MEGATHREAD 2018-2019 Store Modernization Megathread

[graffiti]

It's definitely life changing! I changed my life to a new job. 😂

Where does this even happen?

 

[can't touch this]

the only thing worse than being a capitalist pig is being a capitalist pig that's literally too greedy to make even more money

 

[Fyi]

Did your store make sales year end? If not, that is the reason for the payroll decrease.

The store has made sales every year.

2011 hours were on average 6500-6800 (granted a lot has changed but just for reference)
2019 hours are under 3000 consistently with the same workload

 

[Target_serf]

It’s like they want to push old TMs out the door. A lot of us would gladly do all of this if they gave us more hours. There are people at my store who’s been there a decade, and still don’t get 40 hours a week. I’m going on my 5th year. They keep saying $15 an hour, but that’s not a livable wage when you’re averaging 20 hours a week.

And everyone knows this. Once I quit I’ll probably never step foot inside a Target again, or I’ll wait until a massive going out of business sale 😂

I've felt like they have been working towards pushing long term TMs out for a long time. Cutting hours is just the latest. There are the occasions when we are denied cross-training, which is given to a newer and younger TM instead. When we are passed over for TL positions for younger TMs or outside hires (And we usually are the ones who have to train them to take the positions over us). When because of the raises in starting wage, we make the exact same rate as the TM they hired yesterday. I could go on. Any value they saw in their seasoned team members is long gone. We're surplus to requirement now, and they're going to make things miserable for us until we quit or they find an excuse to performance us out.

 

[Ashfromoldsite]

The store has made sales every year.

2011 hours were on average 6500-6800 (granted a lot has changed but just for reference)
2019 hours are under 3000 consistently with the same workload

The point here is that modernization didn’t take hours away. So show me what your payroll was a year ago. Not 2011. Every time target “simplifies” a process they take away payroll. For ex: We don’t have to pull stupid caf batches all day long anymore. That got ridiculous years ago and it was always backstock.
So of course hours are less today than 2011.

 

[balthrop]

still haven't seen this and its been 45 days since this tweet ... whats goin on ???? its 2019 why are trucks loaded like its 1971 ??

Because we as a company don’t know jack about logistics.

And to do this we would need to redo our DCs. This is a pipe dream. An unrealistic pipe dream that would drive us to ruin should we try it.

 

[thebroche]

still haven't seen this and its been 45 days since this tweet ... whats goin on ???? its 2019 why are trucks loaded like its 1971 ??

I ended up going to this store when I was in NY in March. The store was clean and well stocked. That being said, Target probably works to make Lower Manhattan stores appear pristine - this one even has a Chobani Yogurt Cafe. Obviously this works at a store of this size. In contrast, there are 20 Targets in the state I work in. Just 2 could be considered small-format/not normal size. One of them only opened last Fall.

 

[band_rules16]

Yep. I'm still waiting on this too. They forgot to post the second truck that sits there for days because it was a double and there aren't enough hours to unload both.

Hours are 100% going down. The “being allocated to different workcenters” is bs. This time last year we were at 3900-4200 hours now we are around 2800-2900

I'm not sure ours are going down, but my ETL told me she wanted me full time this summer. I almost laughed in her face...Target never gave me full time in the summer before. I told her I have a seasonal full time position and I would be keeping my usual 15-20 hours a week from the school year.

 

[FredPanda3]

The entire point of modernization is efficiency (though that should be in quotations, for obvious reasons). Why? To do more with less. Of course hours are going to go down. That's the goal.

You can have less cashiers when everyone can cash, for example. Compared to last year, we're at ~500-600 less hours each week, sometimes more. The trucks are all the same size as they were before, so the workload hasn't changed. We're just given less hours to actually do it.

Exactly, I don't think it takes much to see that that was the end goal here.

 

[Fyi]

The point here is that modernization didn’t take hours away. So show me what your payroll was a year ago. Not 2011. Every time target “simplifies” a process they take away payroll. For ex: We don’t have to pull stupid caf batches all day long anymore. That got ridiculous years ago and it was always backstock.
So of course hours are less today than 2011.

Like I said, in 2018 we had at least 1000 more hours in May. The workload has not gotten any smaller, the processes are less efficient the trucks are bigger and more frequent.

The 2011 numbers was just to show that it’s a trend and hours never come back once they are gone.

