Archived Cashier Speed Removed

[Spot the doge]

It's obvious to any experienced GSA/GSTL which cashiers are causing backups and which ones are not.

^
The couple times I've had a cashier shift since I started I was so preocupied with getting things done quickly and felt bad I was hitting 70% because of legit reasons like mentioned above i.e. coupons, price dispute etc.

 

[jenna]

Not entirely fair. There are plenty of slow cashiers who game the system by suspending transactions to keep a high score.

And there are plenty of slow cashiers who DGAF, and are slow no matter what.

 

[Xanatos]

It's obvious to any experienced GSA/GSTL which cashiers are causing backups and which ones are not.

Yes, but it's much much easier to have that conversation with the cashier when you have the numbers in front of you saying that they're significantly slower than just about everyone else. Without it, you're just going by what you see, which becomes subjective. The cashiers who don't give enough of a shit to move quickly are the same ones who will say you're singling them out.

 

[PassinTime]

And there are plenty of slow cashiers who DGAF, and are slow no matter what.

But can get away with it if they produce good numbers on the dreaded Red Cards

 

[The Dude Abides]

Yes, but it's much much easier to have that conversation with the cashier when you have the numbers in front of you saying that they're significantly slower than just about everyone else. Without it, you're just going by what you see, which becomes subjective. The cashiers who don't give enough of a shit to move quickly are the same ones who will say you're singling them out.

I don't know how it works at your store, but we performanced out all of our really slow cashiers. My GSTL is very big on documenting and will not hesitate to Corrective Action someone who is not getting the job done.

 

[Xanatos]

I don't know how it works at your store, but we performanced out all of our really slow cashiers. My GSTL is very big on documenting and will not hesitate to Corrective Action someone who is not getting the job done.

We will yell at anyone with a red score (mostly people coming up for backup who do 4 transactions, but 1 of them was an R, giving them a score of 75%) and then do nothing about the cashiers who have hundreds of transactions, but have a yellow score overall (these are the ones bringing our score down way more...). I hate it. Between that and coaching for not getting redcards (looking at the numbers at the end of the week with no regard to the effort the cashier put in, leading to some of our top performers getting coached just for having 1 bad week), I'm glad I didn't get promoted to GSTL several years ago when I applied.

 

[NKG]

Sounds like you should remove more than the cashier speed

Just heard that hes not gonna make his 30 days unless he picks up the speed.

 

[Bullseyerc]

So I guess my original question still stands. What does this actually mean? Is it being taken off of myPerformance, is it completely removed from the register entirely (no G/R after the transaction or percentage of G), or will it still be in myPerformance and just get ignored like the guest survey? (Guest survey is getting some changes soon, btw.)

Has anyone other than OP heard of this? I guess I'm just being impatient. This thread was created only a few hours ago.

It'll still be in myPerformance. The reason for the "removal" (with no actual removal of speed) is to get a more accurate look at how cashiers are actually doing and to not let them focus so much on speed but more on the first and most important driving red card sales. And guests of course.

 

[Xanatos]

It'll still be in myPerformance. The reason for the "removal" (with no actual removal of speed) is to get a more accurate look at how cashiers are actually doing and to not let them focus so much on speed but more on the first and most important driving red card sales.

Oh really? That's what I was trying to figure out all afternoon yesterday. Good to know. I'd still prefer it to be on the register, but this should work, too.

 

[HRZone]

But can get away with it if they produce good numbers on the dreaded Red Cards

I backup sometimes and get one r which skews my score I know I am pretty fast. There are people at my store who are super slow but have a 95 thanks to the suspend button. That is why I dont care for the system its too easy to cheat it. Our store speed is green yet we constantly need backup. Hm why is that?

 

[Xanatos]

I backup sometimes and get one r which skews my score I know I am pretty fast. There are people at my store who are super slow but have a 95 thanks to the suspend button. That is why I dont care for the system its too easy to cheat it. Our store speed is green yet we constantly need backup. Hm why is that?

That's because of payroll and unexpected guest traffic. And if cashiers are suspending that many transactions... holy shit. I've never heard of that. At my store, the slow cashiers are going to get bad scores. A couple suspends aren't going to change that. They'd have to suspend a decent percentage of the transactions after scanning the first item.

