Archived The Low volume store blues.

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Ugh... Its that time of year again.
Don't get me wrong I do love my job, but there are times... let me tell you, there are times, when I just want to scream..This just happens to be one of those times.
I'm a backroom and instocks team lead in a low volume store and just so stressed at the moment and I don't feel i'm getting any back up. I have lazy SF-TL's dumping off there backstock from sales planners and endcaps in my backroom as soon as I walk out for the day.

On truck days I have two guys to backstock the truck and there both usually scheduled out at 8.45 despite RWT saying the backstock will not be completed until 3pm. But no one is allowed to stay late. I'm constantly under pressure to drive for results, why aren't your scores solid green, why aren't you following up with instocks, why aren't you doing the drastic count report, why is the backstock not done yet that tub will only take 5 minutes.

I finally gave in and went to see my STL after an all day meeting (Were about to start our P-Fresh remodel) and told her its just not physically possible to do the work that they want with the hours and the people there scheduling me, she basically just told me to suck it up.

What else grinds my gears nothing can ever be just decided we have to have a 20 minute comity about EVERYTHING, Who's supposed to do tune in Tuesday, who is going to pull the PTM's, then when they finally do decide it never actually happens anyway, If i could have a dime for every time i have heard an ETL say to me "don't worry i'll sort it out" to have it not sorted out I would be rich.

I know its February and its our hardest month pay role and hours wise, but there comes a time when you have to give in and say if we are going to succeed as a business we have to invest in the hours.

And honestly in all my years at Target I never remember it being this bad. If I don't die of a stress attack by the end of the year it will be a miracle.

/end rant
 
Gotta be honest with you... you sound just like my LOG-TL. We are a B-Volume but the pain is just as bad, if not worse because we're beating sales by over 15% for the week and they won't let us use the flex.
 
Gotta be honest with you... you sound just like my LOG-TL. We are a B-Volume but the pain is just as bad, if not worse because we're beating sales by over 15% for the week and they won't let us use the flex.

We are to Saturday, we beat sales by 10K and they will not let me use the flex time. Its frustrating to say the least.
 
Similar tune all over it seems. Today I saw ETLs pushing presentation sets. :\

Why do we have twenty people on the "not scheduled" list this week? I mean, I know a few are on vacation but.... go back to your offices and give us the hours! /rant
 
And why arent they using the flex hours? From what i heard they cant save them or roll them into next month. The store can either use those hrs or loses them.
 
Its gotten so bad, last Friday I had an all day meeting in preparation for P-Fresh remodel and because a few business partners turned up to give us there talk about what was happening our STL had bagels and like 4 or 5 different types of cream cheese, and I could not eat it. I was just sitting there thinking to myself the money they spent on all of this food I would have preferred them just paid 2 or 3 of my people to work for a day and probably still have change left over, and told the BP's to shove it and bring there own dang lunches for a change. lol
 
This is my day almost to a "t". Additionally, I'm tired of staying well into the afternoon to finish backstocking all truck product (because my ETL has told me I can't leave until it's done) and then being berated week after week for having to cut hours on my non-truck day or weekends. I tried cutting back to 30 hours because I have been suffering some awful pitting edema in this last trimester, but when it came time to leave there was such a guilt trip handed down that I found it better to hang around than suffer the wrath of my pissy exec. I really really feel for you my friend. We're all in this waterlogged boat together. This year has been awful. I pumped my engage and inspire dry trying to cheer my team on through Q4, I had no idea Q1 would end up so much worse.
 
And why arent they using the flex hours? From what i heard they cant save them or roll them into next month. The store can either use those hrs or loses them.

Well I was told by my ETL-HL that our STL told him that she did not want to use them in case at the end of the month we did not make sales and we would have to pay them back. So assuming we do make sales the rest of the week they will use them right at the end of the last week, which is too little to late IMO. How is it driving profitable sales when you have two days worth of truck push and pulls sitting in the line because there is no one to push them.. I really do not get the mentality.
 
This is my day almost to a "t". Additionally, I'm tired of staying well into the afternoon to finish backstocking all truck product (because my ETL has told me I can't leave until it's done) and then being berated week after week for having to cut hours on my non-truck day or weekends. I tried cutting back to 30 hours because I have been suffering some awful pitting edema in this last trimester, but when it came time to leave there was such a guilt trip handed down that I found it better to hang around than suffer the wrath of my pissy exec. I really really feel for you my friend. We're all in this waterlogged boat together. This year has been awful. I pumped my engage and inspire dry trying to cheer my team on through Q4, I had no idea Q1 would end up so much worse.

