Archived Opening boxes

[Mvfcobra]

So i haven’t really seen a thread like this, or maybe I’m just a bad worker, but I’m an electronics tm and sometimes (considering it’s the holidays) my lod will put me in toys to push truck. I could take a U-boat and be told “this should take you about 45 minutes to complete” and still spend 1.5 to 2 hours. I don’t know what it is, maybe lack of motivation? If I was to be placed in electronics, I’d help guests and do all the re-packs all in a 6-8 hour shift. Why do Lods knowingly put me in the wrong area hoping that I will I get better only to be mad at me when I don’t meet expectations of “a box a minute” but have proven myself in Electronics? This is more of a vent but I’m sure some of you guys can relate.

 

[Dead and Khaki]

I appreciate when leaders roll up their sleeves and help us with the grunt work, but...working in 10-20 minute bursts here and there can't possibly give them a realistic idea of the speed and intensity a person can sustain for up to eight hours a day, five days a week. It's easy to say "this U-boat should take about 45 minutes" when one has never had to push, say, 8+ vehicles in a row. We have to pace ourselves for our own health and safety and for our longterm productivity.

 

[FlowTeamChick]

Honestly, I think those "this should take __ minutes" things are just made up. Don't know by whom, but they're just numbers pulled out of the air as far as I can tell. My favorite example of this was back in the days before e2e and I was pushing shoes. I had a huge flatbed load - taller than I am - and my TL said the print-out said it should take 18 minutes. Say what?!
I'd say it's more important that you work steadily and as quickly as you can and don't worry too much about it taking you longer to work in an unfamiliar area.

 

[MavDog]

1 minute a box is pacing yourself, because the best practice used to be a box every 30 seconds

 

[Planosss]

I appreciate when leaders roll up their sleeves and help us with the grunt work, but...working in 10-20 minute bursts here and there can't possibly give them a realistic idea of the speed and intensity a person can sustain for up to eight hours a day, five days a week. It's easy to say "this U-boat should take about 45 minutes" when one has never had to push, say, 8+ vehicles in a row. We have to pace ourselves for our own health and safety and for our longterm productivity.

Who’s getting these kind of hours 8x5!!?!?

 

[dannyy315]

Thank god my leaders never say “x should take you y minutes to complete”. I’ll work as fast as I can, and it’ll be done when it’s done. Guests come first.

 

[CsideMaster]

Lol I’ve been at target over 3 years and my leaders have tried the box a minute policy a few times. I personally never met those goals and neither did most of my team, so they scrapped the time goals.

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

Omg i know how u feel! My TLs always give us some bullshit about how this vehicle should only take us 20 minutes meanwhile they don’t see all those tine little random cosmetic items to the bottom of every box and it really ends up taking a whole hour to push -_-

 

[Fluttervale]

A box a minute is reasonable IF the load is sorted (i.e. all one aisle, or sorted so 1 is on top, then 2, and so on) AND does not take into account travel time of the load (i.e. moving the load from the back room to the aisle or putting away cardboard).

It is VERY reasonable if the load is properly sorted and there are no guests...I have had whole teams able to meet that goal with a proper load.

I've seen and participated in those studies for other retailers. However Target doesn't seem to have explained exactly how they get those numbers so people misuse them.

 

[dannyy315]

It is VERY reasonable if the load is properly sorted and there are no guests...I have had whole teams able to meet that goal with a proper load.

It’s almost as if doing all that stuff overnight when there’s no guests on the floor would be more efficient, shelves would be fully stocked by the time the store opens, and guests would be more satisfied finding the items they need instead of it sitting in a box on the truck.

 

[jenna]

It’s almost as if doing all that stuff overnight when there’s no guests on the floor would be more efficient, shelves would be fully stocked by the time the store opens, and guests would be more satisfied finding the items they need instead of it sitting in a box on the truck.

Or - guests would be happier if they weren't walking around pallets of unpushed freight that are scattered all over the store.

