MEGATHREAD Flexible Fulfillment

[SFSFun]

@No I in Team

The part that really kills me is all of these changes are coming under the guise of "process simplification" (that's literally what it's called). Adding steps and trying to fix processes that aren't broken isn't simplifying anything.

 

[slowhands]

I really feel for all my fellow SFS team members when I watch what you all have to do just get an item out the door. You guys often work way too hard getting product through the process.

And making it worse we are only considered worthy of minimum wage now. Speaking for my store at least, we work much harder than pretty much anyone in the store. And drive a lot of sales as well.

 

[hufflepuff]

And making it worse we are only considered worthy of minimum wage now. Speaking for my store at least, we work much harder than pretty much anyone in the store. And drive a lot of sales as well.

Yeah, I'm still pretty bitter about this paygrade situation.

 

[slowhands]

Yeah, I'm still pretty bitter about this paygrade situation.

You're not the only one.

 

[SrTLall]

Apparently an update is coming to Pack&Ship on 10/23 that will stop collates from printing automatically. You'll have to scan the tier of the cart that you want to work on and it will print out the collates from that tier. You won't be able to print more until they're all packed. Some stores are also getting extra printers.

As far as I can tell, as long as the collates are waved, you can print as many as you want. Not being able to print an entire cart is annoying though. We have 4 locs/cart, rather unsimplifying. Tech on CSC said packing will remain on PDAs for quite a while since the pack & ship app is so buggy ATM.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

So my first time picking SFS (We launched a week ago, and are top 10 in the company, with hours estimated, to be 1/5 of what we are actually pulling). So this is fun... lol

Anyway, I went and picked for the first time today. And I can say there is no better position to be in to find "Opportunities" on the Sales Floor.

 

[slowhands]

So my first time picking SFS (We launched a week ago, and are top 10 in the company, with hours estimated, to be 1/5 of what we are actually pulling). So this is fun... lol

Anyway, I went and picked for the first time today. And I can say there is no better position to be in to find "Opportunities" on the Sales Floor.

Took me a few seconds to get that. But yes, definitely! You see all the misstocks, bad zoning, poorly set planograms, etc. Some days it is a bit depressing.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

Took me a few seconds to get that. But yes, definitely! You see all the misstocks, bad zoning, poorly set planograms, etc. Some days it is a bit depressing.

well on day one it is clearly missed research (Which is funny because its inventory day).

 

[Bosch]

my fun is looking for an item not finding it double checking in My work and seeing we have zero on hand.. Gee thanks.. All were softlines..

 

[Lazy]

my fun is looking for an item not finding it double checking in My work and seeing we have zero on hand.. Gee thanks.. All were softlines..

When you batch it subtracts from on-hand so you technically have one on hand.

 

[Lazy]

@mobilelady ... Is there any chance we can add an RFID button when picking to auto open checkpoint with that dpci rather then typing it in. Spent an hour and half today typing dpci's 3 times, once on floor and then two in stockroom.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

my fun is looking for an item not finding it double checking in My work and seeing we have zero on hand.. Gee thanks.. All were softlines..

I had this too, was Infants, tho. Also looked at last research date (---), Autopull date (--- ). As well as last sold, (Three weeks ago). It was also on sale, and in the Ad.

These are the people who are a higher pay grade than me, because they are more valuable. Yet I can see their flaws within seconds of setting foot in their department.

this was me helping train Ship from Store, Picking, as well as packing, 2 days after I was taught. (I am the Stores lone Signing TM).

Target is going to turn me into a god damn asshole.

 

[hufflepuff]

My personal favorite is when the item you need sold late the night before or sometime early that morning. After your store received the order for what was seemingly the only OH.

And of course the fact that everytime I can't find an item in market, theres a 98% chance I'm going to find it as a baffle in the back. The amount of errors/damaged/etc since market went (partially) E2E is amazing.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

My personal favorite is when the item you need sold late the night before or sometime early that morning. After your store received the order for what was seemingly the only OH.

And of course the fact that everytime I can't find an item in market, theres a 98% chance I'm going to find it as a baffle in the back. The amount of errors/damaged/etc since market went (partially) E2E is amazing.

