Archived Normal for Backroom??

[Em22]

Alrighty,

I'm relatively new at Target -a little over a month- and I've got a few questions about what is and isn't the norm for your typical Backroom TM job.

1. CAFs...so many CAFs. I seem to be getting a lot of 7a to 3:30p Saturday shifts that I'll be doing by myself. Granted, I'm almost always seemingly the only Backroom TM on duty at a given time (if there are others, I don't see them...), but it seems a bit strange that it's preferable to have me call to the LOD for help pulling the ALWAYS MASSIVE noon CAF (no 11a CAF at our store?) rather than have 2 people for that time slot.
2. Pull times? My pull times on workbench are sometimes WAYYY inaccurate. Like saying it took 50+ minutes to pull all CAFs, when I was done and called them in to the LOD at half past the hour. I was told during training that if I exit a batch then start a new one, the time counter stops, but when I talked to a supervisor(?), he said that the system will count regardless of whether or not you exit a batch. I do this to avoid running back and forth from the light duty area and the bulk section (esp. for diapers and furniture), but it's making my pull times look HORRIBLE! Will this send a red flag to higher-ups or corporate?
3. How in the hell do you cope with the stress?? It seems like the pace can go from literally nothing in the PDA to do for and hour to absolute chaos with no end in sight. I feel bad calling or asking for help, but it's just crazy sometimes. I can get mornings with 20+ POGs and a bunch of Research, AND have FAs out the ass. A lot of the time, I'll feel like crap and like I'm just not doing things well enough or fast enough, but I've gotten literally NO feedback so far. I'd really like to know if I'm doing great or sucking at this job, haha.
4. Punching In - Okay, at risk of sounding like a shitty TM, what exactly qualifies you for a late punch? I've never been more than 4 or 5 min late at a time, but not gonna lie, a lot of the time, I'll be a minute late or so, with traffic or waiting for someone to open the door in the morning. Again, no feedback from anyone about anything thus far, I just want to know if I'm doing a no-no or if this is normal?

Thanks for the advice!! (I tend to be a bit of an over-thinker, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to double check things )

 

[tarZHAYnotTarGET]

As a Hardlines TM, I can really only answer #4.

4. At my store, we have an unwritten 5 minute rule. Clocking in to start or end your shift can be done up to 5 minutes early or 5 minutes late. Any more than that, and HR will probably want to talk to you about being on time. They do it to keep payroll as accurate as possible, even though they do plan for a little overage.

I can't comment on breaks and lunches, since those rules vary by state, but at my store (in CA), we do not clock out for breaks, and we have a 5th hour rule for lunch that is STRICTLY enforced. If you work more than 5 hours, you MUST take your lunch absolutely no later than the start of your 5th hour (example, start at 1pm, lunch by 6 pm. lunch at 6:01 is unacceptable and you will be speaking to HR for corrective action, aka probation). Again, lunches and breaks vary by state, so you have to learn the rules for your particular state, which should be posted very clearly somewhere in or near the breakroom in your store.

 

[Quattro]

1. At my store, there are always at least 2 back room TMs by the time CAFs begin at 11:00. (One opener arrives at 7:30, 1-2 mids arrive at 11:00. We used to get one at 9:00, but that shift was recently scrapped.) Seems strange that you haven't run into any other back room TMs. Noon CAFs are typically large, so we have gotten in the habit of having every back room TM help out with the first few CAFs. After 1:00 they tend to taper off and 1 person can handle the rest until the 5:00 pulls are done.

2. I'm fairly new myself, having been at my store about four months now, and I can honestly say I've never checked my pull times. Most of my back room team is made up of TMs who have been at the store less than two months, so I'm happy if we just get the CAFs pulled before the next round drops.

3. Like I said, I've been at my store about four months. I've gotten minimal feedback about how I'm doing. Different TLs/LODs put more emphasis on different things. I do what I know I should be doing, and sometimes have to shuffle things around to appease them. It's all about keeping pace. If I get the pulls done in 30 minutes, that leaves 30 minutes to backstock as much as I can so that I don't leave a mountain of backstock for the closer. Just set priorities, and stick to them. Some back room duties really aren't pressing matters, and can be put off until you have more time.

