employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

Harbor Freight Tools

Engaged Employer

Harbor Freight Tools reviews

3.6

62% would recommend to a friend

(3,450 total reviews)
avatar

Eric Smidt

67% approve of CEO

57% positive business outlook

Harbor Freight Tools has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 3,450 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Harbor Freight Tools employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
4.0
Aug 20, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible hours, great co-workers, typical retail environment, no complaints.

Cons

Only thing I didn't like was the old school cash registers. They were confusing and slow.

1.0
Aug 17, 2014

Unbelievable

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I had great coworkers and good lower management team members who kept work from always being boring

Cons

The store manager was a useless lying tool. Suggestions I made were literally laughed at. He would take between 1-2 weeks of vacation every month and during that time he forbade anyone else from taking any unscheduled time off. He fired a coworker and store veteran of 4 years after the worker broke his foot trying to move boxes marked two person. The coworker attempted to radio for help but he was the only one aside from the cashier and store manager working that day. The manager never responded and when he asked to go to the hospital the store manager fired him. We were denied lunch breaks and the manager threatened to dock my pay on a near daily basis. His boss, the regional manager, told the store manager that I should be fired after seeing me sprint back and forth to grab items for customers. He stated I was wasting time. At one point we were supposed to close at 6 and I had homework due that night before midnight the store manager decided no one was allowed to go home until we sold a credit card. We left at 11 30 when he bought one.

avatar
Harbor Freight Tools Response
11y
Thank you for your detailed feedback. We're glad to hear you enjoyed working with your team. We agree, Harbor Freight's got a great staff of energetic, proactive people. We also appreciate you sharing your serious account with us, although Harbor Freight Tools does not sell, or even offer, credit cards so we are not sure how to address that. We would very much like to hear more and welcome you to call the HFT Outlet Hotline at 1-800-693-8377. Thank you and good luck.
3.0
Aug 9, 2014

Interesting experience

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Friendly staff, flexible schedule, and not much else could be said about working here. A typical day is to be told by a manager to straighten the aisles but to be soon plagued by customers who always ask where the "free stuff" are at, but in the process of assisting a customer another customer soon asks the same question. The pile of customers asking the same question keep on building until a usually ill kept customer asks you about the wielding section. That customer will then tell you how much he thinks you are the most irresponsible and stupidest person to roam the planet. The whole process goes all over again for four hours. After the store closes, you feel complete nirvana as the only thing to do is pick up trash and clean up the aisles that are filled with empty opened products, trashed shelves, and many displaced items. On truck days you spend the first few hours unloading an 18 wheeler filled with a plethora of 100 pound boxes, torn tote boxes, jack stands, and heavy duty car jacks. After unloading the truck you then take responsibility to move all of those boxes either to the shelf in the warehouse or the shelves on the floor. Usually this is to be determined by "callouts" where you literally call out the product number of every item to the person on the floor, via radio, where they will tell you if it needs to be brought out to the sales floor or not. Harbor Freight gives you many calluses but a built body. You would never need a gym but would definitely at some point need a doctor.

Cons

Too many customers, no training for product intel, nearly impossible job promotions, small wage for amount of work output, store feels over capacity, and no customer service training.

avatar
Harbor Freight Tools Response
11y
Thanks for your in-depth input. We agree that the staff at Harbor Freight is friendly and the work environment is casual and comfortable. We're also glad to hear you enjoy a flexible schedule, and hope you're also taking advantage of the great vacation and health benefits the company offers. We also appreciate your feedback about areas where we can improve. If you'd like to expand and share specific information, please feel free to anonymously call our HFT Outlet Hotline at 1-800-693-8377. Thank you!
Viewing 3163 - 3165 of 3,450 Reviews

Glassdoor has 3,497 Harbor Freight Tools reviews submitted anonymously by Harbor Freight Tools employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Harbor Freight Tools is right for you.