MEGATHREAD 2018-2019 Store Modernization Megathread

[OPINION] How do you feel about these changes?

  • I like them.

  • I dislike them.

Results are only viewable after voting.
Sloth said:
Yeah, well, whenever we get a visit, they tend to oversimplify as well. No assumptions, no changes, just follow procedure as it's vaguely worded -- or else. Food TL doing a pull because they had a sick call? No. Inbound TL pushing a paper PIPO to help clear space into the backroom? No. GSTL heading to receiving to grab bags when the front isn't busy? No, no, no. These are actual things our DTL has called us out on, because that isn't how it's to be done. And the new guide just reinforces that.
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If your DTL has to micromanage you guys like that, more reason TLs shouldn’t be doing tasks. Especially if they don’t know their business and can’t speak to why it’s run like shit. I’ve challenged my DTL on allocated payroll for the week vs cartons received (standard is 40 cartons and hour right?), and I keep track of issues like late trucks, etc. These are some things a leader should do/know.
 
Sloth said:
The issue is hours. It's always hours. Sales are supposed to be down this month, hence the decrease in hours.. but we're still getting our normal amount of trucks with a normal amount of freight -- if not more, because the DC keeps sending us product that we don't need. And when we try and mySupport it, we get generic emails back, reminding us to audit our salesfloor and backroom locations and ensure correct on hand counts. So we do, and we still get too much freight.

So then we go to the DTL, who points out the proper procedure is to send excess product back in merch sweeps.. but do we get additional payroll to manage that? No, but that's irrelevant, because everything we send back is bounced right back at us in a later truck.

So we get too much freight, waste time unloading it, waste time collecting it, waste time palletizing it, waste time sending it back.. only to get it back the next week. So we stopped, and now we're drowning in product again. Why? Because we get 20 cartons, 6 eaches each, for something that has a singular floor location with a capacity of 2 and that we only sell maybe once a week. Why? If you change the capacity and fit more out, the DTL freaks that it doesn't look good.. so the capacity drops. But then there's no room in the back, thanks to the softlines reprofiling, so we run out of space again. Now TMs just take it upon themselves to flex it out, without changing the capacity or quantity, so pulls get larger and larger --- only to be brought right back as backstock because the home location is full.

How do you fix that? You can't. TMs aren't doing anything wrong -- they're doing what they have to in order to get any sort of work done. And that's just the RDC. The FDC is just as absurd, pricing is completely out of whack -- we do a reset, all the discontinued is sent back for backstock, and then goes clearance a week or two later. So all that time is wasted just moving it around. Try and be unique, filling endcaps with discontinued merch because it goes price change/out of date, and the DTL freaks yet again that it doesn't "flow" or feel right.

And that's with the TLs in the trenches along with the TMs, doing their best to keep everything afloat. It's not that the TMs are screwing up or incapable -- it's that they cannot manage the workload they're given with the hours allotted. And rather than allowing it to get worse and worse and worse, the TLs have pretty much unanimously decided to jump in and help whenever and wherever they can.
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Maybe if your team leads weren’t too busy tasking alongside you, they could gather data and adjust the OTLs for the affected departments and classes.

OTLs is onhand threshold levels, by the way.

I cleared so much room in the steel by pulling past sales, expected sales, on hands, upcoming promos, capacities, etc, mysupporting the issue, escalating, partnering with department planning analyst at headquarters, and having the OTLs corrected. Now we don’t get extra shit.

It’s fixable. It’s the kind of stuff we are working on while you assume we are fucking around in the office.

I spent 4 hours or so on this issue. I’ve saved that particular department probably 10 hours of work a week by fixing the issue. Sorry for not just helping them backstock the extra shit everyday.
 
gsa4lyfe said:
It’ll definitely be different for sure but as for the “only days we get trucks” that will change too. With the rollout of the new truck process in a couple years (fully sorted at the DC) all stores regardless sales will get 2 trucks a day. One on the morning and one late afternoon. It’s a 1-1 replenishment based off your previous days sales plus all your transition stuff. It’s super cool and definitely easier to keep up with the push all day mentality.
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That new truck process is never going to happen.
 
Sloth said:
Sure, you can performance a TM out because they flexed a product.. but what else should they have done? Backstock? No room. Oh, maybe in a different aisle -- BZZT, wrong answer. It'll have to be moved right back during 12 steps. Send it back to the DC? Nope, you'll just see it again next week. Oh, I know! There's an empty end cap out fr.. no, sorry, can't. Not allowed.
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That’s part of the problem. This old school logistics way of thinking that backstock is a four letter word.

There’s lots of room in my aisles for backstock. My bedding aisle is fucking 80% empty. It’s a wonder what auditing 100% of the DPCIs weekly can do! Proof the process works. We definitely backstock it if the salesfloor is full. That way it comes out when needed in the autofills. My counts are correct, on the floor, in the back, and on hand. Added bonus of no INFs for ship in my areas.

My endcaps are all tied salesplanners and are replenished properly.
 
