Archived Instocks questions

[Andosphere]

So, I've been instocks for about a year and a half now. We just got a new team lead who underwent all her training and is now following the book exactly.. so naturally I have some questions that maybe you of the breakroom can help me out.... mostly regarding rainchecks.

1. I have been called out on making rain checks in cosmetics. I was always told that it is best practice to NOT make rainchecks there.. what's correct?

2. As Advertised. I've never made rainchecks for these items unless the price is lower... correct?

3. Do not research fillgroups that are not green for backroom location accuracy in the backroom, instead toggle over to Stand Alone Outs. I have NEVER heard this. Does your store scan the entire store?

4. Do not scan after 11 (we do 12 at my store). My TL says this messes with the CAF pulls. The only exception is the plano team after they set an aisle, otherwise not even stand alone research... correct?

Thanks in advance 🙂

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

A rain check is a rain check. At my store, we have a few rc's in that area. Instocks process stops at 11 am. It is getting hard to get the exact process of instocks currently to ae14 changes. In some districts, the flow process had changed from 4am to 6am or 7:30am.
Welcome, btw.

 

[Bosch]

We don't write R/C in cosmetics since its difficult to put signs up and keep them up. Anything like lipstick, or small items. Now the make up bags, sure we have the space to hang the r/c and sub. We stop scanning at 11am when our first CAF pulls start, no rain checks on As Advert. Stuff, cause its not on sale. Also back when we would have to scan the sub signs they would not scan since they were not a valid sign would hurt our numbers for scanned signs.

The only research after 11am in our store is when I do the drastic count report.

 

[commiecorvus]

It's hard enough doing signing in cosmetics (how do you fold the ones with bullnoses so they don't fall down the minute a guest decides to flip it up?).
I can't imagine trying to put up R/Cs.

 

[Rarejem]

There is a list of raincheck/substitution exclusions on workbench. I don't know where offhand, but if it isn't posted some time today I will look it up tomorrow when I am at work.

 

[sigma7]

I'm not sure if it's still the rules, but up to 5% off would only print as advertised. Anything more than 5% would be sale or TPC, with only sale applicable for rainchecks.

So even if the item is just "as advertised" and is actually at a reduced price, you should put up a raincheck unless it is on the raincheck exclusion list or the sign/ad states no rainchecks.

 

[Bosch]

Any As advert we would sub still would not allow you to scan the sub sign in even if it was discounted, also there would be no discount on the sub'd item. It would print a blank price point on the sub sign itself - creating more confusion for the customer. And we write enough "Sale" rain checks that skipping a few "As Advert" ones never has hurt out percentages. Again cosmetics same thing, cover your other areas and you shouldn't have to worry about skipping a few there.. We also had a cosmetics zone person who agreed with us, and would scan a rain check for a guest when asked but the sign and pad never would go on the shelf.

 

[ClearanceMaster]

Dont wanna steal this thread or anything but I also have an instocks question...

when shooting research, lets say an item went clearance and was put on an endcap and the label was never covered. Instocks comes through and apparently if its still tied to a planogram you can research it. So it gets zeroed out. does this really adjust the count? because I was told you couldnt change the counts of an item once it goes clearance? Ive seen an item with a gray dot on it and when price change comes through they are looking for a quantity anyway (it says in their pricing function there is a few)

We all got yelled at cause instocks freaked because they scanned a bunch of bras one week and they got moved to a clearance endcap and got zeroed because someone didnt take the plastic holder out and flip the labels

anyone know what really goes on? Does it let you do research but never adjust the count? Or is it really changing?

 

[Bosch]

I get things on the drastic count report that have gone clearance, I can't prove they weren't clearance when they were scanned. I can't change the count at that point in stand alone research. And yes you can scan shelf labels for a bit after the first markdown(cause I have done it), so there may be space in the changeover where counts can be changed. Also when scanning when you see a big gap flip over to item search\NOP and check a couple DCPI's. In hard lines its not as critical, but soft lines where stuff gets shuffled so much it can save a lot grief. When I scan through if I can't flip the label I dot in the middle of the barcode of the label as a marker "hey don't scan this!" it's d-code, clearance.

It also helps to prevent things like this if you have a sticky note with price change areas so if you are intimates on Tuesday and price change was Monday, question things more closely.

 

[Rarejem]

I have changed counts on clearance items that are on the drastic count report. If you can't, there is an area to make notes. Write down that it is a clearance item and what the actual count is. You just need to be able to speak to it.

 

[Bosch]

I have changed counts on clearance items that are on the drastic count report. If you can't, there is an area to make notes. Write down that it is a clearance item and what the actual count is. You just need to be able to speak to it.

I can write bulletproof documentation about things on the report.

