Archived In the past 2 weeks I have worked on 5 different teams: My take

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
52
I know some of you get shuffled around too, mainly due to people calling out and basically working with a bunch of knuckleheads but I just wanted to give my opinion on each team and see if anyone else's store is similar. I'll start by time of day and chronological order.

1. Flow Team:
We are a 6 am store and when I work flow we normally don't finish with the unload until AT LEAST 7, and usually everybody stays until 11, even though they are scheduled for 10:30. A lot of old ladies in soft lines and food ave, young guys in hard lines, and quiet no bullshit guys in the back room. It is a really simple job, and as a result a lot of the people on the flow team kinda work like drones. On some occasions if everybody works we can be done right at 10, but normally people go off on unscheduled breaks, socialize, and we leave about an hour after we are scheduled. This is definitely the easiest job, although it is probably a big stressor on the logistics ETL to get all the merch pushed and back stocked before the store gets too busy.

2. POG:
Technically they start at the same time as flow, but I heard that they will be switching to 7:30 in the near future. In my short experience, this job requires the most brainpower of all the jobs I've worked. It's sort of like putting together a puzzle. if you can follow directions it's very easy, and the people on the POG team are the most personable out of everyone in the store. Maybe my favorite position, but I have only worked here 4 times so I'm sure that will fade. Time definitely goes by fastest when I'm setting.

3. Instocks:
I've worked in stocks twice in the past 2 weeks and I don't like it. I hate how time wasting some of the actions you have to take on the PDA are. PARTICULARLY the rain checks and I even made a thread about it a couple of days ago. This job seems the slowest, but like any other position, you have to get your job done so you are still under a time crunch. Team lead is very nice and easygoing if you work, if not, well you probably won't be on the in stocks team anyway. I think there are a lot of areas of instocks that can be improved, but I just started there so who knows, maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about.

4. Backroom Day:
This is the other position in running for my favorite and was also what I was hired as. Main thing I like is not having to deal with guests, worst part is the Flexible Fulfillments that never seem to miss the opportunity to drop right in the middle of the 12 oclocks. Also a lot of sales floor people don't know how to navigate the stockrooms so we have to take them to items and pull them for them usually in the middle of CAFS. The people in the back are chill and generally DGAF as long as you get your work done. The only thing I don't like is when hard lines people come and throw stuff in the main stockroom without telling me. I don't know about how other stores work but I call on walkie when and what the pulls are on the line, so I expect them to call me and tell me there is a tub of back stock. It's very easy to get behind when you are in another stockroom and all of a sudden you walk to the back and 3 new tubs have appeared.

5. Hardlines:
My least favorite position. It is so boring, and I don't understand how people do it. I pushed for 10 minutes, got abandons for another 10 minutes and then had nothing to do. I guess I understand why I see TMs moving like slugs on the sales floor. Unless a guest is asking for help, if there is nothing to pull you just stand there. I have only worked here once in the past 2 weeks so I guess I need a little more experience before I make a judgement.

Are these descriptions anything like your stores?
 
i think pog is the best too. im the pog tl and think we have a ton of fun. we are goofy.. make lots of jokes but also get the most work done

instocks is sooo borrrringggggg
 
if there is nothing to pull you just stand there. I have only worked here once in the past 2 weeks so I guess I need a little more experience before I make a judgement.

I guess you are not a pfresh store and/or you forgot to look in the freezer. There is always a pull metro in the freezer. Ask the PA if there is something that you can help them out with. I can always find work for a hard worker.
 
if there is nothing to pull you just stand there. I have only worked here once in the past 2 weeks so I guess I need a little more experience before I make a judgement.

I guess you are not a pfresh store and/or you forgot to look in the freezer. There is always a pull metro in the freezer. Ask the PA if there is something that you can help them out with. I can always find work for a hard worker.

Yeah we are ULV we have no pfresh.

also Ive been wondering since I stumbled across this board, what is a pa?
 
@SpotThe PA = perishables assistant.

