Archived What is harder receiving or signing?

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Backroom88

Backroom88

Receiving_genius
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Feb 5, 2015
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I was wondering what was harder receiving or signing. I was asking because both positions were open at my store. I applied for receiving and I got it. I went for it because I've been in the backroom and I thought it was a much easier transition. I know they got rid of the specialist positions but when you apply is this a specialist on there. So yes it does come with a pay increase. I start training in a couple weeks. What do you guys prefer signing or receiving?
 
Some stores have receiving saturdays but not mine! Im just happy that i got it!
 
Im not guaranteed 40 hours but im going to push for it. Im going to ask if i can come early to pull and some days stay late for MIR's.
 
Backroom88 said:
Im not guaranteed 40 hours but im going to push for it. Im going to ask if i can come early to pull and some days stay late for MIR's.
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If your store has plenty of hours to go around, you shouldn't have any problem getting them to schedule you for 40 hours.

Our receiving hours got cut to 8a-noon this year, but the receiver gets his hours doing MIRs, sweeps, helping Backroom/Flow/Market.
 
missionimpossible said:
Our receiver works backroom/flow first 2 hours m-f to get 40.
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To me signing seems far more difficult. Hanging the signs. Building the shippers. Doing planogram things. But im buyist because i been in the backroom so i think receiving its an easier transition from the back and signing is easier from pog.
 
Harder is a matter of perspective.
With receiving you have a limited number of bosses, a set number of duties with a set schedule, and a fairly consistent year.

Signing Ninjas have bosses all over the store.
Their job flow is never consistent.
They are rarely given the hours they need to accomplish the work assigned and their year waxes and wains like crazy.

I'd still pick Signing just because I got to be all over the store and I love a challenge.
 
missionimpossible said:
The chem program, MIRS, Sweeps, crc, salvage, mail, etc.. To me it is a lot more work. I have experience with both just my opinion. As always stated on here though ASANTS. Depending on leadership I'm sure receiving can be easier.
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This might be a dumb question but what does ASANTS mean?
 
Yeah, I would say signing. You work at your own pace (as long as it's productive) and has more variety than receiving. But the downside, as Commie said, is that you always have 9 different people up your ass about ordering something , missing signs, fixtures, etc. And the schedule, at least at my store, is fairly consistent, but you do work every other weekend. Starting with Back to School, you're running on all cylinders until Christmas is set.

Recieving isn't too bad. You don't work weekends often, you stay in one place and your workload is often the same thing each day. But I wouldn't want to be stuck in the back room all day. It really depends on your work style, but I would take signing over receiving.
 
It really depends on the processes in your store and how much support you would get in either position. I would venture to say that receiving is harder because you have to know a lot of stuff and the job has a lot of rigid deadlines. I would say signing is more stressful because of your coverage and how many people you have to please. Just like signing, a good receiver is one that owns their dock and runs the store from it. If I come in one morning and find a jug of milk on my desk, I go upto guest service and complain until it stops happening. You're also the biggest point of contact in the store (You'll probably have to relay info between your CTL and vendors and a lot of singing, fixtures and HQ communications comes in DTS.

At this point, the only reason I would choose signing over receiving is because I've already been receiving and I think signing would be really neat to learn. Receiving will always be my first choice.
 
Receiving is harder because it's so radically different from anything else in the store and there will be only 1 or 2 persons in the building that can help you out. It is its own beast with a million little things to keep track of and do every day...and if you don't do them....tons of loss and you can screw up processes with nearly every work center in the store. They're not paid nearly enough. They're the highest paid team member in the store(Receiving and PA are the top 2 positions)...but it's still team member pay with team member caps. The schedule is great...but the pay/stress is not.

Signing? You're basically a very well trained and trusted plano team member. Meh.
 
I start training in a couple weeks. Looking foward to it! Awesome feedback!
 
I have been doing receiving a few months now and it is pretty easy, but I already knew 90% of it when I started. Both positions will involve people trying to dump stuff in your area (fixture room for signing and dock area for receiving), this can be frustrating at times so you need patience. For receiving you also need to be able to deal with vendors and be able to say "no" to them when needed because they will try to bring in as much product as they think they can get away with.
 
I feel for our Receiver. I heard a story that someone was hired by Target to dig through a trash truck that pulled away from a Target... and it was filled with numerous ESIM violations. Management has cracked down on who is allowed to dump anything into the compactor and they are required to dig through every bag to make sure all ESIM codes are followed. They are hardest on the Receiver, blaming him/her for all of it. I wouldn't pick that position solely for ESIM alone.
 
ESIM is not that bad, you are really just making sure things are bagged right and sorted into the bins correctly, it tells your what category something is when you defect it out so its kind of hard to mess up. I don't see how they could blame the receiver for putting that stuff in the compactor unless the receiver was the one ignoring ESIM guidelines and tossing stuff in the compactor. Really it is whoever is putting the stuff in the compactors responsibility to make sure only approved trash is going in it, the receiver owns ESIM but if they don't bring it to you and toss it instead there is nothing you can do about it.
 
I have been a Receiver for MANY many years and a Reverse Logistics Processor back when it was still a specialist position. When both areas combined into one position it was a difficult transition and just as soon as I got my priorities in order they stripped me of my job title and added more poop to my job. However that is one thing you can be sure of is that some processes will change and then you're back to square one on how you can add this 'new' thing to your other duties. LOL It's like a whirlwind. Like a calm before the storm. o_O

As for signing, I haven't had that position so I can't really say if it's harder or not. I know that when our poor signing ninja gets 4 pallets of signing, has to break it down and sort it all out I am amazed! When I go over to their area to drop off fixtures and look at all the stuff over there to me it's overwhelming. Our signing ninja keeps their area nice and clean, very organized and knows where everything is. They ask me to drop off stuff to them in a certain area so as not to mix things up and I can respect that.

Receiving is all about deadlines, priorities, vendor control and keeping things in good order. You are in charge of a small area of the store that is very high dollar coming in (DSD shipments, vendor product) and going out (CRC, MIR's, M&M return scans). You will nearly deal with every TL and ETL in the building and it is highly suggested that you keep very good communication with all of them especially your CTL, PA or whoever is running the market area.

Don't let people step on you like @LogisticsFox said, "If I come in one morning and find a jug of milk on my desk, I go up to guest service and complain until it stops happening." because unfortunately some TM's like to push buttons like a child and see how far they can go. Also @Backroom22 made a good point about vendors, 'be able to say "no"'. No is not a nice word sometimes BUT it will keep you from becoming a warehouse for soda and crackers!

I like my position, not every day is the same and some days are just more challenging than others.
 
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