 

[RhettB]

Omg i know how u feel! My TLs always give us some bullshit about how this vehicle should only take us 20 minutes meanwhile they don’t see all those tine little random cosmetic items to the bottom of every box and it really ends up taking a whole hour to push -_-

But that case of shampoo or legos should take far less time. The case per minute is of course an average. I could do 5 cases of cereal in the time it takes to do one case of 2 lamps.

 

[Tyler Harris]

Just do you job to the best of your ability. Ignore any time frames given by the LODs. Most LODs do not do any work and have no clue what is reasonable. If they bitch, tell them to check the security tapes to see that your are consistently and constantly doing your job rather than slacking off and socializing.

My store has ETLs and LODs that screech over the walkie talkies for backup cashiers but never hop on a register to help out even for a couple minutes while a backup is walking to the front.

 

[NPC]

It's also worth considering, are there 2 items in the box? Or 16 things, all wrapped in plastic? 2 hours is excessive though. No u-boat should take that long to push.

 

[mrmarket747]

I was told that repacks take about 5 minutes per box. That is impossible, especially since some re packs have seasonal, kitchen, and pet toys all together.

 

[MavDog]

I was told that repacks take about 5 minutes per box. That is impossible, especially since some re packs have seasonal, kitchen, and pet toys all together.

Zone 4 housewares easily take 5 minutes a box. It's zone 1, 5 pharmacy or 2, 12 beauty that take significantly longer.

 

[jenna]

Zone 4 housewares easily take 5 minutes a box. It's zone 1, 5 pharmacy or 2, 12 beauty that take significantly longer.

?

Maybe your repacks are different from ours.

Our houseware repacks contain items packaged in small boxes, and in plastic baggies. Plus ours have stuff from pets, and other areas like Home Decor.

If you mean a Donestics repack with a large bundle of towels, then 5 minutes a Repack is absolutely realistic.

 

[Dead and Khaki]

Who’s getting these kind of hours 8x5!!?!?

Yeah, I cracked myself up when I wrote that.

 

[Dead and Khaki]

It's probably better for everyone's mental health to focus less on boxes per minute and more on, say, vehicles per shift. Unless you're pushing PIPOs all day, your per-minute rate is never going to be constant.

 

[MavDog]

?

Maybe your repacks are different from ours.

Our houseware repacks contain items packaged in small boxes, and in plastic baggies. Plus ours have stuff from pets, and other areas like Home Decor.

If you mean a Donestics repack with a large bundle of towels, then 5 minutes a Repack is absolutely realistic.

No, I mean those zone 4 houseware boxes w/Pets. I take 6 at a time, detrash them into a 3-tier, and then push the 3-tier and backstock my extras. It is consistently a 30 minute trip every round, averaging to five minutes a box.

 

[jenna]

It's probably better for everyone's mental health to focus less on boxes per minute and more on, say, vehicles per shift. Unless you're pushing PIPOs all day, your per-minute rate is never going to be constant.

Meh. Even that is not a good measure. Stationary repacks suck. No matter the time of year. They just suck more during BTS.

 

[Havok]

Me and my team get vehicles done before our goal most of the time. If we don't meet the goal, we get the typical "hurry the hell up" response. You just have to want to get it done and push those boxes like your ass was on fire.

 

[Bosch]

It's also worth considering, are there 2 items in the box? Or 16 things, all wrapped in plastic? 2 hours is excessive though. No u-boat should take that long to push.

Unless you are also doing guest service, I can see it taking that long. Some of our market peeps can take that, when you have to guest service, back up cashier and answer call boxes that cosmetics won't answer.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

I’ve seen pets repacks that look like Petsmart exploded and somebody just shoveled the debris in the box. Those take a while to push. On the other hand, a repack with six kid’s puzzles and a Rubik’s cube take about a minute. No-one without a crystal ball can look at a u-boat with several closed repacks on it and tell you how long it’s going to take to push with any degree of accuracy. Looking at you, ETLs...🙄

 

[daemon]

I miss my days of consistent tub pushing with very little guest interaction. Electronics is such a hassle to be consistent because it depends on how many guest I need to edjumucate through the day.