4. Don't worry about being a minute or two late. That's not a big deal. Within 5 minutes is fine.

 

[Cel]

I haven't worked backroom but as far as #4 from my experience as has been said it's basically 5 minutes over or under. Past 5 minutes is going to officially count as "late" which will show up on the LOD's closing e-mails and gets tracked for performance reviews and such. If your shift starts at 7 and you clock in at 7:04 nobody will care any more than clocking in at 6:55. Meals are another story, even if your state has no laws pertaining to that stuff, Target operates under a 6 hour rule unless otherwise stated by law, and racking up meal compliances is a good way to get termed quick. There is no 5 minute grace period with that 6 hours, and most LODs will be squawking on the walkie if they get a meal needed alert for you (5 hours 45 minutes since clocking in, unless your state reduces that amount then -15 minutes from whatever). Note that it counts from the time you clocked in not when your shift officially was listed, so if you happened to clock in 5 minutes early your 6 hours is 5 minutes early too.

 

[Rarejem]

If you are waiting for someone (LOD) to open the door for you, do a punch correction.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Welcome! Thanks to my time is why you are alone on Saturdays. Exiting an caf batch doesn't stop the clock.

 

[konk]

And the timer doesn't start until you scan something. Maybe save DIPR and FURN for the last ones you do on that side. Or just not give a fuck. If those are the only ones, they'll understand.

 

[dabeastfromtheeast]

It's been a year since I worked dayside BR, so some things may have changed, but I'll try to answer what I can.

1. Noon CAFs are always big, as it will try to pull from every fill group possible, as opposed to staggering the fill groups pulled during the other CAF hours. If you're a lower volume store or by yourself, feel no shame in calling an LOD to get some BR-trained people to help you from going red on a CAF. If they care about their logistics metrics one bit, they'll eagerly help (plus they escape from the guests ).

2. The system has always been quite stupid about guestimating pull times. It will think that pulling water takes the same amount of time as pulling a tube of lipstick. It doesn't calculate using a ladder, stacker or wave. PIPO and stuff with no quantities attached make it do weird things. Backstocking without subt9999'ing can also make it pull what you just backstocked. I used to use it just to figure out what fill groups to prioritize, and if I needed any additional help. And no, as of when I was there last, the time counters aren't metrics. Your TL might use it to see how effective you/the team are pulling, but that's about it.

3. Just my opinions, but I always loved dayside BR, just because of how much freedom you have and the physical aspect of the job. Plus, almost no guests. I always just saw pulls as just a fun challenge to beat the clock. Never take things too seriously and just remember to have fun.

 

[backroomdude]

1. Really during cafs there should always be 2 people at least. Especially since the fulfillment have started there is no way 1 person can handle all that and stay green.


2. The only way to supposedly stop the timer is to exit batch, log off, exit to main screen then log back in go to different batch. I wouldn't worry really about the pull times that is more for follow up if there is issues. But some advice you say your doing that to stop from going back and forth which is good, but perhaps do half pulls then clear those then other half then clear all. This way the timer wont be that high.


3. Dayside BR is really an easy job. You have a lot of freedom and work with minimal supervision usually. As far as everything that needs to be done, first off you need at least 2 people there. Second, prioritize you should know the Fulfillments, Instock pulls, cafs and guest request or all top priority above and beyond anything else. You say you ask for help which is good, but as far as the misc pulls just stand your ground tell people your on your own and they need to grab the pull if they need it anytime soon. (this is the direction I give my BR team and any issues with anyone on the floor I deal with them directly)


4. 5 minutes after is considered late. A few times here and there shouldn't be an issue but if its pretty regular you can be coached and written up for it.

 

[fearlessprice]

12 o clock cafs are always the biggest but they are also the most inaccurate cafs. That often will trigger 40-60 percent of what was recently backstocked. Always pull smart by leaving bulk fill groups alone till end. Such as papr and pets. The timer will continue once opened until completed. But that doesn't necessarily mean you will get coached for it if you can speak to it being in receiving. I often open 5 batches at a time and cycle through them to see how many locations I have to hit for each fill group. That helps you see if you should bring a vehicle in the aisle with you or you could just ruin in and run out. You have to make the cafs within the hour. Otherwise they drop out of the system and effect your replenishment score. which means Loss of sales

 

[Guest]

CAF pulls are a beating and can be extremely stressful because of the chaos that is the backroom. The 12pm CAF pulls are always the worst.

They are the worst because they are the largest of the day and there is a good chance half of what you pull is regurgitated back stock. It also sucks when you ask for help for the 12pm CAF pulls and backroom team members and the team lead either refuse to help or act like they are being inconvenienced by helping you for just 10 minutes.
I am always told to make sure the CAF pulls get done before the 60 minutes otherwise I will get written up. I just always laugh in my head when ETLs, backroom tl, and backroom team members get all anal when I ask them for help.


Backroom day should not be stressful. It is really easy but so many other factors that are out of your control make it extremely stressful. You've got to deal with CAF batches, POGs, EXFs, and research. There is the always fun flexible fulfillment. And you have to deal with annoying, rude, and messy vendors and team members that cry because they want someone to crush the balers. Do all that crap while also trying to do back stock. And can't forget about pulling price change at 6pm too.