 

[lightningbolt12]

Here is another question. After printing the subs - do you still scan them in? At our store not getting a clear answer and previous poster touched on it briefly. Thanks.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Sub should be scanned in under rf apps.

 

[Bosch]

Here is another question. After printing the subs - do you still scan them in? At our store not getting a clear answer and previous poster touched on it briefly. Thanks.

We do not scan them in anymore, I don't feel good about it. But my TL, I trust her so we just hang them. The logic I was given was "since they are located now and they no longer count that metric of "signs scanned" sorry I don't know the proper term for it. We don't have to bother with it. Maybe getting clarification if that metric is still counted at your store\group would clear it up for you?

 

[Rarejem]

We are also not scanning them I. I do not feel comfortable about it, but I'm at the bottom of this food chain.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Ck the signing report under pa on workbench for answers.

 

[Bosch]

Ck the signing report under pa on workbench for answers.

Time on a computer, I am lucky I am allowed to log on long enough to reprint the signs and drastic count. Or signing computer has been broken for a couple of months now so trying to get PC time is premium. Why has it been broken for months? The part needed was signed for then lost, and the person who could order refuses to since this isn't the first time stuff has been delivered and lost. We are still looking for a box of new walkies.

 

[rugrat]

Check your Raincheck Effectiveness report, your score should be in the toilet if you still need to scan. Our group leadership stopped us from doing RIGS when they decided to cook the Research with Locations % metric so we do very few rainchecks anymore. I still scan in the few I do figuring these signs cannot count as part of your prescanned Sunday ad set package because they did not exist yet. How would you get credit for them unless you tie them into the system in some way? The clearance issue is much more problematic since the new year started. I'm surprised the AP people aren't all over this since it impacts shortage dollars with price change. When we did our Toy transition I had 10 items in newly set POGS with regular price labels that were actually clearance. I could scan them in task, they populated on the drastic count report and the items were empty on the shelf because they were all on clearance endcaps. I only noticed them because when I scan an item in research with a high count I toggle to item search to see if a second sales floor location exists( the update would be filtered out unless you update both locations) and sure enough they were clearance. It did let me update them in SAR to process them off the report but I found them all on clearance endcaps so no updates were needed to their counts. Since these are updates only your price change people should be making be careful and use item search when doing your drastic count report until HQ provides some guidance here.

 

[Rarejem]

So, I've been instocks for about a year and a half now. We just got a new team lead who underwent all her training and is now following the book exactly.. so naturally I have some questions that maybe you of the breakroom can help me out.... mostly regarding rainchecks.

1. I have been called out on making rain checks in cosmetics. I was always told that it is best practice to NOT make rainchecks there.. what's correct?

2. As Advertised. I've never made rainchecks for these items unless the price is lower... correct?

3. Do not research fillgroups that are not green for backroom location accuracy in the backroom, instead toggle over to Stand Alone Outs. I have NEVER heard this. Does your store scan the entire store?

4. Do not scan after 11 (we do 12 at my store). My TL says this messes with the CAF pulls. The only exception is the plano team after they set an aisle, otherwise not even stand alone research... correct?

Thanks in advance 🙂

1. Do what your ETL/TL tells you to do. Ours change the policy all of the time - usually we don't. I wish they'd just make up their collective minds.

2. We do not r/c As Advertised that are the same price. It uses up too many pads that could be used for legitimate sale items.

3. This is best practice. We scan in our list and do SAR in critical areas that were not able to be scanned the day before.

4. This is best practice. Sometimes our ETL/TL tells us to scan anyhow. We do. They're the bosses.

 

[InStalker]

So, I've been instocks for about a year and a half now. We just got a new team lead who underwent all her training and is now following the book exactly.. so naturally I have some questions that maybe you of the breakroom can help me out.... mostly regarding rainchecks.

1. I have been called out on making rain checks in cosmetics. I was always told that it is best practice to NOT make rainchecks there.. what's correct?

2. As Advertised. I've never made rainchecks for these items unless the price is lower... correct?

3. Do not research fillgroups that are not green for backroom location accuracy in the backroom, instead toggle over to Stand Alone Outs. I have NEVER heard this. Does your store scan the entire store?

4. Do not scan after 11 (we do 12 at my store). My TL says this messes with the CAF pulls. The only exception is the plano team after they set an aisle, otherwise not even stand alone research... correct?

Thanks in advance 🙂

1: Technically, yes, I believe you are required to put up rain checks in cosmetics (I may be wrong here so I'll have to check next Monday). However, you are not required to put up rain checks on folded tables in Softlines because it could become confusing for the guest as to which size the rain check is tied to (most folded tables have three and four labels bunched up next to each other). I simply follow that same logic with most of the small cosmetics. It's not Best Practice (and one the the very few that I don't actually follow) but it makes sense and my Rain Check Effectiveness is almost always solid green. Also, there is a list on Workbench of where rain checks and substitutes are/are not required.

