Dark Secrets Of 7-Eleven They Do Not Want Us To Know

1. There were immigration raids in the store in 2013

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In 2013, 7-Eleven stores all over the place were raided because of immigration concerns, There had been information that the stores had been employing undocumented people, which raised ethical concerns as well as legal concerns. The raids were carried out and the findings were kept under wraps!

2. They faced allegations of wage theft

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7-Eleven definitely hasn't been made out to be the perfect employee. In fact, they faced more allegations, this time over wage theft. Some employees raised allegations that their employers were stealing their wages and it had to be looked into and investigated, and as a result, changes WERE made.

3. Staff are underpaid and overworked

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The working hours of staff at 7-11 stores are long, and they were extended in recent years. But they are still paid minimum wages. In some areas this was raised, however by a fraction. For the hours that workers work, they do not reap the benefits of having a comfortable income.

4. You probably want to skip the pizza...

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When it comes to the pizza by slice, you may want to walk away. The pizza is only supposed to be left an hour in the box before it cannot be sold again, but 7-Eleven employers tell them to wait 4 hours to try and sell it. And rumor has it that these 4 hours can turn into much longer...

5. But they sell the second most pizza in America!

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However, when it comes to the actual pizza itself it's much fresher because it's often made to order, and it's so popular that it is rarely sitting around before the next order comes in. In fact, it's so popular that after Pizza Hut, it sells the second most pizzas in America!

6. Franchisees were unsatisfied with the company

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There have been so many changes made high up in the company that franchisees in charge of the individual businesses were not happy. They had a lot of changes to the terms and conditions of not only the store but how they run it and the costs and wages of staff which left them very unhappy with the company.

7. Big Gulps are loaded with sugar

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Although Slurpees are the most popular, Big Gulps definitely storm in at second. Yet you might want to think twice because these drinks are LOADED with sugar. In a Coca-Cola, you get 30 ounces of soda which contains a massive 104 grams of sugar! Basically, you're just drinking sugar.

8. The cleaning practices are more than questionable

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We can't speak for all the staff at 7-Eleven, or even all the stores when we say that there have been some very unhygienic practices happening in the stores at certain 7-Eleven. In one case, a woman was discovered on CCTV, cleaning the microwave (which warms food to be sold to customers) with the FLOOR mop.

9. During the Simpsons movie, 7-Eleven stores were used as Kwik-E-Marts

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An interesting fact that not many people know about 7-Eleven stores is that they were featured (in disguise) in the Simpsons movie! They had their sign changed to Kwik-E-Mart instead of 7-Eleven. Now when you see the movie you may recognize the look of them.

10. The sale of alcohol was criticized for being sold in areas of high crime

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Crime in any area is exacerbated by alcohol, statistics have proven this time and time again. Alcohol can encourage anti-social behavior and so 7-Eleven came under fire for selling alcohol even in areas of high crime as people thought that it could actually worsen the situation.

11. You can get delivery, even alcohol

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Speaking of alcohol, you can even get it delivered! This can be super handy when you're in on a Saturday night and you would like an alcoholic beverage with your takeout. On the other hand, some people believe that it could worsen the problem for people who suffer from addiction!

12. They have a high amount of single-use plastics

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As THE largest convenience store in the USA, 7-Eleven is a store that people feel should set the way in terms of making an effort for climate change. But, it doesn't they have a high usage of single-use plastics and a very large energy consumption rate, making it anything but environmentally friendly!

13. There have been food safety concerns

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There have been a number of incidents over the years concerning 7-Eleven's food hygiene concerns. Some people found their meat was undercooked or raw inside. Other people found that their food tasted and looked old. Since they have come under the spotlight for such matters, there have been more stringent checks put in place.

14. You can pay your taxes at 7-Eleven

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Who knew you could even pay your taxes at 7-Eleven? It truly is a convenience store in every sense. When you go to do some shopping, you can stop by and pay your taxes in one go. However, you can only pay up to 1,000 dollars each year at 7-Eleven stores!

15. They sent a Slurpee to space

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For the 94th birthday of 7-Eleven, they wanted to pull a publicity stunt to mark the occasion and celebrate. So they sent one of their iconic Slurpees into space. It may sound cool, however, the cost and energy used and the contribution to litter in space put a shadow on the exciting stunt.