The best advice for the CAF pulls is to start on one side and work your way to the other side. You should start on the grocery side because grocery is usually bigger in the CAF pulls than hardlines and softlines. I sometimes do the cold stuff first, then start on dry grocery and make my way to the line and then start with pets and diapers and go finish off hardlines and softlines.

 

[Anonymous12345]

You really should not be worried about how long it says it took you on RWT. Instead you should be looking at the overall pull goal time. If it shows 50 minutes then that should be the time you strive to meet. Also the goal times are a bit lenient, so if you are fast you should beat it by a couple minutes. If you have 2 TMs pulling, then what you do is add up the goal times for the specifics fill groups each TM is assigned to pull. If you tried to meet every individual fill group pull you would have to keep bouncing back and fourth between light duty and bulk, which makes no sense. When u are pulling you want to always try and minimize unnecessary footsteps and strive to meet your total pull goal time.

It's not a good idea to have the TM assigned to pull CAFs also pull up the CAF pull monitor because by the time you look it up you have already wasted 5 minutes of pull time. Instead have your team lead or TM that is not assigned to pull CAFs, LOD, or even HR can check it for you and announce it over the walkie. Also you can check The MyProgress app under logistics on thePDA and it will show you the amount of DPCIs and eaches for every pull (not goal times).

Lastly if your 11s are big it's likely because their not SUBT9999 the food truck and if your 12s are big then your flow team is not SUBT9999 their backstock. If most of the product is backstock, I would partner with your BR TL and logistics ETL and sell them on why they should be resetting the accumulator. Print out a weeks worth of pull times, take pics of the amount of backstock coming back, and check the backstock dates on item search to see if it was back stocked the night before or early am. Sell them on the wasted time being spent on this, that could be spent on something else like backstocking or BRLA tasks. Oh and if most of the product is going out to the floor then that means they are not pushing to the piece and you should notify your leaders about this too.

 

[whippingboy]

When I used to work backroom we would mark the high pulls that needed a crown/wave with a pull clip and number, subtract it out of the gun, then physically pull them after all the CAFs were cleared out of the gun. That way any massive water/toilet paper/diaper/pet food CAFs wouldn't bloat our times.

 

[Guest]

I think it's cute when you are working with backroom team members that don't know how to print backroom location labels. This is what happens. They open up the batch and do all other batches and then when you're down to 2 or 3 batches, they're like "I couldn't scan the location" so I get to do it. Must be nice to work with backroom team members that know how to print location labels, operate the crown, and answer item requests from the salesfloor. The Monday through Fridayer opener at my store does not know how to do any of those things or knows those things but refuses to do them.

 

[mrknownothing]

I think it's cute when you are working with backroom team members that don't know how to print backroom location labels. This is what happens. They open up the batch and do all other batches and then when you're down to 2 or 3 batches, they're like "I couldn't scan the location" so I get to do it. Must be nice to work with backroom team members that know how to print location labels, operate the crown, and answer item requests from the salesfloor. The Monday through Fridayer opener at my store does not know how to do any of those things or knows those things but refuses to do them.

At my store, we have a binder with barcodes for every backroom location. If a label is not scannable, the backroom TM scans the corresponding barcode in the binder to pull the item(s) and re-prints the label later (i.e. after the 7:00 CAFs are done).

 

[Guest]

Yep, we had one too but the team lead in flow quit and left a long long time ago and so did the binder. I miss that binder.

 

[konk]

When I used to work backroom we would mark the high pulls that needed a crown/wave with a pull clip and number, subtract it out of the gun, then physically pull them after all the CAFs were cleared out of the gun. That way any massive water/toilet paper/diaper/pet food CAFs wouldn't bloat our times.

Do you pull up the detail report to see what's in that location or does your store put the pick label lower? Or do you climb on the steel?

 

[whippingboy]

When I used to work backroom we would mark the high pulls that needed a crown/wave with a pull clip and number, subtract it out of the gun, then physically pull them after all the CAFs were cleared out of the gun. That way any massive water/toilet paper/diaper/pet food CAFs wouldn't bloat our times.

Do you pull up the detail report to see what's in that location or does your store put the pick label lower? Or do you climb on the steel?

It was done by memory... probably a scary thought, but yeah. Some would write on their hand... pull 3 of 2177 for example. Or 13 waters. Or 1 hoover. But we would still have to use the wave to scan it out. The labels were placed lower.

 

[konk]

Our location labels are low. I could see putting the item label next to it, but that would definitely create problems at my store. We have TMs that locu the location if they don't want to grab a ladder. Sometimes I'll pull up the detail report if I can't get to the location.

