Archived 48 chargers, 26 zebras

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This has slowly been getting worse. The last couple weeks I have been arriving at 8 or 9, and there have been NO Zebras available and only 6 batteries all blinking red. Still 48 empty spots for Zebras, and about 14 missing extra batteries. Our ETL seems to have no answers and would rather daily employees like me struggle to do simple tasks I could complete in 5-10 minutes with a Zebra. Sharing isn’t really an acceptable solution because, when people see you have one, they want to borrow from you, which gets you into the dangerous territory of double and triple borrowing.
 
Endlessbackstock said:
This has slowly been getting worse. The last couple weeks I have been arriving at 8 or 9, and there have been NO Zebras available and only 6 batteries all blinking red. Still 48 empty spots for Zebras, and about 14 missing extra batteries. Our ETL seems to have no answers and would rather daily employees like me struggle to do simple tasks I could complete in 5-10 minutes with a Zebra. Sharing isn’t really an acceptable solution because, when people see you have one, they want to borrow from you, which gets you into the dangerous territory of double and triple borrowing.
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This really is a horrible problem especially because you are so limited if you don't have one. Show up at 8? No chance there are any zebras that actually work (so many of them fundamentally don't work). Even walkies are pretty much none existent even earlier than 8 and the ones that are there are dead, about to die or broken. I don't recall it being like this a few months ago.
 
Also, the hard shell cases in the Zebras really don’t do anything to absorb shock if they are dropped. Thick rubberized cases would work the best for this device. Why anyone would think that cheap hard plastic cases that will barely fit over the Zebra are a good idea is beyond me. They sell rubberized cases that fit that Zebra model for $7.26 online!!!
 
Endlessbackstock said:
Also, the hard shell cases in the Zebras really don’t do anything to absorb shock if they are dropped. Thick rubberized cases would work the best for this device. Why anyone would think that cheap hard plastic cases that will barely fit over the Zebra are a good idea is beyond me. They sell rubberized cases that fit that Zebra model for $7.26 online!!!
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They definitely work. I have dropped that thing more times than I can count. I was opening the roof hatch once for a vendor and it fell out of my holster and dropped 20ish feet and it was fine. The cases work
 
gsa4lyfe said:
They definitely work. I have dropped that thing more times than I can count. I was opening the roof hatch once for a vendor and it fell out of my holster and dropped 20ish feet and it was fine. The cases work
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Your store must have a good policy for people taking Zebras then. Our location has no accountability. Oops I broke a $1,500 item, “Go get another one.” WTF
 
also about 4 out of the 14 we actually have cracked screens, and not every one has a case
 
Endlessbackstock said:
Your store must have a good policy for people taking Zebras then. Our location has no accountability. Oops I broke a $1,500 item, “Go get another one.” WTF
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I was just commenting on the cases... as for breaking them no store in the country is going to punish a TM for accidentally breaking a zebra. It happens
 
Punishing and accountability are two different things though. Someone on here commented, “No way I’m giving my ID in exchange for a Zebra.” In that case, that team member should not be given a Zebra, as it technically isn’t Required for a lot of the positions like flow or sales floor. If they need one they can borrow one, but there has to be some kind of responsibility on the part of the TM. Just signing it out is useless. People could write fake names, times, device numbers, or just scribble down illegible info. I came from another retailer who kept the devices in a locked room in exchange for ID of some kind. In that company we ALWAYS had the same number of devices at closing, and if the device was broken, the associate could not sign one out for 30 days. So when you say “no company in the country” punishes people, I think there has to be accountability.
 
Endlessbackstock said:
Punishing and accountability are two different things though. Someone on here commented, “No way I’m giving my ID in exchange for a Zebra.” In that case, that team member should not be given a Zebra, as it technically isn’t Required for a lot of the positions like flow or sales floor. If they need one they can borrow one, but there has to be some kind of responsibility on the part of the TM. Just signing it out is useless. People could write fake names, times, device numbers, or just scribble down illegible info. I came from another retailer who kept the devices in a locked room in exchange for ID of some kind. In that company we ALWAYS had the same number of devices at closing, and if the device was broken, the associate could not sign one out for 30 days. So when you say “no company in the country” punishes people, I think there has to be accountability.
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Accountability yes, but look at what you're asking. It's not like the DL or debit card is locked away in the employee's file. Turning it in, there's little information security control. TMs all the time swipe those $5 gift cards; now imagine 2 minutes of distraction plus paper plus pen. Information that can easily be used for identity theft shouldn't be held simply for exchange at a low/no security safeguards.
 
Sales floor and flow don't need zebras? Hahahahahahahaha GOOD ONE. Try enforcing that at my store!

We've all been told that it is MANDATORY to have one at all times when working. Ditto for radios.

We DID have a security door installed to the entrance of the tiny room where you get a zebra but after a brief period...

...it wasn't used anymore. Now the door is always propped open.
 
flow4areasonuno said:
Sales floor and flow don't need zebras? Hahahahahahahaha GOOD ONE. Try enforcing that at my store!

We've all been told that it is MANDATORY to have one at all times when working. Ditto for radios.

We DID have a security door installed to the entrance of the tiny room where you get a zebra but after a brief period...

