Archived How are ship from store orders distributed?

[unknown]

My store is in a Midwestern state. I was packing today. I had an order for a Christmas tree. And it's going to a town near New York City.

What kind of shipping logarithm does Target use? That's nearly 800 miles.

Between here and there, you would pass almost 100 Targets.

I don't get it. Every Target, except maybe in Hawaii, carries that tree.

Why?

 

[Lazy]

My store is in a Midwestern state. I was packing today. I had an order for a Christmas tree. And it's going to a town near New York City.

What kind of shipping logarithm does Target use? That's nearly 800 miles.

Between here and there, you would pass almost 100 Targets.

I don't get it. Every Target, except maybe in Hawaii, carries that tree.

Why?

I've wondered since the beginning. When this first rolled out it said we would only be getting local orders if we were closer then the DC.... But I noticed right away we were sending all over the US

 

[sprinklesontop]

My former company explains it like this: The fulfillment order should never come from a location that has excellent "turn" on the product. (That's like biting the hand that feeds you.) The order will most likely generate for a store that struggles to sell to their own consumer base. Also..... a fulfillment order will also generate from a store that has minimal "on-hands" (ie: items returned to your store that weren't originally sold in your store).....this helps clear out your inventory of "one of this/ one of that". It keeps your Softlines floor "cleaner" and your Hardlines floor won't have NOPs.

 

[SrTLall]

In addition to what others said, orders need to be somewhat evenly distributed throughout the stores depending on their SFS volume. The stores surrounding NYC could not possibly fullfill all of the orders coming from NYC, so, other regions need to chip in and help deliver the goods. My district is in the middle of nowhere but we have a lot of mid-volume SFS stores in our district, so we usually end up shipping everywhere, although a majority of our orders do go within the region.

 

[SFSFun]

Local orders are prioritized, and there seems to be some weighing of certain stores over others, but for the most part it's random.

Probably 3/4 of our orders stay in the state or surrounding states, close enough that they can be sent directly from our UPS hub to the guest's local hub so they receive it in 1-2 days.

But then we also get the random orders like a pack of Oreos to North Dakota and I'm left scratching my head...

 

[unknown]

Local orders are prioritized, and there seems to be some weighing of certain stores over others, but for the most part it's random.

Probably 3/4 of our orders stay in the state or surrounding states, close enough that they can be sent directly from our UPS hub to the guest's local hub so they receive it in 1-2 days.

But then we also get the random orders like a pack of Oreos to North Dakota and I'm left scratching my head...

I just don't see how it's cost efficient to send a Christmas tree from Indiana to New York.

 

[PackAndCry]

Also..... a fulfillment order will also generate from a store that has minimal "on-hands" (ie: items returned to your store that weren't originally sold in your store).....this helps clear out your inventory of "one of this/ one of that".

Doesn't that mean we also have a higher chance of getting an order for something that was stolen/on hand due to an inventory error?

 

[sprinklesontop]

Doesn't that mean we also have a higher chance of getting an order for something that was stolen/on hand due to an inventory error?

Yep... it can happen.

 

[SFSFun]

I just don't see how it's cost efficient to send a Christmas tree from Indiana to New York.

They probably have a flat rate per package contract with UPS/FedEx.

Doesn't that mean we also have a higher chance of getting an order for something that was stolen/on hand due to an inventory error?

They were describing another retailer. Ours doesn't necessarily work like that.

 

[PackAndCry]

They were describing another retailer. Ours doesn't necessarily work like that.

I wouldn't be surprised if it did work like that, it certainly seems like we take the last one of something fairly often, especially in softlines. We have one pair of Cat and Jack pants we know we don't have, but we must be the only store that the system thinks has it, because even though we INF it and zero it out multiple times a week, it drops back into our inventory when we do RFID scan. Is that even how RFID scan works? I swear, that one pair of pants has caused so much frustration.

 

[Times Up]

I've wondered since the beginning. When this first rolled out it said we would only be getting local orders if we were closer then the DC.... But I noticed right away we were sending all over the US

Interesting. Last year I had an order filled by a store over 30 miles away. I live closer to at least a half a dozen stores AND closer to a DC.

 

[Bosch]

My store is in a Midwestern state. I was packing today. I had an order for a Christmas tree. And it's going to a town near New York City.

What kind of shipping logarithm does Target use? That's nearly 800 miles.

Between here and there, you would pass almost 100 Targets.

I don't get it. Every Target, except maybe in Hawaii, carries that tree.

Why?

That is nothing 4 boxes of duraflame logs, I am in the Pacific Northwest or just about as west coast as you can get. Be on the beach of the Pacific ocean in an hour from work with traffic. Shipped those 4 boxes of logs to upstate New York.. 70lbs of logs to New York and I frequently see east coast orders go out. Almost like its pretty local to my state and those directly around me then East Coast! I don't get it.

xero I know one pink sweatshirt dress thing we had the same issue, we finally got the RFID gun to work and that is what I picked to search out, cause everyone one of us has INF'd that damn thing. I found it, it was a grey one they had used the pink one to make an RFID tag for.. I have a feeling that is some of the craziness we are seeing on some items.. They used a different DCPI to make an RFID tag, you would never find it. But it pops back up for orders since the RFID gun picks up the tag..

 

[PackAndCry]

xero I know one pink sweatshirt dress thing we had the same issue, we finally got the RFID gun to work and that is what I picked to search out, cause everyone one of us has INF'd that damn thing. I found it, it was a grey one they had used the pink one to make an RFID tag for.. I have a feeling that is some of the craziness we are seeing on some items.. They used a different DCPI to make an RFID tag, you would never find it. But it pops back up for orders since the RFID gun picks up the tag..

Thanks for this, I'll suggest doing this when I have a chance. ("Where did you hear we could do that?" "Oh, I overheard it in the breakroom...")

 

[SurefireWolf]

I wouldn't be surprised if it did work like that, it certainly seems like we take the last one of something fairly often, especially in softlines. We have one pair of Cat and Jack pants we know we don't have, but we must be the only store that the system thinks has it, because even though we INF it and zero it out multiple times a week, it drops back into our inventory when we do RFID scan. Is that even how RFID scan works? I swear, that one pair of pants has caused so much frustration.

It could be that the item is missing but the tag is sitting under a baseboard. I've found at least 3 tags like this while using the RFID tracker.

 

[SFSFun]

It could be that the item is missing but the tag is sitting under a baseboard. I've found at least 3 tags like this while using the RFID tracker.

There's dozens of tags under the shoes aisles.

 

[slowhands]

I wouldn't be surprised if it did work like that, it certainly seems like we take the last one of something fairly often, especially in softlines. We have one pair of Cat and Jack pants we know we don't have, but we must be the only store that the system thinks has it, because even though we INF it and zero it out multiple times a week, it drops back into our inventory when we do RFID scan. Is that even how RFID scan works? I swear, that one pair of pants has caused so much frustration.

Make a wanted poster to hang at the fitting room. Reward could be a free drink at Target Cafe.

 

[Noiinteam]

I wouldn't be surprised if it did work like that, it certainly seems like we take the last one of something fairly often, especially in softlines. We have one pair of Cat and Jack pants we know we don't have, but we must be the only store that the system thinks has it, because even though we INF it and zero it out multiple times a week, it drops back into our inventory when we do RFID scan. Is that even how RFID scan works? I swear, that one pair of pants has caused so much frustration.

You need to buy them and return them to a different store!

 

[Bosch]

It could be that the item is missing but the tag is sitting under a baseboard. I've found at least 3 tags like this while using the RFID tracker.

Damn didn't even think of that!