Pros
If you're good at managing yourself and taking initiative, this is really a simple cashier/sales associate position; you will get very little direction from the management. You will meet some incredible people who are genuinely good and kind, and these people will make your work enjoyable and memorable, and it will almost force you to forget the terrible customer you had 5 minutes prior. You get to see everything before all of the customers, so you essentially have your first pick at all of the clothing and accessories that pass through the donation center. Most of the time, you'll find a gem - a perfect pair of jeans, a vintage jacket in beautiful condition, costume jewelry from the 1960s, a high-end designer piece that is essentially priceless. The only negative aspect about new merchandise is that employees are barred from purchasing anything new - you have to wait for new merchandise to be out on the floor for 24 hours, because the customers get the first pick. Management is good about schedule flexibility; during my time at Goodwill, I changed my schedule multiple times, and management was always very accommodating.
Cons
As a cashier/sales associate at Goodwill, you will deal with some very lovely people, very rarely. Most of the time, however, you will deal with extremely difficult customers, and when I say extremely difficult customers, I mean it sincerely. The pay is appalling. My ending salary was $8.50, but that's only because the state of New Jersey increased the minimum wage. There is literally no opportunity for advancement or pay increases, and management essentially sees you as expendable. There are monthly bonuses - if the store reaches a certain amount of money by the end of the month - but for a part-time employee working about 40 hours each week, my bonus was never more than $11. Further, you don't qualify for the bonuses unless you've been with the company for 3 months. There is very little direction from the management, and whenever there is any type of mistake, they're always there to breathe down your neck. Security is a huge issue, too: They have cameras everywhere in the store that are operated from Goodwill's HQ in NY, but instead of paying attention to the customers, they focus on watching the employees and making sure that they're doing their work, which is ludicrous, because management should be overseeing the employees, and security should be watching the customers. The store is incredibly messy. Always. A cleaning crew comes in to clean it once every 2 weeks, but it's a fruitless effort, because the store gets completely trashed before the night is over. The store is essentially disorganized - at least this is true for the location where I worked. Everything is Do-It-Yourself, and to be brutally honest, you'd be better off working retail somewhere else - for a company where employees are treated well and where there is the potential for growth.
