Archived Pushouts and what can you do?

[mrknownothing]

The goal is to improve inventory results. Apprehensions have little to no impact on inventory in the grand scheme of things. The leader in Target who came up with that as the solution deserves the same fate as Tina. Apprehensions being the solution to Inventory is the equivalent of the Vibe being the solution to Sales. Not only is there not a strong correlation between the two in both instances, but there is no change in resources to impact them in the first place. I feel bad for the ETLs who are in AP right now, because I consider the entire position a joke as is... Keep playing cop and robbers and saving the store a few grand (while we pay you 52-65K this year to do it). The ETL-LOG and Food who know what they are doing will save the store's inventory results literally 20-30x over and actually run a business too. ETL-AP is a waste of money IMO with the scope they are being given and I am not afraid to say that 🙂

AP isn't just there to reduce shortage. They're there to promote a safe and secure store environment.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

And all of this is pretty moot considering the lack of AP in the building. Had a guest scamming the other night with a receipt in hand as he put items into cart to do a return. No AP on duty. 🙁 Guest walked away with more money than I made that day.

 

[glo]

And all of this is pretty moot considering the lack of AP in the building. Had a guest scamming the other night with a receipt in hand as he put items into cart to do a return. No AP on duty. 🙁 Guest walked away with more money than I made that day.

Tell the LOD and refuse to do the "return". Target reserves the right to do so and about half of the time, they'll leave without the items if you stand your ground and your leader backs you up. Worst case, they leave with the merch and AP can follow up.

 

[Bosch]

Tell the LOD and refuse to do the "return". Target reserves the right to do so and about half of the time, they'll leave without the items if you stand your ground and your leader backs you up. Worst case, they leave with the merch and AP can follow up.

You have to have leadership in the building to back you up, for this to work. GSTL who allows $250 dollar HBA item returns on a gift receipt after being told don't do that, and has done it several times cause its not worth the hassle of arguing. Or the ETL GE who does the same thing. "Cause our survey scores take a hit."

Yes we allow these sketchy returns cause they slam us on the survey when we don't so we allow them to rob us blind so we can have a green survey score. WTF?????

 

[glo]

You have to have leadership in the building to back you up, for this to work. GSTL who allows $250 dollar HBA item returns on a gift receipt after being told don't do that, and has done it several times cause its not worth the hassle of arguing. Or the ETL GE who does the same thing. "Cause our survey scores take a hit."

Yes we allow these sketchy returns cause they slam us on the survey when we don't so we allow them to rob us blind so we can have a green survey score. WTF?????

Bring up concerns to both the ETL-GE and AP. Once inventory comes up and they see that your store is losing tens of thousands of dollars in HBA and Cosmetics, they're going to take a stronger stance on it because the DTL and APBP will be on their backs about it.

I work in a very high theft store. We turn down returns daily and hear the whole "I'm calling corporate" stuff all the time. Nothing ever comes down from them because we work to protect the company's bottom line.

 

[Bosch]

ETLGE is one of the ones saying "Take it!"

 

[NPC]

Do our scammers actually do the surveys? I doubt it.

 

[Bosch]

Do our scammers actually do the surveys? I doubt it.

I guess we have ones that do take them.

 

[On6]

The goal is to improve inventory results. Apprehensions have little to no impact on inventory in the grand scheme of things. The leader in Target who came up with that as the solution deserves the same fate as Tina. Apprehensions being the solution to Inventory is the equivalent of the Vibe being the solution to Sales. Not only is there not a strong correlation between the two in both instances, but there is no change in resources to impact them in the first place. I feel bad for the ETLs who are in AP right now, because I consider the entire position a joke as is... Keep playing cop and robbers and saving the store a few grand (while we pay you 52-65K this year to do it). The ETL-LOG and Food who know what they are doing will save the store's inventory results literally 20-30x over and actually run a business too. ETL-AP is a waste of money IMO with the scope they are being given and I am not afraid to say that 🙂

Except if people know a store doesn't apprehend it will become a free for all. I agree with you on most of what you said. Apprehensions alone will not stop all shortage but it does play a factor in keeping it down.

Target would be better off investing money in actual AP teams (APTL, APS, TPS) instead of paying 60k for a ETL AP who spends half their time on non AP tasks anyway.

 

[Rock Lobster]

AP isn't just there to reduce shortage. They're there to promote a safe and secure store environment.

