A typical day working for Cintas will start between 5:30am and 7:00am. You'll have two check ins with your service manager each week plus a weekly development/staff meeting. You're expected to be at your first customer by 8:30 each day. You'll have a list of customers to see each day and, provided you don't finish *too* early, you're in charge of your own hours, really. You can work between 35 and 55 hours per week depending on what route you have. Though, Cintas doesn't consider you 'at work' until you log into your first customer. If your first customer is 2 hours away and you leave at 6:00am, you don't actually 'start' working until you arrive at the customer's location.
The good:
- There's a lot of autonomy. You aren't in the office all day.
- There's a possibility of good money depending on where your route is/how much volume it does.
- Qualifying employees received a one-time cash bonus after Trump's tax cut.
The bad:
- You're encouraged to look for sales opportunities and grow your route sales volume. However, once or twice per year, Cintas likes to cut up big routes and make new, smaller routes. You might spend 18 months growing your route (which means growing your paycheck) only to go through a route split and lose 40% of your revenue.
- The pay structure is kind of convoluted and changes regularly. When I started, we received a bonus for our First Aid, Safety, and Training sales as well as residual percentages for our AED service agreements and Eyewash
Extreme Micro Mgt, No job security, un-ethical sales people
I discovered I was the 5th rep in my territory in as many years. I'm finding that most reps typically last 1 year. The first 3-4 months are training. Then you have a few months to become successful or you are put on a performance improvement plan. The territories, and reps that are successful are generally in busier territories with new restaurants constantly opening, and also constantly fed hot leads. Sometimes just a matter of luck! These reps can do well if you're fortunate to land in one of these busy territories. They are few and far between. I worked long hours, and I made tons of phone calls during phone block begging people to meet with me in order to meet the required "16 New" appointments per week, make 50 cold calls/week, fill out report after report, and come up short on sales numbers. I have been in sales for 12 years. 1 with Cintas, and this is the first time I have never made the required number. It's also the hardest I've ever worked for such low pay. I was told I'd make 75k first year, and over 100 second year. I think only a handful of the several hundred reps make that much.None that I met. Those are the busier territories i'm referring to. The sales numbers are highly un-realistic for most territories which is why turnover is so high. These arent bad sales people! It's the system at Cintas! It's very old school sales. It's what I imagined a used car salesman to be like. I'd say they are pretty similar. I'd say this is a decent place if you're right out of
ProsIt's a temporary job, and opens your eyes that Cintas is Rock Bottom!
Quality Assurance Analyst | Stockton, CA | Aug 25, 2015
Dead End Depressing Job
A typical day at work began at 5:30am until 2pm Monday through Friday. I worked there for almost two full years and there was really nothing good about the job in all honesty, besides the work schedule and weekly pay. There are a total of three shifts. I worked first shift, hence an early start and end to the day with weekends off. When i was first employed at Cintas I was a bulk folder. For eight hours each day, i folded bundles of towels. Not exciting or enjoyable whatsoever. Big carts of towels would be dumped in front of you on a table and you folded bundles of towels as fast as you could to reach your numbers because you were on incentive. All Cintas cares about is numbers. Most of the time the towels that needed to be folded weren't even clean, soaking wet, or torn to bits. Extremely unsanitary because these towels were coming from hospitals with god knows what type of germs on them. Cintas also offers room for "career advancement." Basically, if there is a job opening you would apply or tell your supervisor for consideration. If you got the new job it was considered a "promotion." Most of the time management would make you feel like you were getting the new job/"promotion" only to announce it to someone else making you feel confused and let down. My second job at Cintas after a "promotion" was quality assurance. I enjoyed it a little more than folding but it was still extremely hard labor for low pay. Initially, i worked with a "partner" (Cinta's version of coworker).
ProsWork Schedule Mon-Fri, Weekends off.
ConsPoor management, low pay, bad company culture.
I worked at Cintas for 23 years. Starting as a route skipper. Soon had my own route and became a trainer and began training newly hired partners to take over routes. I would take a route that was not being run well and had been vacated by a previous SSR (Route Driver) because they were fired or left the company. I'd get a SSR in training and he or she would get trained on that route. It was great training for them, because the trainee got to see how to MAKE a route great, versus getting on a truck with another trainer who's route was already dialed in. You don't get to train people and get the bonuses that come with it, if you can't manage your route well. It's not rocket science, but there's a ton of little details that need to be handled daily. I did that for a few years, then began running a route to a neighboring state. What fun that was, in spite of the unique challenges. It was often like being on an island and I think the poor management I had at the time knew that I'd figure it out because of my past experiences in the military and my past performance with the company. The company has a good vetting system for hiring everyone they hire, from the lowest positions to the highest positions, but sometimes poor candidates slip through the process. They never work out for more than a few years. Around 10 years with the company I promoted into a sales role. It was pretty incredible to all of a sudden start making 6 figures a year. The challenge with sales is it never gets ea
ProsSolid company that will be around for a long time
ConsNone worth mentioning that I didn't address in the narrative
Great Customers. Terrible Management. Inflexible Policies
I worked a very large rural territory as a Service Sales Rep for the First Aid division.
