Redcards in an extremely indigent area??

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So I am a GSA in a new store, and I have had no experience as a cashier or guest service before. At this point I am pretty confident on cashier, but I have only gotten one Redcard. Part of this is due to the store demographics working against me. The vast majority of the guests are absolutely indigent. At least half of all my transactions have been cash, even in the hundreds of dollars. The vast majority of guests are obviously very poor. The store breakdown in terms of guests is about 45 percent black, 45 percent latino (almost everyone speaks no English - they are mostly newly arrived undocumented people), and 10 percent other. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many people use WIC, EBT Cash, and EBT food. In this environment it is very hard to get Redcards because most of them turn off because they automatically assume they would not qualify because they think of it as a credit card even though there is also the debit option.

Fortunately I speak enough Spanish to pitch it to the Latino guests (90 percent of whom speak no English), but they do not seem to have any interest in it.

I also have no luck with black guests. I remember in the past some of my female cashier friends at my old store who happened to be black said that it is very hard to get Redcards out of black people because culturally overall they favor cash in hand. Obviously generalizations do not apply to everyone but I am just trying to understand if there are cultural factors in my inability to get them. I don't know how many Redcards I would get from black guests given that about 85 percent of them use their EBT cards to pay for things exclusively.

The one Redcard I have gotten was from a rich, older white lady.

Are there cultural factors to consider with Redcards? What can I do?
 
Honestly, there are cultural factors that affect REDcard conversion; however, nothing is an excuse for not achieving conversion goals in Target's mind. I'm speaking in generalizations here, but many low income areas have an active community whether or not it's run down. I would try talking up all the things that the REDcard and Target does to give back to the community such as Take Charge of Education, 5% back to the community, etc.
 
Already running into problems? :p

Anyways, it sucks, but even blacks/Latinos can be compulsive shoppers. I've gotten my fair share with them.

Offer incentives like an extra $5 off, or a gift card.
 
Already running into problems? :p

Anyways, it sucks, but even blacks/Latinos can be compulsive shoppers. I've gotten my fair share with them.

Offer incentives like an extra $5 off, or a gift card.

I have never heard of offering such a thing... Wouldn't it hold up the line further to get one of these approved? And what if the current person you need approval from says "No, I won't approve that"? I'm honestly curious because I know a few long-time cashiers who would probably love to have something more to coerce guests into signing up for a Redcard.
 
If you haven't tried yet, try using the incentives of the school donation program, the 5% discount off purchases, and pharmacy reward discounts. Also mention that there are both the credit and debit forms of the card. When you just ask people to sign up for the Target/Red card they will have the idea that it is a loyalty card or credit card.

Also when you notice guests checking out large purchases or high $$$ items. Push a little...make them think about the card and the discount. Obviously, its not going to be opportune chance to ask when the guest is only buying a soda.
 
If they're using a debit, let them know that - upon approval - they can use their redcard to save 5% RIGHT NOW then go over to the service desk & pay it off with their debit card on the spot (no pun intended).
If they're using EBT, not gonna be any help there.
 
Our cashiers complain that they can't get REDCards because our guests are too rich. They all have Amex or Capital One or other airlines cards. I explain to my guests that they're only getting about 1% cash back and about 2% value in airline tickets and could get 5% on the Target card. Sometimes that works; usually it doesn't.
 
Already running into problems? :p

Anyways, it sucks, but even blacks/Latinos can be compulsive shoppers. I've gotten my fair share with them.

Offer incentives like an extra $5 off, or a gift card.

I have never heard of offering such a thing... Wouldn't it hold up the line further to get one of these approved? And what if the current person you need approval from says "No, I won't approve that"? I'm honestly curious because I know a few long-time cashiers who would probably love to have something more to coerce guests into signing up for a Redcard.


I believe this is a store by store basis kind of thing. My home store offers no incentives to guests for signing up but the store i go to for school offers starbucks or 10% off the first transaction and other things like that.
 
So if stores are just giving away discounts or Starbucks to sell redcards then they are screwing over the stores that don't offer extra incentives that are in no way a best practice from corp. I bet these store have higher conversion rates than the stores that only talk up the actual benefits of the card. So there are stores that are cheating to achieve conversion, making it seem like 3% conversion is attainable with the tools that corp has put in place...does no one see what's wrong with this?
 
The only problem I have is that they are giving incentive to the guest when I'd rather give it to the cashier. At my store, we do neither.
 
My store never gave guest incentive. I'm just saying its an option.
 
Already running into problems? :p

Anyways, it sucks, but even blacks/Latinos can be compulsive shoppers. I've gotten my fair share with them.

