Archived Question re: Market

[zio paperone]

Hi all,

I was just wondering about market best practices. Since I'm from Target Canada things might be different, but I just wanna get everyone's opinion on this.

I've been having trouble in determining my role as Market/consumables TM. When we opened (to guests) we did not have an ETL Hardlines and only 1 TL Hardlines which was taking over for ETL until we hired someone. During this time I was writing dairy orders, dealing/calling/emailing(w/reverse log's email since I don't have my own) vendors, doing walks/audits with HQ and calling TMs in if I needed help (Only had 2 market TMs, now a 3rd for a couple hrs) on top of pushing/backstocking/assisting guests. All the while working ~20-25hrs/week. I brought my concerns over my role during a review with my STL and ETLHR and was told by both that this is all covered under Best Practice (according to my job description sheet given when hired[sales floor TM]) and my performance has been subpar. I then went to HRBP. For awhile, my TL hardlines and the new ETL hardlines took over those responsibilities (poorly) but have since fallen back on me after several talks with my STL. It seems the only change is now I get more recognition in huddles and more 4hr shifts (but still having to do all that^). Is all this covered under best practice for TMs?

Sorry, I wasn't sure if to post this in "I'm Lost" or in "Target, eh?" since I work for Target Canada (there doesn't seem to be much action in Target, eh).

 

[looseseal]

I just threw away my Perishables Assistant core roles paper last week as part of my Target Cleanse, or else I'd type them up for you here. But they're essentially the same as they are for a regular sales floor team member (take care of guests, etc), with some food safety thrown in. Could you maybe narrow it down more? Like is there something specific you want to know about?

 

[zio paperone]

I just threw away my Perishables Assistant core roles paper last week as part of my Target Cleanse, or else I'd type them up for you here. But they're essentially the same as they are for a regular sales floor team member (take care of guests, etc), with some food safety thrown in. Could you maybe narrow it down more? Like is there something specific you want to know about?

I was just wondering if writing dairy order, calling/emailing vendors, calling in team and doing walks/audits with HQ is classified as Market duties for a TM as per best practice like my STL/ETLHR says.

 

[looseseal]

No, none of those are best practices for a PA, and are definitely things your CTL and/or LOD should be handling. It's not that those are things that PAs can't/aren't allowed to do, they're just the responsibility of your higher ups first. It's one thing to take care of a vendor when your CTL is off (which I've done many times), but no, these tasks should not be delegated to you. Besides, PAs already have enough to do as it is!

I've also never heard of a PA having to write a dairy order either. Maybe some stores work a little differently, but I think that's something your milk vendor should be doing; ours did.

Is your CTL still in place at your store?

 

[zio paperone]

No, none of those are best practices for a PA, and are definitely things your CTL and/or LOD should be handling. It's not that those are things that PAs can't/aren't allowed to do, they're just the responsibility of your higher ups first

According to my ETLHR and STL they are the responsibility of TMs. Is there anything on TGT Source that proves it? I've already contacted my HRBP regarding this issue, but nothing was really done except I get more recognition in huddles by the STL. My STL pointed to my Target Canada Job Description Page for Sales Floor TM under "principal duties and responsibilities" -> "business" -> "execute best practices to drive productivity" to show its my responsibility.

I've also never heard of a PA having to write a dairy order either. Maybe some stores work a little differently, but I think that's something your milk vendor should be doing; ours did. Is your CTL still in place at your store?

As far as I know, milk vendors in Canada, or at least my district, do not write the order. Our store has never had a CTL (I was hired pre-opening). Hardlines TL takes the place of CTL in our store. Which is weird since around half the store's sales comes from market (keep in mind market in Canada is just dry,freezer and cooler+dairy)

 

[sigma7]

Sounds like Target Canada has a different set up as far as processes go than US stores do. Most core roles have a clause that says something to the effect of "accomplish other tasks as needed to support business needs." Sounds like what you're doing may fall under that.

 

[salesfloor10]

No, none of those are best practices for a PA, and are definitely things your CTL and/or LOD should be handling. It's not that those are things that PAs can't/aren't allowed to do, they're just the responsibility of your higher ups first. It's one thing to take care of a vendor when your CTL is off (which I've done many times), but no, these tasks should not be delegated to you. Besides, PAs already have enough to do as it is!

I've also never heard of a PA having to write a dairy order either. Maybe some stores work a little differently, but I think that's something your milk vendor should be doing; ours did.

