Line setup and repacks

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Jun 21, 2013
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How do you guys deal with repacks on the line? I created a flat for baby ssz10. They had a flat made for beauty and hba repacks and I split it into two boats for different dbos. Domestics ssz3 is on a flat. Toys ssz11 is a uboat with no shelves. Kitchen just goes on the same flat as casepacks. I have seen pictures of store that have bays behind their line with pallets that they place them on. Anyone got some good pics I could use as reference? I need better ideas.
 
Kitchen just goes on the same flat as casepacks.

For the love of god, why? Half the shit in 4's doesn't belong in kitchen. Why would you give all that shit to your kitchen DBO and on a flat no less? 4's need to be sort and detrashed as part of secondary sort for Q4. (This was in the October monthly planner.) Individual areas' stuff should go on separate metros, 3 tiers, or in separted repacks on uboats. Metros with wacos are ideal, for kitchen IMO.

As a kitchen DBO I'd kick your ass if you put 4's on my flat. The flat is for small appliances and appliances only. Most of the stuff in repacks are on the opposite end of the section.
 
For the love of god, why? Half the shit in 4's doesn't belong in kitchen. Why would you give all that shit to your kitchen DBO and on a flat no less? 4's need to be sort and detrashed as part of secondary sort for Q4. (This was in the October monthly planner.) Individual areas' stuff should go on separate metros, 3 tiers, or in separted repacks on uboats. Metros with wacos are ideal, for kitchen IMO.

As a kitchen DBO I'd kick your ass if you put 4's on my flat. The flat is for small appliances and appliances only. Most of the stuff in repacks are on the opposite end of the section.
Interesting. That’s how it was done when I took over and I haven’t changed it. Inbound doesn’t sort repacks, dbo do. A few years ago they had to sort it on the line but official combo repacks sorting went away ages ago. I’ve always told the kitchen guy to give the pets guy his stuff when done. And secondary sort is just style and beauty and we haven’t even been using the cart. Beauty usually just comes and gets their boxes as we unload and put it in three tiers.
 
I’ve always told the kitchen guy to give the pets guy his stuff when done

That's not entirely unreasonable 9 months out of the year. (But, if you told this Kitchen DBO to do that, I'd laugh at you for store turf war reasons I won't go into.) But, in Q4 that doesn't work. The 4's possibly contain in addition to kitchen and pets: Mini, Amp Gifting, Sporting Goods, Chem, Paper, Domestics, Family Sleep, and Toys.

Right now, your kitchen DBO is extremely busy and likely drowning in freight, projects, flex pogs, black friday prep, etc. Having that DBO sort repacks is crazy.
 
That's not entirely unreasonable 9 months out of the year. (But, if you told this Kitchen DBO to do that, I'd laugh at you for store turf war reasons I won't go into.) But, in Q4 that doesn't work. The 4's possibly contain in addition to kitchen and pets: Mini, Amp Gifting, Sporting Goods, Chem, Paper, Domestics, Family Sleep, and Toys.

Right now, your kitchen DBO is extremely busy and likely drowning in freight, projects, flex pogs, black friday prep, etc. Having that DBO sort repacks is crazy.
I’m shocked you use a metro. Those are only supposed to be for style. I mean it’s an okay idea if there was a place to put the thing. As it stands now I have zero places on the line to create anything new. I’ll have to review the October planner. I didn’t notice it first time around and no one has said anything about it.
 
SORT YOUR REPACKS DURING THE UNLOAD. DBOs should not be doing it it is part of the unload process.
If you still get in 4s off the line and they arent sorted by your dc they should be sorted during unload. Baby repacks and 4s should be sorted during the unload with repacks under the line and put on a pallet behind the line when full. You can sort 3s during unload too or do what spot recommends and sort them after.

Pallets in your hold space for hba, beauty, seasonal, toys, otc, baby repacks during 4th quarter. If you have room can do kitchen, pets, stationary, and sport too but can probably get away with just having them on the uboats/flats if there isnt too much, especially rn kitchen gets quite a bit. Would recommend doing the same during bts for stationary.

