MEGATHREAD 2018-2019 Store Modernization Megathread

[OPINION] How do you feel about these changes?

  • I like them.

  • I dislike them.

Results are only viewable after voting.
Little Mac said:
The best part about this is that shifting hours instead of adding them has directly hurt fullfillment. They cant ship what they cant find, we cancel orders all the time because the sales floor is a mess and the item can not be found. Same could be said due to the increased theft in various sections of the store that lack proper coverage.

You cant just keep taking from the salesfloor/backroom in order to fund your online sales. It ends up hurting how reliable your online order system is while also making your core consumers who are the foundation of the company deal with a messy subpar shopping environment.

You dont want to alienate your core consumer base, for one you just recently began trying to capture in online shopping. If you dont capture that new pool of consumers and sustain that relationship, you just burned ties with many of your previous shoppers and gained nothing in return.

Thats a quick road to failure.
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SFS just seems like a very short-sighted strategy for being competitive in online sales. Orders can be fulfilled cheaper and faster by shipping them from a store that has "extra" of the items ordered. But, there's a hard limit of how much extra stock stores can have. If your orders increase more than that limit, then you either have to ship from a different store, meaning you don't get it done faster or cheaper, or you have to cannibalize your sales floor. This increases your need to replenish the stock at the store level quickly so that shoppers aren't alienated. However, there are also limits to how fast you can replenish your stores because the stores and the distribution centers have limits there too. The more successful you are capturing online sales using SFS, the more likely it is that your entire system breaks down because you've stressed your stores beyond their capacities.

You can only go so far with online sales when you are fulfilling them from brick and mortar stores designed for physically present shoppers. It's not a strategy for long term growth. Modernization can't change that. At best, it can increase your capacity somewhat. Although there are reasons to doubt that it will do that at all. Contrast SFS with Amazon who if they need to increase capacity to fulfill online orders, they just need to build more warehouses.
 
Little Mac said:
The best part about this is that shifting hours instead of adding them has directly hurt fullfillment. They cant ship what they cant find, we cancel orders all the time because the sales floor is a mess and the item can not be found....
Thats a quick road to failure.
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You “cancel” orders when you can’t find an item, or do you INF them?

You could get in big trouble for that. Canceling is only for items you do find but can’t ship due to it being broken, missing parts, a back room miss-pick, or it’s part of a recall (like the RX Bars a couple months ago)
 
First week of modernization and I gotta say, it seems to be going pretty well for us. Backroom is looking better, but receiving could push there stuff out bit faster. Not much has changed for plano yet except we are now responsible for backstocking our own stuff. No one has told me of any changes to signing routine so far, but I feel the responsibility of backstocking plano work is going to be mostly on me as signing tm. We'll see...
 
Been following this thread with interest as a "global" TM who knows "everything" in the store, and works part-time without needing benefits. I have confided in a few trusted co-workers about how I might land in the post-modernized world.

I've enjoyed being a GSA, but that's going away. I'm told from others in-the-know that our store will be hiring another GSTL to have continuous leadership coverage when the store is open. Then again, we've had trouble with coverage in the past, including seasonal surges, turnover, illness, vacation and desired days off, even with 3 or 4 full-time GSA's with open availability. This was why another part-timer and I were able to pitch for ourselves to be given the role, also.

I've enjoyed building and selling bikes, but shelf space and bike sales have declined in recent years. I have gone from at least a shift a week in that role to once or twice a month. Backing up at other stores, and training builders at other stores, helped supplement that, but there appears to be less payroll for that short of a rare emergency. One trusted ETL mentor of mine who has called on me for assembly and training backup from several stores she had rotated to, has finally retired (good for her).

I've enjoyed working in Starbucks (originally trained as a 4Q backup, which I wanted to add to my skill set to strengthen my case to be a GSA) in moderation, but don't want to work there all the time due to the high workload and time pressures.

Hardline sales floor and electronics have been good to me in the past. Electronics needs someone more up-to-speed than me on current tech and games (not just computer accessories, radios, TV's, and music), to stock/set dayside, and sell protection plans. In general hardlines, I've set plano before, but wonder how setting sales planners, pulling from the stockroom, working freight, zoning, backing up at the lanes, and giving great guest service all at the same time in short shifts will work out.

The answer I get is from multiple people is that I am trained in so many departments, there will certainly be "something" for me in the future. I just wonder what that something might be, how I might fit into it, and who I might be working with long-term (or not). Target has been good to me, and I intend to ride this horse as far as it will take me. Just curious how it will all work out.
 
Little Mac said:
The best part about this is that shifting hours instead of adding them has directly hurt fullfillment. They cant ship what they cant find, we cancel orders all the time because the sales floor is a mess and the item can not be found. Same could be said due to the increased theft in various sections of the store that lack proper coverage.