Any ETL can be the safety captain. Security is in reference to emergency response, alarm passcodes, key issuing etc... which is not required to be AP either. The point I was making is that Target is putting tons of focus on apprehensions, when the name of the game is shortage (all of it) not just a sliver of the theft metrics.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Bring up concerns to both the ETL-GE and AP. Once inventory comes up and they see that your store is losing tens of thousands of dollars in HBA and Cosmetics, they're going to take a stronger stance on it because the DTL and APBP will be on their backs about it.

I work in a very high theft store. We turn down returns daily and hear the whole "I'm calling corporate" stuff all the time. Nothing ever comes down from them because we work to protect the company's bottom line.

All this would be effective if ALL STORES would do this. Target is one company but every store has their own rules. I wouldn't have to deal with the coupons scammers doing a return if another store didn't take them to begin with. If we are giving money back on a gift card during a sales transaction because they have used so many coupons and we owe them, then a GSA or GSTL needs to get involved. There needs to be better training of the cashiers when accepting coupons. These best defense is a great offense and the guts to enforce it.

 

[signing genie]

When I was GSTL the directive from DTL and APBP was to not deny the return but to acknowledge that it's ok the one time but AP is watching and taking photos of everyone that is returning excessive amounts of returns

 

[Rock Lobster]

If Target wants to reduce shortage, they will have to evaluate a way to execute on all fronts. It has to be improvements in Operations, Internal, and External theft. You cannot let off the gas on one to grasp another. In almost all stores, if you had to choose, the smartest and fastest fix would be in operations. You can fix in a single day in receiving what you would find in theft from PMRs and Apps combined for the year! Why pass over the low hanging fruit? If you want a quick fix, do operations and you will show improvements this year! If you want to fix it right for the company, its going to take a restructuring of resources to allow for proper focuses throughout.

For this reason, Target honestly needs to figure out a better structure. Internal and External theft does not generate enough return to have an ETL focus on it constantly in almost all cases. I honestly think its time to cut ETL-APs from almost all org charts and replace them with APTLs who are undercover for all shifts (basically an hourly version of the ETL-AP from 15-20 years ago). Just like back then, the APTL will come in and not backup the lanes, not have TLOD or LOD shifts or keys... They are like the PMT, there to do a very specific job very well for 40 hours.

With the saved expenses on this change, you can afford to do an APBP per district. Target has been placing experienced hires and leaders into AP recently, so the wage of one APBP and an old-school PG13 ETL with a decent amount of raises under their belt would be a wash and probably not even a real addition. All APTLs answer to the APBP directly since they are now close again. You could also easily afford to bring back an Investigator per district as well.

I would then cut the store based TPS and APS payroll. Consolidate your payroll by market and cut TPS hours by 10-20%. This payroll is directly controlled and scheduled by the APBP who can now schedule based on current theft trends and patterns, not sales org charts.

With these changes your average district would see around a 15-20% decrease in cost of payroll due to the larger salaries of the ETLs, but by focusing your resources into an APBP and Investigator per district and a team of undercover APTLs is all stores (and a flexible pool of TPS and APS payroll that can be adjusted throughout the year), you can still argue we would spend much more time on AP/Theft related things.

And then you still have enough money left over to sprinkle in some more ETL-Operations/bring back splitting HL and SL in some of your larger stores!

 

[garbage]

Except if people know a store doesn't apprehend it will become a free for all. I agree with you on most of what you said. Apprehensions alone will not stop all shortage but it does play a factor in keeping it down.

Target would be better off investing money in actual AP teams (APTL, APS, TPS) instead of paying 60k for a ETL AP who spends half their time on non AP tasks anyway.

Measuring APs effectiveness by amount recovered by PMRs or APP is completely the wrong way to measure it. We are a deterrent to theft and other sketchy behavior. Without an AP presence in the building, your going to have the local homeless running around the place, people pushing out every five minutes, local juvies taking what they want, and internals popping up. The stores where little would happen, already run off of an APTL only anyways. Cut AP anymore in high risk stores, and the brand would suffer and shortage would skyrocket.

 

[Rock Lobster]

Measuring APs effectiveness by amount recovered by PMRs or APP is completely the wrong way to measure it. We are a deterrent to theft and other sketchy behavior. Without an AP presence in the building, your going to have the local homeless running around the placing, people pushing out every five minutes, local juvies taking what they want, and internals popping up. The stores where little would happen, already run off of an APTL only anyways. Cut AP anymore in high risk stores, and the brand would stuff and shortage would skyrocket.

