Archived I applied to become a perishables assistant (PA) at my store

  • Thread starter Pfreshbackroomguy
  • Start date
  • Replies 88
  • Views 17K
Status
Not open for further replies.
The 3 items that increase basket size in Market are of course milk, eggs, and bread. Your ETL sounds a like they got a butt chewing from your STL or DTL. There is a TON of focus on basket size right now. The implementation of door attendants (in many districts) on Monday is proof of that. The door attendant has 3 duties. 1) Greet the guest with CIHYFS, 2) "Can I get you a cart or a basket", and 3) "Can I help you with a Target red or debit card today?" Your ETL is extra nervous because your DTL shops at your store. Basket size! Basket size! Basket size!
 
No kidding. Our dtl shopped at another store at night, carrying a handful of stuff, not a single tm said cihyfs or offer a basket or cart. She walked by 18 tms', all said or did nothing to help her. Then the dtl went to the lod & blasted them. My lod got a text from that lod.
I keep the handbaskets full in seasonal, with 2 empty shopping carts across from trees(not blocking aisle). I told my team where they were, if they need one for a guest.
 
Being a PA, imo, is the most degrading position in the store. You basically do all the work your CTL is supposed to do, run around like a b****, and get paid *almost* the same as a regular salesfloor TM. What, an extra $1.50 to do more work that your getting paid crap to do in the first place? No thanks.
 
Toss up between GSA and PA... GSA is a lot less 'physical' work, but, it requires dealing with more guests and more unruly guests. PA is a lot more physical work and more technical, but, less work with guests; it also has a more 'global' aspect to it IMO.
 
Yeah, I guess it depends on which do you prefer.

Both are easy so to speak if you have the right mindset and have a good routine down. It also depends on how good your team is. Both can be frustrating, but the front end shouldn't be as bad now that fourth quarter is over.
 
Yeah, I guess it depends on which do you prefer.

Both are easy so to speak if you have the right mindset and have a good routine down. It also depends on how good your team is. Both can be frustrating, but the front end shouldn't be as bad now that fourth quarter is over.

Both are easy in the sense that nothing at Target (at the store level) is "difficult". We're not talking rocket science here. However, of the positions one could hold at the store, these are two of those most difficult when all things are balanced (most importantly, pay).

I told my boss the other day, when he asked me how I was feeling about a new position I was "promoted" to, "I'm not performing brain surgery, it's nothing a trained monkey couldn't handle." Not kidding, exactly what I said, he just laughed and nodded. I rather like my job, I think I'll enjoy the next step or two up the ladder as well, but it's not "hard" work.
 
I don't think that I would call either easy... As a PA you will be earning every cent that they pay you, and then some!!! It isn't easy in any sense of the word... Here's my day

4:15am Wake up, eat cereal, take shower, put pants on...

5:00-5:30am Pull pallets from receiving to floor (usually 6 +1 banana pallet)

5:30-7:30 Work pallets and backstock once completely worked

7:30-8:00 Great by 8 rush to make sure that everything is off of the floor

8:00-9:00 Up and Ready by 9 rush to make sure that there are no outs that we have backstock of, and that all displays are appropriately full

9:00-9:15 Walk up and ready with LOD

9:15-9:45 Lunch

9:45-11:00 Finish backstocking anything left over from that mornings truck

11:00-12:30 Order

12:30-12:45 Usually the only 15 I get... if I'm lucky

12:45-1:30 Spot filling to ensure that closer will be set up for a successful night and Fresh and Full by Four

1:30 End Work


And don't forget the extra fun tasks that get thrown in there like making a bale, working out freight cuz over night didn't come clean, do grocery case stock, freezer didn't get worked, meat dept called in, the list goes on..


It's systematic and you get a routine down... my day doesn't ever really change! However, it is not an easy job!
 
Last edited:
At least an hour, usually 1:15... I am a Food Assistant though (SuperT version of PA) so I order for the produce department. Order guide is 40 pages.

At my store produce occupies a 16 section wall, 3 refrigerated tables (each about the size of a pFresh bunker) and 3 dry tables.



