I'm not going to sling mud, I'm just going to give you facts about life as a Route Sales Manager working for Schwan's (basically being a 'Schwan's Man').<br />
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I saw Schwan's advertising their job as a Route Sales Manager and I was intrigued by the $38, 000/yr salary. I filed my application and kind of forgot about it. One month later I had an e-mail from the General Manager of the local depot, he asked me to come in for an interview, so I did.<br />
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When I arrived the manager and I spoke about the job. He told me about the "great benefits", the great salary, and the fact that Schwan's had never laid off a driver. His average driver made about $45, 000/yr with salary and commission and his best made $60, 000. He sold it to me as a great opportunity to have a career with great job security. But before I considered working for them he wanted me to go on a ride day and ride along with one of his drivers to get a feel for the job. This sounded great to me. I agreed.<br />
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The next week I showed up at the depot at 8am and met the driver I was riding with that day. A nice guy about my age (26). He had already prepped the truck so we were ready to go. As we drove along I quizzed him about the job and asked his thoughts. He told me how great it was and how he loved the freedom. I asked him about the hours and he said that sometimes he has a late night and he is out until 7 or so, but most of the time he's in way before that. He'd only been with the company for a few months, but he was already on track to be a Chairman's Clubber (its what Schwan's calls their top salesman. Its basically an incentive program with three different levels. The highest is Chairman's, very very few drivers get to that level).<br />
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We travelled along his route and at 4pm he told me that he was just about done so he was going to drop me off at the depot while he tended to the truck. He said the manager wanted to talk to me before he went home and he always goes home early. <br />
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When I got back in the depot the manager was waiting on me. We talked about the day and I said I enjoyed it and I was interested in pursuing the opportunity. He had me fill out forms, go do a drug test and physical, and start 3 weeks later.<br />
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Now, keep in mind this was a HUGE decision for me. I had a fairly good job that I had 8 years in. I didn't make a lot of money, but it was pretty good. Just about the same as what Schwan's was paying me. But I talked to my wife and we decided to take the risk. I put in my notice, and two weeks later I was a Schwan's man.<br />
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The first day at Schwan's the reality of my situation began to sink in. The job was sold to me by a nice guy, but a liar. The average driver does not make 45K a year at the depot, they make the minimum, 38K. As a matter of fact out of 13 drivers only 3 had been there for a year. The rest were just part of a line in a revoloving door of drivers that is constantly changing due to extremely high turnover. <br />
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The hours were much longer than what I had been told. You get to the depot at 8am and you get back to the depot about 9pm. 13 hour days. 5 days a week. And if you get back earlier than 9pm you get in trouble because you're not out selling. You also have a quota, which was not really surprising. But what is surprising is that if you do not make your quota by Friday evening you have to work Saturday to make up the loss. And if you still don't cover your numbers Saturday you get written up. The bad part is the quota is very high. You have to sell $5, 850 a week in product, which is not an easy task. The product is overpriced (but very tasty) and in this economy people are tightening their belts and are not spending the kind of money you need them to so you can make your numbers. Basically everything that Schwan's sells can be bought at Wal-Mart, but it is typically 3 times more expensive at Schwan's than Wal-Mart or Homeland. Trust me, its true. My wife and I did the shopping to see. So basically you're working 60-65 hours Monday through Friday and typically at least 2 Saturdays a month for about 5-8 hours. You put in 70 hours a week!<br />
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The benefits just plain suck. The company doesn't cover hardly any of the costs so the burden is on the employee. For my wife and me to have health, vision, and dental it was costing me about $150 every two weeks. However, they do make a nice matching contribution to your 401k. <br />
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Holidays off? Nope. Well, kinda. If Christmas is on a Tuesday then you have to work the Saturday before or after to run that route day. So really you're not getting time off, you're just getting the day off and you're making the hours up on a Saturday before or after. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only two holidays we did this. The other holidays (New Years, July 4th, Memorial Day, and Labor Day) we ran our routes. It was almost embarrassing. When you knock on someone's door on the 4th of July and interrupt their family BBQ to try to sell them Schwan's. Many times they were get upset, and I didn't blame them. But we had to do it.<br />
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If you are running your route day and you get done at 7pm you are required to go solicit new customers until 9pm. My manager actually told us we were supposed to be out until 10pm, but no one ever stayed out that late. I, for one, refused to knock on a person's door at 9:30pm. That's bad business and its just plain rude. How would you feel if you had put your kids down to sleep and you're winding down from your long day and the Schwan's man shows up on a Monday or Tuesday night at 9:30pm? Let me tell you, you'd be pissed. So as long as we stayed out until 9 he didn't hassle us. <br />
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Quota'd items. Schwan's has what they call News At The Door (NATD) items that they must show to each customer every day. These items are quota'd and if the driver does not sell a minimum number of units every week he gets written up. Most of the times the NATD items (there are always 2 of them) are made up of one new item and one item that isn't selling very well. This is a sells booster strategy. They take the NATD very seriously and I have seen them fire drivers because their quota of 20 wasn't met and they only sold 15. Granted, you get written up twice before you get fired. There were times that I actually bought 5 or 10 of an item just to meet quota. And on top of all of this, the manager at the depot I worked at was a nice guy. I liked him, we all liked him. He didn't make it bad for us, the company made it bad for him and for us. There was nothing he could do to change how the company operates. He had goals he had to meet, just like we did. We were luckier than most. Most depots do not have good managers (at least that is what I gather from talking to so many other drivers). So I guess I was lucky in that sense.<br />
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I would just like to say that Schwan's has great products. But they treat their drivers very poorly. Life as a Schwan's man is hell. It is hard work and the way the company treats its drivers is pathetic. My wife still buys from our Schwan's man just because we feel sorry for him and can sympathize with his situation. I make her buy a NATD every trip, even if its something we won't eat. <br />
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I went to Schwan's with an open mind and very excited. I was very disappointed at all the false statements and down right lies that were told to me before I was hired. The biggest career mistake I ever made was leaving my good job to go to Schwan's. I'm still paying for it all this time later. Luckily my time at Schwan's was over a few months after being hired, I found a different job. <br />
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If you are still considering working for Schwan's after all of this, I wish you the best of luck and hope you have a successful career. But, if you think that I'm just a complainer then do two things. 1: go to www.retailreality.net (its a site set up by Schwan's drivers to talk about the company) and 2: go to www.ripoffreport.com and search for Schwans and read through the reports there from all the past drivers. If you read those and you still aren't convinced that this is a bad company to work for, then I think you will fit right in at Schwan's.<br />
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If you have any specific questions about Schwan's please feel free to e-mail me and I'll answer any questions you have.<br />
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[email protected]

