Working at Fastenal — Reviews by Employees

Used to be a good place to work, But that all went south about 6yrs. ago. I talk with some of the Sales People We compete against and know for a fact that, Not only areThey paid better, But have actual benefits. It's pretty hard to meet the expectations for growth when the company expects 2 people to make sales calls, collect past dues, fight with your hub over missing product( It was scanned to your truck, so you eat it even though it never showed up) And now the mc70(ankle bracelet) How about the DM's that preach values at Trade shows, But drop Racsist jokes at the Branch? How about the DM in S.E Wis. That got busted for stealing from the til as a G.M. but not only retained His job, But was promoted( His Brother works in Wino...Suprise!) You all ready work 10 hr. days, But Thats not enough, Lee will tell You that Himself in one of His stupid Info-mercials to go in early and stay late. Ever try to get a hold of some one in Wino. after 3pm on a Friday? No matter what go's wrong it always comes back to you. Don't drink the Kool- Aid. It's so Pitiful to watch the new fools in their new shirts(which They bought) scream "Go Blue". What a mess.

Does anyone know if that Chump GM in Lombard still has a job? Or did his DM give him a new person to throw under the bus?

To begin, I worked at LHUB and left Fastenal as fast as I could. After less than a year with the company, I realized very quickly just how things worked, and how Fastenal is the poster-child for what is wrong with corrupt American corporations.

Pay - Completely laughable. Hub employees were ONLY part-time, promised the potential of full-time, but strung along almost indefinitely. Most left to better jobs, very few promoted to other positions within the company. For most, having to have two part-time (or more) jobs just to get by is very stressful. This creates a less-motivated employee, who is less likely to buy into the Fastenal bleed-blue bullshit.

Respect - AHAHAHAHAHHA... Try disrespect. Every day, from all levels of management.

Benefits - For P/T employee's there are no tangible benefits. Well, having access to an entire warehouse of tools was quite nice.

Job Security - Please fire me, it's much easier to file for employment insurance.

Work/Life Balance - Well, when you work for Fastenal it is your life. Seeing what was required of branch GM's, to HUB GM's, RVM's, etc. was daunting enough to scare anyone with any intelligence away from said positions.

Career Potential/Growth - That whole test they make you do, just to apply for a PT Sales Support position is absolutely ridiculous. Something like 95% of people who applied for positions at LHUB never completed the exam, let alone apply for the position. Yeah, like I am going to spend an hour being tested by some corporation just for a PT job.

Location - Most branches are in the cheapest buildings possible, and that makes logistics a nightmare. No proper loading docks, some do not even have a single bay door, forklifts are few and far between and the one's that do work are mostly mechanically unsound. Yeah, lets push high-volume sales through our branches, but expect delivery drivers and warehouse personal to deal with ridiculous logistical situations.

Co-worker Competence - As horrible as to be expected. Low wages, little bonus or incentive, and horrible benefits. I can see the qualified personal lining up down the street now, waiting to apply. Oh, no, wait, I was wrong, they are running away.

Work Environment - Here's a recipe for disaster... Take one stud-cutting bandsaw, toss in a couple other high-power manufacturing machines inside the Hub. Mix with a few poorly-trained, totally unmotivated, stoners, er I mean hub employees. Apply to a highly dangerous application, like say, a sour-gas well, and let the Fastenal quality shine through. Also another great thing about working at LHUB was that it was almost a family business. I mean to say that the HUB GM Chad Sitar had his family doing a lot of the work, and getting paid quite nicely I might add... who needs ethics? They only make your bonus's smaller.

In closing, let me echo many of the other people who have reviewed this company after working for it by laying some rules:

#1 - Only work for Fastenal if you absolutely have to. Spend as little time employed by Fastenal as possible, and rip it off every way possible. Remember, Fastenal has people who spend all day just thinking of ways to make the company richer, and let's you exist only on it's crumbs. Oh, and when you do leave, no-one will be authorized to give you a reference, so have a story about being a missionary in Africa handy to explain the gap in your resume.

