Archived Question for you old timers ;)

[SlapHappy]

Just how serious is this credit/debit card issue? Actually, I know it's very serious so I suppose what I really mean is just what does it mean for most of the TMs and for the company in general? Almost everything I've heard at the store has been pretty vague but the big boss is very disturbed by it all. Just curious what you've heard or know about this.

 

[Deli Ninja]

Not really an "old-timer" but my experience is that consumers are sheep and there will always be people shopping at Target. That said, I'm bracing myself for hour cuts and preparing myself to apply for jobs elsewhere to get away from the cuts.

On the other hand, I've heard we're going to start running commercials for flexible fulfillment. Considering that the online transactions were not compromised, I think that will help lessen the drop in sales a little bit. Maybe.

Maybe there won't be any difference in a month. I know the day after I found out, we reached our Redcard goal several hours before close.

 

[buliSBI]

Being a former TM, its going to die down soon. Bank of America and other banks getting hacked all the time. And wait for all those guests to come back and apply for those Target RedCards again.

One reason why its big for Target right now is that it just so happened to hit right around Black Friday, and Target was already in the news about opening up on Thanksgiving. And the social media platform went like a storm.

There will probably be a re-structuring of the IT dept over store transaction servers. Maybe a re-branding of the RedCard or additional/new discounts to keep or get more card users.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

This mess will take some time to die down. The guests will keep hounding tm's at the store level, because spot is not communicating effectively to the stores & the guests. Good example is, what does the bank who brought the credit card part saying?" No comments have been made to date. Hopefully, the justice dept will figure this mess out & get the bad guys involved in jail quickly.

 

[RedDog]

It is not good of course but, what makes it worse is that Target had a good line of failures over that last few years. P-Fresh was suppose to boost sales across the store by 20% with a big increase in payroll following, that of course never happened and while Target focused on food it took its eye of everything esle. Target Canada was supposed to be the next big win but, of course it has proven to be more costly than hoped and with lower sales than predicted. Target then teamed up with Neiman Marcus to try and sell high priced merch in Target as way to boost 4qt sales, a move anybody who was not completely out of tough with its stores knew would end up being flop that it was. Then you have Target.coms which seems to fail everytime they need it. Then you have this credit card and gift card mess. You take all that and you have guests already not happy by poor staffing in stores and you have a recipe for disaster. Target needs to take some big steps to get back in the game or it is going end up in real trouble. A big change in leadership across the top is needed. People who have ideas beyond lets cut hours are needed. Target can turn things around they just need to clean some house at the top to do it.

 

[SeniorAP]

People who have ideas beyond lets cut hours are needed.

Honestly, nobody at the decision-making level really has any accountability for what happens to the company. Personally, they couldn't care less. Why? Because it's all about the now and present, and if you can manipulate the numbers appropriately, that's all that matters. If you can sell a better picture to investors/stock holders, not much else matters. That's who they primarily cater to, then the guests. TM's don't really even make the list. Plus if things fail, the top-level can always reintroduce hours (too little/too late) or they can get a nice severance package/golden parachute and level the company.. with the decisions they made never really impacting them. All & all, its about making the spreadsheet look good and the EASIEST way to to slash hours and put more load on the TM's.

I also think it's an absolute JOKE the amount of expectation they place on MIN-WAGE TM's .. making $7/8 and hour.. I work for a company that starts it's staff at $11/hr and honestly has no where near the amount of UNREALISTIC expectation that Target has. Don't get me wrong, the expectations are HIGH, but they're also reasonable and one can actually achieve them. Honestly-- to anybody STILL working for Target (I worked for nearly 6 years).. I would say GET OUT!!! The stress, pressure, expectations, and overall misery is NOT WORTH the amount they pay you-- nor the dignity you have to give up. Do you really want to be a puppet for them to do with as they please? If you're satisifed working 21hours one week then 8 hours the next (FOR MIN WAGE), then be my guest. If you want to change, check craighslist for jobs or look around but there are certainly better places-- either compensation wise, hours wise, schedule wise (being set/weekends off), or places that don't demoralize you / have visits where the upper management doesn't say a word to you but look like you like an animal working and tell the ETL's they need to work harder. Honestly, F THAT PLACE!!!

 

[SlapHappy]

Thanks for the input, guys. Interesting perspectives. 🙂

 

[TX Bandit]

Target is safe

Just how serious is this credit/debit card issue? Actually, I know it's very serious so I suppose what I really mean is just what does it mean for most of the TMs and for the company in general? Almost everything I've heard at the store has been pretty vague but the big boss is very disturbed by it all. Just curious what you've heard or know about this.