Beware Schwan's employees and future risk takers! Schwan's benefits are not what you think they are. After paying for coverage for over 5 years and being told by the company that they pay for half I have just found out that is not true. I have just purchased a 'family' policy for less than what they charged me for an 'employee' policy. And with much better benefits!!! If I had signed up for a 'family' plan with Schwan's then I would be paying less than half for a 'family' plan as an individual. Seems like Schwan's is making money off their beloved employees.

Also, and the biggest issue of all; Schwan's LTD (long term disability policy is really short term because it only helps you for a total of 12 months. And at that Standard Insurance Company who under writes the policy does everything they can to avoid paying you your benefits. They will lie, cheat and steal to keep from paying you one red cent. Schwan's doesn't tell their new employee this, ever. All they want you to believe is their benefits are the greatest. That's B.S!

God for bid, but if you are ever injured while working, look out. Even if the injury is the companies fault such as faulty equipment, etc. Specialty Risk Services is the Company you get to have ruin your life. And I mean this literally! They are just as crooked as the rest of them. Schwans is not interested in their employees. Schwan's has very few veterans left as compared to new employees. I know, I was a veteran employee.

Good luck to current Schwan's employees but beware. The company will screw you some how, some way and anyway they can. And for the left-over veterans who aren't qualified to work anywhere else I say good luck your turn is next.