I absolutely loved my customers and the job - it was a source of pride knowing I was helping keep people safe - perhaps even saving their life. Selling was easy since I was able to build trust and listen to my customers' needs. I didn't mind working 75-80 hours a week because I felt like I was investing in future growth.
However, working for Cintas was awful. Management at my office was incompetent, unethical at times, and rigidly stuck to Cintas' corporate policies that simply did not work in rural areas.
Cintas does everything it can to A: force SSR's to visit accounts every 4 weeks. Period. Whether they needed it or not. B: Never write a zero invoice. Ever. C: Cintas punished locations for losing too many customers. These three contradictory policies results in a lot of pressure to visit customer more often than they needed, sell them things they didn't want, and not get rid of customers who didn't fit the mold. It was a vicious circle.
What they did need was safety gear. But the warehouse manager would flat out refuse to order products for me, trying to argue I wasn't going to sell them - even when I had a request for them.
My territory was composed of small farms, machine shops, car repair shops, etc. I'd drive by 500 person manufacturing plants on my way to these places - but sales reps never came to my territory to prospect these large companies.
I was also requi
ProsCustomers were amazing, rural territory was beautiful - my "office" was perfect
This is from the perspective of a production supervisor:
First, there is nothing production about this job. They don't manufacture anything, I had to babysit the temps they would hire, had no say in any impacting decisions and ultimately just plugged holes for the workers that couldn't show up for work. Oh, and I had to be a security guard, emergency response team and maintenance worker just to keep the place running.
I gave this company two whole years of 110% solid effort which nearly always meant at least 70 hour work weeks (not including the inevitable saturday) performing grueling work. Always understaffed, every day was a nightmare logistically, and the work in the plant is tedious, monotonous labor for pennies. If you are looking at an hourly position, expect to make minimum wage and receive an annual pay increase of around $.20-.30. That's right, 30 cents an HOUR. After a YEAR.
The working conditions are brutal, at 25 years old I had to get prescription inserts for my shoes because my arches dropped from having to load or unload trucks for months (a job that I had no choice to perform because we seemed to never have enough staff for the job). If I didn't help while my workers were there, well then I had to finish it after they left. They don't pay overtime, but if you're salary...well you're in for it.
People die in this job, yet we are expected every day to "get the job done" and that usually means by putting our health in jeopardy. I was continually expected to
Decent company depending on the division you're in. Some branches are more stable than others.
First Aid and Safety is a division that on the surface, preaches about customer service/ loyalty, relationship building, etc but in reality, its all about sales...by hook or by crook. They would much rather you tick off YOUR customer by stuffing their first aid cabinets with unnecessary overpriced items. And if the customer complains about the prices, or items they didn't want/need, Cintas FAS will in most cases proceed to refund that customer and dock your commissions. (Pay is base + commission for items "sold") And then there are these "contest". These contest basically turn into a screw fest for unsuspecting customers where some SSR's basically stuff cabinets with a spotlight product. The product is usually something that the SSR should have introduced to the customer already but now they are given an incentive to put as many (insert product here) in a cabinet as possible. The only time this is frowned upon is when the customer notices and complain, but there is no real accountability. "Oh look! Our cough drop sales rose 6000% during a random week in July! Gee golly!" Its a complete joke but hey, if you get lucky enough to inherit a territory with large offices with big budgets or large industrial businesses with high employee counts, you can be very successful. If not, management looks at you as if you're not trying hard enough (Even though in reality you may be preservi
ProsCompany vehicle at home, Great Co-workers, Uniforms are cleaned by Cintas
ConsHook or crook mentality, encourage bad business practices, no accountability
Good job If you specialize in brown noseing, deception, and backstabing.
Once you have been trained on all 5 stations by the above described personnel, you are left to fend for yourself, unless you become one of them, but still must watch your back.
This is serious work that has regulations that MUST be followed mandated by a number of state and local authorities.
You may be called upon to; sort cages of cylinders into two classes, help load or unload shipments, fill and service various types of chemical cylinders, being exposed to breathing in and physical contact to said chemicals (because safety protocols are half-assed, spoken of constantly, yet approached on a 5th grade level), be responsible for the inventory of parts, chemicals, tools, and documentation.
All the while the purchasing agent, friend of the plant manager holds off on the orders till he gets a shipping bulk discount, plus any number of shipping delays promote a lack of parts and chemicals, which management tries to blame production for work delays, prompting the reuse of parts and chemical, a big violation of regulations.
You will be held accountable for accuracy, and condition of the cylinder's cleanliness, and structural integrity, by which each "partner" is to be watchful for defects to the cylinder wall. Yet most "partners" are only concerned about quantity not quality, also backed by management.
A defective fire extinguisher can kill you, and those it is there to protect!
