For the Fulfillment TLs out there, how do you help improve INF. We have had a hard time getting below 8% in OPU. SFS has been around 8 or 9%. I know I can coach the team but 80 to 90 percent of my team have red INF for OPU. Our Freight is pretty current, only a few vehicles role daily. The salesfloor is a wreck and the only audits done are the guided audits. Any ideas are welcomed. Thanks.
This is going to be a long one.
A couple of things to ask. Because they all have different potential answers. Likely its not just one problem that leads to INF being bad otherwise you could probably figure it out yourself. Ive partnered with my ETL, SD, AND fellow TLs to get it under control.
My INF when i was the SFS TL up until about a month ago was around 5% SFS and 2% OPU/Grocery

1. Are they not finding the items because there is not enough time to look.
2. Are they not finding items because they are not looking well enough.
-feel rushed-
-dont know where to look-
-dont care-
3. Are they using all the tools available
-RFID gun-
-asking dbos for help-
-asking leaders for help-
4. Are they not finding items because the inventory is off.

My team needs to ask a leader for permission to INF. When they do they should already have the information ready.
-What it is * i know they should know this but I've had some tms forget what they are looking for and im like if you don't know you will never find it * this would be a documented conversation because they are not paying attention.
-Last delivery ,sold, and audit dates.
-how many on hand.

When i had a problem with style infs i had to partner with my style tls and they approved style INFs.
Same thing with grocery.

You said your freight isnt too far behind, but ive had problems with that before and had to make sure the leftover freight was properly dated and not mixed. Its a lot of work and will probably get pushback but it helped tremendously.

Productivity also effects INF if they feel like they dont have time to properly look for items. My OPU team is scheduled 5 hours shifts and theyre tasked with 250 units a shift. 200 is probably my minimum acceptable number. If they are taking multiple batches it shouldnt be a problem.

Inventory problems are probably your most difficult to fix, but tbh its usually not as bad as it may seem.
-If your backroom is a mess probably have a bunch of unlocated items in the back. With the company focused on pull % hopefully getting items out of your backroom will help you fix that as they go.
-Make sure items being flexed on the sales floor are located and labeled.
-Again if style is bad make sure they are going through the RFID reject report otherwise the RFID process isnt doing anything .

In summary,
Make sure you are available for your team to help them, this was the biggest improvement for me. If you are not already figure out how you can be available and not stuck jumping in to pick or needed to pack to get your goals done.
I used my time to do a bunch of small tasks to help my other leaders so that they could help me. Since the 90 minute goal INF has definitely been more difficult to manage, especially now with the less hours and still high amount of OPU/SHIP.
If you have more concerns or want more specifics to anything i mentioned you can ask here or PM me is fine. I always enjoy working with other leaders and stores to see how things are done.
 
I doubt anyone here knows so I suppose this is rhetorical, but does this MPM outage include looking at carryover, too? Because if so, yikes.
 
How do you guys handle carrier pickup? SD wants each pallet to have its own label, but if the first UPS guy comes at 2:30 and doesn't pick it all up, do I scan out the pallets he takes and give a reason why all weren't picked up, then rescan at 4:30, or should I push to stick with one label all day that we scan out at 4:30?
 
How do you guys handle carrier pickup? SD wants each pallet to have its own label, but if the first UPS guy comes at 2:30 and doesn't pick it all up, do I scan out the pallets he takes and give a reason why all weren't picked up, then rescan at 4:30, or should I push to stick with one label all day that we scan out at 4:30?
We use FedEx, so not sure if it’s the same, but we always do 1 pallet sheet per pallet.
 
If the SD wants each pallet to have its own label, then just scan out all the pallets that they did take and use the truck was full option. We just scan everything to one pallet since we're only a 1 pack station store and we're normally the first pickup for our driver. Our driver has the regular UPS vehicle but he gets a tiny trailer that attaches to the back of it and we can fit like 6 pallets in there.
 
