Archived The Big & Dandy Backroom thread!

[Kroneru]

Today was another FF fiasco day. To many scenarios to post for today, sorry. On a positive note my fellow BRTM and I actually got to clock out on time today at 9pm. No one in the BR for two hours. I heard the cries for BR as I picked up a few items to buy. As I'm leaving I can hear over the walkies frantic delegating over who was going to BR related stuff. I disappeared into the night laughing manically.

 

[LogisticsFox]

Between Tuesday and Friday, I'm not sure what day was worse for FF's. Tuesday, it was sheer volume.. I personally pulled 47 batches (Two of them were those nasty 50+ BTS orders). Friday was the start of our state's tax free weekend (only on clothing) so 80% of the orders were in softlines. I'm immensely grateful that I have the weekend off.

 

[IhaveaDream]

Are those what the hourly CAFs count as, because we just throw the yellow clips on them.

Hourly CAFs are not Priority Pulls, only Outs and Research. CAFs should be a priority once they start dropping (hopefully the Priority Pulls are done by this point), but they're generally marked with green PULLS clips.

no no no, there is a reason they are priority pulls and not regular pulls. Priority pulls are usually items that are zero or 1 on the sales floor, so those need refilled asap.

 

[BRguy]

I feel for you guys. Pulling FF must suck right now. When I left the company earlier this year they were testing FF and I quickly saw how annoying this will be.

 

[StackerMistress]

12:30-9 today... last day of these horrid promotions. Just going to get through it and go home.

 

[Kroneru]

Tomorrow begins the new schedule; each day extended an hour. "It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN!!!"

 

[msj3n]

My record is 12 DPCIs 26 reaches. Luckily it was all baby food. Although I'm pretty sure that record is getting broken. We've been getting flooded with orders today and yesterday that are entire school supply lists. We're talking 32 picks yesterday and we already had 11 today by 1030

We have 1 to 2 FF tm's everyday, our store has had 300+ picks in a morning!

 

[mrknownothing]

Are those what the hourly CAFs count as, because we just throw the yellow clips on them.

Hourly CAFs are not Priority Pulls, only Outs and Research. CAFs should be a priority once they start dropping (hopefully the Priority Pulls are done by this point), but they're generally marked with green PULLS clips.

no no no, there is a reason they are priority pulls and not regular pulls. Priority pulls are usually items that are zero or 1 on the sales floor, so those need refilled asap.

Sounds like your store does things differently. We only use the yellow clips for instocks batches and the rare occasion that we run out of green clips (huge CAFs and no one to push them).

 

[StackerMistress]

Logistics has been granted approved overtime this week. Shit's getting real!

 

[IhaveaDream]

Logistics has been granted approved overtime this week. Shit's getting real!

Oh please, i get an OT week every month

 

[IHeartCarts]

Some OT money would be nice but I'm exhausted as is.

 

[1138]

So somebody tell me why this is wrong, or possibly good. Either way, I've been doing it for over 2 years and everyone seems really happy...

When pulling something that you know is not going to go, (just got backstocked and you personally tried to push it, just killed sales planners/endcaps.) Entering the pull qty as 999, selecting yes that you pulled all , and then immediately back stocking what you didn't actually pull, seems to fix every problem. The stuff does not come back out again. The counters seem to reset, and we don't waste an hour pulling, trying to push, then backstocking, then pulling again, trying to push, and back stocking the same product multiple times. I can see how easily this could be abused but there are times when it's a legit approach to a pull. That first caf pull on truck day, 60% of that stuff isn't going out and needs to go right back to back stock as it is. Why waste the time?

Let me know if there's some metric or directive that I'm violating. I'm just trying to do the job in the most efficient and effective manner I can.

 

[Anonymous12345]

1138: The strategy that you mentioned does reset the accumulator but it inflates your pull eaches on the Pull Type report on Store reports. But other than that, it's another effective way to reset the accumulator, plus I think the Store Reports will be going away soon.

The only real issue I see with this strategy is are you 100% sure those items you are 999 are true backstock?? Because if not, you are technically burning items that can go out. And does everyone else do this in your backroom?? If your TL is ok with it then that's fine, but if he is not aware of it, I would see what he has to say about it.

 

[konk]

ETL: "You're still pulling?"
Me: "Yes"
ETL: "You're probably pulling the stuff we just backstocked."
Me (to myself): Yeah, because you're backstocking stuff that has been sitting there since Friday and Saturday was our busiest day of the year. Also your GSTL helper is backstocking single and double quantities of school supplies.

 

[StackerMistress]

Logistics has been granted approved overtime this week. Shit's getting real!

Oh please, i get an OT week every month

We don't. OT happens only a few times a year, and generally only in November or December. They'll do whatever they can to avoid it. I'm hoping to get an extra 10 hours this week. Double truck on Tuesday!

 

[doubaski]

Hello I'm a new ETL log. If you sub9999 something, would that not mess your location accuracy score because you're suddenly pulling out a ton of things from an area the system thought there were only a certain amount of?

 

[BRguy]

Hi! To answer your question subt9999 won't mess up location accuracy. Please see this thread for more information:

Can someone settle the debate of STO/Subt backstocking

 

[mrknownothing]

SUBT9999 will not create thousands of errors.

Pulling 9,999 of an item would only create baffles if you were pulling in a batch (in which case you wouldn't be using SUBT). Using stand-alone SUBT to pull an item will not result in a baffle.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

This answer should work from another thread:

I have a gstl who like gives a one man cheerleading routine for every redcard. I could have the volume all the way down and it wouldn't help to mute her. I hate the congratulatory whoops and hollers so much. It feels like a gloating thing because there's no way in hell the guests aren't hearing it. If I were a guest and heard that particular gstl, I wouldn't sign up for a redcard out of spite.

