Archived Instock Team Going Away in March

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Also if the point was to save hours then they would not have the flow team push the entire truck. They would be spending more then they are now with the same results.

Just think about it real quick... If an item comes in on the truck...
OPTION A: Throw it --> Scan it --> Sort it to Backstock --> Backstock it --> It triggers to pull within a few days since it was almost ready to trigger --> Salesfloor stocks it (Item is now 100% full and replenishment starts over)
OPTION B: Throw it --> Scan it --> Sort it to Push --> Stock it --> Backstock the extra (Item now 100% full and replenishment starts over)

Option B would have to take place if you wanted the STO with built in 9999 to work... otherwise all your truck backstock that didn't trigger would be messed up
 
I really hope they do something about RIGs. Like someone else said, most of the time the location is missing like ONE item... complete waste of time. The only reason I even do RIGs is because my TL said it'll screw up our metrics if we don't.
 
Just think about it real quick... If an item comes in on the truck...
OPTION A: Throw it --> Scan it --> Sort it to Backstock --> Backstock it --> It triggers to pull within a few days since it was almost ready to trigger --> Salesfloor stocks it (Item is now 100% full and replenishment starts over)
OPTION B: Throw it --> Scan it --> Sort it to Push --> Stock it --> Backstock the extra (Item now 100% full and replenishment starts over)

Option B would have to take place if you wanted the STO with built in 9999 to work... otherwise all your truck backstock that didn't trigger would be messed up

A better filled floor with a bit more payroll seems like a good idea to the rest of us but, clearly Target has been trending the opposite direction. All that just in time crap. With the STO SUBT9999 thing I suggested two STO funtions one to be used for stuff from the truck, that would be your traditional STO that catches challenge ect. and then STO2 or such that would be for non truck back stock that would funtion just like SUBT 9999 and reset the triggers without all the time consuming steps. Seems like it would be easy to do but, this is Target so easy seems to be against the rules.
 
I would like to see how one or two team leads do research on heavy days such as Mondays or Wednesdays.
 
The way I see it, no Instocks = no product on the floor = guests leave angry and don't come back = no $$$. That is, unless they implement the changes that Rock Lobster mentioned.
 
It's True. March 2012 instocks team work will transition to logistics process. This will save the company payroll $.
Our store has stopped instocks process(STL/DTL approved). Not sure how exactly how flow team will pick up this workload
but I've heard trucks will be push alls and anything left over will be back stocked. We are purging all aisles in back to compensate the lack of scanning but our salesfloor is already showing a lot of empty depts. AE12 will have the specifics. Announcents in Jan/Feb - instocks team goes away in March.
Honestly when you think about it the instocks team (aside from PTM) is just a bridge between human and system error.

Damn. I should have stayed a Logistics Team Lead. My work centers would have gone down from four to three. Maybe my prescription medications would have gone down from three to two!
 
If this is all true than it is LONG overdue and GREAT news for the company and all team members involved. I was around before corporate started this nonsense. Push all for the trucks WILL fill the floor faster and better than the instocks team can, provided they hire people who give a damn about what they do. Some of the folks we have now simply don't care if they do the job right. We will send stuff out from the backroom that is obviously not pushed and it goes right out.

If they will let TLs be over specific areas instead of being underpaid execs this will work. When I had my department that was all I was responsible for. Not the front lanes, not excessive backups, not the sidecaps in someone else's department. My area was always full, zoned, the salesplanners were done, my part of the backroom was purged regularly. If I wasn't doing something right, I was accountable. There was no "creating a team" who can fix what is broken in our store.

I knew what was going on with my area down to the location of each item in it and whether or not I had it in stock. That is the way it should be with every team leader at Target. The way it is now, we go from one fire to the next and no one knows what the hell is going on. I came in during the day (night shift 1weekend per month) and I had an assigned salesfloor team member who worked my area when I was not there. I applaud this and hope to God it is true.
 
Oh and BTW, many of the items we backstock trigger on a pull within HOURS, not days.

Team Leads need to be over a specifc area. Housewares/Domestics. Toys. Electronics. HBA.

That team leader is responsible for doing their research each day. They should walk their area every day (EVERY HOUR) and react to what is out of stock. Fill it, raincheck it, replace that endcap-----whatever the department needs!! Signing, displays, etc!!!

Know what is in your part of the stockroom. Know what is going on sale and build endcaps. Purge your discontinued items.

When we left for the day our areas were expected to be zoned and the reshop complete. That took a LOT of pressure off the closing team. There couldn't be much for them to do many nights but maintain. It would be zoned for the flow team in the a.m. and the team leader could see what came in on the truck and determine what actually needs to be backstock and what is needed for the floor.

Oh dear I am positively overwhelmed with joy. This is such great news if it's all true.
 
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I only wish this were true of the hardlines TL's in my store. Some of them do not even know how to pull their own product from the backroom! Paper aisle empties out and does not get refilled or a ton of reshop. I don't know about other stores but the LOD has salesfloor TM's do reshop throughout the day and for the last couple years have not let them help TLs out with salesplanners.
 