You cant just keep taking from the salesfloor/backroom in order to fund your online sales. It ends up hurting how reliable your online order system is while also making your core consumers who are the foundation of the company deal with a messy subpar shopping environment.

You dont want to alienate your core consumer base, for one you just recently began trying to capture in online shopping. If you dont capture that new pool of consumers and sustain that relationship, you just burned ties with many of your previous shoppers and gained nothing in return.

Thats a quick road to failure.
Click to expand...

While it seems that most of the TMs in my store are being kept in the dark about modernization, SFSers in particular seem really behind. I think part of the reason is that technically, our jobs aren't really changing. But it'll still hit and hurt us for the reasons described. We're already getting refusals from ETLs to lower transition pallets so we can look for items (they won't Crown train us -- and usually on truck days it's in use the whole day, and the Wave isn't really conducive to searching on the steel), so our INF score is already being affected by overwhelmed people in the backroom. And it's only gonna get worse as April 1 rears its ugly head.
 
gsa4lyfe said:
To play devils advocate I’m not saying moderation is amazing and will do wonders and it’ll work no doubt about it. What I am saying though you’re blaming the process for a broken store. If you can use your store as an example as modernization being an extreme failure then the many store succeding can use their stores as proof it works. At this point I’m just not fully convinced the reason for failure in some stores is the process, I think a big portion of failure is TMs poor attitudes and inability to adapt. As @busyzoningtoys can attest to, a successful process has TMs who believe in it and a team that’s willing to adapt
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This sounds like the old argument that the failure of communism isn't communism itself, just that it "isn't being implemented right." Perhaps some flawed systems can never be "implemented right."

Of course, Target modernization isn't communism, except that:

- Both wear red.

- Both were championed by "experts" who expected it to work "in theory" but may not work out "in practice."

- Both seem to be ignoring basic human nature and motivations (freedom, autonomy, respect for individuality, money, tangible benefits) and assume that nearly everyone will work selflessly and mindlessly for higher goals that won't directly benefit them.

- Imposition of such a sacrifice-oriented ideology requires a lot of force and propaganda, including banishment of those who dissent, and propaganda that everything is great, and was decided without dissent by unanimous consensus.

- In a distorted system without the usual pragmatic motivations, honest feedback, and willingness to accept feedback and adapt, the most unqualified apparatchiks and yes-men will rise to the top of power and influence and pull down the system with them.
 
gsa4lyfe said:
To be fair most of the “feedback” I’ve seen from people on here is everyone complaining about change and and not constructive criticism about the process it self. Feedback doesn’t include “this process sucks” “it’s never going to work” or “I like the old way better”. They definitely listened to legitimate criticism like how in the pilot Plano and pricing was 100% dissolved but in the actual rollout there are still presentation TMs but pricing is 100% dissolved or even little things like changing lead and leader back to TL and ETL. Criticism is small tweaks not throwing out the entire process.
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Some good feedback was updating how the trailer is loaded. Which wont happen. Also, all our old processes still operate like we have specialty teams. Clearance, salesplanners,autofills,transition,etc all need to be cohesive with modernization.
 
GlobalTL123 said:
Some good feedback was updating how the trailer is loaded. Which wont happen. Also, all our old processes still operate like we have specialty teams. Clearance, salesplanners,autofills,transition,etc all need to be cohesive with modernization.
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It is happening and it’s not an overnight change. There are a few test distribution centers across the country (flow centers) that are reimagining how stores receive their freight. They can’t just remodel all the DCs overnight while continuing to push freight to these stores. It takes time.
 
gsa4lyfe said:
It is happening and it’s not an overnight change. There are a few test distribution centers across the country (flow centers) that are reimagining how stores receive their freight. They can’t just remodel all the DCs overnight while continuing to push freight to these stores. It takes time.
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Assuming it's an attempt to further reduce or eliminate inbound team members?
 
Parker51 said:
Been following this thread with interest as a "global" TM who knows "everything" in the store, and works part-time without needing benefits.

The answer I get is from multiple people is that I am trained in so many departments, there will certainly be "something" for me in the future. I just wonder what that something might be, how I might fit into it, and who I might be working with long-term (or not). Target has been good to me, and I intend to ride this horse as far as it will take me. Just curious how it will all work out.
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My thoughts exactly.
 
busyzoningtoys said:
They help GM
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The reason I ask is that out of all the teams in the store, our pog team, a core of 3 people including me the signing tm, get 40 hours most weeks. That is including the tl. But I can tell you right now, I already make more than $15, so if I'm not getting between 35 and 40, I'm wasting my time after 16 years. I know it's not fair or that Target cares. The other pog tm won't just hang around either if she drops under 30. There goes your transition team, because our tl is the least experienced person and relies on me first and my coworker second to get stuff done.
 
Does anyone know what the plan is for team leads in stores that are already over head count? Director discretion to plop them in extra roles until someone leaves?
 

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