Tbh idk how you have room to have extra flats on the line or even just extra vehicles in general. I also recommend dbos prioritize pushing repacks first. This can be a tough choice with the freight load rn for sure. Usually we have them push a uboat first in order to have one available.
 
SORT YOUR REPACKS DURING THE UNLOAD. DBOs should not be doing it it is part of the unload process.
If you still get in 4s off the line and they arent sorted by your dc they should be sorted during unload. Baby repacks and 4s should be sorted during the unload with repacks under the line and put on a pallet behind the line when full. You can sort 3s during unload too or do what spot recommends and sort them after.

Pallets in your hold space for hba, beauty, seasonal, toys, otc, baby repacks during 4th quarter. If you have room can do kitchen, pets, stationary, and sport too but can probably get away with just having them on the uboats/flats if there isnt too much, especially rn kitchen gets quite a bit. Would recommend doing the same during bts for stationary.

Tbh idk how you have room to have extra flats on the line or even just extra vehicles in general. I also recommend dbos prioritize pushing repacks first. This can be a tough choice with the freight load rn for sure. Usually we have them push a uboat first in order to have one available.
Ok where are you getting this from? Inbound doesn’t sort the repacks. It wasn’t in the training online. It talks about dbo going up and down the aisles pushing repacks on a boat with an empty one for backstock. Even when we had someone in our store training a newbie she never said anything about sorting repacks, just stacking them up. What you’re describing is a few years old to me so I’m curious now.
 
Ok where are you getting this from? Inbound doesn’t sort the repacks. It wasn’t in the training online. It talks about dbo going up and down the aisles pushing repacks on a boat with an empty one for backstock. Even when we had someone in our store training a newbie she never said anything about sorting repacks, just stacking them up. What you’re describing is a few years old to me so I’m curious now.
It is part of the inbound process if you look at it on workbench. There was communication for q4 prep last month or maybe in september that had a link to it as well
 
I’m shocked you use a metro. Those are only supposed to be for style. I mean it’s an okay idea if there was a place to put the thing. As it stands now I have zero places on the line to create anything new. I’ll have to review the October planner. I didn’t notice it first time around and no one has said anything about it.

My store has 5 metros designated for Home. (But, PP1 has lately been stealing them before PP2 gets in.) They work great for sorting repacks and pulling for home. The OMP even states to use metros as long as you aren't taking them from style sort. We just kind of store them wherever. Usually near the backroom aisle for what a particular metro is primarily used for. So mine is usually sitting opposite my aisle, if not stashed down my aisle. Stationary's is back near their aisle. Same for domestics. Then we have a couple of extra that we can use on an as needed basis. One of those right now is full with my cookie cutters and the other is full of stationary transition. If we need more, we borrow from market when they don't need them. I'll even take one from style if it's empty and I just need it for an hour or two.

Metros make home shit so much better.
 
My store has 5 metros designated for Home. (But, PP1 has lately been stealing them before PP2 gets in.) They work great for sorting repacks and pulling for home. The OMP even states to use metros as long as you aren't taking them from style sort. We just kind of store them wherever. Usually near the backroom aisle for what a particular metro is primarily used for. So mine is usually sitting opposite my aisle, if not stashed down my aisle. Stationary's is back near their aisle. Same for domestics. Then we have a couple of extra that we can use on an as needed basis. One of those right now is full with my cookie cutters and the other is full of stationary transition. If we need more, we borrow from market when they don't need them. I'll even take one from style if it's empty and I just need it for an hour or two.

Metros make home shit so much better.
Are you a small format store? There’s only the six metros which is what the guide says for style. We are a C volume store. Hardlines doesn’t have metros at all. Opu hold area up front expanded with metros but obviously they can’t be stolen. Secondary sort is style and beauty. I’m really curious why there is such a difference between our processes. As it is inbound comes in at 5am and pushes leftover until 7-8 then begins truck when we have enough vehicles. Usually don’t finish until 12 or 1 because people’s availability puts them out 9-11ish and pushing just kills it.
 
