It has been six months since he started working at the Family Dollar store in Maine and he is ready to quit.
He tells Insider that he is tired of working in a store that is understaffed and unsafe because it is so stacked up with boxes of inventory.
One of 12 former and current Family Dollar and Dollar Tree workers who shared similar experiences in recent conversations is known to Insider because he did not want to reveal his full name. Dollar Tree owns the Family Dollar chain.
These workers described the conditions in the stores as filthy and disgusting, where rodents roam in backrooms that are piled high with boxes, and around stores that are rarely cleaned.
Their comments, which come in the wake of an FDA investigation that unearthed a rodents problem at one of Family Dollar's distribution centers in Arkansas, suggest that the problem is much more widespread than just one warehouse.
The company is committed to providing safe and quality products for customers and complies with all applicable federal, state and local occupational health and safety laws, according to a statement from a Dollar Tree and Family Dollar spokesman.
In the stock room of his store, he has found dead rats in traps and come across their faeces.
He said that his location is constantly dirty, floors not maintained, dirt and dust everywhere, and completely infested with spiders.
There is so much stuff in the back room that it is hard to clean it even if we had the time.
The company understaffs its stores to keep costs down, which means there aren't enough workers to empty these backrooms. Even if there were, his store is still overstocked all the time because of the chaotic inventory system.
They don't have enough room in the distribution centers so they will just send us all of their junk so that it can sit in our backroom.
Family Dollar did not respond to Insider's request for comment on how it replenishes.
Scott Mushkin, CEO of R5 Capital, witnessed these pile-ups first-hand during store visits to more than 60 Dollar Tree stores between the fall of 2021 and February of this year.
In a recent conversation with Insider, he said that in his 20-plus year career as a consultant to the retail industry, he has never seen anything like what he saw in these backrooms.
He told Insider that the inventory system is completely out of control andRodents are a symptom of the disease.
It paints a similar picture to what Insider found when they visited two of Dollar Tree's Brooklyn locations.
The labor crunch could be the reason for the inventory pile-ups, according to Mushkin. According to conversations with former Dollar Tree and Family Dollar store workers, rodents have been an issue at some locations for years.
During his time working for a third-party logistics company, Richard Kirschke described their backrooms as a "nightmare" where he could smell rodents.
He told Insider that Family Dollar didn't care about stores, upkeep or maintenance.
Some communities are threatening to boycott discount chains because they are putting shoppers at risk. Dollar store chains are growing at a rapid rate in the US and are often criticized for driving out competitors in local communities by undercutting competitors on price, which means that in some areas, they are the only places to shop.
The most distressing part of the mismanagement of these stores was said to be by a former Family Dollar store worker who quit her job in New York in February.
She said that she lives and shops in the community.
It makes me sick to my stomach when I think of the filthy things my family members and neighbors have eaten.
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