I cry BS to this rumor. Last I heard they were rolling out some new initiatives regarding the Instocks team next year NOT removing the entire team. One of the latest things they've tested is the removal of the task list and that apparently worked out and will roll out to the entire company in 2012.
 
I cry BS to this rumor. Last I heard they were rolling out some new initiatives regarding the Instocks team next year NOT removing the entire team. One of the latest things they've tested is the removal of the task list and that apparently worked out and will roll out to the entire company in 2012.

You may notice that TBR is really good at taking test pilots and changes in routines and turning them into broad company wide rollouts and firing half the salesfloor.
 
I cry BS to this rumor. Last I heard they were rolling out some new initiatives regarding the Instocks team next year NOT removing the entire team. One of the latest things they've tested is the removal of the task list and that apparently worked out and will roll out to the entire company in 2012.

Of course it probably isn't happening to all stores... my guess is the idea has been thrown around for ULV stores though! I was in a D Volume store that gave Instocks 32 hours a week! At that point, it is a waste of time to have a "team" doing it...
 
Not sure why most here are defending and crying over Instocks being shut down. Instocks covers Flow's @$$. Plain and simple. If your truck scanner is lazy, then this creates massive amounts of challenge. Then Flow heads for the hills when the store opens. Then challenge goes from a blue clip to a green clip, and sales floor is left with Flow's mess. Sales floor will then half push the product from the truck and the backroom will be left with more work than before. No one seems to understand this process.

Instocks shouldn't have to fix Flow's failure of a truck. The entire floor process starts with the Flow team. If your team sucks, of course you will have empty shelves. Reevaluate Flow Team and changes will happen for the better. Instocks don't "save the day" as many keep implying.
 
It's funny to me that two years ago, instocks was the company wide store focus and my store spent massive amounts of payroll on training and overstaffing the instocks team, like that was going to fix all of the problems with the process. But the process is a broken hole, so all the money they threw in it was lost. Lol my new backroom/instocks team leader was trying to give me a pep talk (a few weeks after his promotion, and keep in mind he knows nothing about instocks) and was saying how instocks and backroom are what makes an excellent store and I have this huge impact. I told him instocks was a stupid, broken, redundant time wasting process and he just didn't wanna hear it. If they do away with it finally, I might have to write him a great team card, spotted for: "*************** I told ya so!"

Actually, I can't really complain because my current round of executives doesn't know a single thing about the instocks process, so I have had plenty of days where I didn't really do anything lol.
 
Honestly when you think about it the instocks team (aside from PTM) is just a bridge between human and system error.
Human imperfection and sometimes just blatant laziness. A big problem I usually see is that the flow team isn't careful when they push, something is in the products place, and they just assume its full when its not, its just something where its not supposed to be. So then the product gets backstocked, and the other items remain in the wrong location on the floor. Salesfloor isn't going to do anything about it, when they zone they just pull everything to the front, pull out anything that's obviously in the wrong place to reshop. They call it "super zoning" when they do what really needs to be done, and even then most of them still don't do it. Not saying they're just being lazy. Not enough people, not enough time, too many ignorant guests.

And then, very often, you just have locations that either weren't set right, or the plano was designed by someone who must have been hitting the ol crack pipe. Then, either stuff gets pushed wrong, or the items just don't even fit in their locations properly, etc. Then you have PTM pushed into locations of other items and tags have been flipped. Those are just some issues.

If this means they're going to be moving more hours to backroom, flow, and salesfloor, then fine. Be we all know that's not what it means. So, it will fail, and things will get worse, as follows the trend. Reduce jobs, expect more, pay less. Before you know it, the only staff working at Target will be NFL players and super soldiers. How are we on that cloning anyways.
 
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It's funny to me that two years ago, instocks was the company wide store focus and my store spent massive amounts of payroll on training and overstaffing the instocks team, like that was going to fix all of the problems with the process. But the process is a broken hole, so all the money they threw in it was lost. Lol my new backroom/instocks team leader was trying to give me a pep talk (a few weeks after his promotion, and keep in mind he knows nothing about instocks) and was saying how instocks and backroom are what makes an excellent store and I have this huge impact. I told him instocks was a stupid, broken, redundant time wasting process and he just didn't wanna hear it. If they do away with it finally, I might have to write him a great team card, spotted for: "*************** I told ya so!"

Actually, I can't really complain because my current round of executives doesn't know a single thing about the instocks process, so I have had plenty of days where I didn't really do anything lol.

Let me throw in my opinion with this...

Is instocks a waste of time? Well in theory you are correct... Actually most of our applications are a waste of time... RSCH, Outs, EXF, Manual CAFs, POG Fills... All of these tools in a perfect store never should be used! Your Autofills and normal CAFs should keep everything in the store running outside of the trucks that come in! Actually, you shouldn't even have to SUBT anything, because your normal pulls and push should fill the floor and the guest doesn't need to request it (you obviously see where I am going...)

As long as we are in retail, it won't be a perfect system! You HAVE to have something checking on the system to keep it all running... Do I think that Instocks has been overdone? Absolutely! Scanning every single aisle every single day was a waste of time IMO... But the concept of what Instocks has been doing is still very valuable and just needs to be redone! I have given my suggestions on what I think needs to change in a few of my last posts...
 