Sloth said:
Again, we do that. We still have an "unofficial" Instocks TM that audits a different department each day. It doesn't help with the amount of freight we receive and the amount that's allowed to go on the floor.
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Well, maybe if you modernized your processes and threw that instocks TM on the salvage pallet, these things wouldn't happen!

Sorry, I could barely get that out with a straight face. 😂
 
PackAndCry said:
That new truck process is never going to happen.
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busyzoningtoys said:
Lol wasn’t gonna say it but...
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Well all small formats are piloting it currently and I don’t know the number of chain stores but there are definitely some out there. I know it’s like 40-50 stores in my region (400) currently using this process, my store included and it works amazingly. The only hold up is remodeling all the DCs. The whole point of sort and stock is a bandaid while they perfect this process and decided to roll it out.
 
Sloth said:
We've done that. It didn't solve anything. We still get 20 cases of Cinnamon Toast Crunch every other week. We get transition months before it's even supposed to be set.

Again, we do that. We still have an "unofficial" Instocks TM that audits a different department each day. It doesn't help with the amount of freight we receive and the amount that's allowed to go on the floor.
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Something might be being missed, then. We had that problem in plastics and we learned that the TM was fixing the sales floor, auditing it, and THEN backstocking it. So basically, he told the system it was at correct capacity, then told the system he backstocked a bunch of that capacity. Of course it rolled out the next day.

Pog batches can also mess with the accumulator, presentation can be notorious for burning batches but you have to pull it, fill all locations to capacity, backstock, then audit to get things back on track.

The amount that’s allowed to go on the floor? That’s the capacity, nothing about how much you get would change how much fits. Flexing it to fit just fucks with the counts, and bumping up the capacity will also bump up your replenishment.

If you are 100% accurate and you are getting excess, this is where you mysupport and escalate and keep escalating until you have results. If you’re doing things right, you should have your ETL, STL, DTL, Ops directo, GVP all on your side and ready to support you solve problems correctly in a way conducive to future continued success.

One TM doing instocks means not enough auditing is being done. Every day my TMs audit AT LEAST all of their outs. Daily. Each area.
 
gsa4lyfe said:
Well all small formats are piloting it currently and I don’t know the number of chain stores but there are definitely some out there. I know it’s like 40-50 stores in my region (400) currently using this process, my store included and it works amazingly. The only hold up is remodeling all the DCs. The whole point of sort and stock is a bandaid while they perfect this process and decided to roll it out.
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The flex formats do it out of necessity, but it's apparently expensive and not very efficient on the DC end. The bowling-on-a-uboat process seems to have only been implemented because it's cheaper than remodeling all the DCs. Sending pre-sorted vehicles won't work with the way the DCs are built, and it'd be expensive to change, and is a harder sell to shareholders than flashy remodels. If the bowling-on-a-uboat thing doesn't totally fall apart, I can't imagine we'll ever see them want to spend the money totally redoing every DC.
 
busyzoningtoys said:
Because you feel I drank the kool-aid? Or because I’m a pervert? Lol since getting promoted and especially since working towards another one, I behave myself at work these days 😏
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I didn't @ anyone, but if you feel the shoe fits.

I don't really care how Target decides to run their business. I choose not to emotionally invest myself in this job. I show up and perform to the best of my ability and do my job how my leaders want it done. However, with the way modernization is being rolled out the message comes across very cult-like. Anytime a new process in any large organization is deemed immune to criticism with the threat of losing one's job over it, that speaks more to the failure of said process that any criticism could. There are positives to certain aspects of modernization, but it seems as if any feedback is treated like AIDS infected hypodermic needles.
 
Go2TL said:
Low volume, high volume or in between? ASANTS. There are times I want to throttle the Inbound TL for lack of giving a SHIT. It's a literal shit show and Inbound TM's still act like Flow. Upper management can't manage payroll cause the Inbound team takes precedent. Inbound team is and will not "Do More." I can truly say it's been like this for 6 mo now and we are not fully modernized yet. We are trying but unless you get Team members to care and I mean all of them then it's an uphill battle. Not sure how long it'll take to get the right people hired or get current team members onboard and on the same page. Same goes for the TL's of the store.
I applaud you that you have success but honestly how long did it take you to get the right formula?
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Two weeks to get the team situated and on board. Another week later and the trucks started getting done 100%. Within two weeks of that, the autofills started to shrink. Mancaf’d like crazy and drained the stockroom of excess, audited like crazy, trucks started to shrink a bit. Within 6 weeks the process was green and effective and saving payroll while driving results.
 
busyzoningtoys said:
Two weeks to get the team situated and on board. Another week later and the trucks started getting done 100%. Within two weeks of that, the autofills started to shrink. Mancaf’d like crazy and drained the stockroom of excess, audited like crazy, trucks started to shrink a bit. Within 6 weeks the process was green and effective and saving payroll while driving results.
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Are your DBOs part of the unload process? How many departments do you have? Right now I have everything in hardlines besides essentials. Our inbound TL has essentials and we still have a BR TL. I feel like we are stuck between the old way and the new way. Most DBOs are getting 4 to 5 hours on the floor and some are inbound for about two hours. I have felt lost for the last couple months with no help from my ETL on developing routines. Any advice on where to start with developing all these new skills and routines for the team? My ETL was the salesfloor ETL but now it is our Logistics ETL and he cares nothing about the floor and only about the backroom. We don't roll much over but we are behind on nearly everything else. No auditing, some price changes (we still have POG and pricing team, very small one). Transitions always late. Any help and tips are greatly appreciated. I feel like I've learned more from your posts than I have from my ETL in the last 6 months.
 
