Archived Empty Shelves

[jarman]

Depending on leadership, it can be a lot more complicated. There are several factors that contribute to what you are talking about but time is the greatest evil, and without enough time you have trouble doing everything you can to help out other departments. I know that is a vague response, but that's because I don't have all the answers either. There are serious problems with each department working together. Everyone just focuses on their own and seem to not care about the rest with a "That's not our problem" type of mentality. This is just from what I have seen and experienced. Working in different departments, I try to help out the others the best I can, but usually you just do not have the time to do so with the constraints put on you.

Thanks for the reply, I think I now have more time to make my department in market look good. And when Iam done at the end of my shift it does look GOOD. not excellent yet. We cant get to excellence if we are all not on the same page. Lets work together as a team tomake our store the best is what leadership needs to address. I would like to help train people on how keep departments faced up neatly. Oh yesterday they dropped a mauall of a 1000 pieces of candy which I told them half would be backstock and it was. So My department looked bad yesterday except for candy.

 

[Tessa120]

@jarman , @sfslackey is right about time being the greatest evil. Back stock is a huge time eater, so to keep from getting in trouble for not finishing a task that really couldn't be finished properly in the first place people flex since that's quicker. And people get pulled away from their assigned task all the time, guests and backup. Add on reshop, since that makes someone bounce back and forth through their entire area rather than having things relatively together, and that is why fill a shelf and blackstock the rest is really damned hard.

The ease you describe is easy if all you have to do is fill shelves and nothing else. But there is no such thing, everyone has to fill all roles at once and can (and guaranteed will) be repeatedly pulled away from those shelves.

 

[dannyy315]

If there’s a bunch of empty shelves, that’s a leadership issue. They should be assigning people during the day to do pulls, and closing team members should be auditing as they zone. Lack of hours doesn’t help either m.

 

[jarman]

@jarman , @sfslackey is right about time being the greatest evil. Back stock is a huge time eater, so to keep from getting in trouble for not finishing a task that really couldn't be finished properly in the first place people flex since that's quicker. And people get pulled away from their assigned task all the time, guests and backup. Add on reshop, since that makes someone bounce back and forth through their entire area rather than having things relatively together, and that is why fill a shelf and blackstock the rest is really damned hard.

The ease you describe is easy if all you have to do is fill shelves and nothing else. But there is no such thing, everyone has to fill all roles at once and can (and guaranteed will) be repeatedly pulled away from those shelves.

The ease I describe is easy because I am doing it. 2 to 3 carts of reshop, pushing 3-4 uboats, backstock, throw trash, clean shelves, build displays, help guests find stuff all over the store.

 

[happygoth]

The ease I describe is easy because I am doing it. 2 to 3 carts of reshop, pushing 3-4 uboats, backstock, throw trash, clean shelves, build displays, help guests find stuff all over the store.

Biggest problem our store has is consistency, and holding people accountable. If people did what you did every shift, every day, life would be a dream. But I leave at say, 4:00 pm one day, come back at 6:00 pm two days later and the reshop I sorted is still there, with more piled on top. Why did no one work that reshop for two days?

 

[sfslackey]

Biggest problem our store has is consistency, and holding people accountable. If people did what you did every shift, every day, life would be a dream. But I leave at say, 4:00 pm one day, come back at 6:00 pm two days later and the reshop I sorted is still there, with more piled on top. Why did no one work that reshop for two days?

Seriously reshop is a huge thing at my store so If I leave for the day, it will likely be done by the time I come back, but if not then they just give it right back to me, even if I have a ton of stuff to zone at the same time. It's like "I gave you that reshop because it was completely out of area, maybe try to sort it a little bit", but naw of course not (depending on who is doing the sorting).

 

[Ringwraith917]

Ok Iam 8 months into working at target. I still fail to understand why everyone is not on the same page as to keeping the shelves stocked and faced. Its a very simple process. A product comes in you put it on the shelf.You label face neatly to the correct amount that will fit. If what does not fit you backstock. When Items sell restock. Some people at Target are making it harder then it is.

Some people will do the minimum amount of work required to not get fired. That means not working, backstocking or zoning correctly. Forget signing. It's easier in the short term and passes the work on to someone else. If you're only scheduled 2 4hour shifts/wk it's easy to get away with

 

[vngoghlvr]

If there’s a bunch of empty shelves, that’s a leadership issue. They should be assigning people during the day to do pulls, and closing team members should be auditing as they zone. Lack of hours doesn’t help either m.