 

[pellinore]

Since my STL returned from the annual meeting she keeps saying "suspend is your friend!!" Also she keeps telling us to "delight our guests" and then something about being "scrappy" and getting all the sales we can.

Evidently they didn't talk about removing the cashier speed at the annual meeting.

 

[Spot the doge]

Since my STL returned from the annual meeting she keeps saying "suspend is your friend!!" Also she keeps telling us to "delight our guests" and then something about being "scrappy" and getting all the sales we can.

Evidently they didn't talk about removing the cashier speed at the annual meeting.

My interpret of the change based on this thread is it's no longer the major metric it was, but fast service is still expected instead of go fast or die.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Finally!

 

[BoxCutter]

Cashier Speed is no longer on myPerformance. The metric now only lists number of transactions and Red Cards.

 

[BeelzeBecky]

To me the cashier speed metric was always broken to begin with. It was less a measure of line speed than it was a measure of how good the cashier was at gaming the system. I once had a streak of more than 150 consecutive green transaction by following a few simple rules:

1. If the guest has a large order or looks unorganized talk to them about the redcard while organizing items on the belt before scanning. (Not faster in real time, but it games the computer)
2. Remove all hangers before scanning anything, tissue wrap glass/ceramic items after pressing total. (Still not faster, just makes the transaction green)
3. Any delay of any kind ex. price check, guest can't find card, guest digging in wallet/purse for coin etc. warrants a suspend. Even if I just suspend it and then immediately pull it back up. (Causes the system to not count it as a transaction for speed purpose)

None of those actually made things faster in fact mostly it made the transaction slower, but it came up green every time.

THIS!

I used these tricks and STILL have a shitty score. I'm amazing at so many things but my speed score is shit. And it's not because I suck at pushing items across a glass plate, it's because each guest is unique and you can't just act as though you're a robot and they can't write a fucking check in under 5 minutes.

Suspend, suspend, suspend. Then I get in trouble for suspending.

Fuck speed score! Fuck it real hard!!!! BUHBYE!!!!!!

 

[Shoomm]

Interesting.

I've done cashiering at plenty of places, but never before did I have a register that recorded how quickly I did transactions. I see it as a blessing and a curse, really. I'm proud that I'm generally pretty darn fast most of the time, and it's nice to be able to see that... and .... then... you get one of those... guests with... 15 coupons and... Cartwheel app finally loaded.... oh wait they have three forms of payment..... and ... they know they can dig out... the 67 cents.... most of which... is pennies.... while the kids.... are climbing.... all over their parent... If it's a Sunday morning, I'm screwed, because it's elderly folk coming through who absolutely must chat with me while completely forgetting they need to pay.

I understand that'll happen sometimes. I get that. We're humans dealing with other humans (at least I think so, though occasionally it's suspect). But it seems I'll invariably get that slow-paying guest when they've had me ring up so many items, it would take longer to bring everything back up from a suspend than it would to just wait them out. I do agree it would be much nicer to have the speed stopped at Total, despite seeing how that could easily be cheated with. But with a system like that, there's always gonna be someone who knows how to game it--as evidenced by many comments here.

That said, I don't think I'll complain to see it gone.

I don't think I'm terrible on Red Cards, but I'm certainly not a top performer. I don't mind asking people and initiating a conversation about it, but if they say no or start kvetching, I hate hate hate trying to push beyond that.

 

[dannyy315]

I know some people are happy about this, but as a hardlines team member I use it when I go up for backup to make sure I'm cutting the lines as quickly as possible.

 

[slegab21]

I don't get it, maybe I'm daft. If that's how speed score works and it's a metric on cashiers, then shouldn't it stop after hitting "total"? So all this change, chip, etc business shouldn't be counted? That's not a metric anyone can control.

I think this would be the perfect solution. I guess the system is still measuring how long it takes the cashier to handle the cash/checks etc?

Either way, I kind of want the speed score to stay around as I just mastered "gaming the system" as this thread has called it lol. But from the beginning, (only about one month into my job) I've thought that the goal should be more focused on the guest and less on the speed.