CrosstrainInsane said:
It’s funny that when anyone on here presents any kind of thoughtful leadership, they are accused of “drinking the koolaid...”
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Doing what you are told by corporate is the exact opposite of thoughtful leadership. By deeming modernization immune to criticism corporate wants to extinguish critical thought in their "leaders." Feedback to attempt to improve the system is against the new dogma.
 
ShortTM said:
I can't speak for other stores or even other departments in my more, but the logistics TLs at my store work their butt off every day. They help with the unload, they help with the push, they pretty much keep the backroom running smoothly. In a 4 hour shift I get about 9000-10000 steps. I wouldn't be surprised if my TLs got near double that
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This is not going to be the norm. I get yelled at for helping on the line or push. We are to lead the team not do the work.
 
The Dude Abides said:
Doing what you are told by corporate is the exact opposite of thoughtful leadership. By deeming modernization immune to criticism corporate wants to extinguish critical thought in their "leaders." Feedback to attempt to improve the system is against the new dogma.
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You act like we have a lot of choice between following it blindly, fighting it loudly, or making the changes required of us to make it work. If you don’t do what your leader tells you to do you’ll end up on a CCA for failure to follow directions; same here. Same with ETLs. And STLs. And DTLs. I try my hardest to make the new process work; in return, my leaders and their leaders take my honest feedback seriously.

Half assing it trying to prove a point that it won’t work isn’t going to do anyone any favors. We need to change to survive and beat Amazon, if you think the old way is better go work at JC Penny or Kmart and tell me how it’s going.
 
busyzoningtoys said:
You act like we have a lot of choice between following it blindly, fighting it loudly, or making the changes required of us to make it work. If you don’t do what your leader tells you to do you’ll end up on a CCA for failure to follow directions; same here. Same with ETLs. And STLs. And DTLs. I try my hardest to make the new process work; in return, my leaders and their leaders take my honest feedback seriously.

Half assing it trying to prove a point that it won’t work isn’t going to do anyone any favors. We need to change to survive and beat Amazon, if you think the old way is better go work at JC Penny or Kmart and tell me how it’s going.
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That's exactly my point. What you are describing is NOT leadership. Target's leadership model has always had cult-like elements, but with modernization it's gotten far worse.


There are certain aspects of modernization that work very well, and if stores were able to pass along honest feedback to district and group leadership that could then distill that feedback to the region level and back to Minneapolis to give honest evaluation of what is and is not working they could probably evolve modernization into a model that does work for every store all of the time rather than "some stores".
 
The Dude Abides said:
That's exactly my point. What you are describing is NOT leadership. Target's leadership model has always had cult-like elements, but with modernization it's gotten far worse.


There are certain aspects of modernization that work very well, and if stores were able to pass along honest feedback to district and group leadership that could then distill that feedback to the region level and back to Minneapolis to give honest evaluation of what is and is not working they could probably evolve modernization into a model that does work for every store all of the time rather than "some stores".
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It gets old hearing people call us weak or bad or unthoughtful leaders because we are following the instructions given to us. You want to think I’m less of a leader because I didn’t put my job on the line to fight modernization? That’s fine, I think less of the TMs that don’t follow instructions and try to fight and resist modernization.

Fighting these changes is literally above the pay grade of anyone at store or district level. When people tell us to simply ‘let it fail to show them it won’t work’, you realize you’re asking us to sacrifice our jobs and careers to do so, right? Might be easy for people making $16,000/yr with their $12 an hour 20 hours a week to take on that risk but I’m not walking away from 2-3 times that amount just because some stubborn TMs say this process is the beginning of the end.
 
busyzoningtoys said:
It gets old hearing people call us weak or bad or unthoughtful leaders because we are following the instructions given to us. You want to think I’m less of a leader because I didn’t put my job on the line to fight modernization? That’s fine, I think less of the TMs that don’t follow instructions and try to fight and resist modernization.

Fighting these changes are literally above the pay grade of anyone at store or district level. When people tell us to simply ‘let it fail to show them it won’t work’, you realize you’re asking us to sacrifice our jobs and careers to do so, right? Might be easy for people making $16,000/yr with their $12 an hour 20 hours a week to take on that risk but I’m not walking away from 2-3 times that amount just because some stubborn TMs say this process is the beginning of the end.
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I want to be clear, I don't blame you for performing the way you are told to. First and foremost this job is a paycheck, get that money. I do the same thing, when my numbers go into the timeclock I'm doing exactly what Target wants even if I think it's stupid.

I am just speaking that in general, Target isn't creating or developing real leadership skills. This is not a model that promotes a positive leadership environment.
 

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