Honestly and I know I should not say it, but.. I just don't give a crap now. There used to be a time i'd stay till 3 or 4 o'clock and backstock the truck. Then as you say my ETL whined that I had to cut hours on the weekends, and it upset some of the lazy SF-TL's. So come 12.15 i'm outtie, not always but I try to be.
 
This is my day almost to a "t". Additionally, I'm tired of staying well into the afternoon to finish backstocking all truck product (because my ETL has told me I can't leave until it's done) and then being berated week after week for having to cut hours on my non-truck day or weekends. I tried cutting back to 30 hours because I have been suffering some awful pitting edema in this last trimester, but when it came time to leave there was such a guilt trip handed down that I found it better to hang around than suffer the wrath of my pissy exec. I really really feel for you my friend. We're all in this waterlogged boat together. This year has been awful. I pumped my engage and inspire dry trying to cheer my team on through Q4, I had no idea Q1 would end up so much worse.
This and...


Honestly and I know I should not say it, but.. I just don't give a crap now. There used to be a time i'd stay till 3 or 4 o'clock and backstock the truck. Then as you say my ETL whined that I had to cut hours on the weekends, and it upset some of the lazy SF-TL's. So come 12.15 i'm outtie, not always but I try to be.

This.

I was told in December that things would slow down and I would be able to do the "extra" stuff that TL's should be doing. I don't have a problem not being able to do that pointless crap, but don't hound me to complete my business walk in a week, when I was told that its a "two week working document". I don't have the time nor the team that will allow me the time to complete it. Luckily, my ETL's don't mind that I have to cut some days short, but I hate having to leave earlier than my team on Saturdays since I worked so much up to that point. I can't even remember the last time we had a truck that was less than 2000 pieces. And it sucks because 1800-1900 out of a 2000-2100 piece truck end up going to the floor, and the flow team just doesn't care anymore so we end up pushing carts and repacks past 10 or even 11 some days. This is why I'm trying to get in shape so I can find me a sugar momma to rescue me from the depths of Bullseye hell.
 
< ULV

I feel for you.

My Presentation TL is now also the Pricing TL as well as being a Senior TL, which means she gets pulled into LOD duties as well.
 
The thing that peeves me is that we were told all 4th quarter that we would be rewarded for giving up Thanksgiving and holidays and working long hours and doing a 23 hour Black Friday and working ourselves to the bone. Then January comes, we made a ****ty 4th quarter and lost a lot of sales and shot ourselves in the foot and we're cut to having no hours, no people to do any work, more stress than is believable for what we make, and we get our benefits cut to ****. Best. Company. Ever.
 
So what else are they supposed to do with it?
Follow Sales planner best practice and backstock it, They don't even own their PTM process, I could safely say that maybe 1 and that's being generous even knows how to pull the D-Code report, rather than all 3 of them sitting up in TSC for 3 hours every morning deciding when they are going to take there lunches.
 
Ugh... Its that time of year again.
Don't get me wrong I do love my job, but there are times... let me tell you, there are times, when I just want to scream..This just happens to be one of those times.
I'm a backroom and instocks team lead in a low volume store and just so stressed at the moment and I don't feel i'm getting any back up. I have lazy SF-TL's dumping off there backstock from sales planners and endcaps in my backroom as soon as I walk out for the day.

On truck days I have two guys to backstock the truck and there both usually scheduled out at 8.45 despite RWT saying the backstock will not be completed until 3pm. But no one is allowed to stay late. I'm constantly under pressure to drive for results, why aren't your scores solid green, why aren't you following up with instocks, why aren't you doing the drastic count report, why is the backstock not done yet that tub will only take 5 minutes.

I finally gave in and went to see my STL after an all day meeting (Were about to start our P-Fresh remodel) and told her its just not physically possible to do the work that they want with the hours and the people there scheduling me, she basically just told me to suck it up.

What else grinds my gears nothing can ever be just decided we have to have a 20 minute comity about EVERYTHING, Who's supposed to do tune in Tuesday, who is going to pull the PTM's, then when they finally do decide it never actually happens anyway, If i could have a dime for every time i have heard an ETL say to me "don't worry i'll sort it out" to have it not sorted out I would be rich.

I know its February and its our hardest month pay role and hours wise, but there comes a time when you have to give in and say if we are going to succeed as a business we have to invest in the hours.

And honestly in all my years at Target I never remember it being this bad. If I don't die of a stress attack by the end of the year it will be a miracle.

