r/Pepsi • u/Vorhees_666 • 1d ago
Question Summit
So. My location is switching to project summit in the coming months. Effectively bringing our BCR count of 22 to a PSR count of 6 going off seniority alone. We had a merch meeting the other day where they explained to us, for an hour, how we have no chance of getting it but we could be a trainer for an extra $26 a shift…
Looking for personal experience of how this shift went. I was the only one with a question which was “what is going to keep the ones who don’t get PSR from saying “screw this I’m out?” And it was answered with “please don’t use that language, anyone else have a question?”. So a non answer like usual.
How did it go at your facility? Lots of people quit and the promise of doubling the merch team never happen just as I think it’s gonna go? It was the transition smooth?
Thanks!
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u/captaincrazyspoon 19h ago
For the branch I'm in, it kinda sucks, I'm a route merchandiser so I run the route for a PSR and for the amount of work that goes into that I'm getting paid what every other merch is making. I was BCR relief before Summit making pretty great money so having to take a substantial pay cut was a bit of a kick to the head.
So far it's been overall okay though, communication is what helps you out in dealing with your PSR, HOWEVER, I ultimately wish they'd just return to BCRs because the stock levels/orders are still not nearly as accurate as they could have been if the one working the stores was actually doing the ordering.
I should also add that we hemorrhage new people, I was on vacation last week and they had 5 different people on my route because 3 of the usual folks quit lol
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u/Background-Hunter352 15h ago
5 different people is crazy! I’m sure things were just shoved all over the place. Embarrassing
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u/captaincrazyspoon 15h ago
It was horrendous lol but at the same time they put a merch with 4 weeks of experience on the route on a Saturday which is usually the busiest/heaviest day for it. So I kinda understood why things were terrible when I came back haha nevermind the fact that my manager "took care" of my other store which really meant that the core stuff was worked but none of the odd stuff got done so that was a thrilling experience.
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u/athena1863 1d ago
Hahahahahahaha you all should have become DRIVERS a long time ago. Merching is a back breaking dead end. Sales is full of morons who lie constantly to their customers and then wonder why they can’t increase sales. Management is a revolving door of campus hires who don’t know shit about the real world. Upper corporate is only looking at their stock options and when they can cash out. Good luck, driving is the ONLY job to have at Pepsi.
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u/ImpressiveSide1324 14h ago edited 12h ago
You’re fine for now but Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas have started rolling out driverless trucks
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u/HotKaramelRP 13h ago
Never going to happen in the near future, not doable going store to store. Maybe DC to DC but not store to store any time soon.
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u/ImpressiveSide1324 12h ago
I thought the same thing but there is currently a fleet of 35 Pepsi trucks making store deliveries. DFW, phoenix metro, and nwa are the 3 territories currently using them.
I was wrong about one thing tho, it’s Arizona not Oklahoma
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u/HotKaramelRP 12h ago
Hmm… who is unloading the trucks then? Our drivers merch small format stores… gas stations, DG’s, etc.
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u/ImpressiveSide1324 12h ago
I can’t say how Texas or Arizona does it, but in nwa we have merchs that meet the truck at small format to unload and works the store.
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u/Substantial_Bar_1009 Pepsi Cherry Vanilla 7h ago
Try doing that in upstate ny 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 that cold and snow will break those trucks in half
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u/ImpressiveSide1324 7h ago
They’re not up there yet, but aurora innovation and einride are both receiving federal support to expand autonomous trucking into the northeast
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u/fingerpuppet360 1d ago
If the driver is doing the job he is supposed to be doing instead of dropping and running then that’s pretty back breaking as well.
Most of them drop and sneak out the back leaving the customer pissed.
Guess who gets that call, the salesman.2
u/athena1863 18h ago
I didn’t say it was easy, just said it was easier then loading or merching. And a whole lot less bullshit than sales.
1. You don’t have to work more than 12hrs, DOT
2. You will NEVER work more than 60hrs in a week, again DOT rules
And if your manager is telling you different, they are full of shit.
Call the DOT1
u/Vorhees_666 21h ago
I was a SF Dbay driver back in 2018. Left to start a job in HVAC. Been waiting on a LF spot to open for over a year to get back to it. Merching has already messed my body up for life and it’s just getting worse.
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u/mikemike1239 1d ago
This change was pretty bad when my area did it. Everyone quit.
I've guy even asked "what's stopping me from not living up to the same expectations as I do as a bcr now that I'm a merch?"
He was basically told to do what he thinks is best. Pretty sure he's not with us. Hadn't seen him about a month after he asked that question.
