MEGATHREAD Signing Tips, Tricks and Quips (along with howls of despair)

Who's ready for a busy 3/12 set? There's stationary transition, baby transition, a lot of kitchen revision, stationary revision like wtf Target. It doesn't help that hours are cut like crazy this year and presentation team seems to be shrinking.
Why can Target not figure out a way to spread these things out? My store is pretty good about supporting the TMs who have a lot of transitions or revisions going on, but wouldn't it be easier on everyone if it didn't all have to be done at the same time? From everyone who plans out the POGs to where the label strips are printed to the DCs which must be getting flooded with product to send out to the stores to all of us at the store level who run as fast as we can and still feel like we're falling behind. I know I'm exaggerating some and the whole store doesn't undergo transition all at the same time, but it kind of feels like it.
We have no POG team although the former POG TMs we have left are often called upon to help. A couple of TLs help out too. And right about hours - it's not like I just sort of magically snap my fingers and all my transitions are done.
Yeah, I get it, the eternal gripe.
 
Who's ready for a busy 3/12 set? There's stationary transition, baby transition, a lot of kitchen revision, stationary revision like wtf Target. It doesn't help that hours are cut like crazy this year and presentation team seems to be shrinking.

As the person in charge of pog who just took over kitchen/home/stationary, I can tell you it's going to be quite the week.
 
We are so behind. I don't know how other stores staff and allocate for presentation, but at my store, I'm the only person who sets pogs in hardlines. Take this week for example, I was scheduled 40 hours. There were over 80 hours for our pet reset. The wet cat alone was 20 hours. So you can imagine how much didn't get done. It's like the SD and etls don't understand that work takes time. And when I being it up, it's like talking to a wall. "Well, we have a plan to get caught up." Meanwhile, the transitions fall further behind. Oh well.
 
We are so behind. I don't know how other stores staff and allocate for presentation, but at my store, I'm the only person who sets pogs in hardlines. Take this week for example, I was scheduled 40 hours. There were over 80 hours for our pet reset. The wet cat alone was 20 hours. So you can imagine how much didn't get done. It's like the SD and etls don't understand that work takes time. And when I being it up, it's like talking to a wall. "Well, we have a plan to get caught up." Meanwhile, the transitions fall further behind. Oh well.
It’s not 20h . Yes that’s what it says but it took my tm about 6h .
 
It’s not 20h . Yes that’s what it says but it took my tm about 6h .
One of my many "wishes" is that the times indicated would be closer to reality. I've been told that it's a formula using how many pieces of product needs to be moved and probably other stuff I can't remember.
A for instance: when I looked at women's deodorant, it was something like 7 hours. There weren't a whole lot of changes, certainly no shelves being added or deleted or even moved. It took me about 3 hours, maybe 3 1/2.
Then with adult oral care, the zebra said about 5 hours. Again, no shelves moving, but there were quite a few moves, including the bottom two rows of toothbrushes moving, which meant (for my sanity anyway) tearing down the whole wall of pegs and rebuilding it. Thinking it took me about 5 1/2 hours and that was with two other TMs pushing all the new toothpaste.
If it wasn't for the pictures of the new POGs in the zebra, I'd really be up a creek.
 
It’s not 20h . Yes that’s what it says but it took my tm about 6h .
Doesn't it depend on your store's footage? The issue is that it still should have been scheduled. Not just unscheduled. That was one example. Our pool toy aisle is not set. I did the goggles. But the whole pool toy side is chock-a-block full of product that would need to be removed. And none of our patio stuff is built. I don't know where their using the hours. But each week .... something gets left.
 
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I get what you are all saying . But I think the reason of being behind is due to poor planing . At the current time I’m only using 2 plano tm to set and they are working stationary on Monday .
 
Who's ready for a busy 3/12 set? There's stationary transition, baby transition, a lot of kitchen revision, stationary revision like wtf Target. It doesn't help that hours are cut like crazy this year and presentation team seems to be shrinking.
That explains being scheduled in POG almost all week next week as well. I understand this week since we're behind.
 
I get what you are all saying . But I think the reason of being behind is due to poor planing . At the current time I’m only using 2 plano tm to set and they are working stationary on Monday .
Are you guys scheduling hours a week ahead?
 
No. We just always worked ahead and always stay ahead .
I'd say about 75% of the revisions at my store never get set. Or they just get tied. When I asked my SD why male shave was a 7.5 hour revision and who was going to set it, she said the leader of the area has to figure it out. Yeah, but YOU make the schedule. So if you don't plan for it, it probably won't get done. Why is this concept so hard to understand? These are people with brains, right? As a tm, why do I have to explain this to people in management?
 
Fortunately our NEW ETL and SD understand what my last ETL and SD did NOT, which is :
we can set an EMPTY aisle better and faster than a FULL one !!!

last year the inbound ETL wanted ALL merch pushed as it came off truck - which meant FILLING to the brim (overpush & flexing) each area a week or two BEFORE transitions !!! Which created nightmare amounts of product to move and backstock for the presentation team ! Needless To say these areas took
much longer to set than estimated.

