Archived Photo Lab

[targetry]

I am curious to see how other stores run their photo labs. Mine considers it a specialty area, cause there only a few TMs trained fully. And the Guest Service TM helps out there when we can (packaging orders, ect). Guest Service also has to open the photo lab cause our Photo TM usually comes in later. Photo helps GS and via Verse when needed.

And yes I know that not all stores have a photo lab either.

 

[thatcashierdude]

We have someone scheduled there constantly. I think they close it up one or two hours before close. Photo typically doesn't go to guest service, although they help out electronics sometimes (and vice versa).

 

[targetry]

Our Photo is right next to the service desk

 

[queencat]

Photo is far away from Guest Service, but there are no photo TM's. Guest Service does it.

 

[NitroKing2110]

Photo at my store is frankly a joke. There is never a photo-trained TM scheduled most days, nobody except 10 people in the entire store know how to work the machine, and it's way far away from GS so the LODs make Electronics (Or for some reason, me) take care of it, but they removed the fast service button in Photo so nobody knows there is a guest waiting. Why we have a photo I have no idea since we barely have any guests use it except in the holiday season.
The bad part is the LODs have picked up on the fact that our Photo lab is in a corner and is almost never checked by corporate so if there's a visit they'll shove all the crap back there making it almost impossible to run.

 

[WI klab]

Our Photo Lab is next to Service Desk. As a Photo Lab Team Member, I'll cover back-ups (and breaks) at Service Desk, Front Lanes, Food AVE, and get carts (when a Cart Attendant) isn't scheduled.
GSTLs, GSAs, and Service Desk try too help in the lab, but there not fully trained. When "My Time" kicked in, Photo Lab disappeared as a department (it was no longer getting it's own hours) hours
now come from the front end. I'm the last (an only) Photo Lab team member left, I've with the department for almost ten years. Since we turned "dry lab" it's been tuff to make a profit. But in those
"wet lab" days, we made anywhere from 40 to 60% profit. It's my hope Target, will put a little more effort & time into Photo Lab.

 

[Nauzhror]

Very few people at our store even know how to use the photo kiosk intimately, quite often is the SFT that winds up helping guests use it.

 

[Retail Girl]

Our photo lab has nearly no one trained for it. One old school TM who did wetlab stuff knows how to do most of it. I can do nearly all of it and was basically self taught. One of the gstl's can do most of it. And the other GSAs can do a bit. And we try to get the GSTMs to get the orders for guests, but they shy away from it. I try to keep the rest of the LODs away because they tend to hand out orders without finishing them in the computer and fuck everything up.

The photo kiosks everyone loves to say they haven't been trained on and pass it off on me. When I point out that I learned by just doing it, they get defensive and still won't help guests.

I keep hoping Spot will decide to pull the entire thing, but alas, no dice.

 

[Rock Lobster]

Our photo lab has nearly no one trained for it. One old school TM who did wetlab stuff knows how to do most of it. I can do nearly all of it and was basically self taught. One of the gstl's can do most of it. And the other GSAs can do a bit. And we try to get the GSTMs to get the orders for guests, but they shy away from it. I try to keep the rest of the LODs away because they tend to hand out orders without finishing them in the computer and fuck everything up.

The photo kiosks everyone loves to say they haven't been trained on and pass it off on me. When I point out that I learned by just doing it, they get defensive and still won't help guests.

I keep hoping Spot will decide to pull the entire thing, but alas, no dice.

I agree, they just need to drywall them up and turn them into Flexible Fullfilment Closets.

 

[thatcashierdude]

Our photo lab has nearly no one trained for it. One old school TM who did wetlab stuff knows how to do most of it. I can do nearly all of it and was basically self taught. One of the gstl's can do most of it. And the other GSAs can do a bit. And we try to get the GSTMs to get the orders for guests, but they shy away from it. I try to keep the rest of the LODs away because they tend to hand out orders without finishing them in the computer and fuck everything up.

The photo kiosks everyone loves to say they haven't been trained on and pass it off on me. When I point out that I learned by just doing it, they get defensive and still won't help guests.

I keep hoping Spot will decide to pull the entire thing, but alas, no dice.

How would you finish a order in the computer? For ours we just hand out the orders similar to the LODs at your store do, then we delete the finished orders left in the computer at the end of the day. We also don't have a scanner for the photo lab computer, so we can't "scan out" orders as the training manual says.

 

[Retail Girl]

You have to hit the yellow buttons to finish the order, get the sticker that the cashier scans, and allow the order behind it to start. If you don't do that, it makes it hard on the cashier and hard on the person who comes over to straighten everything out trying to figure out whose pictures go where.

 

[PinkZinnia]

I hate photo... Which is kind of funny because in my real life I am a photographer.

 

[oath2order]

My store's photo doubles as the GSA hide-out/desk.

 

[thatcashierdude]

You have to hit the yellow buttons to finish the order, get the sticker that the cashier scans, and allow the order behind it to start. If you don't do that, it makes it hard on the cashier and hard on the person who comes over to straighten everything out trying to figure out whose pictures go where.