Offer incentives like an extra $5 off, or a gift card.
Since when do we give away discounts or gift cards for Redcard apps? And remember, there is no real reason to go out of your way to get Redcards, its for the managers to get bonuses. Where is the incentive for the employees? Keeping our jobs? Sounds like a threat to me...
 
Our store gave out the reusable bags for a while
I think the STL requisitioned them to do it.
 
don't even bother. target already new they wouldn't be selling a **** ton of red cards in that area. the goals are just there to give corporate a reason to keep employee turnover high so they can keep payroll down. they have people at HQ who plan out every little detail of the store down to the types of shrubbery out front do you really think they don't know what the realistic number of red card conversions will be?
 
I'd try working the 5% everyday savings but just make sure I was asking every person even if they were paying with EBT.
That way Spot couldn't say you weren't trying.
 
Already running into problems? :p

Anyways, it sucks, but even blacks/Latinos can be compulsive shoppers. I've gotten my fair share with them.

Offer incentives like an extra $5 off, or a gift card.
Since when do we give away discounts or gift cards for Redcard apps? And remember, there is no real reason to go out of your way to get Redcards, its for the managers to get bonuses. Where is the incentive for the employees? Keeping our jobs? Sounds like a threat to me...

You are ignorant. The incentive for you? How about keeping your job. A threat? Nope, simply informing you of what will happen if you do not meet the minimal expectations of your position.
 
Already running into problems? :p

Anyways, it sucks, but even blacks/Latinos can be compulsive shoppers. I've gotten my fair share with them.

Offer incentives like an extra $5 off, or a gift card.
Since when do we give away discounts or gift cards for Redcard apps? And remember, there is no real reason to go out of your way to get Redcards, its for the managers to get bonuses. Where is the incentive for the employees? Keeping our jobs? Sounds like a threat to me...

You are ignorant. The incentive for you? How about keeping your job. A threat? Nope, simply informing you of what will happen if you do not meet the minimal expectations of your position.

getting redcards is not in the core roles and if you are going to be making target 3 times as much money per redcard sale you should be compensated fairly not with a piece of candy.
 
Corporation can't fire you if customers don't want the red card. At worst they can just give
you a poor review and cut your hours. Subway sandwich workers obtain a bigger paycheck
than the most prestigious cashiers in the target corporation.

Can you imagine cashiers bursting into tears as they fear for their positions everytime the
customer refuses to sign up for a redcard? Imagine the publics opinion on that matter.
 
You two are ignorant and you're spreading false information. Ask the cashiers at my store if you can get away with not meeting the conversion rate.
 
You two are ignorant and you're spreading false information. Ask the cashiers at my store if you can get away with not meeting the conversion rate.

you are ignorant for lying to your cashiers about redcards being a core role and obviously not a very good leader if you think cashiers are trying to get away with not meeting conversion asking a guest if they would like one and informing them about the bennefits are all that are required. What do your team members think of your draconian leadership style?
 
Core roles...are you one of those whiny *****es that cries "that's not my job"?

lying to your employees about expectations and requirements is generally a sign of poor management not to mention illegal.

and to answer your question no, the only time i say "that's not my job" is when people try to get me to do work without compensation.

i know you like to think you are some hot shot GSTL or whatever your position is that runs your store with an iron fist but when you post things about how your cashiers are afraid to not meet conversion scores that doesn't make you look like STL or DTL material it makes you look like a pathetic person on a power trip because he is a pay grade up from the next TM.
 
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You two are ignorant and you're spreading false information. Ask the cashiers at my store if you can get away with not meeting the conversion rate.

you are ignorant for lying to your cashiers about redcards being a core role and obviously not a very good leader if you think cashiers are trying to get away with not meeting conversion asking a guest if they would like one and informing them about the bennefits are all that are required. What do your team members think of your draconian leadership style?

Sadly you are both right.
The core roles don't directly say red cards but it does say needs of the store and that includes red cards and conversion rate.
Yes, if you ask every person and are trying your hardest they shouldn't be able to do anything to you but this is the real world.
In a good store they wouldn't, they might work with you to get your numbers up but that would be it.
No, they can't fire you if you don't meet that rate but they can cut your hours to almost nothing or they can performance you out for other things.
SR isn't being draconian per se, he's just passing along what he's seen of Spot's worst practices.
 
We just started putting cashiers on corrective action for being in the bottom 5 consistently.
It no longer mentions showing up on time or coming to work in core roles, does that mean you don't have to?
As far as meeting the goals, etc. I honestly don't care whether people get them or not, I do care about know it alls who know nothing (i.e. you) who go around spouting some bs to everyone.
 
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