As a backroom team member...its is much easier to handle 24 cans of soup in a case ( neatly secured with plastic) than 20 cans out of the casepack. To start with, I have to look through all 20 cans to make sure they are the same. Cause as well know soup cans ( just using this as an example) can look the same but be different dpcis. So, I look through the soup cans they are all the same. THEN, I have to find a Waco that will hold them all ( best practice says they should be kept together so yea this could be a lil challenging cause the grocery aisle is packed)So, after spending a few minutes I find a Waco that will hold them all. So, then I put the cans in the Waco...counting them to make sure the count it right. I store them. Next day a tm is doing the audit it leads them to the location...so they do like they should look through all the cans to make sure they are not mixed up, count them and moves on. I could go on and on. Spot is all about saving payroll etc...then they really need to look at things like this. IF the casepack is backstocked then all I have to do is find a spot in the casepack section. When doing the audit I just have to scan the pic label verify its a whole case enter qty and move on. Much less work for everyone..which means less payroll .
Archived Is this how all stores put away backstock
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Except food. No food in repacks, please.
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The "problem" with the new replenishment system is the triggers (the point at which the system decides to pull an item from the back) now vary depending on how frequently the product sells. Those items that sell more frequently replenish more often. For example, you have 2 items that sell at different rates, item-A has a shelf capacity of 10 and sells very frequently, so the system replenishes this item very quickly and will trigger a pull after the sales floor quantity (SFQ) reduces by 50% (I have no idea what the real numbers are). So item-A replenishes after 5 eaches sell, or the SFQ is reduced from 10 to 5. Item-B has the same shelf capacity of 10 but doesn't sell as quickly so the trigger is different, let's say 10%, so the system doesn't replenish this item until 10% (1 of the 10 capacity) is left on the sales floor. What this does is it is forcing more product to stay in the backroom waiting to be pulled.
Before this system change, the triggers were the same for all items (except items on sale), and merchandise was pulled from the back more frequently. However, this wasn't a very efficient use of time because why would you pull an item that wasn't looking empty on the floor when it doesn't sell frequently enough to warrent the pull?
To make a long story short, more merchandise is held in the back so we are touching it less frequently, not replenishing items that don't sell quickly enough to warrent a pulls before the floor is empty. This has drastically reduced pull times because we are pulling numerous items less frequently.
The way I have combatted this issue at my store is I have added more shelves of wacos to many of the aisles in the stockroom. Target has not changed the backroom profiles to account for the logjam in the back, so I did it for them.
Additionally, everyone is feeling a bit crammed in the back right now, especially down the grocery aisles, because we are being pushed extra product because all of the endcaps are changing. If you see a lot of the same stuff showing up, partner with your TL and come up with a solution. We didn't backstock any pringles or coffee, I made the salesfloor set those endcaps as soon as I saw the ridiculous amount we had, bypassing the whole backstock then pull charade we usually do for endcaps.
Sorry for the long post, or if it still doesn't make any sense. There are a lot of variables that effect the new replenishment system and I definitely didn't cover them all here.
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agreed.
We dropped a manual CAF for GRC3 the other day. Three overflowing tubs came out. Our Flow team is pretty weak and we've always had a problem with challenge. We've been cracking down on it lately and it's definitely improved, but I know we still have quite a way to go. ...but seriously...even lazy TMs can't explain three full tubs from a manual CAF. WHY is this stuff not coming out in the autofills???
And to whoever mentioned putting backstock in repack boxes...I think you might've just changed my life lol. Our Flow team has gotten really bad about just throwing backstock on a skid over the past few months. It majorly increases the time it takes me to backstock (everything is literally just piled/thrown on there- loose, case, juice laying on top of cereal, crushing the boxes, etc I can't even count the number of times the skid has crumbled on the floor before I can get it to the back room, guests giving me a range of looks from frustrated to horrified lol)
I've always hated the use of repack boxes for anything, but honestly...I think that could work. We're always short on tubs so my backstock organization problem has felt totally unsolvable, but taking out a few repack boxes and asking them to throw loose boxes of granola bars, fruit snacks, ramen, etc etc in there would make my life so much easier! Especially because when a tub does eventually open up I could just throw the repack box on the tub and drag it down the aisle with me. I don't even care if it's all mixed together- it'd just be wonderful to have everything contained!
God I'm setting the bar really, really, really, really low.
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If you're store is pushing freight while guests are shopping, there is really one method your store should be using. Backroom pulls product on to tub, brings tub to floor, flow team pushes tub, flow team converts push tub to backstock tub, flow team pushes pallet/flat for that section, utilizing that now-empty tub for organizing backstock.
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That's what we do, but market pulls only take up one topper tub. Market backstock takes up numerous vehicles. Plus they don't work the pulls at a consistent time. Sometimes it's worked with the truck, sometimes it's worked afterwards. The pull is always out there ready to be pushed before they even get through with the unload, but after that it's out of my hands.
My store is basically a clusterf*ck at the moment.
My store is basically a clusterf*ck at the moment.
SFSFun
Ship from Store: Don't call it Ship To Store!!
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Was any of it completely empty on the floor? The goal of the new replenishment system is to not pull stuff that has at least a full facing on the shelf and isn't predicted to sell past that point. So if you have a can of soup with a capacity of 100, and 20 on the floor, it won't pull more unless most of those sell or are likely to sell (based on sales history and trends).
Be aware that food in repacks is a steritech violation.
