MEGATHREAD Flexible Fulfillment

[MrT]

Why should anyone care about another person's job performance?

For example, let's say there are 1000 DPCIs to picked and packed one day. I show up for my 8 hour shift (minus two 15 minute breaks). I pick and pack 300 DPCIs all by myself. I did a good job that day. I did my job and earned my paycheck.

Now, let's say the rest of the store does not pick the remaining 700 DPCIs in time.

Why should I care about that? What am I supposed to do about that?

I say, show up and do the best job you can (or are willing to do).

For example, I was picking on Friday when the TCL 65 inch was on sale. I got stuck INFing a few of them because the store director and ETLs said we had sold out. Are those INFs my fault? No they are not. Another example is the Christmas section is still not fully set up yet. I got stuck INFing a bunch of unset Christmas items. Are those INFs my fault? Again, no they are not.

I do not worry about Target's goals. I do my job to the best of my ability. The store director and ETLs and TLs are free to go check any of my INFs to see if I missed the items or the store did not have the items for whatever reason (inventory errors, excessive sales, etc.). I would say that less than 1%-2% of my INFs were me not finding an item that the store had. I am not perfect. The other 98%-99% of my INFs were items the store did not have for whatever reason or were items that were not accessible or were items so misplaced no one could have found them (example a toy left in the detergent aisle and had not been reshopped yet).

There are OPUs or picks that everything is found and then there are OPUs or picks that multiple items are INF. I am not going to worry about things not in my control. The inventory is messed up - not my concern. The aisles are trashed - not my concern. The products are not set - not my concern. Reshop is not done in a timely manner - not my concern.

I get what you are saying but its a team and i was mostly talking about new team members checking there productivity and output and comparing themselves to the more veteran team members to try and get to there level. Again if you know you are doing a good job that doesn't need to apply to you other then maybe just helping the new team members if asked. My team members do not need to worry about goals because thats on me and my etl when im not there.

 

[james0707]

In fulfillment you have to care a little about what everyone else is doing because it can affect you. As a recent example. I had a TM spend 2 and a half hours doing a single OPU batch. In her defense, she did have a lot to look for and was looking the whole time. But, good lord! Two and a half hours for a single batch??? INF that shit and move on.

A little later, this made all of the rest have to go into scramble mode so we didn't miss goal time. And, we're all going to get bitched at if we miss goal time. And, multiple things were INF'd simply because we lacked the time to look for them. So, when our ETL looks at the metrics and makes scheduling decisions she's going to see higher INFs for the rest of team. They might get fewer hours as a result. And, it doubly irritates me because I have to take time out of my day to sit down with the ETL to explain what happened to try to prevent that.

In fulfillment, one person's lack of performance hurts us all.

You are 100% wrong.

First, if a team member is taking that long to do an OPU batch, that is 100% on the store director, ETLs, and team leads working during that time. It is also on the new team member's trainer for the day. They should be monitoring the team members in the store.

If the store director, ETLs, and team leads are not walking through the store and regularly checking in with all the team members in every department, they should be fired for incompetence. My store has members of management that are the laziest people I have ever met.

Also, there has to be a lead that is watching the OPUs and ships.

A new team member taking 2.5 hours to do one batch is unacceptable. Management allowing it to happen by not knowing is even worse.

Second, if a store director, ETLs, or team leads bitches at everyone for missing goal time, they are lazy and incompetent. They should use the computer to see which employees were doing their jobs and which were not. They should be able to determine what went wrong.

If I am working hard all day and completing batches regularly and within a reasonable amount of time, nobody better bitch at me. If they do, I will tell them to look at the numbers and go find the team members responsible. I do not accept being bitched at for something that is not my fault and I will stand up for myself and tell them what's what.

I have never spent a second in scramble mode.

Third, I will never INF an item just to complete something faster.

I do not take any batch I am not 100% sure I can complete in time.

 

[james0707]

I get what you are saying but its a team and i was mostly talking about new team members checking there productivity and output and comparing themselves to the more veteran team members to try and get to there level. Again if you know you are doing a good job that doesn't need to apply to you other then maybe just helping the new team members if asked. My team members do not need to worry about goals because thats on me and my etl when im not there.

I have done fulfillment for years and I have no idea where to check my productivity. I do not care and have no interest in knowing mine or competing with others.

 

[Ringwraith917]

I will never INF an item just to complete something faster.

A new team member taking 2.5 hours to do one batch is unacceptable.

So riddle me this: you can't find an item in your batch. You have used 40 minutes of the 3 hour window picking the first 22 items. At what point do you decide to INF the last item?

A) After you have looked in all easily accessible areas it might possibly be in (because those other areas are not worth the effort).

