route sales representative

vendeur livreur

merchandiser

retail merchandiser

marchandiseur

Old Dutch Foods

A typical day would include delivering chips/partner food brands to convenience stores and grocery stores. Communicating with store managers about upcoming promotions and attempting to gain more floor space for displays.

The list goes on about what I've learned while working at this company. The most significant thing I've learned is how to communicate with various different type of individuals. It teaches one to adapt to different frames to adjust to help serve a person wants and needs, If and when one is truly listening to someone's needs and wants. In short, I've learned to communicate effectively and accurately through listening and communicating correctly with people.

When it comes to management, I've learn that not everyone should have power. 

I do not find this job hard nor would I ever find any job hard. If one has their mind right they can make the biggest leaps look like baby steps. But most find being organized the hardest part because there's a lot to be done on a daily basis and you must be able to mutli-task several duties at once.

The most enjoyable part of my job is the people. Every store clerk, receiver, manager, or stock boy make my day enjoyable. I feel as if I work at all 50 stores I provide service to weekly. Regardless of the attitude or extreme of happiness of the individual, dealing with people is what I believe I was meant to do.

They say it's $20/hr. But it's really 18.82, because it's based off of a 42.5 hour work week. It's salaried at 50k a year before taxes. But it's also commission based, so despite it being salary, you could make less or more depending on how efficient your selling can be. 

The trucks are also in poor condition. 

They also expect a whole lot out of you. The pay is low for what you are doing. Use this job as a stepping stone to maybe Pepsi/coke/Frito-lay. 

They want a minimum 42.5 hrs a week. They will raise a complaint if you work less than 40, but turn a blind eye if you see yourself working 50. Typical. This level of responsibility would be more than tolerable if it paid much more per hour. But it isn't. 

If you're sick or simply need a day off, have fun trying to have someone cover your route. Management is extremely nice. You will feel welcomed on day 1. But they're all getting up there in age and the company needs a change in order to even try and make a dent into Frito-lays space. You'll make $645 a week before the 2-4% commission. Everything is taxed 25%. 

It's really not a bad gig, but it needs to be paid more and changes have to be made from the higher ups to justify people wanting to stay here long term.

If you are a motivated person with the drive to excel without daily supervision this a great job.  If beating targets and growing sales drives you every day, this is a great job.  If you are comfortable dealing with managers, employees and their customers daily, this is a great job.  If you are lazy, unfocused and lack ambition stay away from this job, it is not for you.  If you can't work long hours you can not succeed at this job.  If you can not handle rejections and work to turn the no's to wins, this is not the job for you.
I have been in this industry for 15 years, 10 of which was with our primary competitor.  I have a track record of growth year over year with both companies.  If I were starting out again, I would definitely choose Old Dutch over Frito Lay.  Though some of our ways and methods could use a little modernization they are still effective in today's market.  The biggest difference between the two is the way you are treated.  At Old Dutch you are a part of a family or member of a team, etc.  At Frito Lay you are little more than a number or analytic.  



The first summer I was hired to be a relief driver and I would essentially take over a independent business owners truck and continue with his route for the time that he/she was on holidays.  I was in charge of all the day to day activities of running a business financially and physically.  I was required to fill orders, sales, stock shelves, invoice, etc. At the end of my day I had to restock the truck and prepare for the next day.  There was continuous learning involved each and every day that involved numeracy of 5 digits or more at times, bookkeeping, sales, and people involvement.  The second summer that I worked I was needed more in the warehouse since the company was on strike.  So, I learned the logistics side of the company and was the head of shipping and receiving.  There was also quality control of a food product that was part of my daily routine.  I was the go to person that was in charge of the whole ware house and its staff.  I did have to report to senior management regarding certain issues but for the most part I was in charge.

   If your sick of feeling "stuck" or watching the clock until quitting time, this is the job for you. Days go by fast, and with some work you can find growth in your accounts. 

   Old Dutch offers lots of training and respects you enough to let you make decisions about your time. With the understanding that you will provide the level of care that is necessary to the accounts that you are given. 

   This job is hard. You will be challenged. There are long days, and sometimes you will feel beat down.

   The good news is that, in my experience, you will find support. If you are having issues they will help you find methods to succeed.  They want you to succeed and will provide all the resources required to make that happen. 