That's it, just one rule. DO NOT WORK FOR FASTENAL!! Go work for their competition, help put Fastenal out of business.

And remember folks, you can't spell A-N-A-L without Fastenal...

I have you all beat! First I agree with all of the negativity about the company, it really does suck that bad to work there. But how could we all have the same negative experiences at a company that promoted a pert time truck driver with no college education to CEO??? This company MUST be the best place on earth to work for, maybe 30 years ago but not today.

Ok now how I have you all beat. My dm will actually preach that if you are not ethical, honest, respectful and moral in your personal life you can not be in your professional life... After he spends an hour talking about how many chicks he has banged behind his wife's back... And boom goes the dynamite

He invited a few managers and sales guys over to his house after work one day talking a big game about how much beer he had at his place and that he would get dinner and they could hang out and even crash there if they got too wasted. When the guys showed up he would not let them in the house they had to go in his backyard where he had about 12 mismatched cans of beer. He also talked a big game about going out to all these bars that night and when it came time to go he said he had to stay in cause his wife was mad at him.

When people quit he goes around the district saying he fired them and that they are sitting at home without jobs so all the rest of the employees should be happy to just have a job. In my case I have already made 65% of what I would have made at Fastenal for the year and we are not even done with March yet. The grass is greener on the other side. He likes to say that your Fastenal blue shirt will easily transfer to Best Buy when he fires you and guess what... YOU WILL MAKE MORE MONEY AT BEST BUY IF THAT HAPPENS!!

Everybody that has ever worked for you Ralph thinks you are an asshole and a loser and knows you are dumber than dogshit. You need Fastenal because you would not last a week in any other company you suck as a salesman and really the only personality you have is that of a douche.

Lee Hein is a TOOL! How much dick did that guy have to suck to get were he is today? I can just see him in the morning with his chew in thinking of some stupid saying that he reads while sitting on the shitter and hoping he don't forget it by the time he records another unintelligent voice message for all of us to hear. For god sake does he really think he is a motivational speaker? He is a Freakin IDIOT! Will do you listen this worthless shit too? Fastenal's rating is right were it should be and climbing or declining. What is going to go down faster the stock in this company or Lee at the next big meeting. Lets face it there is more wrong in this company than just the before mentioned dipshit. Where else can you work were money is taken out of your check and not have a clue as to why....then you call and the idiot trained morons give you a million untrackable reasons that you can never find answers too. I tell you how I get even it is called balancing the till. Yes you take I take, how do you like those apples? I like every other post could go on and on like Lee's lips but I need to get to sleep so I can get to work recieve in the truck and head home to watch 8hrs of B-Ball. Oh I mean make 10-15 sales calls looking for dumb ass purchasers that dont care about cost!

Gosh, where do I start. Its all mostly been said, and boy, is it mostly true. Once a great company to work for, now moronic and lazy jerks fall upwards into managerial positions. They actually pay people to walk around with clipboards in Manufacturing who do nothing more than that, if you can believe it. Safety? Its a joke. You get wrote up if the puke in charge is having a bad day. Proactive? No, reactive. And then they play the blame game.
They wander around in their good 'ol boy clusters and look down on you for having a 10 second conversation, which is a joke. If your talking about redneck racing or shooting deer while drinking beer with one of the good ol boys then its ok, but forget about it otherwise.
Pay? Pathetic. Like the salespeople say, they rely on dumb college kids to fill as many of their positions as possible, which cuts back on high overhead of having competent employees.
Most of us have spent this year on less wages than we did last year, in the guise of "saving our jobs", while they purchase not one brand new machine, but five in the last 6 months. And then all the nice flat screens they are mounting on poles right now, for no other reason then to impress their tours. But forget your bonuses, folks!
All in all its a pretty miserable place to work. They do not promote a healthy work environment and treat their people like cattle. In fact they seem to prefer the cattle who will come in and work seven days a week, of which unfortunately there's no shortage of.
A good story about unionization here is supposedly, the last guy who tried to unionize got his brake lines cut. True or not, I dont know. Another popular story is that they'll close the shop and send the work overseas. Hello, people! They do nuke and military jobs, THEY CAN'T!!!!
In closing, it's been a miserable four years watching douche bags get over on hard working people and wander around pointing fingers to hide their own incompetance. Fastenal sucks!

