Archived if your working too slow or too fast

[redcounts]

If you are working too slow would a tl or lod say hey you need to speed up? What about working way too fast? Like zoning 58 isles in a half hour?

Just wondering. I know this is random. Sometimes I don't finish tasks on time because of backup cashier/calls/ guests not to mention I'm very anal about where things go.

Team members put items in the wrong place at my store all the time, and I take my time to fix it. It seems to happen on a daily basis and I have told my manager about it.

How do you guys zone? Do you fix stuff and put it where it goes or hurry and just make it look neat to finish on time?

I guess I just need some advice lol. I want to finish all the time on time. But sometimes it's impossible when everything is stocked in the wrong spot.

 

[masterofalltrades]

i would say its a balance. if its in the wrong spot but the price is close just make it look neat. if the wrong item cost way more than what the shelf says then yes by all means fix it. i do my zones a bit unconventional. i start with the really messy heavily shopped aisles first, because they take the longest and will need touchups. the best thing to do is pace yourself,( i like to use my phone's stopwatch) spend no more than 2 minutes per 6ft section. work one 6ft section at a time so you dont get overwhelmed. use a 3 tier cart, its your new best friend. 1 tier for backstock, 1 for your departments reshop, the last for other worlds. work your reshop as you zone, when your done bring tge bstock and other worlds back to be sorted. hopefully this helps. i had the same issues when i changed depts, this system works for me, so good luck.

 

[dcline414]

I tend to go too slow because I want to fix everything. It's easy to lose half an hour just zoning the tissue paper section.

The trick is to figuring out how long you have to zone and how far you have to get. Then balance your quality with the time you have per aisle/section. If you spend too long in one place then when that section's time is up just touch up the rest and move on. That way you don't run out of time and leave whole areas untouched.

Of course you want to pull all the product forward and POG zone, but if you are short on time just fill holes and focus on end caps.

 

[Kartman]

Do the best you can as quickly as you can and don't worry about it.

Good tip on using the three tier! I've always just used a cart.

 

[dcline414]

Good tip on using the three tier! I've always just used a cart.

Three tiers are hard to come by in my store, but I use a cart much the same way... Child seat area for reshop in my department (grocery, which is usually smaller items), main basket for other areas reshop, and underneath for backstock (since smaller items can normally be worked in, only larger items would be backstock).

 

[sher]

They do say something at my store. Being too detail oriented was a negative on my review twice, but with a lot of improvement the second time around. Now, I have to pick my battles. If I have time to perfect something, I will. If I don't, I make everything look neat and presentable. If I'm alone and there's lots of backup calls or whatever, I do that quick cleaning you do when you get unexpected "I'm in your neighborhood. I think I'll stop by.." company. Looks fantastic on the surface but if anyone went in examining, it's not that great.

When I'm working morning or mids, the zone is still decent from the previous night so each day I'll deep clean a chunk and hope flow doesn't mess it up, too much. My store's flow team prioritizes speed and having little backstock over... Well doing things right.

 

[waterspout]

i would say its a balance. if its in the wrong spot but the price is close just make it look neat. if the wrong item cost way more than what the shelf says then yes by all means fix it. i do my zones a bit unconventional. i start with the really messy heavily shopped aisles first, because they take the longest and will need touchups. the best thing to do is pace yourself,( i like to use my phone's stopwatch) spend no more than 2 minutes per 6ft section. work one 6ft section at a time so you dont get overwhelmed. use a 3 tier cart, its your new best friend. 1 tier for backstock, 1 for your departments reshop, the last for other worlds. work your reshop as you zone, when your done bring tge bstock and other worlds back to be sorted. hopefully this helps. i had the same issues when i changed depts, this system works for me, so good luck.

Your store has 6 foot sections? Not being funny here, actually curious.

 

[Ringwraith917]

At my store they don't check behind people to see if anyone actually zones anything, or stocks anything in the right place or cleans up spills on shelves. As long as everything is off the floor and you can lie with a straight face you can say you're done and get away with it.

At least that's what it seems like. If you could "zone" 58 aisles in a half hour you'd probably get a great team card.

Maybe my standards are too high. But it's hard to tell people they're doing a good job when you see them taking about football for 10 minutes instead of working. And the store looks like crap and they're cutting hours

 

[NitroKing2110]

My store doesn't overtly tell people they are too slow, rather they do the more subtle "Hey I'm just checking in to see how far you are on your zone" or "Just wanted to see if you finished that stray cart yet" over the walkie, unless the zone is unfinished to the point morning team complains or they see a big "opp" then they will tell you hey dude, your zone wasn't done right.

 

[tgtguy]

One of the srtls in my store tells people all the time they are not moving fast enough. He doesn't care how it comes out either...he just says it and usually its rather rude . Then he will go around the corner and talk to a team member ( not a tl but a team member) about football for 20 minutes...go figure. With hours being cut 4x4 is how my store gets zoned...as most of the time the salesfloor is having to do fast checkouts for most of their shift ( because cashiers aren't being scheduled)

 

[masterofalltrades]

Your store has 6 foot sections? Not being funny here, actually curious.

dry market and some snacks are 6ft rest are 4 ft sections.

 

[Kartman]

Just do your best and ignore all the rest.