/end rant


This is exactly why I stepped down last year. I was on Zoloft, Temazepam & Lorazepam for months after my STL had a screaming tantrum in his office that could be heard on the salesfloor by other team members. The workload at my B store was ridiculous in 2010 because of that %$#@ 13.2 summer software download. I tried to be proactive and partner with my ETL & STL BEFORE my backroom blew up, but they didn't want to hear it & gave me no solutions other than "have you fired anyone?"

I would walk into 20-30 tubs of backstock & have to process a 2400 piece truck every night. My store expected the dayside backroom team to push all CAFs so I had no backroom coverage after I left. Anything that came back after the morning team left was there waiting for me the next day. Crazy.

I get a kick how they want you to be a leader & find solutions when you have no control over your payroll (especially after you leave for the day), no control over the amount of freight on the trucks, no control over the amount of backstock you get back from salesplanners or reset planograms. Then when you ask for help from your executive staff, they don't want to help you (probably because they don't know what to do either). But they sure find ways to hold you accountable when things go wrong.

All I can say is best wishes in your job search.
 
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This is exactly why I stepped down last year. I was on a Zoloft, Temazepam & Lorazepam for months after my STL had a screaming tantrum in his office that could be heard on the salesfloor by other team members. The workload at my B store was ridiculous in 2010 because of that %$#@ 13.2 summer software download. I tried to be proactive and partner with my ETL & STL BEFORE my backroom blew up, but they didn't want to hear it & gave me no solutions other than "have you fired anyone?"

I get a kick how they want you to be a leader & find solutions when you have no control over your payroll, no control over the amount of freight on the trucks, no control over the amount of backstock you get back from salesplanners or reset planograms. Then when you ask for help from your executive staff, they don't want to help you (probably because they don't know what to do either). But they sure find ways to hold you accountable when things go wrong.

All I can say is best wishes in your job search.

Yeah If I hear "you are the manager of your business" one more time... How exactly are we supposed to manage our business if were not allowed to manage our business.

Then when you ask for help from your executive staff, they don't want to help you (probably because they don't know what to do either)
And this, how is an ETL that is fresh out of college with no work history supposed to know what to do, when the experienced team lead who probably knows more than they will ever know about managing their business, and is being held back from performing.

The part that really killed me yesterday, and I know I shouldn't laugh, we are already incredibly short staffed in the backroom, I am 1 third of my backroom team and half of my instocks team. So yesterday 1 of my backroom team members her mother died over the weekend, poor old girl so she is obviously out all week. And we were supposed to have two new people start yesterday 1 for flow 1 for backstock. Well my TL-Flow and I walked in yesterday reading the notes at the TSC, her Flow tm had quit (found a better job) and my new backroom early morning called off for the day (On her first day)... someone please just shoot me now.
 
Yeah If I hear "you are the manager of your business" one more time... How exactly are we supposed to manage our business if were not allowed to manage our business.


And this, how is an ETL that is fresh out of college with no work history supposed to know what to do, when the experienced team lead who probably knows more than they will ever know about managing their business, and is being held back from performing.

The part that really killed me yesterday, and I know I shouldn't laugh, we are already incredibly short staffed in the backroom, I am 1 third of my backroom team and half of my instocks team. So yesterday 1 of my backroom team members her mother died over the weekend, poor old girl so she is obviously out all week. And we were supposed to have two new people start yesterday 1 for flow 1 for backstock. Well my TL-Flow and I walked in yesterday reading the notes at the TSC, her Flow tm had quit (found a better job) and my new backroom early morning called off for the day (On her first day)... someone please just shoot me now.

As I told my replacement (LOG-TL) at my store: "Just take a sedative and wash it down with some alcohol!"
 
Our store isnt too bad from a logistics point. Not sure how you guys that are higher volume have the same staff we do. We are ULV and usually have at least 4 people working backroom each day. I think 3 typically in the morning and one closer.

Also not sure what these ETLs of other stores on here are doing. I mean seriously from what I read it sounds like all of everyones ETLS just sit in TSC all day and dont touch a thing on the floor. WTF do they do then haha. MY store is ULV and maybe thats why, but my ETLS are always out on the floor, they answer callboxes, backup, zoning, and lately have been helping keep seasonal nice and labeled and flexed correctly oh and also doing some salesplanners. I know how lucky I truly am with having the leadership team I do after reading alot of posts on here.
 
Follow Sales planner best practice and backstock it, They don't even own their PTM process, I could safely say that maybe 1 and that's being generous even knows how to pull the D-Code report, rather than all 3 of them sitting up in TSC for 3 hours every morning deciding when they are going to take there lunches.