The inefficiency of SFQ is also playing a part here. The capacities set at headquarters are ridiculous and if they are not corrected when set, the replenishment is incorrect. Too much is coming in, too much sent to the floor, yadayadayada. Something MUST be done with regard to accountability here so this nonsense stops.
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Of course it is. of course it is
I didn't know that, but I shouldn't be surprised.
Honestly, it might be worth it to risk the violation until we figure out a long-term solution. It would save a lot of time when backstocking. It would look cleaner while still on the floor. It's safer for guests and TMs to not have items falling/breaking every time you move a vehicle. It reduces the chances of products becoming damaged. The list is endless.
SFSFun
Ship from Store: Don't call it Ship To Store!!
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As to the original question, you should try to avoid leaving items inside casepacks unless it's still a full case. It saves the BR time from having to throw away your cardboard and it ensures they don't accidentally backstock it as a full case, potentially screwing up on-hands and backroom accuracy. If you need to keep a bunch of loose stuff together so it doesn't go all over the place (think pillows or cotton swabs), you can cut one end of the box off and leave the items in there.
oath2order
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The method I go with is if half the casepack goes out, then I'll push it. If not, then the whole thing goes back.
BackroomAlpha
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Dont send them your trash. Once you've opened and taken even one product out, remove the remaining and place them on a proper vehical, take your trash to the appropriate station. Backroom has a lot to do and is not the dump for everyone's trash from product they've worked.
We deal with that daily and it has become a huge issue. I spend 10 extra minutes just cleaning up trash before the start of my shift sometimes and 10-15 rounding up trash from backstock after truck has been worked. It really is annoying.
We deal with that daily and it has become a huge issue. I spend 10 extra minutes just cleaning up trash before the start of my shift sometimes and 10-15 rounding up trash from backstock after truck has been worked. It really is annoying.
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The other Backroom favorite, the drop and run. If you have something that needs to go to the Backroom, LET BACKROOM KNOW what it is. I can't tell you how many times my coworkers, my leaders and I have kept a stockroom or receiving clutter and backstock organized, only to turn away from it a moment and find unidentifiable merchandise!!
Looks just fine.. And capacity is a loose term since we can't get any time to set or corporate to actually set one that is even close to reality. And add in flow who seems to think that backstock is evil so they jam entire cases out where they don't fit. So the shelves look weird since somethings are completely empty others are overflowing and the backroom is bursting since so much is sitting back there. But that is what our DTL & Group leader think is perfectly fine.
BackroomAlpha
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@Him Ive come in before to repacks on repacks stacked up with literally every department because late night salesfloor doesn't know what happens after backstock is brought back. I blame it on the LOD. I walk so much that if i was LOD nobody could hide, no process could slip my mind. LODs at my store are just there to deal with guest issues. Trust me. Night side bakroom at my store only gets ahold of the LOD if the 3oclocks are more than 4 hours.
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And that I think is One of my biggest !! We, (the ones who are actually doing the manual labor not delegating it to someone else to do) put so much time and effort during our shifts, only to get crapped on when we are about to leave for the day. Do you know how demoralized I have felt not only for myself a couple of times, but for my peers, TL's, ETL's and only 1 STL, during my tenure with Spot? (The TL's, ETL's and STL I am referring to are the ones that actually give a damn about the overall Store, not just a workcenter) Things like this cause real good people to become "Jaded" It's really disgusting.
!! We, (the ones who are actually doing the manual labor not delegating it to someone else to do) put so much time and effort during our shifts, only to get crapped on when we are about to leave for the day. Do you know how demoralized I have felt not only for myself a couple of times, but for my peers, TL's, ETL's and only 1 STL, during my tenure with Spot? (The TL's, ETL's and STL I am referring to are the ones that actually give a damn about the overall Store, not just a workcenter) Things like this cause real good people to become "Jaded" It's really disgusting. 
That was amazing! Thanks! I always partner with my team leads but they don't have many bright ideas. So I just started working P-Fresh now as a P.A. here's the usual process. Come in at 9PM. We make the "expected sales x2" batch because it reduces the actual pull drops drastically at 10:15 PM, and we must always clear those batches. I will use actual numbers here. Lets say our dairy pulls were 230 DPCI's when we made the "expected sales x2" and we finish pulling before the 10:15 drops. This makes the 10:15 drops only about 10-25 more DPCi's as compared to 240-255 if we didn't make the dairy batch at all.
Usually we don't get to finish making and pulling our own batches before the 10:15 drops, but we usually finish pulling and pushing most of the pulls before our truck shows up usually between 2:00AM-3:00AM. If we're not done pushing the pulls, we push the truck first then push the pulls after (sometimes at the same time) and we have mixed results but most of the time everything is going out while just sometimes everything is just backstock (those sales and endcaps I have to identify more often).
At the end we always come back to a ton of backstock and we run out of room for our boxes and having a bit more room in our wacos. I try to empty our case packs with half or less to save room and make sure TM's are not pushing out a few items only. Something else we do around this time because we have a bit less freight is we "dump" the P-Fresh stockrooms. We LOCU sections at a time, wacos and casepack locations and usually most of all that can go out and that gives us a stupid amount of room for the backstock and makes them look real sexy and the floor filled, and so far that's what's been working for us. Also it boosts our location accuracy.
Appreciate any tips to tweak this out to be as efficient as possible. Please if this entire process just sucks let me know, criticize me, ask me questions, I want this shit to work better! If this process is pretty good let me know too!
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