B) After you have looked in all easily accessible areas it might possibly be in (because the time it takes to look through those other areas would keep you from picking other orders in a timely manner).

C) After you have looked in every possible location that has a slight chance of having the item in it, and determined the store does not actually have the item.

 

[Dog]

I honestly don’t think your team lead or ETL should be putting you into a position where you feel like you have to worry about the performance of other team members

 

[MrT]

I honestly don’t think your team lead or ETL should be putting you into a position where you feel like you have to worry about the performance of other team members

Im not sure if this is a response to me or just a general response, but you are correct i was meaning using the numbers as a new team member to look at the productivity of veteran team members as a benchmark, they should know what the productivity goal is anyway though, or just looking at your own numbers and trying to improve yourself. Team members shouldn't worry about goals or any of the metrics overall.

 

[Dog]

Im not sure if this is a response to me or just a general response, but you are correct i was meaning using the numbers as a new team member to look at the productivity of veteran team members as a benchmark, they should know what the productivity goal is anyway though, or just looking at your own numbers and trying to improve yourself. Team members shouldn't worry about goals or any of the metrics overall.

ohh no sorry I forgot to quote a post but I definitely think using MPM to look at other peoples' stats just to know how you're doing is always a good thing! I just meant the whole stressing out because someone else is underperforming, no team member gets paid enough to worry about that lol

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Im not sure if this is a response to me or just a general response, but you are correct i was meaning using the numbers as a new team member to look at the productivity of veteran team members as a benchmark, they should know what the productivity goal is anyway though, or just looking at your own numbers and trying to improve yourself. Team members shouldn't worry about goals or any of the metrics overall.

Unfortunately, management will challenge TM’s if they have high INF’s or take too long just to cover their asses. If a TM is given a 30 minute metric to do an OPU and those items are hiding in repacks in the BR or the store inventory is off and we don’t have the product the TM will hear about that goal and metric.

 

[MrT]

Unfortunately, management will challenge TM’s if they have high INF’s or take too long just to cover their asses. If a TM is given a 30 minute metric to do an OPU and those items are hiding in repacks in the BR or the store inventory is off and we don’t have the product the TM will hear about that goal and metric.

If the team lead is not aware of the situation, not helping with the infs, and letting opus get down to times that are difficult to complete, then your fulfillment team lead isnt doing there job. That's not on the team member. If that is a problem in your store then that sucks.

 

[MrPerfectNot]

Received our fingertip scanners late yesterday, and of course I am off today. So, we got them all set up and charging before I left and today's pack captain and TM's get to try them out. Always glad for a day off; at the same time the little boy in me says "Hey, I wanna try it first!"

 

[james0707]

So riddle me this: you can't find an item in your batch. You have used 40 minutes of the 3 hour window picking the first 22 items. At what point do you decide to INF the last item?

A) After you have looked in all easily accessible areas it might possibly be in (because those other areas are not worth the effort).

B) After you have looked in all easily accessible areas it might possibly be in (because the time it takes to look through those other areas would keep you from picking other orders in a timely manner).

C) After you have looked in every possible location that has a slight chance of having the item in it, and determined the store does not actually have the item.

There are two different types of items that I have two different types of procedures.

#1 - Non-clothing

First, I look in the location the product is supposed to be in. I look in the surrounding area to see if it is misplaced. For example, a Barbie might be on a different shelf.

Second, I check to see if the item was recently delivered and then I check the unopened freight in the back.

Third, I check the reshop in the front.

If I have not found the item by then, I INF the item.

#2 - Clothing

First, I look in the location the product is supposed to be in. I look in the surrounding area. I use the scanner to see if it can find the UPC.

Second, I ask a team member in style to see if they know where it could be.

Third, I use the scanner to scan all the unopened and unsorted boxes in the back.

If I have not found the item by then, I INF the item.

 

[Tarjayy]

Do you check the back room to see if the item is unlocated in a Waco?
Or if it’s down the apparel back room aisles?

 

[Bosch]

So riddle me this: you can't find an item in your batch. You have used 40 minutes of the 3 hour window picking the first 22 items. At what point do you decide to INF the last item?

A) After you have looked in all easily accessible areas it might possibly be in (because those other areas are not worth the effort).

B) After you have looked in all easily accessible areas it might possibly be in (because the time it takes to look through those other areas would keep you from picking other orders in a timely manner).

C) After you have looked in every possible location that has a slight chance of having the item in it, and determined the store does not actually have the item.

I usually do a combo of B & C. And add D) checking with people who either run the area and or have knowledge of the area that I don't. Entertainment as example. When looking for books, I check with them before digging into the boxes of un-pushed books to get an idea of where in the stack I need to start with vs just blindly digging in. Start there then move out to the ones I think that are less likely to have what I want. If we have it, I want to find it within reason.