Look behind you at all times because you never know when your going to get fired. I am or was a manager, i wont tell if i still am or not due to the fact you cant trust the environment you work in any more. But any way, i have to vent, i have to tell you how much of a pain in the ass this company is. Everything you read, is true. I have not seen very much from the north east, is it because they love working for this company, Fat chance. Is it because by the time they get home we are so mentally and physically burnt out that the last thing you want to do is write your pains down or for that matter rehash how much your day sucked!! I come home my wife says you look so sad, i tell her ya this company gives no respect. They want us to work harder every day but how can you with the countless and mind you very pointless emails we get from lets say Shman smeder ( cant use real names), sell your bounty sell your bounty or another one is do you know where you are compared to your goal for sales or bounty. I want to write back and say " ya Jackass i know where i am at that is the best i can do shut your stupid pie hole. Then You have our Rvp who thinks he's gods gift and his word is right. I would love to tell that bone head to try to sell the shit they pawn off on us, see how far he gets. That guy could not sell shit to a shit factory They would laugh him out of the friggen building...Bleed blue my ass its more bleed red because they are beniding me over so bad. There new thing is bounty head to head competition, christ who the f cares. When i sell bounty it hurts my margin so why again do i want to sell it.
Get actives they tell us, you cant get actives if you cant sell your shit because its to high, then they say sell they service....ah hey fart bag the other guys are sellin the same service. So what i do all my cash customers go under an acount that is not active problem solved.....One less email from the idiot, dont forget to wipe your mouth after getting out from under rvps dest ok. ....I have been told your going to loose your job, your going to get fired, well come take my keys, there all yours.
So how do you think this review is going, my oppion besides the horible grammer i think its right on....
My top Ten pains or reason this company sucks
1) Sam Shmeeder emails
2) Listening to Rvp stupid voice emails
3) Seeing how much they take out of my check each month because our system f-ed up and wont register they paid there dam bill!!
4)Getting audited- You want to know where the rest is look in my garage dumb ass
5)Firering good people LN thats for you
6)CALLING THE VENDOR AND REALIZING THE PRICE IS POS IS NOT RIGHT AND POS IS $4 HIGHER WFT
7)Sam Smeeder email!!! had to add that again i really cant stand them.
8) penny pinching us when they spend a crap load on a race car. To my customers, listen you red neck racin freak no im not going to give you a free shirt or hat so stop asking and blow me.. hell i have to buy my own!!
9) we have to buy our stupid blue shirts
10) waking up every morning to realize i still work for this shit hole or use to that is....wtf

Six years in that s...hole and then bye,bye....bad economy

I was with Fastenal for 1.5 years and didn't believe most of what I read on here until now. Jared Shelite is a joke and the DM Delray Beach was talking about should have been fired years ago because he's been on the bottom of the scorecard ever since he became a DM. This company will fire you for BS. Training is a joke and $25 to eat off of for 3 weeks in Wino for Manager training is crap. The best way to sum up the commission plan is they "Take cookies and give you crumbs." I was fired and a week later got a job making 3 times what I was getting as a GM. If you need a job just to get by until you can find something better Fastenal will work but you better not quit looking. Obviously I can't say anything that hasn't already been said but trust me it's all true. Oh yeah, Fastenal, if you want us to hit a 2.75 freight spread stop giving away free freight to every damn national account you sign!

I worked for Fastenal for 2 years. I was a branch Manger running 2 stores with 2 employees including me. No help from the DM. When you did see him, he would show up in shorts. Commission was always cut short. I remember going to the trade show in Orlando, and listening to a speach about how the Manger is the backbone for the company, but when I quit, nobody seemed to care. Not one phone call from the RVP. Terrible company. They treat you like a number. Dont work for this company. Well not in Florida.