MEGATHREAD Flexible Fulfillment

redSefOD said:
no idea who's scheduled. I only work the weekdays.

how am I supposed to check the backroom aisles when it could theoretically be anywhere in backstock? this seems like a not feasible use of my already crunched time.
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I find things surprisingly often shining a flashlight into the wacos down the aisle for the fillgroup the item should be in.
 
ShortTM said:
If the Target app shows an item is in stock but the shelf location is empty, do you prefer a guest asks a TM if there are any in the back or for the guest to place an online order for OPU? Just curious what you all think. For me being inbound, every minute I'm assisting a guest is a casepack not getting pushed. Not saying I won't retrieve something from backstock, but it makes it look like I'm not pushing very fast to my TL.
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If something is actually located in the back, why wouldn't you just get it for the guest and fill the floor with more? It takes a couple of minutes. If the item isn't on the floor and isn't located in the back, then you should be auditing it in your section and absolutely not telling guests to order it online for in store pickup. Ship to store or home delivery is fine though. Just audit so your store doesn't take a hit for it in SFS.

I don't care if you tell people they can order online in general. As I tell my TMs, I don't care if you order shit we have. Just don't order things we might not have and do your own clothes shopping. OPU/drive up are great services for guests. Tell them about it if you want. Just help the guests in the store and go get stuff for them as needed.
 
SFSunicorn said:
That’s sad that they treat you like that. When we have one person on OPUs and staffing is short our Logistics ETL will cover OPUs during TM breaks and will even help out SFS by getting ship alones, etc. Our store execs understand that bad Fulfillment metrics reflects poorly on them (sure, they bring the blame down to us too, but that’s after they’ve been chewed out by the DTL).
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ETL picking? Yeah and pigs fly! Hell myself and a co-worker were waiting for someone to open the keybox for us and the STL came over to do it and asked us how SFS was going? We have been shut down over a month now, cause of his scheduling choices. He didn't know we were still down.
 
Bosch said:
ETL picking? Yeah and pigs fly! Hell myself and a co-worker were waiting for someone to open the keybox for us and the STL came over to do it and asked us how SFS was going? We have been shut down over a month now, cause of his scheduling choices. He didn't know we were still down.
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In my store pigs fly and ETLs pick! We had a huge workload (not sure if call outs or just huge workload) and it seemed like every ETL picked 2 batches. They took longer than the 60 minutes per batch to which I sarcastically said you need to speed up and not take longer than 60 minutes.
They kept saying it was hard, lots of softlines and picking softlines is the worst. Welcome to my world! All the ETLs excluding my own looked like lost children when they’re trying to find items.

I’m hope you don’t mean an actual month otherwise that STL is on the chopping block. According to my leadership, the district is being hard on us to keep SFS metrics green otherwise we’re getting turned off. They get daily emails about SFS weekly and previous day metrics.


redSefOD said:
no idea who's scheduled. I only work the weekdays.

how am I supposed to check the backroom aisles when it could theoretically be anywhere in backstock? this seems like a not feasible use of my already crunched time.
Click to expand...
Your backroom aisles should be organized by fillgroups, the category of the item (i.e. bath, beds, chem, plug). On the 2nd page on MyWork, it list fillgroup below the name/title of the item. Check the backroom aisle listed with that fillgroup to see if it’s unlocated in the back of it makes sense to check in the back.

Ask your ETL if the weekend guy can work with you once so you can get a better feel of SFS. Say something along you want to improve picking process with SFS on lowering INFs and better balancing SFS with OPU. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
 
JohnSith373 said:
Your backroom aisles should be organized by fillgroups, the category of the item (i.e. bath, beds, chem, plug). On the 2nd page on MyWork, it list fillgroup below the name/title of the item. Check the backroom aisle listed with that fillgroup to see if it’s unlocated in the back of it makes sense to check in the back.

Ask your ETL if the weekend guy can work with you once so you can get a better feel of SFS. Say something along you want to improve picking process with SFS on lowering INFs and better balancing SFS with OPU. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
Click to expand...

