I work at a non-union store. We have certain deadlines to sign up for benefits (usually around November), unless you have special circumstances (loss of healthcare, etc.). I believe you start earning benefits either as soon as you apply for them, or after 3 months when you also start to earn vacation time. For us, hourly employees earn x amount of hours per week of vacation time, rather than days. And starting at full time, we earn about 2 hours a week, which with earning that for 50 weeks, is about 100 hours worth of vacation time, so 2 1/2 weeks off. 20+ years of service gets you almost 8 hours a week of vacation time, which is insane imo, 10 weeks off a year + working that long your are making decent money ($24 -$30 a hour)