employees of 2+ years were making the same amount as new hires because of seiu's apparent disinterest in keeping up with the times/minimum wage changes. but union dues were still deducted from each paycheque like clockwork!

they have no concept of staff morale, incentive and personal security measures are slipping recently as well. they're quite willing to bend rules when it benefits them, but are sticklers for policy when it doesn't.

oh, but you get a free bottle a week! this week: pale dry select sherry - $6.95 and removed from sale from many locations due to the problems it causes in most neighbourhoods with substance abusers.

whether to work or drink, save your breath and go to the lcbo.

[smokescreen15]

it's a joke. managers are uneducated, power-mad half-wits for the most part. you top out at about $12/h after 4 years of working there. the union that represents staff in the gta negotiates largely for the benefit of full-time wine merchants - of which there are 2, i believe, with company allowance of up to 4. one of them is the union rep, go figure. thanks to the slow-moving union, there have been times when employees of 2+ years were making the same amount as new hires because of seiu's apparent disinterest in keeping up with the times/minimum wage changes. but union dues were still deducted from each paycheque like clockwork!

they have no concept of staff morale, incentive and personal security measures are slipping recently as well. they're quite willing to bend rules when it benefits them, but are sticklers for policy when it doesn't.

oh, but you get a free bottle a week! this week: pale dry select sherry - $6.95 and removed from sale from many locations due to the problems it causes in most neighbourhoods with substance abusers.

whether to work or drink, save your breath and go to the lcbo.

You don't sound bitter.

Not one bit.

BTW - Welcome to RFD

[ids748]

I started at LCBO this past November..........It is a good place to work pay is pretty good for P/T (Casual). It takes YEARS I MEAN YEARS to become FT.

You are not guaranteed many hours. Your guaranteed 0 if your new. So you get very little scheduled shifts in these slow months as they call it.

Now around chritmas most of the casuals got many hrs. I got around 25-30 as I was still in school during the day.


Now I worked more than that because people always call in sick, or somethign always happens. So I will get an extra shift or two a week.

P/T start around 14.00 not 17.00. Benefits are mainly for FT but they have some for P/T but you only qualify after 5 yrs of service and certain number of hours.

To be honest I have no idea how i even got the job i remember applying like 2-3 months before I got an interview. I started like 3 weeks before the christmas help so I got lucky I guess.

I had no experience in alcohol related anything. I still barely know much and have to write 4 or so test within this year which should help me. The only experience I had was 4 months at futureshop a couple years back.

For application I remember doing some profile online and thats it. For seasonal stuff you apply in store. The next season starts in MAY-AUGUST so apply some time early april............

[gwaxl]

You don't sound bitter.

Not one bit.

BTW - Welcome to RFD

haha, i know, i sound pretty cranky, and i definitely was that day. but i stick by what as i said. i think we have a high turnover rate for good reason.

bottom line, if you're going to work at a booze store, go for the lcbo if possible - you'll probably be privy to similar ********, but at least you start $2 higher than you can EVER get at the wine rack, regardless of how long you stay there.

[rocketdan9]

Just to see if anyone has more info about the thread topic. Does anyone know how much Wine Rack wine merchant pay is? Its listed as part time position on the website, is it hard to get fulltime? How difficult is it to become store supervisor?

Thanks