Supermarket Shopper

Part-Time Grocery Store Jobs 

by Stephanie Nelson  

If you are looking for part-time work and like grocery shopping, you may enjoy part-time work in a grocery store.  You have certainly interacted with many grocery store workers as you have shopped, but do you know how their jobs work and how they found them?  Many workers you see in stores are actually employed by outside companies and they work on a part-time basis and set their own hours.  If you have ever wondered what their jobs involve or how to find them, today’s column will answer those questions for you.  The two types of jobs we will look at in this column are the coupon company’s Field Force workers and product demonstrators.  
 

Field Force workers:  Coupon users are generally familiar with the SmartSource company because they produce one of the newspaper grocery coupon circulars each month.  In addition to providing coupon circulars, the SmartSource company (owned by News America Marketing) also provides the coupon machines and several forms of in-store advertising in grocery carts, on shelves, on the floor and even on the plastic piece we use to separate our groceries from other shoppers’ groceries in the checkout lane.  Their advertising and coupons also extend to drugstores and discount stores.  

In order to update these coupon machines and advertising on a regular basis, News America Marketing employs an army of part-time workers across the country, known as their “Field Force.”   

News America Marketing’s Field Force goes to retailers across the country to install and maintain SmartSource advertising units once a month. Each part-time Field Representative is given a specific number of stores to handle.  

Many shoppers enjoy working as Field Force employees because they are generally assigned to stores in their area, they are able to complete their assignments on their own schedule within a general timeframe, and they get to do their work at stores where they shop. 
 

The Field Force job can be a good part-time option for retirees, students and stay-at-home parents.  In fact, News America Marketing is an employment partner of AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, so they are actively seeking interested workers in the 50+-age range. Stay-at-home parents are also likely candidates for the Field Force, because they are able to complete their assignments during off hours when the other parent is home from their job.  It is also possible to complete assignments during the day with children in tow, depending on the age and behavior of the children.  The Field Force job is an affordable job for workers on a budget because it does not require a special wardrobe, childcare expenses or long commuting expenses.  

Compensation varies by region and assignment.  Interested applicants can find out more by contacting News America Marketing’s Field Force recruiter via their website at www.smartsource.com.  

Product demonstrators:  Another part-time option is to be an in-store product demonstrator.  These are the people who prepare and offer product samples to customers in order to entice them to buy the product.  According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the median wage of in-store product demonstrators was $9.95 an hour in 2004 with the lowest 10% of workers earning $7.25 or less.  In 2004 there were over 117,000 employees in the product demonstrator and promotion category.  

Demonstrators and product promoters usually receive on-the-job training from the company or agency that hires them.  Obviously, they must be experts on the product they are demonstrating.  The length of training varies with the complexity of the product, so grocery product training would be relatively short as compared to more detailed training for a computer demonstrator. During the training process, demonstrators may also learn about the manufacturer’s corporate and customer service philosophy. 
 

To find out more about specific product demonstrator jobs in my area, I went to the America’s Job Bank website at www.ajb.org .  I entered the term “product demonstrator” with my state and got a job listing immediately.  It paid $14 per hour, required that I could stand a minimum of five hours, and involved sampling products and distributing brochures and coupons to customers.  Another listing was a temporary weekend assignment over an eight-week period that paid $15 per hour.  

Interested applicants may also want to register with local temporary agencies that field many of these assignments for companies.  Local career fairs can also be a good source of part-time product demonstrator job leads.  

 Copyright 2006, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
United Feature Syndicate