You might want to refresh yourself on best practices. It seems you are confused on who is responsible for what. Here's a hint for you though, YOU and YOUR team are highly involved in backstocking and PTM. If you have any questions or need clarification then please don't hesitate to ask.
 
You might want to refresh yourself on best practices. It seems you are confused on who is responsible for what. Here's a hint for you though, YOU and YOUR team are highly involved in backstocking and PTM. If you have any questions or need clarification then please don't hesitate to ask.

I did actually refresh myself on setting sales planners best practice just 3 days ago, and also the updated PTM, Instocks Best practice (I make it a point to check these regular being as Target likes to change so often). Its the salesfloor team leads responsibility to fill home locations then backstock any remain product from said sales planners.
As for being involved in the PTM process of course instocks is involved in setting the new MPG aisles on a Monday (I was instocks for 2 years before taking over as BR/IS-TL position) and flexing over product when asked to replace item. However if you read the new PTM best practice it clearly states which role each person is supposed to take Instocks>SF-TL/FLow>SF-TL>pricing. In fact I just got done on Monday in our TL meeting going over all the best practices with everyone so that they know their role and what is expected of them.

Maybe it is yourself that needs the refresher, as you say if you have any questions or need clarification then please don't hesitate to ask, I'll even print out the best practices and quote them for you if you'd like.
 
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I did actually refresh myself on setting sales planners best practice just 3 days ago, and also the updated PTM, Instocks Best practice (I make it a point to check these regular being as Target likes to change so often). Its the salesfloor team leads responsibility to fill home locations then backstock any remain product from said sales planners.
As for being involved in the PTM process of course instocks is involved in setting the new MPG aisles on a Monday (I was instocks for 2 years before taking over as BR/IS-TL position) and flexing over product when asked to replace item. However if you read the new PTM best practice it clearly states which role each person is supposed to take Instocks>SF-TL/FLow>SF-TL>pricing. In fact I just got done on Monday in our TL meeting going over all the best practices with everyone so that they know their role and what is expected of them.

Maybe it is yourself that needs the refresher, as you say if you have any questions or need clarification then please don't hesitate to ask, I'll even print out the best practices and quote them for you if you'd like.

I have read the updated guides. So since you have read them please explain why you said they don't OWN the PTM process when you clearly mention several other teams involved also. It is not just for them and that was one of my gripes because you also mentioned the D-Code report and that, to me, was insinuating that they should take 100% ownership which is not the case. Oh and backstocking the backstock is the dayside backrooms responsibility, just like pulling the POG and PTM pulls for the sales floor. If you worked at my store you would backstock it and you would like it.
 
I have read the updated guides. So since you have read them please explain why you said they don't OWN the PTM process when you clearly mention several other teams involved also. It is not just for them and that was one of my gripes because you also mentioned the D-Code report and that, to me, was insinuating that they should take 100% ownership which is not the case. Oh and backstocking the backstock is the dayside backrooms responsibility, just like pulling the POG and PTM pulls for the sales floor. If you worked at my store you would backstock it and you would like it.

Because in the new PTM bestpractice it states that the Salesfloor team leads are to OWN their area's, they (The salesfloor teamleads) are to review the MPG report weekly on Mondays and pull there product from the backroom using the backroom detail report. Yes other teams are involved in the PTM process but ultimately it is there responsibility to ensure that general upkeep is maintained. I'm not quite sure where you got that just because I said that they don't know how to pull the detail report (Which according to bestpractice they should be using weekly anyway) was in anyway suggesting that they should take 100% ownership, so please elaborate on how you came to this conclusion.

No actually backstocking sales planner merch is the SF-TL responsibility as I mention I'll be more than willing to quote bestpractice if you would like. well I don't work at your store, but I can tell you this much if you worked at my store and tried dumping of your backstock in my backroom, i'd shove it up your a$$, were all grown ups, I don't clean up after my kids, so I'm defiantly not cleaning up after you. The trouble with a lot of the team leads at my store and other teams specifically plano is that they have an unjustified sense of self superiority, they feel there too good to do menial tasks such as backstock, well I hate to break it to them, that ish isn't gonna fly in my backroom
 
I guess the new process hasn't hit all stores yet. My store's backroom is still responsible for pulling PTMs & backstocking everything. My STL is "old school" and doesn't like change. So he is probably dragging his feet until the DTL finds out.

To be honest, even though I am no longer the TL, I wouldn't want my salesfloor team back there backstocking or using subtract to pull discontinued product, especially if I am held accountable for location accuracy. I wonder how many SFTLs actually backstock and/or pull the stuff correctly and accurately. I would worry that they would purposely backstock or pull the wrong amounts because they are pissed that they have to do it.
 
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