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Which Pet Store Offers the Best Employee Discount?

Members of the PETS+ Facebook Community share the discount programs for their stores.

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Question: What kind of employee discounts do you offer? What rules do you have in place? — Lynsi Rhae Rathbun, All About Pets, Hilton Head, SC
  • We allow everyone to buy at cost, but ask team members to write quick reviews, which get shared with the entire team! They get items at a great price, and everyone learns! — Colleen Marineau, The Fish & Bone, Portland, ME
  • Cost. Always. I don’t make money off my staff. I value their experience with all our products. — Lisa Robinson, The Wild Side Pet Boutique, Nanaimo, BC
  • Our employees get things at cost. We choose not to make money off the people who make us money. This also allows them to purchase things and try what they might not have otherwise. — Diane Marcin, Benny’s Pet Depot, Mechanicsburg, PA
  • We do 5% over cost to cover credit card fees and labor (our staff does a LOT of special ordering.) They’re not allowed to ring themselves up. We also offer $20/$30 store credit per month (part-time/full-time), and we offer an alumni discount of 10% off food and 15% off everything else for employees who work at least six months and leave in good standing. — Shane Somerville, Paddywack, WA
  • Cost + 10% if they use cash. Otherwise half of the margin discount with card. I also offer Brand Ambassador time. They get $15 an hour in product that they demo. I allow four hours per week, per employee, so it’s $60 bucks extra for pet food. I have a couple of friends who come to trainings, and I offer them the Brand Ambassador deal, too. — Jennifer Lloyd Flanagan, Nature’s Pet Market, Sherwood, OR
  • 10% over cost to cover freight, and it’s programmed in under their accounts so it comes up automatically. Employees are not allowed to ring themselves up. For things that are on sale, they get whatever is cheaper, the sale price or their employee pricing, but not both. — Cassie Nilsson, The Mill of Whiteford, Whiteford, MD
  • 25%. They can ring themselves up. If you can’t trust them to do that, should they be working for you? — Jennifer Moore Baker Grateful Dog Bakery, North Ridgeville, OH
  • 20% for first three months, then 30% on food, and 50% on the high margin. — Benjamin Huber, Petagogy, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 20% off anything is the standard staff discount here. Manufacturer deals, coupons and Astro offers can be added to the 20%. Tabs allowed. Staff get a lot of free items to try out, past-dated items and manufacturer reward programs. We also split the booty from our sales of Steve’s Real food. — Jodi Etienne, Razzle Dazzle Doggie Bow-tique, Bradley, IL
  • 20% off everything. Free self-wash. $100 monthly in free product, but half must be used on freezer or supplement products. The rest can be whatever else they want. I also let them participate in Astro promotions. Employees may not ring themselves up. — Elaina Stanley, Three Happy Hounds, Fernley, NV
  • We do 20% off food and supplements, 40% off toys, treats and accessories. We give part-time $50 credit a month and full-time $100 credit a month for products. This is all after 90 days. We watch as far as abuse goes for over-buying or buying for extended family, etc. We figure our employees using and getting the products only makes them better sellers! — Marissa Squires, Dogology, Canton, CT
  • 20% off food, 25% everything else. Employee feed and loyalty points earned are allowed towards purchase. — Alexis Butler, The Dog’s Meow, Salt Lake City, UT
  • Simple. We charge staff actual cost. Same as family and friends. — Frank Frattini, The Hungry Puppy, Farmingdale, NJ
  • I don’t make money off my employees. They get everything at my cost. — Anna Fortini, Croton Pet Station, Croton-on-Hudson, NY
  • 30% off everything. Plus we give them stuff all the time. — Bill Huffor, Furry Friends Inc., Colorado Springs, CO
  • We get 30% off everything, that way we don’t go under margin on food. Apply discount at check out, and we can run a tab: $100 at a time with the option to deduct it off our checks. Staff can’t check themselves out. Managers can. Managers also sometimes get bigger discounts in bigger margin items if it’s marked up over 50%. It’s complicated. We also get free samples all the time from vendors or the owner, plus feeding programs, so it’s actually not bad in the end. — Annabell Bivens, The Dog Store, Alexandria, VA
  • We do free self-wash, non-food 25% and food 10%. We also have a 4% cash back loyalty reward, so they actually get an extra 4% on all, too. If a sale, they always get the cheapest deal. Discount is the same for spouses/parents/same household. Would love to do cost, but our POS doesn’t make it easy, and it was a headache ringing it up. Staff likes that it’s in the system automatically under their name, and so no hassle or wait. — Jennifer Larsen, Firehouse Pet Shop, Wenatchee, WA
  • We used to do it at cost plus 10%, simple, generous discount and still make a slight margin on everything. Our current POS won’t run this way, so we started doing 20% off food, litter and cat trees, and 40% off everything else. — Stephanie Wright, Bend Pet Express, Bend, OR
  • Our employees get a 20% discount on everything. — Patrick Schiek, Lucky Dogs, Skaneateles, NY
  • We do 20% off for new hires, and when they complete their training, they get everything at our cost. — Jeffrey Jensen, Four Muddy Paws, St. Louis, MO
  • 20% off everything. They can ring themselves up. My POS knows they are employees and automatically applies the discount. Tab can only run until next payday. — Penny Murano, Unleashed, New London, NH

EDITOR’S NOTE: Want to ask a question of the PETS+ community? Or share your expertise? Join the PETS+ community on Facebook.

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