I worked briefly at a store that has Self checkout. They cut cashier hours by about 30+ hours, but the self checkout lanes move slower than a normal check lane. Stupid guests won't bag items correctly, try and 'slide' items, don't know where to insert money or coupons, etc... It's 'self assisted' checkout at best. And a TM has to oversee this mess so where you may have had 3-4 checklanes open, now you have 2 and self checkout.
Archived What are the worst and best ideas in the last 5 years at Target?
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I worked briefly at a store that has Self checkout. They cut cashier hours by about 30+ hours, but the self checkout lanes move slower than a normal check lane. Stupid guests won't bag items correctly, try and 'slide' items, don't know where to insert money or coupons, etc... It's 'self assisted' checkout at best. And a TM has to oversee this mess so where you may have had 3-4 checklanes open, now you have 2 and self checkout.
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Well, first and foremost, technology.....they stuck with PDX WAAAYYYY too long, then tried to develop their own system (which was an utter failure and waste of money), and finally upgraded to EPS but were too cheap to actually purchase the licenses to allow us to utilize it to its full capabilities. Text messaging has been "glitchy" from day 1, as have the "robo-calls." Second, inventory control.....they decided to enter into a contract with other suppliers to deliver some of the medications. The issue was that those items were being shipped via FedEx overnight and there were no controls in place to limit the number of cartons being shipped. Some days, we would get multiple boxes with 1-2 items in them that could EASILY have been combined and shipped together. I'd like to know how much they lost on shipping costs alone. Plus, with the switch to EPS, they decided to implement "preferred generics," which at times, were out of stock. Because of how they were coded in the system, we couldn't order different manufacturers, unless we drop shipped them at an additional cost. Sometimes, we can get the preferred generic changed, sometimes we can't. Finally, ineffective micromanagement. In pharmacy practice, micromanagement is necessary to an extent. However, they were focusing on the wrong things.....we had a number of "visits" from upper management where they were strictly looking at superficial things, like were our supplies being stored according to best practice? Were we taking the rings off our RTS bottles? Was everything on our counter "brand"? Not a single suggestion on how we could better manage workflow or increase sales, but you can be sure they had recommendations on a better font size for the labels on our supply bins or told us to rearrange our supply shelves (because our rings/drams weren't in the correct order-we had the ones we used most often on the end of the shelf that was most easily accessible, they were supposed to be in color/size order, making the most used the least accessible).....like those really have any effect on how productive/profitable we could be
And, of course, the biggest reason Target pharmacies are the least profitable is that they actually pay us more than other pharmacies. Where I live, our techs START at what a tech at "the big 3" MIGHT make after 7-10 years.
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LogisticsFox
Perishables Prince
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We've sold two $500 bikes in the last 5 years and the one you're probably thinking about was the Neiman Marcus (from the collection that's been referenced several times in this thread) bike
The other was from the Missoni collection and it sold about as well as the NM one..
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Liberty of London (2010) also had a $500 floral bike. I think we actually sold ours.
LogisticsFox
Perishables Prince
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Sounds like that was just barely before my time (or we didn't get a bike). My first store was tiny so either or is possible ;P
signingminion
WAVing in the air like I just don't care
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We sold all those bikes no problem. Silly summer tourists eat up "cute" bikes to ride to and from the beach...
mrknownothing
purveyor of things
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The other was from the Missoni collection and it sold about as well as the NM one..
I have lost my ability to even.
LogisticsFox
Perishables Prince
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That's fortunate, I don't think the zigzags are congruent
paidtosmile
Former Team Leader
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Worst: The payroll and headcount cuts. Literally anything involving the redcard. "Being bold."
Best: Cartwheel, maybe?
Best: Cartwheel, maybe?
paidtosmile
Former Team Leader
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Oh it definitely is. Literally every card swipe, discount scan, anything other than cash is tracked and used for market research. But cartwheel saved me almost $10 on my groceries last week, so by all means they can continue to track the various brands of frozen vegetables and chicken breast that i buy lol.
signingminion
WAVing in the air like I just don't care
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Target tracks everything else I do in the store, so thats fine.
