The Drive Up Thread

If you would walk to your car to go home, you can take out a drive up. Severe is relative. New Englanders think they get severe thunderstorms, but compared to other places, they don't.
Oh yeah, our storms are nothing. Watch the Weather Channel if you want to see some crazy-ass storms! New England is one of the easiest parts of the country weather-wise, at least among the areas that get snow and real seasons.
 
Our store director doesn’t let us close drive ups for any reason. A few weeks ago TM’s were taking them out while it was lightning and hailing.
 
When we have CSC turn it off, it doesn't keep people with orders from coming. So I don't really see the point.

Also we stop for lightning, significant hail, and torrents. Haven't had to stop for wind yet.

If there is lightning that is not close enough to shut down, but potentially could move in, we swap the metal 3 tiers for shopping carts.
 
We were told that it would hit the light poles because they are much taller. I wonder how many people have been struck by lightning in parking lots? However, if we are in the thick of a heavy storm and I am there, I will tell people to stay in. Screw the DU times.
 
We were told that it would hit the light poles because they are much taller.
Classic case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. Sure, it will tend to hit isolated, tall, pointy things. But a person in a parking lot is also relatively isolated, tall and pointy.
 
We were told that it would hit the light poles because they are much taller. I wonder how many people have been struck by lightning in parking lots? However, if we are in the thick of a heavy storm and I am there, I will tell people to stay in. Screw the DU times.
That sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen
 
My store closes drive up when there's lightning, so I agree that it's hotline material. If you can get other to report it, too, that will help.
 
Idk where to put this...maybe the fulfillment thread? BUT... what I really, really wish GS (and DU/OPU team) had the ability to do is to go into the ePick app and actually SEE where a guest's order is in the queue and approximately how much time is remaining for the order to be stowed to location. I also really, really want the ability to CANCEL the order mid-process.

I cannot tell you how many people are just chilling in the DU spots, waiting for their order to be picked. When did they place the order? 20 minutes ago. I would love to be able to give them more than "oh, it can take up to 2 hours". Also, for the guests who DID place the order 2 hours prior, the ability to give them an approximate time when they call and wonder where it is and why it isn't ready yet. I can kinda see that info but only on batches that haven't been started.

OR the people who come in, expecting their order to be ready (again, most of these gave plenty of time) and it's not and want to pick it themselves but do not like the idea of being charged 2x. Because try as you may, they don't believe the pending charge is actually just pending and want it cancelled before they find it on their own.
 
Idk where to put this...maybe the fulfillment thread? BUT... what I really, really wish GS (and DU/OPU team) had the ability to do is to go into the ePick app and actually SEE where a guest's order is in the queue and approximately how much time is remaining for the order to be stowed to location. I also really, really want the ability to CANCEL the order mid-process.

I cannot tell you how many people are just chilling in the DU spots, waiting for their order to be picked. When did they place the order? 20 minutes ago. I would love to be able to give them more than "oh, it can take up to 2 hours". Also, for the guests who DID place the order 2 hours prior, the ability to give them an approximate time when they call and wonder where it is and why it isn't ready yet. I can kinda see that info but only on batches that haven't been started.

OR the people who come in, expecting their order to be ready (again, most of these gave plenty of time) and it's not and want to pick it themselves but do not like the idea of being charged 2x. Because try as you may, they don't believe the pending charge is actually just pending and want it cancelled before they find it on their own.
For sure, a more elegant solution to each of these problems would make guests much happier.
 
Idk where to put this...maybe the fulfillment thread? BUT... what I really, really wish GS (and DU/OPU team) had the ability to do is to go into the ePick app and actually SEE where a guest's order is in the queue and approximately how much time is remaining for the order to be stowed to location. I also really, really want the ability to CANCEL the order mid-process.

I cannot tell you how many people are just chilling in the DU spots, waiting for their order to be picked. When did they place the order? 20 minutes ago. I would love to be able to give them more than "oh, it can take up to 2 hours". Also, for the guests who DID place the order 2 hours prior, the ability to give them an approximate time when they call and wonder where it is and why it isn't ready yet. I can kinda see that info but only on batches that haven't been started.