16. The business owner process doesn't require many checks

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Some people have claimed that the hiring process to be a business owner or a franchisee isn't very thorough which may lead to people being hired who are not suitable, or who haven't had a thorough background check. Essentially, being a franchisee requires having the money to buy a franchise.

17. They have faced a LOT of lawsuits

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Who would have thought that a convenience store could have had SO many lawsuits? Some of their main lawsuits aside from the ones aforementioned, involve their franchisees who were very unhappy with the serious changes made to the company. They wanted to revert the changes and even filed a class action lawsuit!

18. They were accused of mistreating their workers

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They were also accused of mistreating their workers in the sense that workers were working such long hours, for little pay, and they did not feel that they were being given the correct breaks of chance to hydrate and eat. Their overall satisfaction was down, and they felt unhappy working for the company!

19. They have their own wines

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They actually have their own labeled wine, which as you can imagine reduced the price in comparison with other wine brands. But, the quality is good and they have even recently introduced their own canned wine if you want a refreshing beverage without having to open an entire bottle.

20. You can get Pumpkin Spice

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Never mind Starbucks, you can actually get pumpkin spiced coffee at 7-Eleven, and as you can imagine, it's at a fraction of the price tag of other coffee retailers. As people started to find out about this, the stores started to get more and more customers looking for their daily caffeine dose!

21. 7th July is free Slurpee day!

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Head over to 7-Eleven on the 7th of July if you want a FREE Slurpee! Why? Because essentially they honor it as the store's birthday due to the name of the store. This day attracts customers from all over the place who are eager to grab themselves a free Slurpee.

22. It used to be called Tote'm Store

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7-Eleven wasn't always named as such. It used to be called Tote'm Store because this is how they imagined customers walking in and out, toting around their bags of shopping. But, it was then named to 7-Eleven in honor of its long opening hours, from 7am to 11pm

23. A new 7-Eleven store is added somewhere, every three and a half hours!

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That's an impressive statistic, that every three hours, somewhere in the world a 7-Eleven store is opening. This explains why in the USA there seems to be a 7-Eleven store WHEREVER you go. No matter where you seem to be, there's a 7-Eleven. In North America, there are over 10,000.

24. The new franchise agreement means owners can only keep up to 57% of its profits

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One of the new franchise agreements that made franchisees VERY unhappy was the new policy that they could only keep up to 57% of their profit. Because they felt that if they worked on expanding the store and making it more and more successful, they would actually just be losing more rather than benefiting from their work.

25. It's very much micro-managed

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If you think 7-Eleven store owners have much say in how they run things, you're wrong. The company is SO micro-managed. For example, the temperature cannot even be controlled by the store. If they are too hot or too cold they cannot change it because it is controlled by the headquarters in Dallas, Texas.

26. The fresh sandwiches aren't made on-site

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When you look at the fresh sandwiches being sold at 7-Eleven, they are probably not as fresh as you think when you see the sales description. They are not made on-site - which would be very fresh. They are made by an external company and shipped to the store almost every morning.

27. They market to children

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Marketing to children is something that in recent years has been more and more frowned upon because it encourages children to put pressure on their parents. Parents may not have the funds to bow to this pressure, and for the health of their children, it also may not be good!

28. 9/10 owners say it's making them sick!

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9 out of 10 7-Eleven owners now say that working here is making them sick. They have claimed that the new rules and regulations are taking such a toll that it is affecting their physical and mental health, as well as the health of their family life. This is because they are finding it increasingly hard to make enough money.

29. They are struggling to find enough staff

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There are so many stores, and actually, not enough people to work in them! Despite unemployment being a huge problem, 7-Eleven had struggled to get staff. Sometimes it may be because of the area or it may depend on the particular store. But they have had problems with people not turning up to interviews.

30. Payrolls have increased a lot

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Payrolls have increased a lot. This is partly due to the fact that they have to be open for extended hours and that they had to raise the minimum wage to treat their workers more fairly. But with the rules around giving their profit away, owners are finding that they have to work more themselves in the store than ever before.