 

[konk]

Is it normal for early backroom TMs to throw their label backers on the floor and then the closer is told to sweep them up by the TL?

Is it normal for early BR to ignore the baler and let the boxes pile up?

Is it normal for early BR to leave absorb on the floor for me to sweep up?

Is it normal for them to leave their empty boxes and defects for me?

Is it normal for them to leave the line a mess when I have to set it up for a truck.

Is it normal for their pulls to be thrown on the tub but not be told anything about it?

 

[Bosch]

Is it normal for early backroom TMs to throw their label backers on the floor and then the closer is told to sweep them up by the TL?

Is it normal for early BR to ignore the baler and let the boxes pile up?

Is it normal for early BR to leave absorb on the floor for me to sweep up?

Is it normal for them to leave their empty boxes and defects for me?

Is it normal for them to leave the line a mess when I have to set it up for a truck.

Is it normal for their pulls to be thrown on the tub but not be told anything about it?

That sounds like Flow. That they usually clean up. Except for the tub of stuff, they always leave a tub of stuff.

And for the OP anytime theta are late opening the door more than 4min, you do a punch correction. If you are on time, clocking in late should be on them. It was a horrid problem in my store, but 5-10 punch corrections a morning gets attention when its all the openers. When they all have the same note. "such and such didn't open the door".

 

[konk]

Flow leaves broken bottles of fabric softener under the line. They also leave the trailer door open with the rollers still in the trailer.

 

[keynesian]

Is it normal for early backroom TMs to throw their label backers on the floor and then the closer is told to sweep them up by the TL?

Is it normal for early BR to ignore the baler and let the boxes pile up?

Is it normal for early BR to leave absorb on the floor for me to sweep up?

Is it normal for them to leave their empty boxes and defects for me?

Is it normal for them to leave the line a mess when I have to set it up for a truck.

Is it normal for their pulls to be thrown on the tub but not be told anything about it?

No, early morning backroom should be using the white-non adhesive from behind the zip label behind the sticky part of it when backstocking full cases. This way, if somebody else needs to rezone the shelf location they are able to move the label

Yes, it is completely normal for logistics backroom to ignore the baler - this is flow's job. If it is not getting done and they are pawning it off on you approach the logistics ETL and inform them that the flow tl is neglecting the baler.

No, eco-absorb is actually very dangerous - if somebody gets it in their eyes they could go blind. this is a very serious OSHA violation and no employee/vendor/leader/investor/ceo is in any way allowed to do this for any reason whatsoever. Whoever opens up the bag and uses it must clean it up. Address it with your ETL, and if the behavior continues contact OSHA.

No, the defects should be getting done every morning by the reverse logistic team member, as far as I know you have no direct responsibility to them. An LOD has to open the trash compactor for the throwaways, and all other dispositions are the responsibility of reverse logistics. The empty boxes, however, are once again flow's job. there should be no partial cases heading to the backroom at any time of day - this is against best practice.

The unload line is the responsibility of flow during a truck, and the responsibility of the backroom day team member the rest of the time. So if they're leaving it a mess after unloading the trailer, talk to the flow team. If individual team members are using the line as a dumping ground for whatever garbage/miscellaneous they have from their department then address it with them, that behavior is unacceptable.

Yes, tubs are acceptable vehicles for pulls. If you're at a ULV store where tubs are used as vehicles during the unload, then I would ask your team lead specifically if all tubs are reserved for this purpose or if they only need a few.

 

[konk]

Thanks! For the baler, I was referring to the period after flow leaves and before I get there.

For the tubs, the key word was "thrown". My pulls are always neat and arranged by sales floor location with case pack labels facing out on the bottom.

 

[keynesian]

Thanks! For the baler, I was referring to the period after flow leaves and before I get there.

For the tubs, the key word was "thrown". My pulls are always neat and arranged by sales floor location with case pack labels facing out on the bottom.

well, assuming flow leaves it clean, the only cardboard generated would be from CAFs and the POG team if possible. The pushers should be taking care of their own cardboard, as should the pog team. If the CAF pushers aren't baler trained, then the LOD or backroom day should be taking care of it for them. Now if your backroom day person is a 'runner' pulling and pushing all of the CAFs, then, yes, he needs to take care of his trash.

In terms of organizing the pulls - thats a thornier issue. If its so messy that you can't even wheel it out to the floor without things falling off, then that should get addressed quickly. Otherwise, I think I've only heard anybody in leadership talk about it once, and even he said it wasn't a big deal. As long as it is pushable it doesn't really matter how neat it is, because the pusher has to organize it as they push it, by definition.