 

[talkinlikeateen]

Each LOD addresses it differently, but they will definitely address it if a person is going too slow. Haven't heard of anyone going too fast, though. When I first started I was basically 4x4'ing everything and I got talked to (nothing formal) about speed because I wasn't even getting 50% of my zone done. I was almost always (still am) working recovery shifts, so once I got the feedback that in recovery it was all about how it looked rather than everything being zoned to plano, I got it down, no problems. Once in a while I may get a random urge to 4x4 something, like the other night my OCD kicked in and I superzoned the pens (prirmarily the bins on the bottom) because it was driving me nuts and it was a friggin disaster. Closing LOD was like "...well, this is scary...what happened?" then left me to finish it up haha. This may have been because our DTL was visiting the next day, but whatever.

 

[pfreshdude]

At my store they don't check behind people to see if anyone actually zones anything, or stocks anything in the right place or cleans up spills on shelves. As long as everything is off the floor and you can lie with a straight face you can say you're done and get away with it.

At least that's what it seems like. If you could "zone" 58 aisles in a half hour you'd probably get a great team card.

Maybe my standards are too high. But it's hard to tell people they're doing a good job when you see them taking about football for 10 minutes instead of working. And the store looks like crap and they're cutting hours

Haha...I know we have had Working huddles where we zoned market and I just had to shake my head at some peoples zones.....I get just covering dimaonds and only pushing one product up...but some people couldnt even do that and missed half the empty holes

 

[pfreshdude]

Each LOD addresses it differently, but they will definitely address it if a person is going too slow. Haven't heard of anyone going too fast, though. When I first started I was basically 4x4'ing everything and I got talked to (nothing formal) about speed because I wasn't even getting 50% of my zone done. I was almost always (still am) working recovery shifts, so once I got the feedback that in recovery it was all about how it looked rather than everything being zoned to plano, I got it down, no problems. Once in a while I may get a random urge to 4x4 something, like the other night my OCD kicked in and I superzoned the pens (prirmarily the bins on the bottom) because it was driving me nuts and it was a friggin disaster. Closing LOD was like "...well, this is scary...what happened?" then left me to finish it up haha. This may have been because our DTL was visiting the next day, but whatever.

The problem with this kind of zoning is what happened in one of our working huddle. We went to the office supply aisles to zone them. In the journal and planner aisle EVERYTHING was messed up. Just in one of the 4 foot sections half the product was in the wrong place. Then I turned around and it was the same thing in that 4 foot section. Another TM was in that aisle and there was tons of backstock from overpush in the wrong spots and just product in wrong spots all over that aisle. It was a nightmare

 

[sher]

^^that happens in all of our 4x4s but it's usually a combination of early morning just pushing everything anywhere then the day side person or persons doesn't fix it because short shifts, then the closer doesn't have time to fix it and have a nice completed zone all over, so they choose a nice zone over completing a few aisles, then in the morning it all starts again. of course, we fix one area in 4x4 each morning, so the 4x4 area will be good until the next day when it all starts over again.

 

[pfreshdude]

Forgot to mention the working huddle over in the home goods aisles too a couple days before that. I got to the Photo Aisle and half the product was in the wrong spot...for the WHOLE aisle. Same thing with the other side that another TM was doing....Rediculous...IDK wtf is going on in my store.

 

[asidius]

I'm a slow zoner, I only ever finished a zone twice and one time I barely got 50% done in 5 hours. It feels like I do a 4x4 super detailed zone. I don't scan barcodes or anything but it seems I make sure there is alot of product towards the front so the zone doesn't get destroyed when the first guest shops it. I've apologized in the past to the LOD for not completing my zone and anytime I get a closing shift, I get wary of having to zone.

 

[talkinlikeateen]

The problem with this kind of zoning is what happened in one of our working huddle. We went to the office supply aisles to zone them. In the journal and planner aisle EVERYTHING was messed up. Just in one of the 4 foot sections half the product was in the wrong place. Then I turned around and it was the same thing in that 4 foot section. Another TM was in that aisle and there was tons of backstock from overpush in the wrong spots and just product in wrong spots all over that aisle. It was a nightmare

Oh, I totally agree. I would have no issue zoning to plano if I knew that it would even maintain through the day. The problem is that it never does. I have literally come back after being on lunch and it's messed up again because of the way guests shop my store. Our demographic is less than stellar. There's also the problem(s) of 1) items being stocked in the wrong location, 2) backstock being pushed back onto the floor (a group of us spent 8 hours 4x4'ing domestics and home improvement and there was a TON of backstock in the furniture/kids furniture that I personally put on vehicles and placed in the back. the next day, they were all back out on the floor. I was LIVID), which connects to problem 1 ; 3) once the zone is clearly jacked up, nobody cares enough to put go backs in the right location or zone back to plano, so it just keeps getting worse and worse until the next time we're instructed to superzone. It's a vicious circle, and when we only have a few hours to get through our departments and our go backs so we leave our store clean at the end of the night, we really don't have time to make sure what's already on the shelves is in the right location.

 

[Ringwraith917]

It makes me feel bad when I go into the local Walmart and it looks so much better than my Target. I mean they do so much more volume how can we not keep up?

 

[dcline414]

the best thing to do is pace yourself,( i like to use my phone's stopwatch) spend no more than 2 minutes per 6ft section. work one 6ft section at a time so you dont get overwhelmed.

When I first read this it sounded like a lot longer than I have to spend in my zone, but I finally did the math...

We have 30 grocery aisles with 15 4' sections each. About 2/3 of three different aisles are vendor managed (chips, soda, bread), so there are actually closer to 28x15=420 sections. At VERY most I will have 3 hours to complete the zone when closing, assuming no interruptions or breaks.

420 sections in 180 minutes is more like 25 seconds per 4' section—I typically pace myself to 5 minutes per side and often still don't have time to finish the last few.