Are you a small format store? There’s only the six metros which is what the guide says for style. We are a C volume store. Hardlines doesn’t have metros at all. Opu hold area up front expanded with metros but obviously they can’t be stolen. Secondary sort is style and beauty. I’m really curious why there is such a difference between our processes. As it is inbound comes in at 5am and pushes leftover until 7-8 then begins truck when we have enough vehicles. Usually don’t finish until 12 or 1 because people’s availability puts them out 9-11ish and pushing just kills it.

No. We're not a small format. I think we're a C, but sales this year have us pushing to B if we have a strong 4th quarter. (All I know, is we're on the verge of moving up.) Our inbounds does come in at 5, but they start unload immediately. Any leftover freight from dayside gets pushed by the closers. Even the Closing TL and SETLs will pitch in. If it doesn't all get done, it just gets pushed down the backroom so that inbounds can unload with a clean line. Unload is always done by 8 unless there's a double. (And as late as 8 is pushing it. That late will have our Inbounds TL raging at the team.)

As for the metros, they were the work of our recently departed and dearly missed ETLGM-Log and our former Specialty Sales ETL who is the new ETLGM-Log. When we expanded the OPU hold space earlier this year, corporate accidentally sent us 2 pallets of extra metros. We built extra so that Home has them. Market got a few extra. And, style got some more as they come in handy for heavy style truck days and transitions. We still have the rest of the pallets up in the steel in case we need them, like we did recently to build an additional OPU hold area for Q4. The ETLs pleaded with our SD and DM to let us keep those metros.
 
For the love of god, why? Half the shit in 4's doesn't belong in kitchen. Why would you give all that shit to your kitchen DBO and on a flat no less? 4's need to be sort and detrashed as part of secondary sort for Q4. (This was in the October monthly planner.) Individual areas' stuff should go on separate metros, 3 tiers, or in separted repacks on uboats. Metros with wacos are ideal, for kitchen IMO.

As a kitchen DBO I'd kick your ass if you put 4's on my flat. The flat is for small appliances and appliances only. Most of the stuff in repacks are on the opposite end of the section.
4 and 3 part of q4. I made a deal with my peers. They don’t need to de-trash but they need to push it . And it works for me
 
Are you a small format store? There’s only the six metros which is what the guide says for style. We are a C volume store. Hardlines doesn’t have metros at all. Opu hold area up front expanded with metros but obviously they can’t be stolen. Secondary sort is style and beauty. I’m really curious why there is such a difference between our processes. As it is inbound comes in at 5am and pushes leftover until 7-8 then begins truck when we have enough vehicles. Usually don’t finish until 12 or 1 because people’s availability puts them out 9-11ish and pushing just kills it.
Let’s take q4 out of this for a moment . The best practice for inbound is sorting 4 and 3 on the line and put on its appropriate vehicle. Doesn’t matter if you are a C volume B or triple A store . That’s the best practice repacks gets sorted during unload and not stage somewhere for someone ..
 
Let’s take q4 out of this for a moment . The best practice for inbound is sorting 4 and 3 on the line and put on its appropriate vehicle. Doesn’t matter if you are a C volume B or triple A store . That’s the best practice repacks gets sorted during unload and not stage somewhere for someone ..
That was nowhere in the leader training for me and not mentioned by anyone above. The training video was dbo pushing repacks efficiently straight from the repack and not wasting time sorting.
 
That was nowhere in the leader training for me and not mentioned by anyone above. The training video was dbo pushing repacks efficiently straight from the repack and not wasting time sorting.
You do realize that one dbo doesn’t own everything that comes in 3 or 4s right? And it came out with the modernization over a year ago.
 
That was nowhere in the leader training for me and not mentioned by anyone above. The training video was dbo pushing repacks efficiently straight from the repack and not wasting time sorting.

Think of it like this: Why are cases supposed to be sorted onto U-boats by aisle? Because that allows the person stocking to take the vehicle up and down the aisles, which is more efficient (allegedly) than stocking from a parked vehicle. If repacks aren't sorted, you can't really go up and down the aisles with all of them. Some aren't terrible. But, 3s and 4s are impossible because there are so many repacks on any given day and they contain items from so many different departments.