good to know, thanks. I was trained with the old SFS for two days and caught on quick, but I think the only reason they were successful as opposed to me is because they had been with the store 7 years prior to starting SFS -- so they probably had to use minimal tricks to be successful. I asked a FF member on my last shift for some tips, which i'm going to give a shot this next week:
  • already have a cart on the back of my tag. going to try and take on two OPUs at once with that one and an actual cart
  • seems like you folks finish your picking and then sort/ship toward the second half of your shift? so far i've shipped as soon as i've finished the batch
if I give all the advice you folks have given me and things still seem bumpy despite my picking speed and store layout knowledge naturally improving throughout the week, iunno if I can handle it. guess there's a reason why there's a bunch of FF job listings at our store :X
 
redSefOD said:
good to know, thanks. I was trained with the old SFS for two days and caught on quick, but I think the only reason they were successful as opposed to me is because they had been with the store 7 years prior to starting SFS -- so they probably had to use minimal tricks to be successful. I asked a FF member on my last shift for some tips, which i'm going to give a shot this next week:
  • already have a cart on the back of my tag. going to try and take on two OPUs at once with that one and an actual cart
  • seems like you folks finish your picking and then sort/ship toward the second half of your shift? so far i've shipped as soon as i've finished the batch
if I give all the advice you folks have given me and things still seem bumpy despite my picking speed and store layout knowledge naturally improving throughout the week, iunno if I can handle it. guess there's a reason why there's a bunch of FF job listings at our store :X
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At my store we have to work multiple OPUs/DUs at one time. My highest was 5 “carts”. Our order volume is so high. Coming from my old store where we would get only 2 orders in an hour. But realistically only do multiples once you figure out what you can handle. Don’t risk goals by doing more and call for help if you need it.

Edited to add 7 “carts” is now my record. Everyone gangs up and send orders all at the same time.
 
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redSefOD said:
seems like you folks finish your picking and then sort/ship toward the second half of your shift?
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ASANTS but my ETL said per district/corporate/whatever directives that picking all then packing all is a no go. Always pick and pack, sort, then pick and pack, etc each cart. I used to pick 3 then pack 3 on repeat because that allows you to get into the flow of things and I at least went about 2x faster that way, but that's now not allowed. So I'd ask your ETL if there are any rules first, just incase some bigwigs come in and bitch about it later and then you get in trouble.
 
JohnSith373 said:
In my store pigs fly and ETLs pick! We had a huge workload (not sure if call outs or just huge workload) and it seemed like every ETL picked 2 batches. They took longer than the 60 minutes per batch to which I sarcastically said you need to speed up and not take longer than 60 minutes.
They kept saying it was hard, lots of softlines and picking softlines is the worst. Welcome to my world! All the ETLs excluding my own looked like lost children when they’re trying to find items.

I’m hope you don’t mean an actual month otherwise that STL is on the chopping block. According to my leadership, the district is being hard on us to keep SFS metrics green otherwise we’re getting turned off. They get daily emails about SFS weekly and previous day metrics.



Your backroom aisles should be organized by fillgroups, the category of the item (i.e. bath, beds, chem, plug). On the 2nd page on MyWork, it list fillgroup below the name/title of the item. Check the backroom aisle listed with that fillgroup to see if it’s unlocated in the back of it makes sense to check in the back.

Ask your ETL if the weekend guy can work with you once so you can get a better feel of SFS. Say something along you want to improve picking process with SFS on lowering INFs and better balancing SFS with OPU. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
Click to expand...

I am serious a month now for SFS we are still up for OPU that is the only way I am getting hours, but the SFS side is down and has been down since this STL who refuses to let anyone else do the schedule decided that on a Sunday we only needed 4hrs for the entire day. With a average of 200 orders and while picking OPU 4hrs was more than enough to get all that picked and packed right? We fell behind "NO SHIT!!!!" cause no one helped us while we sat at home so we got shut down again. Add that we only seem to hire 16 year old kids who NCNS at the drop of a hat and we are fucked. I haven't had mid coverage on a Saturday in about a month cause of NCNS, he scheduled it but these kids won't show up.

I wish I knew what its going to take to get this douche bro of an STL fired, but I lost one to many bets on that one. Cause I had him out on his ass over six months ago and it didn't happen. Cause the district leadership seems to be blind to what has happened. Then I wonder if we are this fucked and are being ignored, how bad are the stores that they are paying attention to? It is almost like they don't want anyone working there that actually wants to get the job done.
 
So I need suggestions. Our SFS has failed everyday since Thursday to sort everything by 3pm. What do you guys do to make it if you do?
 
They do that now. But it still doesn’t help. Because then we have an influx of items to pack. We stage but then the sort still gets us.
 
seasonaldude said:
If something is actually located in the back, why wouldn't you just get it for the guest and fill the floor with more? It takes a couple of minutes. If the item isn't on the floor and isn't located in the back, then you should be auditing it in your section and absolutely not telling guests to order it online for in store pickup. Ship to store or home delivery is fine though. Just audit so your store doesn't take a hit for it in SFS.