Is your CTL still in place at your store?

My PAs write the milk order, and I've never seen my milk vendor do anything but bring the pallet in and take the empty crates out. (I recently took over P-fresh in addition to HL, and I couldn't do all the ordering without help). I believe I read on Workbench that it is best to delegate all ordering to one Market PA/TM, but having back-ups trained is necessary as well.

To the OP: I don't really know how Target Canada operates (and what the core roles may call for), but that seems like a huge amount of work to do in 20-25 hrs a week. I'm sorry your store's leadership is pushing for more and more when you're not getting the support to get everything done. I hope that since you've been vocal with them (and in a professional way) they'll see your need for more help. (I understand that Canada stores aren't P-fresh, correct?) There's definitely a lot of work to put into ensuring food safety is the number one priority, regardless of P-fresh or not.
Good luck! I hope it all gets better soon.

 

[zio paperone]

To the OP: I don't really know how Target Canada operates (and what the core roles may call for), but that seems like a huge amount of work to do in 20-25 hrs a week. I'm sorry your store's leadership is pushing for more and more when you're not getting the support to get everything done. I hope that since you've been vocal with them (and in a professional way) they'll see your need for more help. (I understand that Canada stores aren't P-fresh, correct?) There's definitely a lot of work to put into ensuring food safety is the number one priority, regardless of P-fresh or not.
Good luck! I hope it all gets better soon.

Regarding dairy order, my TL and ETL have yet to learn how to order correctly (when they took over ordering, we were disposing up to 2 pallets of milk every 5 days while other times they would forget to submit 2 orders in a row). Also, I now write the dairy order for our Starbucks. Unfortunately, it has not improved much. I have 1 other TM working 20-25 hrs (mainly on my days off) with one other TM working only truck days. I have the ability to call in more team to work (only flow TMs since they have an excess of available hours and hardlines/market has too many hours owing) however, when I call them into work the TLs/ETLs often take them away to work on other projects (mainly presentation) so I am usually stuck without team (I can't argue with them, I'm not a TL). I haven't seen my TL since early February (he works closing, I work opening) and I only see my ETL once a week, so I am never able to get anyone to back me up. As for food safety, we haven't done a freshness Wednesday for over a month and when we do most of the teams leaves after completing 5 out of 30 aisles (baby food has not been checked since December) Most of the time dry stock and baby is pushed by flow and they do not rotate/fifo. I partnered with ETL logistics (since I never see my TL/ETL) regarding issue and he shrugged, saying "what can we do?" I took out 4 shopping carts full of expired product from our cooler WACOs a couple days ago. We also have a bad problem with receiving expired products from DC/vendors. I've written vendor score cards and help tickets but so far nothing has changed. All this considering, half of our store's sales come from market (Starbucks/softlines fight for number 2)

Yes, you are correct. Canada does not have P-fresh yet.

 

[salesfloor10]

Wow that's interesting most of your sales come from market, seconded by Starbucks! My store's sales (I think) come from Hardlines (especially HBA/OTC medicines, as well as home and seasonal goods).

So what kind of selection do you have for fresh foods? (Milk, yogurt, produce, meat, bakery?)

As for Freshness huddles, I would suggest picking an aisle or two every week that is particularly bad. Some good ones to start on are salad dressing/mayo, trail mix/simply balanced and archer farms chips, packaged dinners like hamburger helper and Mac n cheese, and cereal are good places to find a lot of out of dates.
I would try to have the freshness Wednesday huddles in the actual fresh food area as little as possible because those areas should be getting pretty consistent attention while working out your perishable product loads and while zoning/culling.
I would suggest using Suspect Date Audit (and the short date audit part) to help keep products at risk of going out of date off the floor (hopefully you have this in Canada!) (it prompts the team member to go check backroom and sales floor locations for product that is expired and pull it off the shelves).

As for Starbucks, ask them if there is an average amount of milk they go through on a weekday and on a weekend day and add that into what you need to order.

I'm sure there's more I could add, but I can't think of anything right now.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Don't forget the vinegar for bad dates.

 

[mrknownothing]

So what kind of selection do you have for fresh foods? (Milk, yogurt, produce, meat, bakery?)

When I was hired, my store was "Pre-Fresh" (literally a month before the remodel started). Our perishables were pretty much only dairy and frozen. We didn't have produce and fresh meat until after the P-Fresh remodel.