14 Pros And Cons Of Working For Petco

Petco is a national pet store chain.

They specialize in products for dogs, cats, birds, fish, and other small animals.

Pet owners can shop for everything from specialized food to grooming products, toys, and cafe supplies.

Most Petco locations also sell small animals like fish and gerbils.

Pet grooming is one of the main services the stores offer.

Local shelters often have Mpet adoption days at Petco stores.

There are over 1400 stores with approximately 27,000 employees.

What is it like to work at Petco?

We scoured everywhere from Reddit to Indeed and compiled this honest list of pros and cons.

Table of Contents

Pros Of Working For Petco
Cons Of Working For Petco
14 Pros And Cons Of Working For Petco – Summary Table
- Should You Work For Petco?

Pros Of Working For Petco

1. Great For Pet Lovers

Obviously, for people that love animals, this is a pro.

Not only do you get to see and help the animals that are for sale in the store, but customers are allowed to bring in their pets.

You’re able to offer treats and maybe even give some head scratches.

Best of all, the customers will be lovers too.

2. Simple Tasks

If you’re working as an associate at one of the stores, your day-to-day activities will be pretty easy to accomplish.

After training, it will be relatively easy to work the cash register, stock the shelves, and care for the animals.

There are no big surprises to have to worry about.

If you like consistency and simplicity, this is the job for you.

3. Great People

Most employees reported that they loved their colleagues and customers.

This may be because everyone that’s in the store loves animals.

Everyone has at least one thing in common.

So it’s easy to strike up a conversation about how cute Fido is or how much Bomba the hamster ate overnight.

If you enjoy people, especially those that enjoy pets, you may like this job.

4. Relaxed Dress Code

Other than requiring employees to wear closed-toe shoes and pants (both for their safety), the only uniform is a Petco T-shirt.

You can wear whatever style of pants you choose.

There are also no restrictions on tattoos, piercings, hair, or nail polish color.

For those who like expressing their personal style, Petco is a workplace worth considering.

5. Flexible Schedule

Petco does allow employees to pretty much choose their own hours.

You can let the manager know all the times you are available to work and they will only schedule those hours for you.

This is great for students, parents, and people who have other jobs.

Keep in mind, that just because you are available does not guarantee that you will be.

It all depends on how many people work at the location, how busy it is, and your seniority level.

6. Employee Discount

This is great if you have pets.

Regardless of whether you are a part-time or full-time employee, everyone enjoys a hefty 20% employee discount.

This covers everything in the store, including pets and grooming services.

The discount is good at any store in the country.

This does not include the fee if you adopt a pet during a pet adoption day.

7. Benefits

Employees that work over 32 hours a week are eligible to take part in the medical insurance program.

This includes medical and dental coverage.

The corporation also offers paid time off, which employees accumulate over time.

If you are in need of medical coverage, this job could work in your favor.

Cons Of Working For Petco

1. High Turnover Rate

A lot of employees at Petco are high school and college students.

Still, others take the job until something else comes along.

For these and other reasons, there is a higher turnover rate at Petco than at other companies.

This can make it difficult to build relationships and have consistency in the workday.

Having to constantly train and get used to new people can be stressful.

2. Pushy Directives From Corporate And Managers

Employees often complain about being made to “push” certain items on unsuspecting customers.

The customer loyalty card is one thing that employees complain about.

While it’s not bad for customers (they do actually save and earn coupons), not all employees are comfortable bringing it up.

They say they are also told to keep praising the card even if customers say no.

Even if they say yes, they then have to hold up the line to actually sign the customer up.

Managers also have employers amplify or highlight certain products over others.

These products may have paid extra for the exposure.

It doesn’t mean they’re better.

Groomers have also stated that managers tell them to fill a quota of groomings each day.

This can lead to sloppy work and unhappy customers.

3. Doing Jobs For Which They Weren’t Trained

Though it differs from store to store, workers are not always trained to perform all tasks within the store.

Some are trained only on the register, while others may be trained to work with the animals.

But some say they are asked to work in areas that they were never trained in.

This may sound trivial, but if you’ve never cleaned a fish tank, or know how much to feed a gerbil, it can have serious consequences for the animals.

Plus, it’s stressful as a worker to have people counting on you and you’re not confident of your abilities.

4. Strenuous

Working at Petco can sometimes be tiring.

Employees report having to stand at the register for hours at a time.

Not even being able to sit nearby on a stool when nobody is in the store.

You are not allowed to look at your phone except for breaks, which you may not even get.

The breaks are at the discretion of the manager and they often “forget”, according to some employees.

There is also the possibility that you will have to lift heavy and awkward items like huge bags of food and cages.

If you physically cannot do these things, you may want to try a different store.

5. Lots Of Cleaning

No matter what your main role is at Petco, at some point you will be cleaning.

Just like employees must clean at a regular store, at Petco, it’s more, because there are animals.

Customers constantly bring their pets in, so there’s hair, drool, and, of course, the occasional accident.

There’s also a lot of cleaning involved with the animals that live at Petco.

Cages and tanks must be cleaned on a regular basis, inside and out.

Depending on the animal, they may require grooming.

So you would need to monitor it and make sure that occurs.

So if mopping slops and cleaning stinky cages does not appeal to you, look elsewhere.

6. Benefits

This was listed as a pro earlier because for many it could be.

However, many employees expressed dissatisfaction with the medical coverage.

Benefits are only offered to employees that work over 31 hours a week.

Then, employees must pay for a good portion of the coverage.

One review on Indeed stated that you pretty much give up 2 of your 4 paychecks each month to pay for it.

On the other hand, if you have a partner with an awesome job and you only need to work for the insurance, then you’d be fine.

Petco also does not offer sick time.

Workers can accurately be paid time off, which can be used for anything, including when you’re sick.

7. Allergies

If you have allergies to any sort of animal fur or dander, Petco is not the place for you.

As much as you may love them, allergies can make a person completely miserable.

If you have an allergy attack while at work, you’ll just have to leave anyway.

Some people respond well to medication, but not everyone does.

It’s also possible that you may not be aware of any allergies until you start work at Petco.

This is an unfortunate con, and probably the only one that is not under anyone’s control.