First, the importance of AP is being slightly exaggerated here. Shortage would not sky rocket with a slight reduction in TPS hours and a conversion of all ETLs into Undercover TLs. If anything, there would be more time being spent on theft since the position would lose its ties to store side tasks. Furthermore, the money would get invested back into the APBPs so they don't have to spread so thin. In terms of cost, it's about a 20% reduction in salaries. This however would not affect AP coverage all that much, just the rate of pay for the positions themselves. Any ETL currently in AP is a waste of money, a TL with a hovering BP could do the job for a fraction of the price.

 

[garbage]

First, the importance of AP is being slightly exaggerated here. Shortage would not sky rocket with a slight reduction in TPS hours and a conversion of all ETLs into Undercover TLs. If anything, there would be more time being spent on theft since the position would lose its ties to store side tasks. Furthermore, the money would get invested back into the APBPs so they don't have to spread so thin. In terms of cost, it's about a 20% reduction in salaries. This however would not affect AP coverage all that much, just the rate of pay for the positions themselves. Any ETL currently in AP is a waste of money, a TL with a hovering BP could do the job for a fraction of the price.

I agree with everything that you said, minus the reduction of TPS hours (I am biased when it comes to that)

Apprehensions have little to no impact on inventory in the grand scheme of things.

This is part of what I do not agree with. Apprehensions have a MAJOR impact on inventory. The threat of being app'd deters practically all theft. Operational shortage is very hard to control compared to external/internal theft. It requires more training, less turnover, TM's that actually care, more hours..etc.
When I started at my store, we'd average a fully exposed pushout attempt a day. A good score for someone's pushout could easily hit $1,500. Target's low margin on many items means that is a heavy loss. App's are retailers way of pressing charges against people committing theft. Without apps, whats the risk you take on when shoplifting? Getting guest serviced by a Red & Khaki? That didn't even scare a 19 year old who was stealing hundreds of dollars of Bluetooth speakers from my store.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

I agree with everything that you said, minus the reduction of TPS hours (I am biased when it comes to that)

This is part of what I do not agree with. Apprehensions have a MAJOR impact on inventory. The threat of being app'd deters practically all theft. Operational shortage is very hard to control compared to external/internal theft. It requires more training, less turnover, TM's that actually care, more hours..etc.
When I started at my store, we'd average a fully exposed pushout attempt a day. A good score for someone's pushout could easily hit $1,500. Target's low margin on many items means that is a heavy loss. App's are retailers way of pressing charges against people committing theft. Without apps, whats the risk you take on when shoplifting? Getting guest serviced by a Red & Khaki? That didn't even scare a 19 year old who was stealing hundreds of dollars of Bluetooth speakers from my store.

Since many stores have low staffing levels, most of the employees working are too busy doing the jobs of two people to have time to guest service a thief.

 

[Rock Lobster]

I agree with everything that you said, minus the reduction of TPS hours (I am biased when it comes to that)

This is part of what I do not agree with. Apprehensions have a MAJOR impact on inventory. The threat of being app'd deters practically all theft. Operational shortage is very hard to control compared to external/internal theft. It requires more training, less turnover, TM's that actually care, more hours..etc.
When I started at my store, we'd average a fully exposed pushout attempt a day. A good score for someone's pushout could easily hit $1,500. Target's low margin on many items means that is a heavy loss. App's are retailers way of pressing charges against people committing theft. Without apps, whats the risk you take on when shoplifting? Getting guest serviced by a Red & Khaki? That didn't even scare a 19 year old who was stealing hundreds of dollars of Bluetooth speakers from my store.

We will have to agree to disagree. I have personally found vendors and team members making errors (either on an individual level or a team) that I could attribute to more recovered merchandise than a recovery/app on all those pushouts for the year. It took me only a few hours at a time to fix.

The point is that the cost no longer matches the return in the AP world. Target realized this long ago when they made ETL-APs start doing LOD shifts, because they realized having an ETL who does the work of a TM constantly was not worth the money. Why have an ETL-AP take apps or get recoveries when an APS or TPS can do it? Of course as time went on and some of those other positions went away, it got a bit out of hand and now its a patchwork of different org charts that no longer align with what is best for the company.