2: Best Practice says that you are supposed to set up a rain check for As Advertised stuff but DO NOT set up substitutes for them. You can set up a substitute but it won't lower the price of said substitute and you won't be able to scan in the signs for them anyway. If a guest asks for a rain check on an As Ad item, it will negatively affect your Effectiveness score if you don't have one set up and it has to be done at the register. It doesn't make sense but I've seen plenty of people get them because the big red sign makes them think it's on sale.

3: This is true. The reason being that if Backroom Location Accuracy is bad, you could potentially be zeroing out counts on items that ARE in the backroom but just not properly located in the system. Once the product does get properly located after you have zeroed it out, that leads to negative on hands as well as shortage due to count updates that should never have happened.

4: ULV (Ultra-Low Volume) stores, I believe have a scanning deadline of 12 PM instead of 11 AM like other higher volume stores. And yes, the reason you don't want to scan anything after 11 (or 12) is because once the CAFs start pulling, you may be adding additional, unnecessary work for the back room since there is potential for product to be double-pulled and thus have no where to go on the sales floor. As for Plano scanning SA RSCH after all of their sets, that is true too.

You should feel lucky that you have a team lead that actually goes by the book. Do some reading around here and you'll find that that's not usually the case and our jobs are worse because of it.

 

[Bosch]

Check your Raincheck Effectiveness report, your score should be in the toilet if you still need to scan. Our group leadership stopped us from doing RIGS when they decided to cook the Research with Locations % metric so we do very few rainchecks anymore. I still scan in the few I do figuring these signs cannot count as part of your prescanned Sunday ad set package because they did not exist yet. How would you get credit for them unless you tie them into the system in some way? The clearance issue is much more problematic since the new year started. I'm surprised the AP people aren't all over this since it impacts shortage dollars with price change. When we did our Toy transition I had 10 items in newly set POGS with regular price labels that were actually clearance. I could scan them in task, they populated on the drastic count report and the items were empty on the shelf because they were all on clearance endcaps. I only noticed them because when I scan an item in research with a high count I toggle to item search to see if a second sales floor location exists( the update would be filtered out unless you update both locations) and sure enough they were clearance. It did let me update them in SAR to process them off the report but I found them all on clearance endcaps so no updates were needed to their counts. Since these are updates only your price change people should be making be careful and use item search when doing your drastic count report until HQ provides some guidance here.

AP, she is too busy organizing team events. Clearance, also a problem and we have accidentally scanned more this last month than all of last year since pricing decided they no longer needed to cover labels of clearance., And one ETL has told the team leads they no longer need to cover labels when they pull he product off to a clearance end cap. We really have to be on our game to scan with the landmines left for us.

 

[zephyr4]

My store is experimenting this thing with using Stand Alone OUTS instead of the In-Stock Tasklist to scan new outs except for two days a week (which are for full research), and the 11-o'clock CAF pulls have been removed from the backroom work load, so we could scan until noon.

As for signs, we don't scan them in anymore; we just have to make sure we scan in the raincheck and make a proper substitute when applicable.

 

[Bosch]

My store is experimenting this thing with using Stand Alone OUTS instead of the In-Stock Tasklist to scan new outs except for two days a week (which are for full research), and the 11-o'clock CAF pulls have been removed from the backroom work load, so we could scan until noon.

As for signs, we don't scan them in anymore; we just have to make sure we scan in the raincheck and make a proper substitute when applicable.

At least SAO's you can fill the floor where its light, where you pass most of it in the Task list. Or another way to look at it, you can detail scan all outs dotted and non-dotted quickly without making a mess of the counts.

 

[zephyr4]

My store is experimenting this thing with using Stand Alone OUTS instead of the In-Stock Tasklist to scan new outs except for two days a week (which are for full research), and the 11-o'clock CAF pulls have been removed from the backroom work load, so we could scan until noon.

As for signs, we don't scan them in anymore; we just have to make sure we scan in the raincheck and make a proper substitute when applicable.

At least SAO's you can fill the floor where its light, where you pass most of it in the Task list. Or another way to look at it, you can detail scan all outs dotted and non-dotted quickly without making a mess of the counts.

SAOs haven't been used in my store for like 8 years; on one of the full research days, it's a truck day and we have to wait for flow to finish a part of the wave so we could scan behind them

 

[Bosch]

We use them on days clusterfucks happen,, say the truck isn't finished, the task list didn't drop, PDA's were down all night. Christmas time when the zone is fucked. But the time I balk at it is when the STL just figured out we are getting a visit so we have to fill every out double fast, cause they are in full panic mode. Or when POG did a huge set and their backstock never got you know back stocked.