My order time is very typical for produce orders. Other orders go muck quicker

Meat 45 minutes (17 pages)

Deli 25 minutes (14 pages)

Bakery 30 minutes (18 pages)

Food Ave 30 seconds (7 pages)
 
At least an hour, usually 1:15... I am a Food Assistant though (SuperT version of PA) so I order for the produce department. Order guide is 40 pages.

At my store produce occupies a 16 section wall, 3 refrigerated tables (each about the size of a pFresh bunker) and 3 dry tables.



My order time is very typical for produce orders. Other orders go muck quicker

Meat 45 minutes (17 pages)

Deli 25 minutes (14 pages)

Bakery 30 minutes (18 pages)

Food Ave 30 seconds (7 pages)

I work at a Super as well, and I have only ordered for Produce once, but to be honest I didn't know what was in the back and what was on the floor. It was a "Guy forgot to order, you gotta do it" kind of thing. It took me about 30 minutes. I pretty much just ordered identically like the week before.

Are you the only guy that does the ordering/work truck for produce? If so, you should know what you have in the back and what came in or not, which should cut down on order time.

Meat shouldn't take 45 minutes, btw
 
I work at a Super as well, and I have only ordered for Produce once, but to be honest I didn't know what was in the back and what was on the floor. It was a "Guy forgot to order, you gotta do it" kind of thing. It took me about 30 minutes. I pretty much just ordered identically like the week before.

Are you the only guy that does the ordering/work truck for produce? If so, you should know what you have in the back and what came in or not, which should cut down on order time.

Meat shouldn't take 45 minutes, btw

Might be because my store carries a wider variety of items, we get fewer/more trucks, our volume is larger (we are very close to the top sales wise) My order time is very near what my TL who has been ordering for 20-30 years takes to do his.

Little bit of info is produce sales are between 50 and 60k per week, truck case count is normally about 400 and we get 5 trucks per week. I work all 3 three trucks during the week and every other weekend (trucks on both Sat and Sun)

From what I have seen and heard my order times are right in line with what is normal, if I rush I can get it done in a little under an hour, but, normally 1-1:15. I'm rarely above 110% receipt to sales, our profit is amazing! and we have been really good about outs and amount of backstock. Everything seems to be working smoothly and I can't ever see my order taking 30 minutes, you just couldn't be thorough enough to make a good order.
 
lol welp, that's it. Your store probably doubles mine as far as sales goes. Is it just you working the trucks?
 
Last edited:
Sit tight. The mgt team had a big conference call from corp & it was ugly. Alot of talk on store being 100% green or mgt team goes bye-bye & Tina's visits to stores.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if your availability is mark against you. Our store has two full-time PAs with open availability and we work almost exclusively opening shifts.

Getting our freshness scores up has been a huge opportunity for us. All of our Steritech visits have been green in Pfresh and we've definitely gotten better at finding short-dated product outside the horseshoe (yogurt and Lunchables particuluarly), but guest survey scores still hover around high red/low yellow. So if that's the trend, I can see Spot coming down hard...
 
So all stores have to be 100% green with nothing found from steritech or they will be fired? If that is the case, they corp can do something unplesent to themselves. In my store, there is always expired foods found in the dry market. It happens because people dont think it nescessary to check the dates, escpacally if they are pressured to a lot of stuff done in a short amount of time. If they just had a group of people go through all of grocery ( mean all of it, not just a fre issies), including p fresh (freezers included) once a week, there wouldnt be any expired products on the floor.

I was helping our GSA push candy and gum last night and she said we needed to crack down on FIFO at the lanes. I found gum at one lane that expired in 2010! D-:

then they bungholes.

(laughs like Beavis)
 
lol welp, that's it. Your store probably doubles mine as far as sales goes. Is it just you working the trucks?

Two on mornings when we get a truck the following day and three when the truck is 2 days worth of merch.

Daily schedule is normally

2 Truck 4:00a-12:30

1 Fruit Cutter 6:00a-2:30

1 Mid 10:30a-7:00

1 Closer 12:30p-9:00
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top