...it wasn't used anymore. Now the door is always propped open.
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We have many team members daily without Zebras. As I have said before, this may be a store by store issue, but I have been told by leads to borrow one or to use the scanner. They also have said it’s my responsibility to get a MyDevice. I don’t agree with that for a second. It’s the ETL’s responsibility to ultimately provide tools for their employees, and if they do t have the equipment, they cannot justify telling employees they are taking too long to backstock or put away strays.
 
I came in this morning with flow, (not technically flow, just mirrored their hours). At that time I saw 19 Zebras in their chargers, which was a far cry from the 26 I counted when I started this thread. I know of two that have been “ sent back for repair” whatever that means. So that means we lost another 5 since this thread was started. So, no, I’m still not buying it’s a good idea to just give them to anyone, without signing paper and leaving some kind of proof you will return it.
 
Tessa120 said:
Accountability yes, but look at what you're asking. It's not like the DL or debit card is locked away in the employee's file. Turning it in, there's little information security control. TMs all the time swipe those $5 gift cards; now imagine 2 minutes of distraction plus paper plus pen. Information that can easily be used for identity theft shouldn't be held simply for exchange at a low/no security safeguards.
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The person in HR has all that info anyway, or am I mistaken? What are you talking about team members looking at IDs? If they are locked up by HR or an ETL, wouldn’t you trust them?
 
The person in HR does not have the debit card numbers. And while I've been away from the field 3 years, last place I worked at had to adapt practices to follow federal law which included strict restrictions on who could have access to people's identification documents. So it's likely that the ETLs cannot access the paperwork that includes your driver's license number. Just think of the information needed to fill out an online credit application, how much of it comes from your licence - you sure you want to hand it over to the new ETL that was hired maybe 2 months ago, or whoever that ETL sent up to get you a zebra?
 
flow4areasonuno said:
Sales floor and flow don't need zebras? Hahahahahahahaha GOOD ONE. Try enforcing that at my store!

We've all been told that it is MANDATORY to have one at all times when working. Ditto for radios.

We DID have a security door installed to the entrance of the tiny room where you get a zebra but after a brief period...

...it wasn't used anymore. Now the door is always propped open.
Click to expand...
Flows the second to last on the food chain that needs a zebra, cashier being the bottom. The boxes have the location on them.... I get a few flow/inbound TMs would need them occasionally for transition or check capacities or what not but no way every inbound Tm needs a zebra.
 
gsa4lyfe said:
Flows the second to last on the food chain that needs a zebra, cashier being the bottom. The boxes have the location on them.... I get a few flow/inbound TMs would need them occasionally for transition or check capacities or what not but no way every inbound Tm needs a zebra.
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No. Inbounds all need zebras. Check capacity. EXF. Backstock. Deal with mispicks. Zone by putting out of place items where they belong. Sort repacks properly. Stock repacks on the floor. I'm probably forrgetting something that inbounds should be doing for which they need a zebra to do properly. One way to have lots of bad inventory issues at your store is to tell inbounds they don't need devices because they have pick labels and have them take that to heart.
 
seasonaldude said:
No. Inbounds all need zebras. Check capacity. EXF. Backstock. Deal with mispicks. Zone by putting out of place items where they belong. Sort repacks properly. Stock repacks on the floor. I'm probably forrgetting something that inbounds should be doing for which they need a zebra to do properly. One way to have lots of bad inventory issues at your store is to tell inbounds they don't need devices because they have pick labels and have them take that to heart.
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I mean you can go back and forth all day but your just describing things every TM does so realistically every TM needs one I’m not disagreeing with that but if anyone needs it the least (besides cashiers) it’s the inbound team. The majority of what they do is push boxes from the truck while none inbound GM TMs all they do is what you described.
 
Well it’s not a perfect system, so I’m not saying they don’t desire them, but in reality the amount of people who absolutely NEED them are different. My store runs on a decent profit (I’m assuming), and this is with less than half of the desired amount of Zebras at the store. (19/48)

But obviously it doesn’t help the morale or attitude of the store.
 
Honestly, I’m getting really tired of the TL, ETL, or anyone else above me saying that it’s my responsibility to get a MyDevice EVERY morning! If I cannot get the required tools to do my job, then no one should be telling about time or production. I understand there are not enough devices, BUT that’s not an excuse why TMs should have to struggle and be the ones to ask everyone to borrow a device every morning.
 
The easy answer would be just ordering more MyDevices, but obviously that’s not in Target’s budget. I would have rather they didn’t do the $15/hr. thing, and instead buy each store 50 Zebras. This is a lot less money than everyone getting $15/hour
 
A worker should be given what he needs... ASANTS, but at my store if a TM needed equipment and couldn’t get it, it was their TL’s responsibility to find it for them. Usually we gave them our equipment and found more for ourselves, except during Q4 when an army of seasonals came in at the same time and everyone was out of luck.
 
Endlessbackstock said:
The easy answer would be just ordering more MyDevices, but obviously that’s not in Target’s budget. I would have rather they didn’t do the $15/hr. thing, and instead buy each store 50 Zebras. This is a lot less money than everyone getting $15/hour
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Nah. I'd rather have the bread. I'm not hard up for hours or getting a device.
 
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