I don't care if you tell people they can order online in general. As I tell my TMs, I don't care if you order shit we have. Just don't order things we might not have and do your own clothes shopping. OPU/drive up are great services for guests. Tell them about it if you want. Just help the guests in the store and go get stuff for them as needed.
Click to expand...

i order clothes online for OPU all the time and i won't apologize for it
 
figured i'd give you guys an update. today was a good day hurdled into a bad day. started out pretty confident, I know my store well, know how to quickly scoot through softlines, all that. really mulled over all the advice you all gave me.
wuh-oh, problem. DU bike at 8:30AM! is it assembled? who knows, no one in the back does, no one on call is responding to my checks on floor.
fall a little behind on SFS because they cascade in -- and then a huddle is called. "I only have one batch just about done and it's climbing at 130 at 12:30... this isn't good," I think to myself, "there's no way I can pick and ship this solo."

which is correct! I couldn't, until the ETL finally did something instead of "hey team, can we get some help on SFS" and then calling it a day. i'm pretty sure SFS at my store had the reputation of "annoy the hell out of FF with how much you have to call them" which is really really cool to be hurdled into. it just irks me to see the pace of my work compared to others. not knocking their job or them, but the shuffling of feet at grocery compared to my half jog/speedwalk all day is frustrating to think about.

i'm going to have to pay attention to metrics tomorrow to get exact #'s here. i'm already tired of management misjudging how quickly OPUs come in the the morning -- I can't juggle them and a SFS batch. I applied to target to expedite the process of getting cash flow in (i'm already working a second freelance job) to move onto my actual career path. but now i'm just going to apply to the jobs I was waiting on. if I get them, i'll give target another month depending on hiring leniency. the pay is not worth me having to lift 8 baby cribs by myself, fretting over shipping with the most understanding thing my STLs and ETLs do is a "thanks" when they see me walk sweaty into the break room. if I wasn't solo, I could do this. telling ETLs and STLs this will just get me a half-sincere, "yeah, it's a hard job, huh..."

editing in this reply:

RunForACallBox said:
So I need suggestions. Our SFS has failed everyday since Thursday to sort everything by 3pm. What do you guys do to make it if you do?
Click to expand...

take this with a grain of salt as i'm relatively new and you're not, and I also don't know how big your FF or SFS team is, or your store.

sort has always been the fastest part for me. if you have zebra scanners to spare, your SFS station should be outfitted with one or two. make those dedicated sort devices. reprint as many palette scans as you need. sort your packs immediately after you scan them for completion. you don't have to actually put them on a palette right away, but you can depending on how busy your foot traffic is or how busy your orders are. in a way, your sort being slow might be a result of packing or picking being slow.
 
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redSefOD said:
figured i'd give you guys an update. today was a good day hurdled into a bad day. started out pretty confident, I know my store well, know how to quickly scoot through softlines, all that. really mulled over all the advice you all gave me.
wuh-oh, problem. DU bike at 8:30AM! is it assembled? who knows, no one in the back does, no one on call is responding to my checks on floor.
fall a little behind on SFS because they cascade in -- and then a huddle is called. "I only have one batch just about done and it's climbing at 130 at 12:30... this isn't good," I think to myself, "there's no way I can pick and ship this solo."

which is correct! I couldn't, until the ETL finally did something instead of "hey team, can we get some help on SFS" and then calling it a day. i'm pretty sure SFS at my store had the reputation of "annoy the hell out of FF with how much you have to call them" which is really really cool to be hurdled into. it just irks me to see the pace of my work compared to others. not knocking their job or them, but the shuffling of feet at grocery compared to my half jog/speedwalk all day is frustrating to think about.

i'm going to have to pay attention to metrics tomorrow to get exact #'s here. i'm already tired of management misjudging how quickly OPUs come in the the morning -- I can't juggle them and a SFS batch. I applied to target to expedite the process of getting cash flow in (i'm already working a second freelance job) to move onto my actual career path. but now i'm just going to apply to the jobs I was waiting on. if I get them, i'll give target another month depending on hiring leniency. the pay is not worth me having to lift 8 baby cribs by myself, fretting over shipping with the most understanding thing my STLs and ETLs do is a "thanks" when they see me walk sweaty into the break room. if I wasn't solo, I could do this. telling ETLs and STLs this will just get me a half-sincere, "yeah, it's a hard job, huh..."

editing in this reply:



take this with a grain of salt as i'm relatively new and you're not, and I also don't know how big your FF or SFS team is, or your store.

sort has always been the fastest part for me. if you have zebra scanners to spare, your SFS station should be outfitted with one or two. make those dedicated sort devices. reprint as many palette scans as you need. sort your packs immediately after you scan them for completion. you don't have to actually put them on a palette right away, but you can depending on how busy your foot traffic is or how busy your orders are. in a way, your sort being slow might be a result of packing or picking being slow.
Click to expand...
We do about 500-600 DPCIs a day roughly. Team of 5-7 with most early AM few mid and 1 night. OPUs/DUs are our of this world. For instance today, juggling 7 carts of OPUs at once. I made the comment to my TL that maybe when you are finished picking, you pack and sort your cart and start another one. We have 4 packing stations so I feel like we would have enough with rotations.
 