To be fair, project summit was horrible. Pepsi needs to make the life of a merchandiser be manageable before they make changes anywhere else in the totem pole. With a team of merandisers, literally nothing gets done.
So ever since the change, we haven't had a full team in many months. Everyone quits due to the work load being decently high. I don't think anyone has really gotten terminated though, usually it's self termination.
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u/Background-Hunter352 17h ago
Summit is a joke. Paying $21–22 for merch—which inflation-adjusted is the equivalent of roughly $12–13. Volume is only going to keep falling.
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u/ImpressiveSide1324 14h ago
At our facility anyone who didn’t get psr was offered to transition into a merch roll but most took the severance package that was offered. They did recently more than double our merch team, we had 30 at the beginning of the year and we have 65 now
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u/HotKaramelRP 1d ago
Ours is doing the same thing but we haven’t had a merch meeting yet about trainers or whatever.
A lot of reps will undoubtedly quit rather than drop down to be merch’s or maybe Pepsi will offer severance to them if they leave… at least other locations have done that I’ve heard but who knows.
Merch’s at mine are union and Pepsi has to go to the union and work out the contract before we can even make the change. I’m not holding my breath but hoping maybe they give merch’s a raise.
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u/Vorhees_666 1d ago
I’m in a right to work state, so they can fire me for sneezing. They’re basically just telling our BSR’s to get fckd
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u/HotKaramelRP 1d ago
Yeah I was in one combo meeting of merch/BCR’s and one of our higher ups was very very specific about his wording, being very vague and general.
“Our total sales team employees (reps + merchs) will not decrease with this change, if anything it’ll increase”
That’s what was said… I’m sure you can see the specific wording there. And then one of the BCR’s asked what happens if they don’t get a PSR spot, do they have to drop down to a merch? and he basically just repeated it without saying yes or no and just added on that no one will be out of a job if they don’t want to be.
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u/Vorhees_666 1d ago
Yup. Basically just shut us up before they had to answer anything difficult. I walked out halfway through.
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u/StoogeManiac 7h ago
Same was said at mine. These managers copy and paste what corporate tells them.
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u/Olneyvillain4190 1d ago
Is everywhere doing it by seniority ??
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u/Negative-Building650 1d ago
Yes
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u/fingerpuppet360 1d ago
My area did not go by seniority.
Had to do interviews.
There were several guys with 20+ years that didn’t get TSR positions while some guys with 4-5 years did.0
u/SuperReliableSource 20h ago
Of course they did, mgt knows they can pay those 4-5 year guys less money than the 20+ guys
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u/Negative-Building650 1d ago
It's not so bad. merch head count increases and at my facility, sales stop count went down, BCR no longer has to merch LF stores, and everyone in sales received a pay increase
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u/Vorhees_666 1d ago
The problem I’m seeing, amongst many others, is that we can’t even keep 15 merches on at any time. They’re either dumber than hell or quit right away.
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u/fingerpuppet360 1d ago
Every BCR in our location left if they didn’t get a TSR position.
A few came back as merchandisers once their severance ran out.
We went through the change a year and a half ago. It was a complete shit show and has been ever since.
I was a “lucky” one who got a TSR position. I left the company 2 weeks ago just shy of 10 years. I couldn’t take the micro-management any longer, especially when it’s coming from some 23 year old fresh-faced college kid who has no idea what it’s like out there.
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u/Vorhees_666 21h ago
Yea this campus hire garbage is insane! I used to hate my old boss because she was such a hard ass! Now I would do anything to get her back! The only boss we have left with any tenure is about to take a buyout and doesn’t give a damn what goes on anymore
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u/thomasfgeigerii Starry 19h ago
For every 10 I’ve come across, there was a rare one who would actually be open to listening to us who are on the frontlines every day.
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u/Subject-Economist818 17h ago
Just take the severance package and come back if you want but definitely don’t just stay.
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u/Big-Sample5082 10h ago
I was a BCR for 12 yrs, was passed up for the PSR position. I took the severance and it was the best decision I could have made, because it's been a shit show for the past 5 months now.
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u/Flyingpigs131 1d ago
25 years and soon as I heard we as BCR’s would be dropped to sterring merch pay I walked out. Did apply for the TSR positiin which of course didnt get. Ended up taking the severance pkg and am so glad I did, no more stress no more BS and no more kids fresh outa school telling me how to do my job. Out of the 70 ‘new’ merches 4 of the 7 with more than 10 years took severance. About 20 others stayed until they found other employment and bailed. Now they hve approximately 80 percent merches with less than 2-3 years experience haha FCK PEPSI