Target wont lose much, down the road maybe guest. Target has insurance against fraud, and will get compensated for an estimated amount of money from the issue for a certain amount of time.

 

[Retail Girl]

Yeah, I posted an article in the Krebs thread. Turns out Spot might not actually be insured for this little fiasco.

 

[SlapHappy]

Thank you, Retail Girl. I hadn't seen your comment with that link.

 

[redeye58]

Although the scope is bigger & the impact will be longer-lasting it'll soon fade like corp's donation to the anti-gay candidate, tittie-gate, et al.
People have such short attention spans nowadays.

 

[Dr Laytex]

Somebody said something that caught my attention! What the hell is Titty Gate?

 

[redeye58]

At a store in Tx, a mom was breastfeeding her baby sitting on the floor in the middle of an aisle in SL. A couple of TMs asked her to move to a safer (& cleaner) spot but the mom saw it as an intrusion on her right to breastfeed "any where, any time" & made a stink about it in the news. Then a breastfeeding blog decided to stage a "nurse-in" at every Target store they could get moms to so we were warned that our café might be taken over by a bunch of moms.
In the end "Titty-gate" was a flop.

 

[Dr Laytex]

In the end "Titty-gate" was a flop.

Yay! Boob puns!

I remember that now. I was a TPS then and we were told if people were breastfeeding their children at Food Ave., we couldn't kick them out. I was confused as to why anyone thought that we could kick people out for that.

 

[Softlines Owns My Soul]

I'm starting to think corporate's bad decision making is finally going to start effecting the bottom line - it has taken awhile, but the slashing of hours and mistake after mistake is going to cost them at some point. What's sad is that it's going to come at our expense, not theirs.

 

[RhettB]

This mess will take some time to die down. The guests will keep hounding tm's at the store level, because spot is not communicating effectively to the stores & the guests. Good example is, what does the bank who brought the credit card part saying?" No comments have been made to date. Hopefully, the justice dept will figure this mess out & get the bad guys involved in jail quickly.

Unfortunately the bad guys are probably in Russia or China.

When I got the Target Card back in the 90's, it was from Target Bank. I quit using it until I got the Target Visa. What bank holds the card now? I still have the Target Visa and the Target Debit Card.

 

[buliSBI]

Unfortunately the bad guys are probably in Russia or China.

When I got the Target Card back in the 90's, it was from Target Bank. I quit using it until I got the Target Visa. What bank holds the card now? I still have the Target Visa and the Target Debit Card.

Agreed

Its now under TD Bank.

 

[RhettB]

Unfortunately the bad guys are probably in Russia or China.

When I got the Target Card back in the 90's, it was from Target Bank. I quit using it until I got the Target Visa. What bank holds the card now? I still have the Target Visa and the Target Debit Card.

Agreed

Its now under TD Bank.

Interesting. At least the owners of the bank have plenty of money. TD Ameritrade, The Chicago Cubs....

 

[JustJoe]

In the end "Titty-gate" was a flop.

Yay! Boob puns!

I remember that now. I was a TPS then and we were told if people were breastfeeding their children at Food Ave., we couldn't kick them out. I was confused as to why anyone thought that we could kick people out for that.

Moms in my neighborhood just ask to use a fitting room. Out of sight, out of mind. 😉

 

[redeye58]

In the end "Titty-gate" was a flop.

Yay! Boob puns!

I remember that now. I was a TPS then and we were told if people were breastfeeding their children at Food Ave., we couldn't kick them out. I was confused as to why anyone thought that we could kick people out for that.

Moms in my neighborhood just ask to use a fitting room. Out of sight, out of mind. 😉

Yeh, we had an 'earth mom' type who didn't hesitate to pop a boob out in the café area until she started getting an unwelcome audience of smirking tween-aged boys. Not like she could complain about the unwanted attention tho.

 

[oath2order]

At a store in Tx, a mom was breastfeeding her baby sitting on the floor in the middle of an aisle in SL. A couple of TMs asked her to move to a safer (& cleaner) spot but the mom saw it as an intrusion on her right to breastfeed "any where, any time" & made a stink about it in the news. Then a breastfeeding blog decided to stage a "nurse-in" at every Target store they could get moms to so we were warned that our caf� might be taken over by a bunch of moms.
In the end "Titty-gate" was a flop.

How long ago was this?

I remember when I started in September 2011 that there was a mention during a huddle that if someone asked where they can breastfeed, that we were to send them to the fitting room.

 

[redeye58]

It was just over a yr ago.
They don't ask WHERE they can breastfeed in our store. They just pop their top & go.