APBP per district, Investigator per district, ETL-APs convert to Undercover APTLs (existing either move out of AP and into other positions, promote to APBP or Investigators, or demote to APTL). TPS become more fluid within a district, and not be based on sales thresholds. Measure the amount of risk per district, add it up and assign the payroll by market. Allow the APBP to then hand out the hours (and reassign at anytime throughout the year based on theft trends). This is a lower cost than our current structure but would result in MORE time spent in AP than currently being done.

For store side org charts, evaluate the needs of key carriers based on sales volume only now that AP is removed. ULV stores would not see a change (as they already did not have an ETL-AP). A-Volume and above would be down an ETL since they lost AP. This volume is the layer below the one that receives the split from SF into HL and SL. I would suggest moving this threshold down to A Volume. While this would raise costs slightly, it is much needed from the gashes the floor received a few years ago. A+ and above would all be down one ETL (just the AP), but the direction is to limit their LOD shifts and to force them back into old AP routines so the loss isn't that much in the first place.

 

[BadWolf4531]

We will have to agree to disagree. I have personally found vendors and team members making errors (either on an individual level or a team) that I could attribute to more recovered merchandise than a recovery/app on all those pushouts for the year. It took me only a few hours at a time to fix.

The point is that the cost no longer matches the return in the AP world. Target realized this long ago when they made ETL-APs start doing LOD shifts, because they realized having an ETL who does the work of a TM constantly was not worth the money. Why have an ETL-AP take apps or get recoveries when an APS or TPS can do it? Of course as time went on and some of those other positions went away, it got a bit out of hand and now its a patchwork of different org charts that no longer align with what is best for the company.

APBP per district, Investigator per district, ETL-APs convert to Undercover APTLs (existing either move out of AP and into other positions, promote to APBP or Investigators, or demote to APTL). TPS become more fluid within a district, and not be based on sales thresholds. Measure the amount of risk per district, add it up and assign the payroll by market. Allow the APBP to then hand out the hours (and reassign at anytime throughout the year based on theft trends). This is a lower cost than our current structure but would result in MORE time spent in AP than currently being done.

For store side org charts, evaluate the needs of key carriers based on sales volume only now that AP is removed. ULV stores would not see a change (as they already did not have an ETL-AP). A-Volume and above would be down an ETL since they lost AP. This volume is the layer below the one that receives the split from SF into HL and SL. I would suggest moving this threshold down to A Volume. While this would raise costs slightly, it is much needed from the gashes the floor received a few years ago. A+ and above would all be down one ETL (just the AP), but the direction is to limit their LOD shifts and to force them back into old AP routines so the loss isn't that much in the first place.

This.

We're getting a new-to-company ETL-AP in about 4 weeks, and my understanding is that he is not to be assigned any LOD shifts. I've been told this is a company directive, but we'll see if that holds up in all stores. I personally think we'd have been better off cutting our ETL-AP position and going with an APTL. If stores with ETL-APs are worried about losing a key carrier position, then allow them an additional Senior TL. This is part of the reason that, as I'm going through ETL interviews, I'm very upfront that I do not want AP. I don't see that position being around in stores 3 years from now. We'll see.

With TPS hours being cut so much, I'm floating between two stores right now in an attempt to get at least 30 hours each week. I think this model could work as long as the TPS hours really did come out of a district pool and we had the flexibility to float as needed. There are weeks when one store needs me more than the other, and daily routines (empty packages, MP audits, etc.) or even cases aren't getting completed in a timely fashion because neither my peer nor I works 40 hours (and we've been without an ETL-AP for 7 weeks now). For instance: My home store just went through an E&E Innovation remodel, but we've been given no additional AP hours to allow camera moves, merchandise protection audits, etc. On top of that, my fellow TPS and I had to spend 11 hours on the return scan last week as the result of condensing so many aisles in Entertainment, which forced us to cut that time from our schedules the rest of the week. In cases like this, it would have been a better use of resources to allow me to spend more time at my store and less time at the ULV store across town.

 

[Rock Lobster]

This.

We're getting a new-to-company ETL-AP in about 4 weeks, and my understanding is that he is not to be assigned any LOD shifts. I've been told this is a company directive, but we'll see if that holds up in all stores. I personally think we'd have been better off cutting our ETL-AP position and going with an APTL. If stores with ETL-APs are worried about losing a key carrier position, then allow them an additional Senior TL. This is part of the reason that, as I'm going through ETL interviews, I'm very upfront that I do not want AP. I don't see that position being around in stores 3 years from now. We'll see.