OR the people who come in, expecting their order to be ready (again, most of these gave plenty of time) and it's not and want to pick it themselves but do not like the idea of being charged 2x. Because try as you may, they don't believe the pending charge is actually just pending and want it cancelled before they find it on their own.
You have a great idea there. An end-to-end order progress dashboard. Progress bar, timestamp and which TMs are active with the order. With how understaffed our store is, we are late on lot of orders and do get inquiries from guest frequently about the status of the order.

This leads to my next point. Maybe it's better to expand fulfillment and have the department take responsibility from order picking to guest pick up instead of passing the baton to guest service. The fulfillment TMs stationed for pickups should be responsible for RTS, bagging orders when not busy with pickup, audits, cleaning the hold location, and whatever small tasks that can be done.
 
Anyone work in a small format store that does drive-up?

Reason I ask is currently at my store, every TM on the floor is responsible for Drive-ups (which, on paper, works perfectly) so when one goes off it's getting to the point of either "nose goes" or the same person goes out for every single one, scenario #1 pretty much means I, as LOD, must call it out and get a bit mean when TMs don't respond (or, in a lot of cases, bring them out myself, and as sometimes the only key-carrier in the building that can be bad...) Scenario #2 means that the one person, who is more than likely also working on the sales floor, is unable to get their sales floor work done because (naturally) at our store the drive ups come one after the other vs. all at one time.

Now, believe me when I say having every team member responsible has its good points, too... when they DO come in all at once having a few TMs that can prep and run them out helps. But is there a way that other SF stores make it work when you don't have the staffing at the service desk? Just wondering.
 
Anyone work in a small format store that does drive-up?

Reason I ask is currently at my store, every TM on the floor is responsible for Drive-ups (which, on paper, works perfectly) so when one goes off it's getting to the point of either "nose goes" or the same person goes out for every single one, scenario #1 pretty much means I, as LOD, must call it out and get a bit mean when TMs don't respond (or, in a lot of cases, bring them out myself, and as sometimes the only key-carrier in the building that can be bad...) Scenario #2 means that the one person, who is more than likely also working on the sales floor, is unable to get their sales floor work done because (naturally) at our store the drive ups come one after the other vs. all at one time.

Now, believe me when I say having every team member responsible has its good points, too... when they DO come in all at once having a few TMs that can prep and run them out helps. But is there a way that other SF stores make it work when you don't have the staffing at the service desk? Just wondering.
Can't speak for SF store but we have such high turnover and callouts that we have similar dilemma that you have with not having enough people to do drive-ups. On very few occasions in the past, we loaned excess fulfillment people who are usually the slowest pickers to help out with drive-ups. We've also had TLs, cart cleaners, and cart attendants do drive up when things were dire. Now we are so understaffed everywhere that drive up wait times, INF, productivity, sort are all Target red.

Why can't Target offer OPU ready time based on store capacity or number of TMs available? Internally, set the same expectation for goal times but often there are too many orders to handle with the TMs available within the 2 hour. Is it that hard to promise something realistic rather than underdeliver on an overpromise?
 
You have a great idea there. An end-to-end order progress dashboard. Progress bar, timestamp and which TMs are active with the order. With how understaffed our store is, we are late on lot of orders and do get inquiries from guest frequently about the status of the order.

Sounds good in theory, but it would drive fulfillment crazy. We HATE being asked if we have so and so's order and when it will be ready. "Dunno?!? When it is?" Even if we could give a time estimate, we have no way to garuntee it. We might end up having to go dig through a bunch of repacks in receiving or *horror* RFID scan the style sort area. Also, there's this little thing at my store where if a fulfillment TM knows that a particular guest is waiting for an order, guess which order will be put into hold last in that batch and guess how urgently the TM will get to it? I've seen TMs to a 10 minute bathroom break before putting that order in. We're petty that way.

This leads to my next point. Maybe it's better to expand fulfillment and have the department take responsibility from order picking to guest pick up instead of passing the baton to guest service. The fulfillment TMs stationed for pickups should be responsible for RTS, bagging orders when not busy with pickup, audits, cleaning the hold location, and whatever small tasks that can be done.

