Pros
Discount on groceries, work doesn't come home with you, many policies are good on paper. The absolute lowest position gives decent physical exercise. Corporate cares about training associates well. Middle management is usually three things: at least moderately competent, flexible, and jaded with life. This makes them better at doing their job than upper management, and better and commiserating with lower level associates.
Cons
Upper management from corporate is out of touch with reality. Upper management in store is frequently incompetent and/or lazy, and passes the burden of their work down the totem pole. Whatever training corporate gave an associate is generally house-ruled and overwritten by the lack of labor funds. Labor is always insufficient and this conflicts with the company's mission statement to provide the best customer service in the industry. In-store management uses the emphasis on associates functioning as a "team" as an excuse to be lazy or disproportionately reallocate labor. Raises are small (another reviewer mentioned 10 cents, this is correct, and per 1000 hour review periods). Advancement opportunities are inconsistent, capricious, and arbitrary. Our new store director installed his buddy as the new head of service deli when the deli's manager left on maternity, even though a very qualified associate was next in line and she was already familiar with the duties involved. Then, when the lobby management position opened up, he told the then senior lobby associate that he was a great candidate but that it "wasn't his turn." I had previously applied for the same position the last time it opened up and was told by the previous store director that I'd be hired instantly if I would just quit school. I've been informally offered jobs in almost every department in the store including management, but never promoted once in four years. Although the company believes in diversity, I've seen every kind of bigotry imaginable working here: race wars written on the _associate_ bathroom stalls (as well as sexist comments about the promiscuity of associates), and all manner of verbal comments and differential treatment of associates and customers based on ethnicity, religion, and race. Not sure if that's a reflection of the company or just my local demographic. Safety protocol and training in such is apparently optional. Distribution, for whatever reason, seems to think it's a great idea to ship palettes to stores with the heaviest items on top and the most fragile/compressible ones on bottom. The company has good policies in place protecting associates from shoplifters, but does not seem to care about prosecuting shoplifters, even when habitual alcohol theft is commonplace, sometimes upwards of $200 per shoplifter. Signage on pricing is often unclear to customers, and it causes a significant number of issues, including customer dissatisfaction and financial losses undertaken to keep customers happy and loyal.