With TPS hours being cut so much, I'm floating between two stores right now in an attempt to get at least 30 hours each week. I think this model could work as long as the TPS hours really did come out of a district pool and we had the flexibility to float as needed. There are weeks when one store needs me more than the other, and daily routines (empty packages, MP audits, etc.) or even cases aren't getting completed in a timely fashion because neither my peer nor I works 40 hours (and we've been without an ETL-AP for 7 weeks now). For instance: My home store just went through an E&E Innovation remodel, but we've been given no additional AP hours to allow camera moves, merchandise protection audits, etc. On top of that, my fellow TPS and I had to spend 11 hours on the return scan last week as the result of condensing so many aisles in Entertainment, which forced us to cut that time from our schedules the rest of the week. In cases like this, it would have been a better use of resources to allow me to spend more time at my store and less time at the ULV store across town.

The rigid structure in AP is currently its downfall. If they want results when it comes to theft, they need to lower their costs and standardize coverage based on risk levels. Its honestly a waste of talent to put anyone in AP right now as an ETL. There is no reason to do it, because their expectations are to be an APTL for most of their shifts. If that is the case, then fill the position with a TL. We need to put our talented ETLs into jobs that require that level of talent and thinking. I wouldn't pay an ETL to run around pretending to play cops and robbers all day. And then obviously pooling together the TPS hours would allow for those types of moves you discussed.

Again, to beat the dead horse, I think this is a simple solution to theft... but you will not see an impact on shortage results with these changes. I can tell you most stores overuse the no barcode button (it can be up to .05% of sales... so in terms of inventory you can just plug that in to see the swing). I can guarantee many Service Desks are a mess due to hour cuts (so who knows if defectives in green or toss are getting done right, we only check CRC). I guarantee flow doesn't have time to fix mispicks or even notice them. Our FDC probably contributes to over 10% of our shortage company wide for GM results. I can keep listing things going wrong. The problem with shortage at Target is we are shooting ourselves in the foot. These are things that waste both payroll and burn inventory... so fixing them would be killing two birds with one stone... That is why I think the focus on theft is just a tangent to the real problem.

 

[HardlinesFour]

This is another district by district thing.

You are perfectly allowed to Guest Service the person to death. And this includes getting other TM's to Guest Service the same person, and stocking in the same area that they are in. Target doesn't care if you make them very uncomfortable.

One Year.. we we're handling a apprehension when a Top Alert at the time, entered. It was 4th Quarter, and we we're able to get not one, but SIX TM's surrounding him in the Pharmacy Section. Four of them, approached the individual to offer assistance. It was probably one of the funnest moments at my store, watching this Booster practically freak out (his hands were shaking so badly) .. and then leave without taking a thing.

Some Districts will allow the GSA/GSTL & LOD (if available) on Duty to stand by the door, and stare down the individual as they are leaving. And of course, the LOD can ask for a receipt.. and may do so, if the person does not look like they are carrying a weapon.

Whatever you do.. never actually follow any guest into the parking lot. Actually, don't walk past the door vestibule. Only AP should follow someone out into the lot, and they aren't really even supposed to walk past the sidewalk.

Really, if you take anything from this... Guest Servicing People, is a great way to stop or slow down a individual. When people know someone is onto them, most won't stick around and press their luck. I do want you to know though.. that it's wonderful you're helping your store out. A lot of Team Members, simply don't care enough to help the AP Team 🙁

 

[Bosch]

Agreed HardlinesFour we guest service, zone and are almost creepy about it. I mean zoning right next to the dude and just keep it up. I have done this for 15min straight with a "special guest" as call them.. He gave up for that day anyway.. Also you can get a good look at them so you can just know that is them the next time you spot them and two things happen. They just leave or keep trying to avoid you as you suddenly appear anywhere they are.

 

[mrknownothing]

Sales floor team, everyone please head over to XYZ department to service a guest who may or may not be shoplifting for Power Hour!

 

[On6]

Whatever you do.. never actually follow any guest into the parking lot. Actually, don't walk past the door vestibule. Only AP should follow someone out into the lot, and they aren't really even supposed to walk past the sidewalk.

New directives basically say AP isn't even supposed to exit the building unless for a imminent safety concern. One of my TPS was recently put on corrective action for it.

 

[mrknownothing]

New directives basically say AP isn't even supposed to exit the building unless for a imminent safety concern. One of my TPS was recently put on corrective action for it.

How do you do parking lot checks then? Do the cameras give you a good enough view?