Fast forward with the replacement ETL and SD - transition merch stays trapped. We set the areas quickly and have time to fix capacities and push merch into a perfectly set aisle. Which we can do FASTER than moving the same flexed merch AS we are trying to set.

I am thankful they understand this. It was like talking to a wall with the last batch of management.
 
I'd say about 75% of the revisions at my store never get set. Or they just get tied. When I asked my SD why male shave was a 7.5 hour revision and who was going to set it, she said the leader of the area has to figure it out. Yeah, but YOU make the schedule. So if you don't plan for it, it probably won't get done. Why is this concept so hard to understand? These are people with brains, right? As a tm, why do I have to explain this to people in management?
The tl and etl needs to do the planning not the Sd . If I was to go to my boss in my BUS without plans for plano for everyday of the week I would not have a place to work . And the sd does not make the schedule . He audits the schedule after hr but certainly does not make the schedule .so the planning falls onto the etl as well as the scheduling .
 
Fortunately our NEW ETL and SD understand what my last ETL and SD did NOT, which is :
we can set an EMPTY aisle better and faster than a FULL one !!!

last year the inbound ETL wanted ALL merch pushed as it came off truck - which meant FILLING to the brim (overpush & flexing) each area a week or two BEFORE transitions !!! Which created nightmare amounts of product to move and backstock for the presentation team ! Needless To say these areas took
much longer to set than estimated.

Fast forward with the replacement ETL and SD - transition merch stays trapped. We set the areas quickly and have time to fix capacities and push merch into a perfectly set aisle. Which we can do FASTER than moving the same flexed merch AS we are trying to set.

I am thankful they understand this. It was like talking to a wall with the last batch of management.
I’m inbound etl and make sure that we are truck to shelf . But then again when I say truck to shelf means it’s set so inbound can help pushing . Not flexing .
 
The tl and etl needs to do the planning not the Sd . If I was to go to my boss in my BUS without plans for plano for everyday of the week I would not have a place to work . And the sd does not make the schedule . He audits the schedule after hr but certainly does not make the schedule .so the planning falls onto the etl as well as the scheduling .
Well, the etl makes the schedule. Then the SD audits it and posts it. Who really makes it then? We can play semantics about what "makes" means. But if the SD audits it, without consulting the etl who did the planning I might add, and cuts it, who is actually making it?

When I asked my etl first about the lack of hours to set pets, she said she had them scheduled. But lo and behold, the schedule reflected only half the hours to set. Them the SD says the leaders need to figure it out when she created the problem.
 
Well, the etl makes the schedule. Then the SD audits it and posts it. Who really makes it then? We can play semantics about what "makes" means. But if the SD audits it, without consulting the etl who did the planning I might add, and cuts it, who is actually making it?

When I asked my etl first about the lack of hours to set pets, she said she had them scheduled. But lo and behold, the schedule reflected only half the hours to set. Them the SD says the leaders need to figure it out when she created the problem.
Just because sd audits doesn’t mean he makes it . So is no semantics here . Etl makes the schedule and he lives with his poor scheduling he/she made. Auditing is done by sd just to hold the etl accountable not to make changes to the schedule .
 
Our store decided to try and set Cosmetics without all the proper fixtures , strips, etc and certainly did not backstock any merch. affected by the delay. They pushed it all out onto a shitshow set. No sfc set is the least of the problem now. It's 90% gone to clearance already and daily looks like it's been looted it's such a mess. So embarrassing. Combined with no Beauty Specialist at our store it makes this section appear abandoned and has become just a welcoming space for hoards of local afterschool kids to loiter, get loud, create spills, and enjoy a 5 finger discount everyday.
 
I'd say about 75% of the revisions at my store never get set. Or they just get tied. When I asked my SD why male shave was a 7.5 hour revision and who was going to set it, she said the leader of the area has to figure it out. Yeah, but YOU make the schedule. So if you don't plan for it, it probably won't get done. Why is this concept so hard to understand? These are people with brains, right? As a tm, why do I have to explain this to people in management?
Ehhhh plans are important for sure but if GM gets 400 hours and they’re scheduled 400 hours it’s not the SDs job to plan it. They manage the payroll but the TL and ETL are responsible for planning.
 
How do you handle the various transitions in seasonal/mini that are tied to holidays? Obviously you can't transition those super early. Do you work on the two week out stuff and backtrack to seasonal?
Typically this what we did. Mini and seasonal either got set depending on sell through but often mini was set the week of but everything else was done already so it wasn’t a big deal
 
How do you handle the various transitions in seasonal/mini that are tied to holidays? Obviously you can't transition those super early. Do you work on the two week out stuff and backtrack to seasonal?
We sell out of mini a week prior to transition . Sometimes for valientes usually I reach out to other stores to give 8-10 pallets of candy .
 
The tl and etl needs to do the planning not the Sd . If I was to go to my boss in my BUS without plans for plano for everyday of the week I would not have a place to work . And the sd does not make the schedule . He audits the schedule after hr but certainly does not make the schedule .so the planning falls onto the etl as well as the scheduling .
depends on the store. My sd was a control freak and did all but the cashier schedule. 70 Mil store.
 
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