I told my team I wasn't coming back today since the store hadn't. The previous lead bailed without telling them and I did not want to do the same thing. The hardest part about leaving is my team. No issue walking away from Target, but the people are a different story. I've had several of the sweetest texts from them. ❤️

I know Target (my store at least) wasn't a fan of my leadership style, but what are you without a strong team? What sealed the deal in quitting for me was that neither my SD or ETL reached out once to see how my daughter was doing or if we were ok. Why would I make myself stressed and miserable for people who don't give a flying fuck? At least 3 more people are leaving with a lot of others looking to go too. Target won't do anything, but maybe they would be able to retain good people if they cultivated those relationships.
 
I told my team I wasn't coming back today since the store hadn't. The previous lead bailed without telling them and I did not want to do the same thing. The hardest part about leaving is my team. No issue walking away from Target, but the people are a different story. I've had several of the sweetest texts from them. ❤️

I know Target (my store at least) wasn't a fan of my leadership style, but what are you without a strong team? What sealed the deal in quitting for me was that neither my SD or ETL reached out once to see how my daughter was doing or if we were ok. Why would I make myself stressed and miserable for people who don't give a flying fuck? At least 3 more people are leaving with a lot of others looking to go too. Target won't do anything, but maybe they would be able to retain good people if they cultivated those relationships.
Those days of Target are gone.
 
heard the fulfillment "captain" saying I was "taking forever" on OPUs, behind my back of course. My pick rate is higher than hers and shes doing SHIP FROM STORE. starting to hate the people in my department
:( The new TL at my store took half my tasks (RTS, cleaning, supply audit, to name a few) and told me some of the other ones I do aren't important, and that I need to only pick. Wow, okay, fuck me I guess.
Also - we had a super busy day monday and I pushed myself so hard I gave myself shin splints and pulled my knees. I know most of my team is exhausted and sore, and I also know we had to pull the entire store to make SFS 4:30 on time that day. She thinks it was only fulfillment people who did it, and was trying to tell us that we need to move and pick like that all the time. I told her off. She didn't care. She has no compassion for her team - all she cares about is the metrics.
I'm looking at either moving back to toys/plano, or getting a new job at this point.
 
Our Lead told us that the diamond hazard labels would be a thing of the past and they would start printing out on the shipping label. Initially, she told us it would be the beginning of March, but I haven’t seen it yet-we are still using the stickers. Anyone have any info on this?
 
Our Lead told us that the diamond hazard labels would be a thing of the past and they would start printing out on the shipping label. Initially, she told us it would be the beginning of March, but I haven’t seen it yet-we are still using the stickers. Anyone have any info on this?
Your lead wasn't making this up - it was communicated in the March planner, I think, and was supposed to have gone into effect recently. Not sure why it hasn't. But like so many things, 2 day shipping is a promise, not a guarantee.
 
Our Lead told us that the diamond hazard labels would be a thing of the past and they would start printing out on the shipping label. Initially, she told us it would be the beginning of March, but I haven’t seen it yet-we are still using the stickers. Anyone have any info on this?
It was communicated that we wouldnt need them back in march. Recent update got rid of the need for the arrows but for now still need diamond. I dont think there is am eta on when diamond wont be neccessary afaik.
 
I actually hate the no arrows thing, because now the box-printed arrows may contradict the diamonds, so you have to put the correct arrow orientation stickers over the ones on the boxes anyway, if the box has to be turned on its side (common with S5s).
 
