Drive up and Storms

DBZ

Joined
Dec 9, 2018
Messages
1,645
I know it's come up a few times, but I've never seen it answered. How do you turn off drive up during severe thunder storms? There have to be a way. In a kind world, guests would patiently wait until the danger has past, but we all know that they can be selfish assholes. If the cart attendant can't go out, then the Drive up TMs shouldn't either.
 
LOL.

In a just world, you're right, it should turn off. In the Target world, no, no it does not.
 
It can! My store does it during any storm. Call CSC at 701 and they’ll turn it off. Remember to turn it back on though... or not
That turns off the ability to place a drive up order, it doesn’t prevent the guests who’ve already placed an order from picking it up.

In one of the SD updates it had a sign you could print and post that DU wouldn’t be brought out until weather conditions improved, but the wording for how/when/where to post it seemed really after the fact.
 
That turns off the ability to place a drive up order, it doesn’t prevent the guests who’ve already placed an order from picking it up.

In one of the SD updates it had a sign you could print and post that DU wouldn’t be brought out until weather conditions improved, but the wording for how/when/where to post it seemed really after the fact.

Not to mention a sign put outside in a bad storm....wouldn't stay there very long, or stay dry very long.

Guest: How was I supposed to know they weren't bringing my items out to me for a hour?
SD: The soggy unreadable sign in front of your vehicle clearly stated such.
 
That turns off the ability to place a drive up order, it doesn’t prevent the guests who’ve already placed an order from picking it up.

In one of the SD updates it had a sign you could print and post that DU wouldn’t be brought out until weather conditions improved, but the wording for how/when/where to post it seemed really after the fact.
It does prevent pickup, at least the way they did it at my store.
 
Not to mention a sign put outside in a bad storm....wouldn't stay there very long, or stay dry very long.

Guest: How was I supposed to know they weren't bringing my items out to me for a hour?
SD: The soggy unreadable sign in front of your vehicle clearly stated such.
Laminate. Surely they can spare laminate for a few reusable signs.
 
But where would you put a sign that guests would see? Our drive up spots are not near any windows, and in a pounding rainstorm most aren't going to be able to a) know to look for a sign and b) see one. I don't know how well even a laminated sign would stay on the drive up parking spot signs, and then you'd still have to send someone out in bad weather to hang them.

If new orders are shut down there should be an alert in the app that says drive ups aren't available to be picked up, and the "I'm on the way/I'm here" buttons should be disabled (or whatever they are. I've never used drive up as a guest).

And it should be an ETL-level setting in the app, so it can be turned off & back on again in-store without having to call.
 
Where you would put the sign is on the drive up parking. A handle permanently attached on can loop over the sign designated parking. Clips could be mounted on as well, as a secondary restraint system. If there's a post and there's a mind willing to spend the 3 minutes to see all the different ways a sign can be securely attached it can happen.
 
When we first got DU we had 4 parking spots with the pylon centered between all of them. We’re now up to 10 spots with still only the one pylon standing. Attaching a sign to that could alert 4 DUs to the temporary cut off, but the other 6 will never see if.
 
So let them wait? If the timer goes past a certain time it doesn't count against the store. 30 minutes I believe. Karen can sit there in the rain and fucking wait.

Seriously, it's what I do if I have to pause an OPU cart. Any cart that takes longer than 2 hours to complete, doesn't count against our productivity metrics. So, if I have to pause one to wait on the unload, you can be damn sure it's going to sit for 2+ hours whether I really need to wait that long or not.

Do the same thing for assholes who drive up in storms.
 
Asked my ETL-SE about this the other day when a storm was coming in. I said, “so what’s the official policy? If there is lightning and thunder, I don’t really feel comfortable with a metal three tier?” She shrugged, laughed, and walked away. My TL was legit concerned about me going out, but luckily no one arrived during the worst parts.

Fast forward a few days... really bad storm. I had to buy rainboots, new socks, a new pair of jeans, and I got a spare target tshirt because I was that soaked and literally couldn’t spend the rest of my shift like that. SD laughed and joked with my about how wet I was, so I asked if it got much worse (spoiler: it did!), was there a policy in place or what should I do? She shrugged it off and said, “Well, if someone wants to switch with you, then you can do that, I guess, but we have to keep the DU time green.”

It got worse. High winds, low visibility, thunder and lightning. My TL made me stop because she was legit worried for me. SD tells ETL-SE and now they are both mad at TL. I have to take them out again. Rain slows down to just normal downpour, so my TL pulled me to do other stuff and assigned someone else and I got dry clothes, but it was chaos. I wish so bad that there was technology that could prompt on the app when the guest arrives that says, “due to weather please come into the store for the safety of our team members or come back.” something like that.
 
Where you would put the sign is on the drive up parking. A handle permanently attached on can loop over the sign designated parking. Clips could be mounted on as well, as a secondary restraint system. If there's a post and there's a mind willing to spend the 3 minutes to see all the different ways a sign can be securely attached it can happen.

Exactly, place the sign on all sides of the drive up pole... Not just when there's lightning outside but have it up so that guests that come by normal days can read it when they are waiting so they know for the future.
 
Damn I feel for you guys that are made to go out. My store is lucky with a parking deck but I’ll be damned if I’d going out in a torrential downpour and lightning. SD, ETL, TL can all kiss my ass.
 
The only time we’ve had a bad storm so far while doing Drive Up, I stopped all team members from going outside as soon as the hail began to drop. At that point, I had asked all guest to remain inside. We had a few Drive ups show up and waited until it was safe. One guest came into the store to ask about DU and I explained I would not allow my team to go out during lighting or hail. We ended losing power at the same time. Crazy night.
 
So let them wait? If the timer goes past a certain time it doesn't count against the store. 30 minutes I believe. Karen can sit there in the rain and fucking wait.

Seriously, it's what I do if I have to pause an OPU cart. Any cart that takes longer than 2 hours to complete, doesn't count against our productivity metrics. So, if I have to pause one to wait on the unload, you can be damn sure it's going to sit for 2+ hours whether I really need to wait that long or not.

Do the same thing for assholes who drive up in storms.

Uhh, yeah, that sounds like a big nono. You don't intentionally delay guests to try and save face on metrics. Pausing carts at all is a nono in my store, can't finish it for some reason? Pass it off to someone who can.
 
Uhh, yeah, that sounds like a big nono. You don't intentionally delay guests to try and save face on metrics. Pausing carts at all is a nono in my store, can't finish it for some reason? Pass it off to someone who can.

Well, that's just silly. If an item we need is still on the trailer, we're obviously going to pause the cart instead of INFing the item. Better the guest wait and get what they ordered than not get what they ordered at all because of a no paused carts rule. We have until 11am to fulfill the orders and no one is telling the guest anything different. A paused cart or two is normal for us every morning just waiting for the sorters to find face masks in style repacks or at least get through a good chunk of their boxes. Sure, we could tear up their area and spend 30-45 minutes digging through their repacks. That would be stupid. So we pause the cart and pick another batch while waiting. The orders will be fulfilled within our alloted time. No guest is harmed. They actually benefit by getting what they ordered.
 
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