I will definitely continue to use their discounts so long as they let me.- Joined
- Jun 25, 2011
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.............. please tell us how you sold so many!!?!?!?!?!?!
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We had sold 2 of those bikes.
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The Lilly thing has beaten those events. We still have hammock stands
Best:
My Device: It's quirky and can be annoying but It's easier to use than pda/lpda.
Flex Fill: Seems to work pretty well in my store.
PFresh; (this was implemented before my time) but has been huge success in my store.
Worst:
Target Ticket: A complete waste time effort and money
Oh Canada! : Could have been so much better if they weren't so aggressive with the expansion (imo)
EE: My opinion on this is scewed for two reasons: 1) I am a former electronics team member 2) After a six week delay brought to you by the town my store is in, we're just going through the remodel now. 3) I am completely and totally against the Target Mobile take over. think one of the strainghts we had was being non commissioned sales people. We could offer honest advice and sell guests what they wanted/needed. Now they're going to be sold whatever makes the Target mobile rep the most money. I think it's going to be a big turn off. Red Cards? as I understand Target Mobile reps. have no red card goal. It doesn't make them any money, so why bother. Red Card production out of Electronics has dropped dramatically in my store.
Neutral:
Ship to store: Launching soon.
self check lanes: I've seen issues in other stores where you always have to call someone over because it doesn't work. It probably means fewer cashier hours, which will lead to more backup. Depending on how far they go with self checkout, it they could see the need to cut hours or positions for GSA/GSTL.
It's interesting that I have read that Electronics Team Members were cross trained for Mobile. The only thing we are allowed to do in my store is prepaid. We are not allowed to touch contract phones in any way, shape or form. Target Mobile has their own lockup and Electronics tms don't have keys. In fact, the only ones that I know that have keys for the cellphone lockup are AP.
My Device: It's quirky and can be annoying but It's easier to use than pda/lpda.
Flex Fill: Seems to work pretty well in my store.
PFresh; (this was implemented before my time) but has been huge success in my store.
Worst:
Target Ticket: A complete waste time effort and money
Oh Canada! : Could have been so much better if they weren't so aggressive with the expansion (imo)
EE: My opinion on this is scewed for two reasons: 1) I am a former electronics team member 2) After a six week delay brought to you by the town my store is in, we're just going through the remodel now. 3) I am completely and totally against the Target Mobile take over. think one of the strainghts we had was being non commissioned sales people. We could offer honest advice and sell guests what they wanted/needed. Now they're going to be sold whatever makes the Target mobile rep the most money. I think it's going to be a big turn off. Red Cards? as I understand Target Mobile reps. have no red card goal. It doesn't make them any money, so why bother. Red Card production out of Electronics has dropped dramatically in my store.
Neutral:
Ship to store: Launching soon.
self check lanes: I've seen issues in other stores where you always have to call someone over because it doesn't work. It probably means fewer cashier hours, which will lead to more backup. Depending on how far they go with self checkout, it they could see the need to cut hours or positions for GSA/GSTL.
It's interesting that I have read that Electronics Team Members were cross trained for Mobile. The only thing we are allowed to do in my store is prepaid. We are not allowed to touch contract phones in any way, shape or form. Target Mobile has their own lockup and Electronics tms don't have keys. In fact, the only ones that I know that have keys for the cellphone lockup are AP.
P
PassinTime
Guest
Yes, your hours get cut. However, most guests refuse to use them because it's too much like Walmart. Remember, we are Target...the store one shops at when one is too good for Walmart. So you still have long lines while the self checks have no lines.
The Lilly thing has beaten those events. We still have hammock stands
I know we have a box of dishes in the backroom. It's active when checked with a MyDevice.
SFSFun
Ship from Store: Don't call it Ship To Store!!
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If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone call it "ship to store" I could probably take early retirement...
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I'd say the worst oversight with Pfresh is them building it in the complete opposite end of the backroom freezers and coolers in my store. So much wasted time every day going back and forth. I envy stores with backrooms attached an dairy coolers you can load from the back.
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