.... I used to keep the OPU room clear of strays, keep supplies in check, transfer badly placed items, organize all the large items/move flats etc for the driveup team, none of it was appreciated and every time I left for a day they'd just fuck it up again. ...
👏 Literally same - but I guess now "THoSe aRe TL oNLy TaSKs" 🙄
 
Our Lead told us that the diamond hazard labels would be a thing of the past and they would start printing out on the shipping label. Initially, she told us it would be the beginning of March, but I haven’t seen it yet-we are still using the stickers. Anyone have any info on this?
When ever spot says a change is coming in a certain month its normally the next month it actually gets changed
 
So I fucked up today. My batch had like 6 items I couldn't find just in the first 15 or so tasks so I was going to reset my cart and go back for the RFID to start over... then I notice I'm about to hit overtime and I don't want to get in trouble so I just quickly backstock the items I picked... I put some in reshop on my way out that I couldn't backstock (This was a bad idea but I was nervous about OT)... then I check one last time and the cart is still showing up in the packing screen even though I reset the cart, meaning I just put back 8 items that are counted as being needed to pack... and obviously I couldn't stay to fix my mistake without easily another 20 minutes, so I just told the closer and explained then left. Which means they will have to either find or cancel those items while packing, including at least one they'll only find if they check reshop.

I wonder if I'm going to get yelled at over this... what do you guys think? The person closing is the type who is always complaining about minor mistakes others make to the TL.
Why not just ask someone to finish your cart. Instead of making someone else have to go through and do the work youve already done. This is one of the reasons cart reset is going away. Will probably get talked to but you wont get fired over this unless it becomes a habit.
 
So I fucked up today. My batch had like 6 items I couldn't find just in the first 15 or so tasks so I was going to reset my cart and go back for the RFID to start over... then I notice I'm about to hit overtime and I don't want to get in trouble so I just quickly backstock the items I picked... I put some in reshop on my way out that I couldn't backstock (This was a bad idea but I was nervous about OT)... then I check one last time and the cart is still showing up in the packing screen even though I reset the cart, meaning I just put back 8 items that are counted as being needed to pack... and obviously I couldn't stay to fix my mistake without easily another 20 minutes, so I just told the closer and explained then left. Which means they will have to either find or cancel those items while packing, including at least one they'll only find if they check reshop.

I wonder if I'm going to get yelled at over this... what do you guys think? The person closing is the type who is always complaining about minor mistakes others make to the TL.
This is why you use "skip item" and not INF right away. If you left your cart paused, you could've had someone else go through it and finish it.
 
So I fucked up today. My batch had like 6 items I couldn't find just in the first 15 or so tasks so I was going to reset my cart and go back for the RFID to start over... then I notice I'm about to hit overtime and I don't want to get in trouble so I just quickly backstock the items I picked... I put some in reshop on my way out that I couldn't backstock (This was a bad idea but I was nervous about OT)... then I check one last time and the cart is still showing up in the packing screen even though I reset the cart, meaning I just put back 8 items that are counted as being needed to pack... and obviously I couldn't stay to fix my mistake without easily another 20 minutes, so I just told the closer and explained then left. Which means they will have to either find or cancel those items while packing, including at least one they'll only find if they check reshop.

I wonder if I'm going to get yelled at over this... what do you guys think? The person closing is the type who is always complaining about minor mistakes others make to the TL.
Hoping it was a standard and not an OPU. Just pause the cart next time...
 
It was a ship batch. We're not allowed to leave paused carts at my store (because it drops the pick rate) and everyone was either in a batch or packing so I couldn't ask someone to finish it.

I could have just left the reset cart as is and it would have been packable, but I put everything back before I realized that. It's something pretty new, I remember you used to be able to reset an unfinished batch and all items would disappear from it. Not sure what changed?

What I've noticed is that when you reset a SFS cart, it will only reset, i.e., make you pick again, the orders that were incomplete in that batch. So, if John Smith's order was one single item that you found in that batch before you reset, it would show up as packable because there wasn't a reason to reset it. But if Jane Jones' order had two items in it, one of which you found and one of which was one of those items you couldn't find, the cart reset would make you repick Jane's found item and the potential INF because the order wasn't "closed" per se. Those items that you put back but showed as packable were part of closed orders, so only the incomplete order dropped back in your queue.

So, yeah, like everyone else said, maybe next time, either ask someone to take over the cart or, if you do reset the cart, leave the items in your cart and explain the situation to the next picker, so they can take those items in your cart, as those items will probably be in their next cart and not have to risk a guest taking them.
 
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