InStocks isn't so bad if the store's processes are working. It should be a fast process. I do agree that there needs to be a better way to make a raincheck. With all the changes that Target has made to In-Stocks, I have no desire to do it anymore, since it is the red-headed stepchild of my store.
 
I would take this, as an opp to learn other work centers. Your mgt is seeing that you can do it. More hours for you.
 
If I was a TM again and was going to choose between those, BR Day would be my choice. I find POG frustrating depending on the set, and it has tons of steps to get everything completed (I feel like something always takes a long time). Flow can be fun for a few days because you just get to turn on the gas and push product as fast as possible (as long as I don't get stuck in Frames, Lamps, or Repacks I am ok). Instocks I have just done too much. I would do it again, I don't mind scanning at all actually (I don't even think about it, just autopilot for a few hours) but its a bit old to me now, and I am annoyed that the process makes no sense right now. Hardlines I don't mind, it is similar to Instocks... I have done it a ton and could zone or do reshop on autopilot and get done faster than most (I usually am thinking about something else while doing it).

BR Day though... I have a switch in my head, when I type Pull in the PDA and open a batch I just start moving fast and don't stop till the batches are done. I am a beast in the backroom :)
 
POG is awesome but it's a lot of hard work and requires some brainpower. I would like it way more if it didn't start at 4am.
Hardlines is probably my favorite workcenter. It has a lot of freedom, but it does get boring and repetitive.
 
I love POG and backroom day. Too bad I'm a Sales Floor TL (formerly known as the CTL).
 
I was just thinking about SF telling us when they bring backstock and how we tell them they have pulls. I already know what the LOD will say though. "We bring the bs to you, you don't bring the pulls to us."
 
Backroom day was awesome until they decided to make us push the pulls and gave us no hours to do it with. The only time we come close to finishing our work now is when we either a) miss sales by a LOT or b) beg the sales floor to push them which negates the whole idea.

I hate my job now with a fiery passion.
 
Ever since we went PFresh, backroom has not been able to keep up. Granted, there are some talkers and lazy people back there that my Sr Backroom TL refuses to do anything about, but the workload increased and we are running on the same hours that we were before remodel. Not to mention that we lost about a third of the light duty aisles we had to make room for the freezer and coolers so now we are climbing up and down ladders way more often than we used to and you have to use a ladder in every aisle. Also, They expanded our e&e stockroom and made us put cosmetics in there, but there is so much wasted space in that stockroom. There is probably the equivalent of one empty aisle in there. It's a bit ridiculous when you see how every other aisle in our backroom is filled to the brim.

We were assured that once we went PFresh we would probably start taking an extra truck each week and all the trucks would be smaller not only because our inventory would be turning faster, but also because we simply wouldn't have the room for unnecessary backstock. This would also allow us to actually come clean on trucks. Our trucks never got smaller. We went from on average 1800-2000 with 2200 being big, to 2200-2400 average. Same amount, if not less hours and a smaller backroom, plus FDC trucks thrice a week. The time since remodel has been more frustrating on a daily basis than anything during remodel. At least during remodel everyone thought the madness would end at some point. Now there's no end in sight. We haven't come clean on a truck day save for maybe 4 times that I know of in the past 16 months.
 
Sorry, this wasn't really the place for that post! I recommend trying out a dayside sales floor shift. The nights and mids can be fairly monotonous, but there's usually some project or something out of the ordinary that needs to be done in the morning. I like not quite knowing what to expect some days.
 
I like dayside salesfloor shifts. I agree that the nights tend to be monotonous. But with all the zoning that is expected to be done, I don't know how anyone has any time to stand around!
 
Please do NOT freaking move Planogram to 7:30am or daytime when shoppers are in the store all the time. POGs are hard and like you said the most brain power (and concentration) time flies the fastest, the company seem to want Plano to help out guests instead of sales floor TMs do that.

HELL to the NO!!! Planogram have no time to fool with that crap!


And, also try to work on any of those planograms with pushers/dividers and you will see that it is a lot of worse than these aisles that just have hooks and shelves.
 