So they aren't even printing out the labels? That's a special kind of stupid...

 

[judgemental]

Only the GSTLs and the GSA and maybe like one team member at my store are trained in photo lab. It's kind of sad because we constaly have guests picking up photos or asking help and sicne like 98% of our team isn't trained we have to call for the GSTL/GSA and they're always busy doing something else. It's always a pain. We had another TM who knew photolab but she quit

 

[Bullselle]

Our photo lab has been remodeled into a storage closet.

 

[Flabbergasted]

Photo is a joke at my store as well. Last night NO ONE could figure out how to replace the ribbon. Not the GSA, the GSTM nor the LOD, so we had to close it a few hours early and hand out apology coupons to people coming to pick up.

 

[seewhatididthere]

Wow, definitely a different viewpoint on Photo here...At my store photo is extremely busy, especially this time of the year, there's about 4 or 5 of us trained, GSA's and GSTL's are trained to package and do order pickups. We also had our photo remodeled to the newest kodak machines, with the updated kiosks (which were the same, but new software) and it's actually really simple. Guest prints their picture, the console receives the order, on the console it displays the name, time, and location of the printer for the photos, prints out a tracking label, then you package it up, scan the label, prints the price inquiry label, slap it on, put it aside. The console moves the order into the "Ready for Pickup" category, and when the guest is ready to pickup, scan it out into the "Completed offers" and then proceed to just regular checkout (scan the barcode where it says "cashier scan here"). However I do have a fault with the entire photo department, and as from my explanation above you should be able to tell: it's inefficient. Everything about photo is so simple, but yet so tedious, and it's contradictory.

When it gets busy, and you have a guest on every kiosk printing from here and there, asking you questions, and granny is trying to upload photos from her smartphone she can barely use, it gets chaotic. I personally would like to see another re-haul of the Photo Department in which the guest-kiosk experience is much simpler, and faster. A guest should be able to go back and select more photos regardless of if any edits are made, and what not. Additionally, there should be an option for us, as photo specialists to go back in and have a full edit for the pictures, from zoom, crop, etc, in the case of a guest needing a reprint but did the wrong zoom or centering by like 1 inch or something of the sort, and the list can go on and on and on. Another thing I personally don't like is when it's slow, there is absolutely nothing to do, and while I may enjoy the break, it feels wrong that I'm just standing there gazing out into the jungle of shoppers recklessly and irresponsibly buying the newest hot toy for their children whilst shouting at my fellow coworkers because the item is not the "correct" price or simply out of stock.

/rant

 

[WI klab]

I'm trying to get a "Poster Printer" for our lab, with very little luck.

I've printed "photo handouts" for the holiday season, in hopes it'll help drive sales. I "My Supported" why we didn't received Greeting Card Brochures, and heard back... they were only being tested in a 100 stores this year.


I miss the photo edits we could do with the Noritsu. The APEX is to basic, it's only good for minor color edits.
Do any Target Stores, offer "send out" for film processing? I turn away a couple guests each day, looking for film processing.

 

[doodlebug]

We stay pretty steady in Photo but only a few team members are trained and even then, they know just the basics. We used to have a team member work in Photo from like 10am-6pm. They stayed in photo and acted as back-up guest service tm. Now they've eliminated that position even during this time of year when we seriously NEED someone over there. I'm a GSA and I'm constantly back in photo getting orders together because the person at guest service CAN'T do returns, sort strays, process the million and one flex orders and package photos. It's ridiculous over there right now.

 

[monkeyman90]

we started as a store with a photo member. it just got thrown to guest service.

we get 0 training. its more like oh here's this issue this is how you do it

 

[Zone]

...Additionally, there should be an option for us, as photo specialists to go back in and have a full edit for the pictures, from zoom, crop, etc...

You can do this now, via the APEX computer
1. Scan the order out of the system (It should now be listed in the third tab)
2A. Use the Makeover button, then choose edit pictures.
2B. Use the Order Entry (far left tab at top of screen), select Completed Orders, select Preview, then choose the guest's order to fiddle with it.

Fair Warning - You can only do either one once before the system locks you out from editing anything further.

 

[mrknownothing]

Photo is a joke at my store as well. Last night NO ONE could figure out how to replace the ribbon. Not the GSA, the GSTM nor the LOD, so we had to close it a few hours early and hand out apology coupons to people coming to pick up.

Nobody knows how to change that damn ribbon at my store either. If nobody who knows photo is there, then we're SOL.

Another thing I personally don't like is when it's slow, there is absolutely nothing to do, and while I may enjoy the break, it feels wrong that I'm just standing there gazing out into the jungle of shoppers recklessly and irresponsibly buying the newest hot toy for their children whilst shouting at my fellow coworkers because the item is not the "correct" price or simply out of stock.

Our photo TMs help at the service desk if they're not busy. A former GSTL would pull them to the lanes to cash.

 

[Zone]

Inside the span of a few posts on this thread (and others) it seems that a lot of people have no clue to how run their store's lab. Would it help if I posted a how-to guide for everyone?

 

[gstm1854]

Yes, please do.