Management is the most worthless personnel at the facility, you'd expect them to care about refin
ProsModerate pay, benifits are good, 401k and profit sharing
ConsTerrible management, co-workers, work ethics. no real advancement
Perfect job if you have a record and have zero options elsewhere. They put on this front like it’s the best place to work and train you on doing the respectable uniform job and when you’re done they throw you in the “other job” that have the most disgusting duties ever. Digging through restaurant mag got soil ed linen. Spend 90 days doing one thing trap ping you to only hope you stay doing the job. Mislead by interview process, mgmt and trainers. 4 day work weeks is only plus. But you’re so exhausted on day off from being over worked it takes a day to recuperate. The clients truly did like the company due to the contract they’ve been signed. Once client realizes they’ve been had they turn on you. I pulled back the curtain on cintas in 5 months to see who they’re. You will have to lose all respect and integrity in yourself to do the job and for little money. Keep searching this place is a labor trap and unethical as. 4 day work week unless a holiday is nearing then you work extra day anyway. 6/7 days of work packed in 4 days. Commission structure is a scam. I promise you on this. The harder you work and more clients you get the less money you are able to make. The tenured guys told me stay within a certain volume or else you will be working for free. Scam. I’ve never worked harder at a job and felt so taken advantage of before. Cintas you should be ashamed of yourselves. After a long hot excruciating disgusting day you still have computer training to do that takes hours on the
Pros4 day work week sorta. Work load is 6/7 days packed in 4
ConsMgmt, dishonesty, over worked/under paid/ commission structure is a joke and they know it
Management was upfront and truthful during the interview process. Early before dawn start time, long hours, dealing with dirty and contaminated uniforms, heavy lifting and working in hot or cold outdoors. You will do a ride-along before you get hired. ASK QUESTIONS & GET ANSWERS!!! Most drivers will refrain from negativity to avoid repercussions but be adamant and get them to be honest. Weigh out the hours, versus the labor versus the pay. Hey, times are tough and you need a job, right? But this place might be more of a downer as time goes on. Trucks never seem to be loaded properly; there are constant shortages which will put you behind when trying to leave for your route. The pay is generated from a base salary plus a percentage of what your route volume is. Obviously the harder routes make more money but you'll be working 40-50 hours in four days. Want 9-5? Keep looking. Average day starts at 5am. This is a 4 day work week with optional 5th day if management approves OT. SSR's are salary but yet are required to swipe a timecard??? Doesn’t make sense but somehow they get away with it. SSR's salary range from $35,000 to $70,000+ based on direct sales and promotions. You could bring home $300 one week and $1200 the next week (I made $40k my first year and worked my a** off). SSR's are expected to sell. If you’re looking to just do your route, no more no less, then you will be gone as they post results for everything. You are expected to "make seconds that count" and spend a
ProsFREE uniforms, 4 day work weeks, weekends off, you control your day on route
ConsBack breaking work, long hours, paychecks not consistant
Questions And Answers about Cintas
What is the interview process like at Cintas?
Asked Dec 30, 2016
3 interviews, quick process to hire people.
Answered Jun 7, 2021
I was asked to do OTJ and paid $10.00 and worked all day with the orginal driver first. This was just to get cheap labor and to catch up drivers who were behind. After that I was given 5 or 6 interviews in which I could tell they had no intention on hiring me, they had already used me for what they needed. Be careful with this company and their OTJ interview. It's just cheap labor and then you don't get hired after 5 non-productive interviews.
Answered May 20, 2021
What advice would you give the CEO of Cintas about how to improve it?
Asked Jun 19, 2017
Not worry so much about acquiring new business but maintain and build relationships with business you already have keeping them happy and word of mouth and reviews go a long way nowadays. If your looking at growing your business so much have a separate department that cold calls and visits businesses to see what they could offer them then transition that to the management sales team who can get someone out with products to demo etc..
Answered Jun 16, 2021
Stop praising the ones who don’t pull their weight. The laziest partners get all the praise because they’ve been there a lot longer.When you go to complain you’re labeled a work snitch because HR and management can’t keep nothing between you and them. Than there’s a problem between you and other partners because HR and management goes around the plant talking the business you just told them.
Answered Jun 14, 2021
What is the most stressful part about working at Cintas?
Asked Oct 4, 2016
Any week with a holiday they cram 5 days worth of work into 4.
Answered Jan 21, 2021
During holiday week SSRs are expected to deliver the high quality of service that the sales reps told the customers they would get. The SSR can do everything possible to make that happen, sometimes without success. No appreciation other than an occasional cheap breakfast or lunch. SSRs need to be PAID for holidays. Yes they work 40 hours a week on 4 day week, but that's all year. No extra pay, same 40 hours. No compensation time. No OVERTIME PAY. Same holiday production problems. Every single year.
Answered Oct 27, 2020
What is the best part of working at Cintas?
Asked Nov 29, 2019
Only the interaction you had with the customers.
Answered May 27, 2020
As a driver the best part is the Open Road! If you're a responsible punctual driver and are organized and take care of things the right way, you'll have no problems working on your own as you will not be bothered!
Answered May 13, 2020
What is a typical day like for you at Cintas?
Asked May 22, 2020
Disorganized and total lack of communication
Answered Feb 9, 2021
Expect shortages on uniforms and facility products
