An Adventure at Wegmans: Not Your Average Shopping Experience

So you have a ShopRite here. Some Stop and Shops over there. Maybe a sprinkle of PathMarks to the left  and a dash of Kings way down yonder. But wait one second, we are missing one HUGE name here. As you can tell just from the mere title of this blog post, we are missing Wegmans! Now. Wegmans, Wegmans, Wegmans. When we were informed by Paula that we would be going to Wegmans for our excursion trip, I was not really sure how to feel. In my hometown of Bridgewater, we have a reasonable variety of supermarkets. I lived in an area of Bridgewater that were near the towns, Somerville, Manville, and Bound Brook, and the supermarkets that were around me were the Shop Rites and Stop and Shops. Wegmans was on the other side of town and it was simply out of the way. Plus, Wegmans had this reputation of exclusively catering to the "better-off families" of the community and in the event that we did drive past it, the majestic structure of the supermarket seemed to attest to that. I mean look at it! Look at the BEAUTY that is Wegmans!

How these beliefs turned out to be misconceptions. The excursion experience not only allowed me to experience the wonderful tastes  of the Wegmans Dumplings, but it also opened my eyes to realize that: 1. Wegmans does not cater to any exclusive group of people  and 2. The philosophies that the Wegmans' owners, supervisors, and workers live by relate extremely well to the goals of New Student Orientation.

The Orange Team at Wegmans! 

Wegmans is incredible. Don't believe me? Just read this article: Wegmans In Terms of Ranks
There are reasons why Fortune Magazine rated Ranked number THREE in 100 Best Companies to Work For. The excursion experience taught me why Wegmans deserved that rank. When I and the rest of the Orange Team went to the Wegmans in Woodbridge Township, we had the pleasure of meeting Karen, an employee of Wegmans who has worked for the company for several years. Karen was incredibly sweet- you can just think of her as the Barbara Blackwell of Wegmans Woodbridge Township. She offered us a mini tour of the store and then we went upstairs so she could give us even more information: she even sectioned off a portion of the upper floor for us!

What Karen taught us that day was incredibly relevant to NSO. I am going to try my best to relate the key components of Karen's information to NSO! So here we go...


1. We are ALL Equals  
Karen told us something that I thought was pretty darn interesting. She told us that the name tags that the employees wear may differ in the color (for example, beginning workers, specifically teenagers who start as cashiers may have a name tag that is red, then progress to yellow and then some time after that, switch to a permanent green). HOWEVER, the name tags do not show the title of the worker. The name tag simply states the name of the employee. You may work as a janitor, in the bakery, as a cashier, or be the store manager, but no one would ever know! I especially liked this detail because it alludes to something very important: it levels the field for everyone. One person is NOT better than the other and another person does not matter LESS. Wegmans, through this practice, emphasizes that ALL employees, no matter their statuses, matter BECAUSE they all contribute to the success of the company. This relates perfectly to NSO. Why? In NSO, there are different ranks. We have our supervisors, we have our OTLs, the OLs, and the incoming students, to say the least. However, just because there are differences in terms of our responsibilities and who has to interact with who, this does not make us more or less important than another member of NSO. As an OL in the making, I have never felt intimidated by NSO supervisors, OTLs, or returning OLs because they have created such a comfortable environment for me. We do not focus on our titles or ranks- we focus on how to be successful as a WHOLE organization. Just like Wegmans, we focus on our mission and through these efforts do we hope to be successful.

2. No ONE person has to know EVERYTHING. 
Like all supermarkets, Wegmans has various departments within its store. This includes a Bakery, Market Cafe, Patisserie, Deli and Cheese Shop, Pharmacy, Seafood, Floral Shop, etc. As Karen was telling us, Wegmans understands that most employees will need to be trained to work in a certain department. Employees are actually put through different "universities."  This means that before an employee can work in the seafood department, like Karen for example, that employee must go through "seafood university." The employee learns all the details about what fish are available, how to cut the products properly, how to properly clean the areas, etc. Only after the individual graduates from the university can the employee work in the department. In Wegmans, each department has a university. The beauty behind the Wegmans University training is that it shows interested applicants that you do not need to know everything about the department to become involved in it. You will be TRAINED. You come in with a certain amount of knowledge and add on to that knowledge through your time at the company. It is a PROGRESSIVE process. Through the employees that already work at the departments, you will learn the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in that department. This definitely relates to NSO because not every OL or OTL will have ALL the knowledge that students during the orientation will seek. For example, this year I became involved in RHA, became an RA, and am also a member of Children Aids Network. Therefore, my expertise lies in these areas. But, if I had a student who was interested in different activities, like Dance Marathon, I would direct them to another OL or OTL who would have the answers.  The NSO staff, COLLECTIVELY, possesses a wealth of knowledge. Therefore, like Wegmans, NSO does not expect you to know all the information. However, NSO does expect you to contribute what you do know so that the knowledge and resources of the organization is as thorough and expansive as possible so incoming students may use it at their disposal.

There are reasons why Wegmans has been going strong for over 40 years now in Syracuse! 

3. STICK by your values and beliefs. 
Back in 2008, Wegmans made it public that they would no longer sell cigarettes on their shelves. Feeling extremely distrustful today? Here's the article to prove it: Wegmans Article . Karen mentioned this bold move while she was talking to us. She told us to realize that this was a noteworthy move because this resulted in a loss of profit as well as a group of customers. However, Karen emphasized the underlying point that the profits did not matter to Wegmans. What DID matter was the message they were sending by allowing the sales of cigarettes in their stores. I personally thought that this action was incredibly applaudable and that it took a lot of courage on the part of this company to follow through with its decisions. Wegmans stuck by its beliefs and I feel like that is a rare incident in today's modern world of big corporations. Like Wegmans,  NSO must also stick by its values, virtues, and beliefs. We must promote and stand by the University because this is a central value of the organization we work for. For example, take an incoming student who asks whether it is best to buy the books directly from the University or from a cheaper alternative like Amazon, Chegg, etc. Due to the central value that NSO holds true, which is standing by the University and instilling a positive image of it in the incoming freshmen, we must recommend and say that the students should buy textbooks from the University. Although many of us may  do otherwise, as a spokesperson for the University, we must stay loyal to the school and highlight the benefits of buying text through Rutgers. This includes: assurance that the textbook is the right one for the specific course/Rutgers, it is full in content (meaning no missing pages or portions), etc.


On a concluding note, I found a great video on Youtube that goes more into what makes Wegmans successful and why we should emulate their practices as an organization. Check it out guys! :)

Signing off~ Patty