redSefOD said:
telling ETLs and STLs this will just get me a half-sincere, "yeah, it's a hard job, huh..."
Click to expand...
Yeah...I get ya on that one. They can be pretty clueless. I came in solo to 200 dcpis today, picked 4 carts while doing opus, and it still sat at 200 when I went to lunch at 12:30. Just me till 1, and none of the Leads thought to give me and the closing Ship person help till 1:30...I left at 3:30 with 2 carts still in progress, 3 to be packed in the back, and 14dcpis sitting to be picked. Hope they finished all that in an hour 🙄
 
RunForACallBox said:
So I need suggestions. Our SFS has failed everyday since Thursday to sort everything by 3pm. What do you guys do to make it if you do?
Click to expand...
If you have separate people scheduled for pack and pick it tends to work best if the pack person’s shift starts about three hours after the picker (assuming you’re starting “clean” with no leftovers to pack from the night before. When the packer(s) come in there should only be five carts per packer ready to go. If one picker finishes 6 carts before one packer starts their shift, then they should stop picking and pack one cart.

Also, ONLY ONE BATCH PER CART! (Even if it seems like waste of space). That small batch with all orders neatly in their sub cart locations is going to be at least 3 times quicker to pack and sort than a cart with multiple batches.

Finally, it helps if you try to generally stick to the old pick rules and have all of the ‘ship by 4:30’ batches picked before 2:30, then you have at least 2 hours to finish packing/sorting. If you’re store has an evening ship deadline too (ship by 10:30), try not to start on that workload (or any pick today/ship tomorrow) until the 4:30s for that day are complete.
 
CassRoslyn said:
Yeah...I get ya on that one. They can be pretty clueless. I came in solo to 200 dcpis today, picked 4 carts while doing opus, and it still sat at 200 when I went to lunch at 12:30. Just me till 1, and none of the Leads thought to give me and the closing Ship person help till 1:30...I left at 3:30 with 2 carts still in progress, 3 to be packed in the back, and 14dcpis sitting to be picked. Hope they finished all that in an hour 🙄
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this is slightly comforting to hear that even you're having issues with your work load. I wish I could roll my eyes and say good luck to the 3:30s, but it's just me all the way through, and until 4:30.
 
I pick all batches then pack. Always have. It makes no sense to pick/pack/pick/pack when you are the only one. Im scheduled 8-430. I pick it all before my lunch at 1/130 then get back and have it sorted by 430. I love that chill pack time in back at the end of my shift!
 
redSefOD said:
this is slightly comforting to hear that even you're having issues with your work load
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Ship is stressful, no doubt about it. Especially on heavier, understaffed days. But Leads dont always get that. In my store they either throw help at you when it's not really needed or leave you hanging when it is.

And then there's the DTL...dude came in to my store awhile back, comes back to Ship, and tells me in all seriousness "oh you're working SFS today? Lucky you". Like yeah...lucky me working against the clock, running around like crazy, covered in bruises from boxes and ladders. But also...lucky me cause I actually like my job 😂
 
SFSunicorn said:
If you have separate people scheduled for pack and pick it tends to work best if the pack person’s shift starts about three hours after the picker (assuming you’re starting “clean” with no leftovers to pack from the night before. When the packer(s) come in there should only be five carts per packer ready to go. If one picker finishes 6 carts before one packer starts their shift, then they should stop picking and pack one cart.

Also, ONLY ONE BATCH PER CART! (Even if it seems like waste of space). That small batch with all orders neatly in their sub cart locations is going to be at least 3 times quicker to pack and sort than a cart with multiple batches.

Finally, it helps if you try to generally stick to the old pick rules and have all of the ‘ship by 4:30’ batches picked before 2:30, then you have at least 2 hours to finish packing/sorting. If you’re store has an evening ship deadline too (ship by 10:30), try not to start on that workload (or any pick today/ship tomorrow) until the 4:30s for that day are complete.
Click to expand...
Our pack goal is 3pm. But we usually have a dedicated packer everyday that comes in at 8a. The earliest we start picking is 4am.
 
REDcardJJ said:
i order clothes online for OPU all the time and i won't apologize for it
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You can do that. You are within your rights to do that. I can also have more pressing needs on your next shift than busting through the service desk line and taking care of the guests who are just there to pick something up or have a question when I'm not in a pick. That would be within my job duties to take care of other things if need be.

No, I don't ignore the line at the desk when not picking. Just saying that I could without problem normally.
 

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