Pros
The medical benefits are the biggest pro in my book. Medical coverage is a hot issue these days. We have full medical and dental with low deductibles (medical is $100/year). I am only charged $26/month for this. I've heard horror stories about other companies. Right behind this would be the ESOP program, which is a result of the company being "employee owned". This retirement program is really good, but only if you stay with the company for some time. Standard vestment schedule applies, you get 20% vestment each year until fully vested. Raises accrue by hours worked, NOT performance related at all. To make the math simple, if you work 40 hour weeks, you will get a raise about every six months. They reward performance with hours. IF you have good management they can be willing to work with your schedule. Quite a few of the people at my store have two jobs. Like any job, the more available you are & the harder you work, opportunities will present themselves.
Cons
Considering the Pros, this should be a great company. This is why my rating is good instead of great. If you are young, want to work hard, and don't mind graveyard, then you can work freight crew. The store's open 24 hours so you have to work around some customers. At first this seems good, and it can be. Usually freight crew are the only ones to get overtime, which can make for a nice check. The problem becomes that this can go on for a very long time in some stores. You may work 50-60 hours if you're doing even a decent job. Most guys get tired of this fairly soon. They get a $.65 premium for working at night, but expectations are high, and in all honesty, especially when you're just starting out, the pay is quite low. Considering how physically intense this job is, these guys really should be getting paid more. They are clearly the backbone of the company. Management is a total crap shoot. I've heard of people being fired for stealing, then hired back just because the manager liked them. One of my previous managers (who's no longer with the company) clearly played favorites. It was easy to see by who got which schedules, or what positions. I say this honestly as I was in their good graces. The manager I have now is a very straight shooter, no BS type, which I prefer, but that's not necessarily the norm.