This too.

He is correct. For whatever reason errors are only detected in generated batches. The only down side to not STOing first is SUBT will not detect clearance. I however find that to be a fair trade off for the time saved not STOing first. You can in fact test this theory by SUBTing 9999 without STO an item from a fill group you do not normally see into a Z location. Then check the next weeks DTK report for a error in the fill group in that area. I think many of us have tried this and gotten the same results, no error.

Was about to suggest this purpose-built test. My backroom TL and I did this, with the LIQR fillgroup, location Z. Just a random margarita mixer SUBT'd in without STOing first. Next week and the week after, the LIQR group was a solid green bar on the DTK report. We showed it to the leadership in the building and it was decided then and there that it was value-added to save the time by not STOing first, and we've been doing it ever since.

Like others have said, technically this activity fits the criteria for making an error, and it certainly would if it were done while working a pull batch. But the standalone SUBT app is just not included in the error reporting. The system sees it happening, but turns a blind eye to it, per se.

Again, as it's been mentioned, the only reason the Resetting Accumulator guide on Workbench states to STO first is because STO acts as a filter for items that are Clearance, MIR, or Challenge. Obviously, SUBT doesn't throw these prompts because the system already thinks you're removing items from the stockroom...

This answer should work from another thread:

First off, grats on some awesome results! 99% is awesome! The reason Subt doesn't result in thousands of errors when done incorrectly is that when you scan one DPCI incorrectly it is only logging one single error, not 9999 of them because eaches are not what is measured in that metric. One error out of around 20,000 scans in the back room through the course of a week doesn't have any impact on your score. It is entirely possible that Subt doesn't get factored into BRLA but it shouldn't be impacting it significantly one way or the other because most stores don't use that function more than a few dozen times a week.

More evidence for MisterLogistics here. If errors were based on eaches how would the following work? A case pack of 24 bottles of shampoo is baffled in your uppercase location. When you go through a pull looking for something else you scan the pick label on the shampoo. If errors were based on eaches, the system would have to stop you to ask how many are in that casepack or else it couldn't possible ding you for the appropriate 24 errors. Therefore, the system dings you one error for having one scan that was an error, not 24 errors because it doesn't have that information.

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear We take 6-7 trucks a week... We get probably 3-5 flats of challenge per truck with probably 10-15 different DPCIs on them... All of these items are SUBT9999 without using STO first! That would be a few hundred extra Subt scans (and therefore a few hundred errors) a week! Not a few dozen

Again I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I understand that eaches don't go into BRLA

That would seem to be good evidence that Subt isn't going into BRLA. If you are an A volume store, I would guess that you are probably closer to 40,000 total scans per week then. The impact of even that much use of Subt would theoretically have a proportional effect on BRLA. With those 300-500 errors from the challenge alone your BRLA score would be at 98.7% at worst (plus with other errors it would be lower). So, it's not impossible that it still gets counted in BRLA but doesn't seem likely to me based on what you are saying. Do you happen to know about how many errors you see on DTK?

That does seem like an awful lot of challenge!! Do you know if they are working it back to the floor before resetting the accumulator?

 

[Anonymous12345]

@Hardlinesmaster When did all these responses take place on SUBT9999 and errors?

I think it causes errors, but not positive. I have tested it out a long time ago but I forgot what the results were from it.

I've been wanting to test it out but these trucks have been beating me up recently because of BTS, luckily we haven't got a double yet (knock on wood) lol

I'm definitely testing it out this week and will get back to everyone in 1-2 weeks with the results.....

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

These options were tested & worked well by the folks who posted. They had figured out it beyond belief. I did try some stuff & it did work out for me.
My store has created a sign that says subt9999 on it. Other store are using 2 back room clips on tubs & letting the br person know, it should be subt9999.

 

[see spot save]

Does the switch from RF apps to Web apps make a difference?

Can you subt9999 if there's other locations?

 

[konk]

Came in at 3:30 and there were 2 OFCE CAFs in the gun. That's weird I thought. Pulled the one with the higher number first. Not bad. Started the other one. Holy mother of god! I eventually gave up because I had to do a my FA, then switched guns. Checked RWT after the 4's. My BR team had decided to not pull the OFCE CAF a single time!

 

[StackerMistress]

What does everyone's backroom morning team do after dayside gets there? I've been having an issue where the morning team is ONLY doing backstock until they leave at 2:30. Cardboard, instocks, CAFs (no matter how large), EXFs, Flexible Fulfillment, that all gets left to dayside. When 12 pm rolls around and the pulls are 3 hours, sorry, but I'm going to need some help with those. And yet, every single day, I have to get on the walkie (or borrow one, because our SFT can't be bothered to send back the 10 broken ones sitting in the equipment room), and ask the morning team for help, and every day I get pissy sighs about it. Honestly, you know they're going to be huge, everyone should just jump in at 12 and get it knocked out so we can ALL get back to backstocking. The 1s or 2s, yes, I can see leaving those for dayside, though they've been big enough lately that I have needed help to get them done in time (god, massive OFCE pulls can just go straight to hell).

 

[Anonymous12345]

@StackerMistress I don't work at a early am store currently but I know some stores that do help out with the pulls. I think as long as you help them with backstock, there should be no reason why they can't help you with the pulls. They are probably just following the instructions they were given by their supervisor, to strictly backstock and nothing else. I would partner with you backroom TL and see if they can work something out to help you with the 12pm CAFs. Oh and yea those OFCE pulls have been a beast lately 30-60+ minutes everyday, although I don't know if it's actually going out or just coming back for backstock.