No fucking way am I digging though pallets that are stacked front to back single file in the extra trailer of Xmas(seasonal) that came in over the last couple days. I use the flash light on my phone and look but nope not tearing them apart. Check the vehicles and call it a day.

That is the hard part to teach newbies, how product flows through the store and all the places it can be as it moves and how hard to look and when to call it a day and move on. I do a check list, floor location, GS, receiving, reshop, backroom, fitting room and around the general area it should live. I pick a batch and what I have trouble with goes to the end. So I can just check each location for each item without having to make like five loops through the store.

 

[JiJi]

This happened to us this week resulting in a carryover of over 300 units-we also had some very unhappy management.

Same here - I had 37 for the day when I came in yesterday, and it shit out 200+ around 9am
Kinda hard to pick for ship when literally all 7 of us are trying to keep up with OPU literally all day 🙃

ETA: Not to mention I had to yank a couple GMs to help out in OPU because we had an absolute crap ton of orders coming up on time too

 

[Frontlanegirl]

If the team lead is not aware of the situation, not helping with the infs, and letting opus get down to times that are difficult to complete, then your fulfillment team lead isnt doing there job. That's not on the team member. If that is a problem in your store then that sucks.

Again, it’s the TM who is going to catch flack and be the scapegoat because product is not pushed on time and inventory is not accurate and their INF rates are high.

 

[BurgerBob]

Yuup i heard style got bitched at today on radio.

 

[FlexMix]

Does anyone know why the barcode on OPU stickers scans as a different number than the order number on the sticker? When I scan a barcode on the OPU sticker in the myHelp app, it will show a number that isn't the order number and that the app can't find as an order, so what does that number represent?

 

[Ringwraith917]

Does anyone know why the barcode on OPU stickers scans as a different number than the order number on the sticker? When I scan a barcode on the OPU sticker in the myHelp app, it will show a number that isn't the order number and that the app can't find as an order, so what does that number represent?

The barcode is unique to the bag it is attached to. It tells the system exactly what was scanned into that bag, which may not be the whole order.
That's why its important to not just reprint the same sticker for multiple bags

 

[FlexMix]

The barcode is unique to the bag it is attached to. It tells the system exactly what was scanned into that bag, which may not be the whole order.
That's why its important to not just reprint the same sticker for multiple bags

That makes sense. Thank you!

 

[Job Trotter]

Have any other stores not received any ship to store packages this week? The ship to store app doesn't even show any packages on the way. Can ship to store be turned on or off like we consistently do with grocery pick-up?

 

[vngoghlvr]

They cut off Ship to Store until after the holidays. I'm not mad about it at all.

 

[vngoghlvr]

Whoever made these deserves to be shot

 

[Tessa120]

#2 - Clothing

First, I look in the location the product is supposed to be in. I look in the surrounding area. I use the scanner to see if it can find the UPC.

Second, I ask a team member in style to see if they know where it could be.

Third, I use the scanner to scan all the unopened and unsorted boxes in the back.

If I have not found the item by then, I INF the item.

Having had to look for clothes for holds as well as helping SFS/OPU, you wimp out easily. That's a pretty pathetic look pattern.

As someone else said, the WACOs themselves, not just boxes in the back. Areas on the floor with similar items (like UT and the jeans in WF), like sleepwear/graphic tees, leggings in hosiery and leggings in RTW, girls in boys and vice versa, large size girls or boys mixed in with RTW/mens, graphic shirts and socks and jewelry that ended up in Electronics or vice versa, socks and (this time of year) gloves and hats that ended up in bullseye playground, mens and womens watches swapped, and a million other things. If you need a pet costume, see if one got separated from its packaging and ended up in NIT. Ditto for toy dress up costume.

And you shouldn't need someone holding your hand, so you should know to look in all these areas already, and be doing so already.

 

[MrT]

Again, it’s the TM who is going to catch flack and be the scapegoat because product is not pushed on time and inventory is not accurate and their INF rates are high.

Thats shitty and i can see that as being a problem in many stores, hell its even been a problem in my store at some points. If i tell someone to inf it thats on me not my tm. If i see items they havent called for then thats a different story. I will also call out team members if they are not trying to use an rfid or check reshop/ fitting room ect.

 

[Bosch]

Have any other stores not received any ship to store packages this week? The ship to store app doesn't even show any packages on the way. Can ship to store be turned on or off like we consistently do with grocery pick-up?

We got bombed on Tuesday, just a few today. But Tuesday has always been the heaviest day of the week. The rest of the week its a trickle of stuff.