While I think you can make a case for most of that. (My fulfillment team does do RTS, audits and cleaning. Sometimes, we'll even help out with STS.) However, making fulfillment responsible for pickups is a no go. Fulfillment is extremely demanding physically and often mentally. It's not appropriate to make the same TMs also responsible for running out driveups, especially in extreme heat or cold. Also, dealing with guests isn't exactly in the wheelhouse for a lot of fulfillment TMs. Getting them to just say Hi to the occassianal guest or two is a gargantuan task. There would be a lot of turnover.
 
Idk where to put this...maybe the fulfillment thread? BUT... what I really, really wish GS (and DU/OPU team) had the ability to do is to go into the ePick app and actually SEE where a guest's order is in the queue and approximately how much time is remaining for the order to be stowed to location. I also really, really want the ability to CANCEL the order mid-process.

I cannot tell you how many people are just chilling in the DU spots, waiting for their order to be picked. When did they place the order? 20 minutes ago. I would love to be able to give them more than "oh, it can take up to 2 hours". Also, for the guests who DID place the order 2 hours prior, the ability to give them an approximate time when they call and wonder where it is and why it isn't ready yet. I can kinda see that info but only on batches that haven't been started.

OR the people who come in, expecting their order to be ready (again, most of these gave plenty of time) and it's not and want to pick it themselves but do not like the idea of being charged 2x. Because try as you may, they don't believe the pending charge is actually just pending and want it cancelled before they find it on their own.
You can do this. If they ask, just go over to ePick, go into pickup, then hit the down arrows to open up the names within the queue. Sure, it’s not like it’ll tell us exactly “hey it’ll take 21 more minutes for your order to be ready,” but it gives you an idea of where they’re at.

If you see 2 in progress carts, you can see the name of who is picking and ask if it’s in their cart. If it is, then you have an idea how long it’ll be. If it’s not, you can go through the drop down for Pickup 1, Pickup 2, Pickup 3, etc. until you find their name. Then at the very least you can let them know “there are 21 orders ahead of you with 295 items. It’ll probably take the whole 2 hours” or “you’re in the next batch with 5 other people and 19 items. It’ll probably take about 25-30 minutes.”
 
I looked it up in the epick app once and the grocery order I was looking for was in the red by about 45 minutes. The guest is standing in front of me. I paged the Closing TL and he said it would be done in about 30 minutes. The guest came back in 30 minutes and it still wasn't ready Once the order was red, the OPU team was told not to ignore them. The order wasn't completed till much later.
 
Two more requests to add:

1. How about the ability to extend pickup window for guests in the app? I’ve had many a guest call in a panic and for whatever reason don’t know how to extend the window. It would be good guest service if we could do it for them without having to write notes in hold area about keeping it out of RTS.

2. PLEASE!!!! Fix it so if a guest gives ZERO notice and has an ENORMOUS order, there is an extended wait time or a buffer or something because I’ve had about 6 of those in a row and just want to cry.
 
Did everyone see the Pickup app is changing once again? I think it starts next week?

Also...I've noticed that the timer continues even after the 4 digit code is entered at the car. Not a big deal probably but I live in an area where you have to agree with the bag count or change it so that additional screen adds time. Also if there were INFs in the order, that's another screen. So even though you are at the guest's car and input the 4 digits, the timer keeps running sometimes taking you from the under 2 minutes to over. I think the timer should stop immediately.
 
Did everyone see the Pickup app is changing once again? I think it starts next week?

Also...I've noticed that the timer continues even after the 4 digit code is entered at the car. Not a big deal probably but I live in an area where you have to agree with the bag count or change it so that additional screen adds time. Also if there were INFs in the order, that's another screen. So even though you are at the guest's car and input the 4 digits, the timer keeps running sometimes taking you from the under 2 minutes to over. I think the timer should stop immediately.
Do you know what’s changing by any chance? It should be in workbench or under communication in myday.
 
I’m not there today but it is under comm in MyDay…there were pics to illustrate new layout. Something about organizing orders by arrival times?
 
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