One of my ETL's said it was all our fault shelves were empty at a huddle. Never mind the fact the store is toxic, tons of people have quit, and hours are slashed even with less employees. Not very inspiring 🙄

 

[jarman]

One of my ETL's said it was all our fault shelves were empty at a huddle. Never mind the fact the store is toxic, tons of people have quit, and hours are slashed even with less employees. Not very inspiring 🙄

I stopped going to the huddles 3 months ago because some leaders do not know how to motivate people in a postive way.

 

[Fluttervale]

In my area our main problem implementing proper DBOs is availability. I have 3 to 4 people covering a few areas because I simply don't have consistent schedules. Once we get staffed right it may be easier.

 

[flow4areasonuno]

In my area our main problem implementing proper DBOs is availability. I have 3 to 4 people covering a few areas because I simply don't have consistent schedules. Once we get staffed right it may be easier.

I think you can blame the mids for that.

At our store most of the staff are in the 20-45ish range, and are parents, and they absolutely can't work all mids. Especially not in summer.

 

[Fluttervale]

I think you can blame the mids for that.

At our store most of the staff are in the 20-45ish range, and are parents, and they absolutely can't work all mids. Especially not in summer.

My primary problem is that we are told to get all the pulls done by 11 and trucks done by 2 but my team isn’t in until 10 so how is that meant to happen? They spend a half hour zoning and exfing and a hour doing pulls, when are they gonna push the truck? Plus it’s consumables so sometimes my truck isn’t even here until noon.

Also we are a college town so I have people that can only work weekends, or Monday and Wednesday, or crazy weekday schedules. So I piece three people into the same area, but they argue over how to do things because you know, different people. But then I’m supposed to let them direct their day while being held accountable for them not getting along. (She put rice krispy treats with the bars instead of the fruit snacks!)

 

[Endlessbackstock]

It seems to be that Target can make more profit by having “empty shelves” and cutting payroll. Hiring more people and having full shelves would cost more overall, so they would rather just chance having empty spots all over the store and assume that a TM can still find the item (if it’s located) with a MyDevice.

 

[Endlessbackstock]

My primary problem is that we are told to get all the pulls done by 11 and trucks done by 2 but my team isn’t in until 10 so how is that meant to happen? They spend a half hour zoning and exfing and a hour doing pulls, when are they gonna push the truck? Plus it’s consumables so sometimes my truck isn’t even here until noon.

Also we are a college town so I have people that can only work weekends, or Monday and Wednesday, or crazy weekday schedules. So I piece three people into the same area, but they argue over how to do things because you know, different people. But then I’m supposed to let them direct their day while being held accountable for them not getting along. (She put rice krispy treats with the bars instead of the fruit snacks!)

Typical story it seems. We are supposed to be done with pulls and zone by 11 as well. Then from 11-1 I get hassled by my team lead about finishing the freight, going on break, doing go backs, helping customers, etc. It just doesn’t happen. I have been threatened with documentation numerous times.

 

[jarman]

It seems to be that Target can make more profit by having “empty shelves” and cutting payroll. Hiring more people and having full shelves would cost more overall, so they would rather just chance having empty spots all over the store and assume that a TM can still find the item (if it’s located) with a MyDevice.

looks like targets main focus is online orders. Iam always hearing that everyone must drop what there doing and help opu,sfs.

 

[Endlessbackstock]

looks like targets main focus is online orders. Iam always hearing that everyone must drop what there doing and help opu,sfs.

Yeah I agree, but trying to compete with Amazon via online orders, don’t think that will last long

 

[seasonaldude]

looks like targets main focus is online orders. Iam always hearing that everyone must drop what there doing and help opu,sfs.

It is one of corporate's main areas of emphasis and orders are increasing rapidly. Other TMs get pulled to help because if OPU metrics aren't within acceptable range store leadership will be hearing about it from higher ups. Bad OPU metrics equate to lots of surprise visits. If SFS numbers are bad the store can be shut off and that's a loss of sales, i.e. a loss of payroll hours.

But, if you are hearing constant calls that's a problem with your store. Your pickers are either slow or your store isn't scheduling realistically for the current workload. I keep calls to help OPU to a minimum. Maybe once every other week or so when orders drop in a way that is not humanly possible for one person to get them done on time. Other TMs have their own shit to do. I respect that and don't ask for help unless I have no choice.