You are correct sir...well put. This is how it SHOULD be. Target has gotten too cute by over-handling its freight. My aisles were always full when I did my own research, then instocks was created and you now rely on an entire new team to push your stuff. I say, keep it simple!!! Give the instock hours back to the salesfloor teams, make each Team Leader actually OWN an area and research on the correct day. Pushing teh whole truck is key!!Do NOT rely on scanning and sending stuff back to backstock...just look at some ST's that sell a ton of paper and chemicals. All commodity product needs to be pushed. I could not agree with you more..
 
You are correct sir...well put. This is how it SHOULD be. Target has gotten too cute by over-handling its freight. My aisles were always full when I did my own research, then instocks was created and you now rely on an entire new team to push your stuff. I say, keep it simple!!! Give the instock hours back to the salesfloor teams, make each Team Leader actually OWN an area and research on the correct day. Pushing teh whole truck is key!!Do NOT rely on scanning and sending stuff back to backstock...just look at some ST's that sell a ton of paper and chemicals. All commodity product needs to be pushed. I could not agree with you more..

Just to clarify... I do not necessarily want TLs to research their own areas again... My suggestion still keeps it process based by making the zone wave include scanning! If you go back and read my older posts my suggestion was to have the Task List only include RSCH and RIGs (no more Outs), but to include not only the research areas for that day, but research tasks for every section with ad product in it! If this were the case, I think the closing "Zone Captain/TL" should be the designated scanner that follows behind the wave... scanning and auditing the zone as they go... This process would run from 6PM to 11PM and then all the old priority pulls would no longer exist and instead drop into the autofills/truck push the next morning!

The reason I say this, is that Target had the idea right in the first place... That TLs shouldn't necessarily have to spend THAT much time scanning and filling... They are paid too much for that and the system could be efficient enough that they would be wasting their time! That is the whole reason Instocks was formed... and the concept was right, but the execution over the years has been too bulky and over complicated...
 
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I like the idea of a person only being responsible for scanning one section. When you are faced with wave scanning the entire store, and it's a one to two person wave, you aren't going to have an anywhere near perfect scan. But if you just had say toys, then you could motivate yourself "hey I've only got 25 aisles to scan, I need to make this as thorough and accurate as possible."

If you only had a section, then it would be totally reasonable to zone every aisle before you researched it as well. If I had to zone and scan the entire store, I would give up and shuffle things up in the aisles for my zone!
 
true, I guess I just had a knee-jerk reaction. You sound like you've been around as long as me and get frustrated by the over-complication of our business. When I have enough freight in my backroom to open another ST, its very frustrating. I am not only a leader in the Company, I am also a stockholder and get frustrated to see so much freight in the back day after day. My district is LOADED with extra trim-a-tree and we will take a complete bath with clearance next week. This is because my district (and Group for that matter) is very high volume and we always get 'stuck' with dozens of pallets of trim at this time of year. I think we need to look at this and certainly scale back next yr as a Company. My store will be busier on teh 26th than it will be on the 24th. because all of our guests know we have so much clearance after Xmas
 
i've always wondered if the purchaser responsible for buying christmas merchandise has some sort of conflict of interest like he's buying it from a company he owns or something.
 
Not sure why you people are so worried about being out of product on the floor, seems like we are out of product in the advertisement all the time anyways. Target hasn't put much effort into improving the guest experience in years anyways, its a fricken chore to find a team member for help in my store most of the time.
 
I like the idea of a person only being responsible for scanning one section. When you are faced with wave scanning the entire store, and it's a one to two person wave, you aren't going to have an anywhere near perfect scan. But if you just had say toys, then you could motivate yourself "hey I've only got 25 aisles to scan, I need to make this as thorough and accurate as possible."

If you only had a section, then it would be totally reasonable to zone every aisle before you researched it as well. If I had to zone and scan the entire store, I would give up and shuffle things up in the aisles for my zone!

That can be true but Target is big on the wave... and what I propose isn't really wave scanning... I guess in my head it plays out like this (take a 4AM store as an example)

4AM to 8AM: Push entire truck (small Autofills and no Truck Backstock means large team on the floor while smaller team in backroom, at least until after 8AM)... No need to worry about research schedules, so everyone just works the same wave pattern everyday!
8AM to 11AM: Presentation, Pricing, and Salesfloor are available to catch calls in the morning. Wrap up all Backstock by 11AM (new STO makes the CAFs accurate again)... No Instocks means no priority pulls during this time, so everyone can focus on what they are doing and get all jobs 100%
11AM to 6PM: Work on CAFs and guest service now...
6PM to 11PM: Recover time! The salesfloor will zone in a wave, but every store will pick up another two (or more depending on how your hours were) people than they currently have! The Zone Captain or TL will break away from zone and use the task list to scan behind the wave! They will only rsch what is scheduled + any ad product and do the RIGs... I also propose to spread out the RSCH schedule a bit better so that Mondays and Wednesdays aren't as heavy and Friday can get a bit more to do (also spread out the softlines rsch since the SL zoners will do their own instead of hardlines)... all corrections drop into the next days autofills at 4AM
 
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