Last edited:
I know some of you get shuffled around too, mainly due to people calling out and basically working with a bunch of knuckleheads but I just wanted to give my opinion on each team and see if anyone else's store is similar. I'll start by time of day and chronological order.
I've worked all those jobs except flow, and you've pretty much nailed everything.
 
I know some of you get shuffled around too, mainly due to people calling out and basically working with a bunch of knuckleheads but I just wanted to give my opinion on each team and see if anyone else's store is similar. I'll start by time of day and chronological order.
I've worked all those jobs except flow, and you've pretty much nailed everything.

Glad to see it's not only my store. I guess certain types just fall into certain teams naturally.

Please do NOT freaking move Planogram to 7:30am or daytime when shoppers are in the store all the time. POGs are hard and like you said the most brain power (and concentration) time flies the fastest, the company seem to want Plano to help out guests instead of sales floor TMs do that.

HELL to the NO!!! Planogram have no time to fool with that crap!


And, also try to work on any of those planograms with pushers/dividers and you will see that it is a lot of worse than these aisles that just have hooks and shelves.

I hate working while the store is open and I've only worked on POG 4 times. It's just annoying when you clear out an aisle and it's split up into backstock, clearance, different ties, and actual product on the shelf and you have to divide all of it into separate places in the same aisle. It would be much easier to just throw stuff down and make a mental note, rather than having to cram it into one corner and then move it all when a guest goes by. Not to mention after that it's pretty much guaranteed you are getting asked to locate something. I have nothing against giving guest service, because that is top priority, but if I need to set 3 aisles for the day, don't wonder why I'm only halfway done with the second when I have to walk guests all the way across the store 3-4 times a day.

I''ve done all that, plus some, as well and Flow is by far where my heart is.

More power to you, flow is neutral. As long as everyone works together we do a good job, but that is seldom the case.
 
I hate working while the store is open and I've only worked on POG 4 times. It's just annoying when you clear out an aisle and it's split up into backstock, clearance, different ties, and actual product on the shelf and you have to divide all of it into separate places in the same aisle..

We do one section at a time at my store.

Take all the clearance out, take it to the endcap or designated clearance spot...that way you don't have to deal with it multiple times.

D-code gets put into repack boxes or staged with the clearance for the SF team to push, if we are not working the clearance out.

Working on one section at a time makes it go faster, is cleaner, and allows the guests to still shop if they are looking for something, as opposed to clearing out the entire aisle and having to dig through the pile of merchandise to find what they are looking for.
 
No, having Planogram divert their attention to focus on guests should not be what Plano is about. The shelfs need to get set and stuff need to get pushed. And, it's not like Plano have nothing else to do, chilling all the time, those are very time consuming already. Setting aisles 1 section at a time is not faster (except if you are on Revision), it's an illusion that you have an aisle full that may add to some sense of doing a better job, but I don't believe it's faster.


Their stupid attempt at having Plano help out guests instead of real Sales Floor TMs is sad and underappreciating what Plano really do!


The bottomline is, 2 addition Sales floor TM members need to be scheduled per 2 departments, 1 of them to help out on helping guests and help out on plano/push/pull/back if store traffic is slow
 
Last edited:
No, having Planogram divert their attention to focus on guests should not be what Plano is about. The shelfs need to get set and stuff need to get pushed. And, it's not like Plano have nothing else to do, chilling all the time, those are very time consuming already. Setting aisles 1 section at a time is not faster (except if you are on Revision), it's an illusion that you have an aisle full that may add to some sense of doing a better job, but I don't believe it's faster.

You need to print out your core roles again and re-read it. As Rarejem said, guest service is every team member's responsibility. Without our guests shopping, no money. No money = no payroll. No payroll = no hours. No hours = no job.

I challenge you to try it one section at a time. It works if you know what you are doing, have experience under your belt, and are organized. Even more so if the POG isn't changing aisles.
 
Once I get more experience I am sure I will become more efficient. I have done it one section at a time, while everything was staying the same and that was pretty quick, but it's just cleaner to do it all at once.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top