Archived The Big & Dandy Backroom thread!

[Hardlinesmaster]

I have to say that I reeeeeeaaaaallllllyyyy hate this practice. There is no way to find an item that a guest is looking for or to fill an out.

I understand. But, that's what the etl log wants it done that way.

 

[Mysterious]

Whoever suggested it (LogisticsFox or Hardlinesmaster)... Thanks for recommending Manual CAFs prior to hourly CAFs. That definitely helped save us some time. I forgot all about that function.

 

[ClarkKent]

Horrible day in the backroom. We got a 2600 piece truck without anyone knowing about it. When I came in I had to pull research from yesterday and today but also backstock as much as possible. Later on in the day the closing lod made the closer and I backstock coolers because it's more important than getting ready for another 3k truck tomorrow. Thankfully I'm off tomorrow.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Whoever suggested it (LogisticsFox or Hardlinesmaster)... Thanks for recommending Manual CAFs prior to hourly CAFs. That definitely helped save us some time. I forgot all about that function.

The credit goes to @LogisticsFox
That's no surprise. BTS brings in a lot of things that look a like that have different DPCIs with huge quantities. Unless you're super careful and know what to look for, it's easy to mess something up. Next time, try dropping a manual every few sections so everything won't drop into one single batch
LogisticsFox, Jul 21, 2015

 

[asidius]

I'd like to drop a manual office batch sometime but I'm scared at how big it would be. I don't enjoy these constant 1/2 hour - 1 hour office batches.

 

[LogisticsFox]

The first step is dropping the initial monster. Drop them regularly and then they'll always be small(er).

Or if the person drops manuals after every couple of repacks when backstocking, you'll only get a bunch of tiny cafs.

 

[Produce Queen]

I need to pick the brains of you BR experts.

#1 partial boxes of dairy and freezer (excluding bakery) are not supposed to be backstocked that way correct? As in if you open a box, push 3 of the 12 packages, you're supposed to take the rest out of the box and those 9 should go in open stock right? My new store is not only backstocking partial cases, but wasting time counting exactly how many are in the box then putting them on a case stock shelf.

#2 how hard is it going to be trying to figure out who is unlocating stuff in the coolers and freezers. I'm finding entire shelves not located as well as lots of other product all over. My suspicion is that someone gets frustrated that the FDC pic labels don't scan, so they m-delete the shelf. I also think especially in the freezer, they scan for example white rolls, put in that they pulled the 5 it asked for, but don't physically pull them.

There's got to be a way to figure out the culprit, and suspicions alone aren't going to cut it. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[signingminion]

I need to pick the brains of you BR experts.

#1 partial boxes of dairy and freezer (excluding bakery) are not supposed to be backstocked that way correct? As in if you open a box, push 3 of the 12 packages, you're supposed to take the rest out of the box and those 9 should go in open stock right? My new store is not only backstocking partial cases, but wasting time counting exactly how many are in the box then putting them on a case stock shelf.

#2 how hard is it going to be trying to figure out who is unlocating stuff in the coolers and freezers. I'm finding entire shelves not located as well as lots of other product all over. My suspicion is that someone gets frustrated that the FDC pic labels don't scan, so they m-delete the shelf. I also think especially in the freezer, they scan for example white rolls, put in that they pulled the 5 it asked for, but don't physically pull them.

There's got to be a way to figure out the culprit, and suspicions alone aren't going to cut it. Any help would be appreciated.

Full cases get backstocked, but sometimes it could ask to pull less. Fill from the floor might not pull the whole case, and it sounds like your peeps don't know to think for themselves to pull more than it asked for.

You can start with checking if they were actually backstocked. Every time I had this problem it was the result of putting on shelf without locating or not pulling what it asked.

 

[see spot save]

When I still did electronics I got into the habit of dropping manuals daily. It was a big help after a reset or revision because I could pull and re-push it before dayside had to pull a huge MM2 CAF that would just sit there. Made both of our lives easier, plus the sales floor was well stocked. The first ones are always big, but after that they are manageable.

As far as the coolers go, my store backstocks partial case packs in meat and produce. We mainly have shelves in those coolers, only a few wacos.

 

[LogisticsFox]

It really depends on how your cooler or freezer is set up. Our meat cooler is almost entirely classed as open (except d210) so all the fresh beef, pork and chicken stay in their cases. Our freezer is set up in the standard upper, lower and open fashion so stowing partials wouldn't work well in there. As far as m-deleting, you could always force the baffles into those positions and see who the culprit is. We where having the same issue (FDC would send crappy labels and stuff would magically turn into baffles) so one day I asked the ETL to switch up the person pulling FDC in the morning and the problems started disappearing. Figuring out who is m-deleting poorly is a lot harder to pin point so you basically just have to guess until you get it right.