 

[sfslackey]

looks like targets main focus is online orders. Iam always hearing that everyone must drop what there doing and help opu,sfs.

They are definitely the priority above everything else and if they haven't scheduled enough people to do that then, that's what happens. On another note, maybe this is just a case of ASANTS, but the truck needs to be done first and foremost as early as possible. Then we still have a few people, myself included, that don't do inbound and need to do the pulls for our area. But if you are a mid, you are probably doing pulls for the areas that haven't been done yet and it is kind of all over the place. Come in at 12pm and you never know what you are going to do.

This week is probably going to be terrible for me because my great TL is going on vacation so I will probably be under the thumb of the not so good one. Sigh.. I just need to get through it I guess.

 

[jarman]

Yeah I agree, but trying to compete with Amazon via online orders, don’t think that will last long

Yeah This Quarter Target might brag how there online sales are up but if over all revenue is down there strategy may not work.

 

[YoNanas]

Store opens @8am. Shelves are empty and the dairy team starts at 10am to fill milk and eggs, do pulls and work on previous days Uboats. Truck comes 30mins after. The cooler becomes a mess due to having team start late, eliminating the market closer, food sits in the back, daily store sales missed by $20-$30,000. WTF is going on here?

 

[jarman]

Store opens @8am. Shelves are empty and the dairy team starts at 10am to fill milk and eggs, do pulls and work on previous days Uboats. Truck comes 30mins after. The cooler becomes a mess due to having team start late, eliminating the market closer, food sits in the back, daily store sales missed by $20-$30,000. WTF is going on here?

Same thing at my store. Improvements are being made slowly but it shouldnt take so long to figure it out. Store managers, directors should take a look at safeway,raleys even walmart. There shelves are stocked neatly when ever I go in. Sometimes I think they have no clue on how to increase sales. I ve worked in 20 different stores and Ive never seen it so bad as at target. Thats one of the reasons why I joined target I wanted to help them but there taking way too long to catch on. In market if we have deliveries almost everyday there shouldnt be so much backstock. We have backstock up to the ceiling. I think theres more in the backroom then on the shelves.

 

[jarman]

Half the store is on clearance. It looks like a goodwill now. Last 2 weeks Ive spent almost 2 hours a day throwing everyones trash away,backstock there stuff. Why Do they wait so long to do manuall pulls. why not do small pulls everyday instead of 1000 pieces all at once now backroom is so crowded you have to move carts from 1 aisle to another. For awhile we were on a good path. Now things are going downhill fast. people quitting left and right. Its a very simple process. I think its time to move on. I tried to help Target but they dont want my help. I told the store director Iam willing help with inventory control, merchandising, signage, employee training, cutting there food loss. She just said thats good to know. The store should come first. You treat the store right it will treat you right. With Sales and profits.

 

[BoxCutter]

It looks like a goodwill now.

In all honesty, the Goodwill stores in my area are better stocked and zoned.

 

[Tessa120]

The store should come first. You treat the store right it will treat you right. With Sales and profits.

No. The store should not come first. I've sacrificed health, family and self-improvement to the altar of work because they said they needed me, and I ended up with nothing but hours of my life stolen forever, regrets that I missed so much of time that could have been spent with my daughter and husband and missing out on things that we should have done as a family, and illnesses getting worse than they should and needing longer to heal than they should have.

The store should never come first. It won't treat you right, no matter how much of your body and soul you throw into treating it right. No one ever said on their death bed "I should have spent more time at work."

 

[jarman]

No. The store should not come first. I've sacrificed health, family and self-improvement to the altar of work because they said they needed me, and I ended up with nothing but hours of my life stolen forever, regrets that I missed so much of time that could have been spent with my daughter and husband and missing out on things that we should have done as a family, and illnesses getting worse than they should and needing longer to heal than they should have.

The store should never come first. It won't treat you right, no matter how much of your body and soul you throw into treating it right. No one ever said on their death bed "I should have spent more time at work."

When I say the store should come first treat it right and it will treat you right I mean Target as a company too mostly. If they trained people properly, manage inventory corectly reward there good employees with bonusus, raises. I have been in retail for 20 years in about 20 different stores. My job at other stores was to take care of the store. I worked 7 days a week 12 to 18 hour days and it rewarded me 2 houses paid for 3 cars paid for.This was as a store owner. I can see working for someone that doesnt care about there business will get you nowhere. I grew up in the store so its a little different for me. For me its always been store first. Thats why Iam thinking about moving on back to my own business.