   Being given a territory and watching it grow has been fulfilling. Building relationships with accounts, making friends with people all over. Watching my hard work translate into monetary value in real time is great.

 I drive by stores with my friends and say "that's one of mine". I didn't have that kind of pride before with my previous jobs. 

  

This company is one of the most unorganized companies to work for. They don't know the sales and promotions going on half the time so setting up displays to hit your commission goals is impossible. Working 12 to 14 hour days going to 20 dollar calls 40 minutes off your route. Loads you place are either late or don't have half the stock you ordered, or both. Management will never have your back with Managers that are unfair and unwilling to take your product over Frito Lay. Have to maintain every aspect of your own truck from oil changes, to changing winter tires, to painting chips and scratches, all on your work time so taking away from your sales to fix there company trucks. Was told to switch from Mon-Fri work week to Tues-Sat which was very frustrating. Have no chance to compete against Frito Lay in the market. If your route has any kind of seasonal business you will be making nothing in the off season as it is strictly commission based salary. Can get paid 250 a week sometimes with the commission your making.

Job is easy. BUT I was forced to learn 80 products and their product numbers. I learned and knew them. After 2 weeks I was told to be pretty good with everything and the trainer changed. New trainer showed me that I could just scan the number and DON'T have to know or memorize them. ?????! Rest I was good at : Scanner, customer service, driving the truck, recognising all product. Than this happened:  Nov 3, 2019 the hwy was pure ice! Everywhere cars and trucks in the ditch ( I counted 10 ).  We were sliding along the hwy 16. Trainer told me to drive 60km/hr later 40km/hr. After 1 hr we stopped at Wabamun and I found out that we had worn out summer tires on the truck !!! I refused to continue to drive. I said, "I don't want to loose the job, I just won't drive today the truck with these tires in these hwy conditions ". Well, I was fired on the spot. Crooked company and crooked trainer! Don't trust what they say. Lousy pay. 650 a week for 10 hrs a day!!!

Days are usually pretty long depending on work speed and sales volume. The work itself is not too bad, pretty simple but overall not hard. Management makes a lot of promises and claims about how things work in order to become an independent contractor (Getting your own route) but they seem to know nothing about what steps to actually go through. They also feel pretty disconnected from the drivers.
The colleagues and warehouse workers are nice to work with. Positive and helpful when asking about the job and making small talk. The hardest part of the job, besides getting useful information out of management I would say is the hours. My average workday was between 10 - 12 hours + commute. The nice thing is that you can listen to music and work at your own pace. It's also nice that you can make your own hours for the most part as long as your customers are serviced.

This is a very manipulative work environment. On going harassment on floor, the managers will also harass you. It’s just an awful work place all around. They do not value anyone with a decent demeanour. They will only keep on two or less people that are legitimately nice, the rest Beware, are very very rude. They won’t let you know when you are late, they will automatically change the times on the schedule so that it makes it look like your late. Very dishonest company,  also it’s ridiculously dirty in there and they expect you to have clean white clothes at all times when there’s dirt everywhere, they are way too cheap to replace the equipment!! Lol to think that’s where chips are being made!! WOW. Oh ya! They also lie throughout the interview and say only 8 hour shifts mon-fri when in reality you work 10 hours mon-sat. Not sure why they feel the need to lie, like I said, dishonest company.  I worked at the Winnipeg, Mb location on Bentall St.

Great company to work for.  Lots of opportunity to be independent and run your own route.  If you really care about growing your route and putting in the time to develop the calls and store relationships you can make very good pay cheques.  Company recently moved from strictly commission to base + commission which was necessary and appreciated in the GTA.  Expect to put in some long days in your first few months as you learn the business, but this will improve....time management, organization, ability to work independently, and being efficient are really important traits in this job.  There are many opportunities in each store to grow your sales.

Very supportive management, not afraid to be in the market and support Reps. There is a lot of opportunity to advance as managers are often promoted from within after putting in time in the field and the company favours promoting from within rather than externally.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Route sales representative 96 salaries reported	$48,161 per year
Vendeur livreur 38 salaries reported	$48,539 per year
Merchandiser 37 salaries reported	$17.83 per hour
Retail merchandiser 10 salaries reported	$16.86 per hour
Marchandiseur 25 salaries reported	$16.41 per hour

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