Sorting those repacks gets everything pushed faster than having a TM walking back and forth detrashing each item as they go. On days when no one else gets to the 4s and I have to dig through them to get my stuff and detrash them before taking them to the floor, here's what I have at the end of the process: 1 or 2 repacks filled with tiny pieces of cardboard that would fall right through the holder on a U-boat, 1 or 2 lawn-sized garbage bags full of plastic and styrofoam, and anywhere between 3-20 repacks full of other DBOs' stuff. Where the hell would I put that stuff if I were working on the salesfloor?

You need to think beyond the basic training.
 
I'm have to agree with everyone else here. I am the kitchen DBO and an inbound TM. I have the pleasure of sorting my own 4 repacks under the line. I use 5 repacks usually; kitchen, pets, seasonal, amp, paper. Sometimes there's chemicals but I just put it on the appropriate vehicle during unload. We also use a sixth repack to sort all of the hardware out of the 3 repacks, but our bed/bath DBO works closely with the dec home DBO, so she just sorts the dec home stuff into a 3 tier when pushing those repacks.

Also I have a completely separate uboat for the 4 repacks. It's useful for overflow from the other vehicles if repacks are small enough.
 
You do realize that one dbo doesn’t own everything that comes in 3 or 4s right? And it came out with the modernization over a year ago.
No they don’t, they partner with each other. The only reference to inbound dealing with repack sort is q4.
 
No they don’t, they partner with each other. The only reference to inbound dealing with repack sort is q4.
As your sad for the original guide for sort and stock . Under the line you should have a total of 5 repacks, chem , paper , pets hippa and decor . And on the line they should be broken and sorted into the empty repacks under the line. You no longer need to do baby hardliners , sea or dollar spot , sport and toys because they come with their own ssz
 
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No they don’t, they partner with each other. The only reference to inbound dealing with repack sort is q4.
You ask the question we give you the answer, and then you just disagree. Sorting during unload has been a thing for a long time. Like allnew said its gotten better because we are sorting less and less. We still sort our baby repacks to separate the different areas and detrash but you dont need to. In my store we also have 4s presorted so we dont have to do anything there either. It does take more time now for kitchen since it is now not detrashed. Most days we sort 3s during the unload unless we are short staffed. Hopefully soon everything is sorted and we don't need to do any of them.
 
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As your sad for the original guide for sort and stock . Under the line you should have a total of 5 repacks, chem , paper , pets hippa and decor . And on the line they should be broken and sorted into the empty repacks under the line. You no longer need to do baby hardliners , sea or dollar spot , sport and toys because they come with their own ssz
So your saying I’m bad for following the directions? Awesome. The process you described stopped ages ago and was brought back in the October planner. DBOs are supposed to be business owners and sort their repacks. Once again, it’s in the training video for GMTL. Heaven forbid I do what I’m trained to do. We piloted modernization years before everyone got it. The repack sorting stopped after the pilot was over and everything was rolled out official. I came on here seeking opinions on how people deal with repacks assuming people were operating on the process given to us and all you guys do I attack me saying it’s not supposed to be a certain way when I’m doing what I was trained to do up to this point.
 
No one is attacking you. I think you are taking everything to personal . Now you say you want to put repacks on pallets but vendor junk is there . Is that part of “ you were doing modernization before anyone else “? First of all you are giving more work for your dbos and you will never come clean on it . 1 if your domestic dbo doesn’t own hippa or decor , by the time he/she goes thru their repacks it might not get its way to the other dbos . Kitchen repacks , so if your kitchen dbo is sorting , paper , pets and chem where do those go? Those are p1 departments. If you are an inbound Tl you think you are fallowing best practice but you don’t . Ssz 3 and 4 never went away for being sorted right on the line. All I said is ask your sd for the sort and stock guide. Not for general merchandise guide .
Sort and stock is different training than your gmtl. And I’m not saying you are bad at fallowing direction all I’m saying you need to have a better understanding of what you are trying to achieve. And the only way is to partner with your inbound peers and ask them to fallow best practice of sort and stock .
 
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