It took me literally one day, to see how E2E could destroy any hope Target has, integrating its stores into its Internet Sales with an E2E build.

And I actually work at a store that is seen as a "Gold Standard, in our entire Group", etc... etc.....

etc...

If that is even remotely true, we are doomed.

 

[JohnSith373]

Yeah, I'm still pretty bitter about this paygrade situation.

You're not the only one.

Isn’t Flexible Fulfillment at the lower paygrade but still paid the job differential? Are we not getting the minimum + $0.50 ?

 

[SFSFun]

my fun is looking for an item not finding it double checking in My work and seeing we have zero on hand.. Gee thanks.. All were softlines..

I had this too, was Infants, tho. Also looked at last research date (---), Autopull date (--- ). As well as last sold, (Three weeks ago). It was also on sale, and in the Ad.

It's really important to note that the item is subtracted from the on-hands when the order is received at your store. So zero on-hand means you'll have zero when you pick what's needed for the order. If you cancel it, the on-hands will increase again within a few minutes of the batch being finished.

 

[mobilelady]

@mobilelady ... Is there any chance we can add an RFID button when picking to auto open checkpoint with that dpci rather then typing it in. Spent an hour and half today typing dpci's 3 times, once on floor and then two in stockroom.

Yes this is coming for 2018!

 

[No I in Team]

It's really important to note that the item is subtracted from the on-hands when the order is received at your store. So zero on-hand means you'll have zero when you pick what's needed for the order. If you cancel it, the on-hands will increase again within a few minutes of the batch being finished.

Does this system reject orders upon a low threshold on hand count?

 

[JohnSith373]

Does this system reject orders upon a low threshold on hand count?

Each DPCI has its own threshold based on previous sales, SPU/SFS and inventory statistics which we cannot know. They said the usually threshold to allow SPU/SFS is 1 for everything except for when it has a display model.
Before the order is sent to your store, the system checks the on-hand count and threshold for the DPCI. If you got 1 before the order, you’ll have a 0 on-hand count when you look at the order. If it’s a -1 on-hand count, it means a guest got the item between the order drop and you fulfilling the order.

 

[SFSFun]

Does this system reject orders upon a low threshold on hand count?

From what I've seen, OPU has a higher threshold than SFS. I once picked and packed an order that was addressed to my own store as an STS order because the threshold for OPU was too low.

 

[No I in Team]

Each DPCI has its own threshold based on previous sales, SPU/SFS and inventory statistics which we cannot know. They said the usually threshold to allow SPU/SFS is 1 for everything except for when it has a display model.
Before the order is sent to your store, the system checks the on-hand count and threshold for the DPCI. If you got 1 before the order, you’ll have a 0 on-hand count when you look at the order. If it’s a -1 on-hand count, it means a guest got the item between the order drop and you fulfilling the order.

Considering our inventory issues and system limitations, the threshold levels appear too low IMO.

In my past, I always used case qty multiples, replenishment lead times, and current demand with forecast requirements in my calculations regarding minimum inventory level. The minimum would incorporate a "safety level" to meet the above plus additional turn around time if there were special circumstances. Retail is really no different than manufacturing other than some life cycles are much shorter (seasonal). On the surface it appears to be much easier to manage the levels of inventory given these short life cycles.

At some point, we will have to decide who the A, B, and C guest when it comes to merchandise availability. Once you hit each threshold, the order would be have to be refused/kicked out as not to cannibalize your source of business (retail walk in, SPU, SFS) as each carries a percentage of your total sales.

 

[No I in Team]

From what I've seen, OPU has a higher threshold than SFS. I once picked and packed an order that was addressed to my own store as an STS order because the threshold for OPU was too low.

That's odd.

 

[ahoy]

So my store started Target Restock today and we switched over to FedEx today (though I think every store did?). I left work today with a headache.

 

[SFSFun]

So my store started Target Restock today and we switched over to FedEx today (though I think every store did?). I left work today with a headache.

No lol we definitely didn't do either of those.

I have a love/hate relationship with our UPS hub and account manager, so I'm not sure how I'd feel about switching to FedEx. Hopefully they'll be more cooperative this Christmas if they know that switching to FedEx is a real threat.

 

[hufflepuff]

Our FedEx switch is next week.