Kroger is an extremely prominent grocery store in the United States. It operates more than 2,800 locations in total and serves millions of customers annually. But despite their big name, many people have complained and said that Kroger sucks, but why? What are the reasons why employees and customers alike agree that Kroger sucks?
After doing some investigation, there seems to be some common themes between employee and customer reviews. There are 3 main reasons why most people think Kroger sucks. It is a combination of employee sentiment and customer frustration.
Below are the 3 main reasons why most people think Kroger sucks as a supermarket
Why Does Kroger Suck?
- Below average pay
- Incompetent management
- High number of product recalls
1. Below Average Pay
One of the main reasons why employees say that Kroger sucks is because they don’t pay as much as their competitors. For their main jobs (like cashier, grocery associate, and stocker) they generally pay lower than the industry average, according to glassdoor.
| Job | Wage | Compared to Industry Average |
| Cashier | $9.10 | -18% |
| Stocker | $10.53 | -22% |
| Grocery Associate | $11.31 | -43% |
As you can see, Kroger doesn’t seem to compensate their employees compared to most of their other competitors. This is one of the main reasons why employees don’t like working at Kroger. Low pay does correlate with low employee morale. So, if you go to Kroger and the employees don’t look happy to be there, this could be a reason why.
2. Incompetent Management
If you want a good idea about how customers feel about Kroger’s management, look no further than the Better Business Bureau. Kroger’s BBB page is filled with 1-star reviews that absolutely tear apart the management.
More specifically, Kroger’s average customer rating is 1.18/5 stars. That is pretty bad. In just the past 3 years Kroger has received over 1,000 customer complaints. That means that over one thousand customers have taken time out of their day to go and complain online about the store.
What do a majority of the complaints talk about? The management. Below are a few of the most recent complaints that have been posted regarding Kroger’s management:
“The Kroger VA pharmacy is endangering customer’s lives with a system that does not function and management that just smiles and plays nice. Switch pharmacies.” – Roger B.
“Management along with staff harass, stalk, and attempt to provoke customers. Asked the manager, ‘Can I shop in peace here?’. He stated, ‘No’. Had to inform him and his staff to contact the proper authorities to file a Criminal Trespass report.” – Kristal T.”
For the most part, it seems that management doesn’t aim to please customers, instead they infuriate them. There are countless more of these types of complaints on the site. So, in a nutshell one way in which Kroger sucks is that their management does not get along with the customers.
3. High Number of Product Recalls
Another reason why some customers think Kroger sucks is because they have one of the highest records of product recalls from the FDA. After checking the FDA’s product recall database, it seems that Kroger has had 51 instances of product recalls in recent times.
| Category | Kroger Recalls |
| Animal & Veterinary | 2 |
| Biologics | 0 |
| Cosmetics | 1 |
| Dietary Supplements | 0 |
| Drugs | 2 |
| Food and Beverages | 46 |
| Medical Devices | 0 |
| Radiation Emitting Products | 0 |
| Tobacco | 0 |
The average range of product recalls for a grocery store is anywhere from 10 to 22. Kroger more than doubles the high end of the average. A high number of product recalls generally indicates lower quality products. These instances of product recalls reduce trust between the customer and Kroger.
This ultimately frustrates customers as they can not be fully certain that what they are buying is safe. This is yet another reason why people say that Kroger sucks.
Final Thoughts On Why Kroger Sucks
So, there are clearly reasons why both customers and employees think Kroger sucks. Between their low pay, incompetent managment, and high number of product recalls, they clearly do lack in certain areas.
However, it is very easy to point out the flaws that a grocery store has. There are plenty of reasons why Kroger is one of the best grocery stores in the country as well. It is easier to focus on what they do wrong, rather than what they have done right. Kroger employs hundreds of thousands of employees and serves millions of people annually, so there will be people who feel as though they are an inadequate company.
With this being said, it seems that the overall sentiment around Kroger is more negative in comparison to other grocery stores in the industry. This sentiment speaks volumes about how Kroger compares to its competitors. In other words, more people feel as though Kroger sucks more than other stores.