 

[StackerMistress]

Today was a real test of patience. On my own after 2:30. Guest requests and FFs out the wazoo. 3 o'clocks are 1.5 hours. Those rolled bad. 4s are even bigger. Rolled those too. 5s are 1.75 hours. Had to stop at 6:15 to take my lunch before I hit compliance. Came back and finished the 5 o'clock pulls at a little after 7 pm. The LOD was "busy," so no help there--hint: he's always too busy to help the backroom, but has no qualms of making us help the salesfloor. Then it was onto the six overflowing cages of cardboard and a full baler from the morning team. Price change wasn't pulled and absolutely zero backstock was done. One of those days...

 

[Guest]

What are your philosophies, thoughts, feelings, and procedures when it comes to nights in which the price change batches are ridiculous? Will you stay past your schedule to complete them? Do you have a threshold of how long you will stay to work on the price change batches? I ask because I always get the shit end of the stick. I work the most shifts per week as the backroom closer which means I pull the price change batches on the largest nights aka Tuesday(the worst) and Wednesday(the 2nd worst). I stayed 2 hours past schedule to finish price change. I spent 3 hours pulling price change batches tonight. I don't think any other backroom team member at the store I work at would have stayed until the batches were clear.
The sad thing is this was predicted last week. The pricing team told me last week "next Tuesday night is going to be bad" and yes they were correct. I pretty much cleared out the seasonal aisles and receiving steels tonight. Ridiculous amounts of seasonal price change.

Staying past schedule for price change batches has pros and cons. The pros are of course I get extra hours, can save vacation time, and be able to say lines(basically I was here busting my ass all by myself while you were sitting on your butt oh and fuck you) such as "I was here until 930 - 10pm last night pulling price change" and "I pulled 20 pallets of price change last night". The cons are that I have my entire night lost due to the fact that I CHOOSE to stay and pull cheaply made products from Asia.

 

[konk]

I'll only stay if I think I can finish them in 15 minutes or less past my scheduled time. If I have a huge batch left and it's 8:55, I'll leave. I also leave large items in the top of the steal and leave a note for the pricing team because this is what I was told to do. They would take up too much room if I took them down.

 

[StackerMistress]

I always leave at 9 pm. Management would not be happy if I used extra hours. And the ETL would rip me a new one for pulling 20 pallets of price. Our price change team is slow as shit and has a bad habit of calling in all the time, so those pallets would be sitting on the line, taking up precious space, for days and days. Better to spread it out, IMO.

 

[asidius]

Our closer from last night didn't manage to finish price change last night. I had to pull the pharmacy and seasonal batches myself. Taking down 2 pallets of grills wasn't fun.

I got told by a Sr. TL, an ETL, and a TM not to burn batches. I refuse to pull merchandise that will come back 5 min later. Sales floor tms hate it, we hate pulling it, and the morning team hates back stocking it. SUBT9999 takes too damn long and is condoned at my store. So until they fix the system, I will continue to burn batches.

The only other time I burn batches is when I feel it's unsafe to grab the item or if I can't physically get the item because idiots decide to fill an entire aisle of freight or backstock.

Oh yeah, and my direct TL tells me to burn batches.

 

[ClarkKent]

When I want to stop it coming out again I will pull the item and then scan it first for the next item in the batch. My boss says will it creates a error but doesn't seem to mind it. It just ask for whatever count it needs for the floor and if I pulled it all.

 

[konk]

New orders:

No PC
No bs
Pull and work manual cafs

 

[Guest]

Burn caf batches or price change batches? You guys would hate working at the store I'm at. I have been told that the price change batches must be cleared before I leave. I was even told that if something came up ie an emergency that I would still need to make sure the price change batches. Pulling price change batches is definitely something I won't miss when I leave Target. Staying until 930 or 10pm on a Tuesday night to pull 15 pallets is something I won't miss. Besides, someone else can have the joy of that experience. Counting tonight and last night, I wasted 5 hours pulling price change batches. I have pulled 20 pallets of price change the last two nights.

 

[konk]

Yeah, they were big tonight, but I didn't have to pull them! Thanks new STL!

 

[Guest]

I've already worked 4 extra hours this week. In your face, payroll.

 

[ClarkKent]

Im closing tomorrow and hope there small. I have to spend hours in the coolers and work on regular backstock.

 

[Guest]

What is this back stock? I rarely get to back stock. When the price change batches are ridiculous and out of control, there is no time to back stock.

 

[ClarkKent]

I'm the only closer who can backstock apparently. The other two spend way too long setting the line and stuff.

 

[konk]

I set the line after I pull the 4's. That way I'm not pulling stuff at 5 that I just backstocked making the pull I have to work bigger. Also gets it out of the way.

 

[asidius]

IIRC, you can check how big price change is before it drops. I think there is an application on workbench price change uses to see the workload for a future day.