 

[slegab21]

Cashier Speed is no longer on myPerformance. The metric now only lists number of transactions and Red Cards.

Bad news for me, as a new cashier. My speed score average is in the 90s. My RedCard is at 0. Yikes... brb gotta make a post about to tips to getting RedCards haha. Because apparently I either have really bad luck or I just plain suck!

 

[BoxCutter]

Bad news for me, as a new cashier. My speed score average is in the 90s. My RedCard is at 0. Yikes... brb gotta make a post about to tips to getting RedCards haha. Because apparently I either have really bad luck or I just plain suck!

Yentive probably said it the most concisely:

Not a GSTL here, but when cashiers are worried about getting reds, I tell them that they can't look at it day by day, but more like on a monthly basis. You can definitely have a bad day or two, but if you are asking every guest, you will open red cards. You just will. And by ask, I mean make eye contact, be friendly, and mention a benefit--not mumble about it while looking down scanning mdse.

Just by doing this you will increase your chances of getting a card, and, as long as you are doing this with every guest, it will be harder for them to write you up for not getting them. Also, if a guest seems kind of receptive but says no, let them know that you are putting a RedCard brochure in one of their bags and that they can look it over and even apply online. If they don't seem receptive, just put one in the bag without mentioning it. They can recycle it when they get home.

And, if one of my guests is paying with a check, I really start selling the benefits of the debit RedCard, since they have the check with them right then.
Good luck.

 

[pellinore]

I've noticed that the speed score still exists....scan an item using "price inquiry" and then when you press the "K" key that says "done" the cashier speed appears for long enough to see your score and the number of transactions that you've done.

So, at the moment it appears that the speed is still there (just slightly hidden) and that will allow the STL, GE-ETL, GSTL and everyone else to monitor speed and still get an idea of how fast the cashier is working. Don't know if this little trick to check things will remain....once the upper management figures out that we can still check things they may stop our chance at seeing our speed score.

Seems kind of funny, today my speed score was over 90%....I'm never that fast....guess that seeing the numbers all the time have been too intimidating and stressful to watch all the time.

 

[Spitfire]

Nice catch! It doesn't appear that our POS is coded very well, so hiding it was probably easier than removing the speed metric from the POS software altogether. Maybe it'll be removed in a future update (but maybe not - this is Target!) What matters is that you can't access the Cashier Speed Report from myPerformance anymore.

Also, I feel like any GSA/GSTL - even a halfway competent one - has a good idea of how fast you're working just by running the lanes for a day and doing observations.

 

[mrknownothing]

I spent an hour or so on register over the weekend and, despite having only logged into the register a handful of times since fall of last year, I managed to be green. Apparently I've still got it.

 

[slegab21]

Yentive probably said it the most concisely:



Just by doing this you will increase your chances of getting a card, and, as long as you are doing this with every guest, it will be harder for them to write you up for not getting them. Also, if a guest seems kind of receptive but says no, let them know that you are putting a RedCard brochure in one of their bags and that they can look it over and even apply online. If they don't seem receptive, just put one in the bag without mentioning it. They can recycle it when they get home.

And, if one of my guests is paying with a check, I really start selling the benefits of the debit RedCard, since they have the check with them right then.
Good luck.

Not to get all woe is me but I'm not sure what else I can do, really. I ask every single guest, majority of them either already have them, are rude and deny me right away, or I do give them more info and the brochure etc. and I don't get credit for that lol. I've had a few instances where they wanted to open a debit card and didn't have checks - it's just really frustrating! Any tips for how to open up the question to get their attention right away? I have a few go-to approaches (which I'm totally okay with abandoning as they don't seem to freaking work)

a) "Do you know about our Red card Debit and Credit card offers- saves you 5% every purchase?"

b) "Do you have a Red card with us?" (continue on to say some benefits if they say no)

c) "Did you know you can save 5% every purchase with a Target debit or credit card?"

And whenever someone asks about a return policy I tell them the standard and then mention you get an extra 30 days if you have a Red card...

Absolutely no luck in the month I've been working. Currently in my 5th week