 

[ShortTM]

I cant speak for last year but back in March and first part of April I was scheduled for 20 hours but was often times working about 30 or more hours per week because my TL asked me to stay late. My TL even told me he wanted to stay scheduling me for longer shifts. Those longer shifts appeared on a schedule for a few hours and then they were changed back to my normal 4 hours. We are also very rarely allowed to stay late now that we are a little further along with modernization. It's almost impossible to do the unload, push u boats with 6 or more repacks plus casepacks, and do blackstock all in 4 hours unless it's a small truck

 

[SurefireWolf]

From that video, it looks like corporate wants there to be those cart things, organized by department, on each truck so team members can simply take theirs and work it out. And I am going to also assume that they want this for every single truck, and not just for special occasions like a store's birthday. Let's go through what all that would entail:

1. In order to be even remotely accurate, each store would have to be zoned 100%, and have all counts accurate. None of this garbage of 0 on floor, 0 in back, 6 on hand, with 12 actually on the floor. Or 6 on floor, 0 in back, 6 on hand, 0 actually on the floor.
2. Those carts take up a lot of room. When we get trucks, they are generally packed to the brim. The people who work at the distribution centers are Tetris masters, and I'm being serious about that. In the video, there was a lot of unused space above the carts, as well as the carts themselves, and the space between them. We would get less product this way.
3. Somebody would have to de-box all of that. 1800 Targets * ~2000 piece truck = 3,600,000 boxes. Every single day. DCs simply couldn't handle that.
4. And even if they magically could, in addition to sorting amongst all of the stores, they'd also have to sort departments as well. Clearly, every store is exactly the same and never have pogs setting or remodels.
5. If we assume that stores get a 1:1 ratio to items sold, that still doesn't account for theft or mispicks. Because mispicks would totally still be a thing here; only difference is instead of the labels being wrong, it would be the DC thinking they sent us something they did not.

I don't feel like going on about this any more right now, but that looks like something that could only happen in Imaginationland. Unless it was backed up with such an absurd amount of money that Target would go broke within a month assuming they were serious about trying it.

 

[Aredhel]

David Wyant. Just stop. No store is like this. No trailer looks like that. Dude. Really.

 

[Dapper]

From that video, it looks like corporate wants there to be those cart things, organized by department, on each truck so team members can simply take theirs and work it out. And I am going to also assume that they want this for every single truck, and not just for special occasions like a store's birthday. Let's go through what all that would entail:

1. In order to be even remotely accurate, each store would have to be zoned 100%, and have all counts accurate. None of this garbage of 0 on floor, 0 in back, 6 on hand, with 12 actually on the floor. Or 6 on floor, 0 in back, 6 on hand, 0 actually on the floor.
2. Those carts take up a lot of room. When we get trucks, they are generally packed to the brim. The people who work at the distribution centers are Tetris masters, and I'm being serious about that. In the video, there was a lot of unused space above the carts, as well as the carts themselves, and the space between them. We would get less product this way.
3. Somebody would have to de-box all of that. 1800 Targets * ~2000 piece truck = 3,600,000 boxes. Every single day. DCs simply couldn't handle that.
4. And even if they magically could, in addition to sorting amongst all of the stores, they'd also have to sort departments as well. Clearly, every store is exactly the same and never have pogs setting or remodels.
5. If we assume that stores get a 1:1 ratio to items sold, that still doesn't account for theft or mispicks. Because mispicks would totally still be a thing here; only difference is instead of the labels being wrong, it would be the DC thinking they sent us something they did not.

I don't feel like going on about this any more right now, but that looks like something that could only happen in Imaginationland. Unless it was backed up with such an absurd amount of money that Target would go broke within a month assuming they were serious about trying it.

Pretty sure it's been mentioned it's only for Express stores, and very small format stores. Almost no other stores would be realistically getting this anytime soon (specifically for the reasons you said).

 

[jackandcat]

A speed ID will not be part of the new POS software— touchscreen only.

Wow, not sure what to say. Not convenient for front-end "guest advocates" (cashiers) who need to log out to go to the racetrack when their lane is empty, then log back in without a speed ID. "Modernization??"

 

[Times Up]

Wow, not sure what to say. Not convenient for front-end "guest advocates" (cashiers) who need to log out to go to the racetrack when their lane is empty, then log back in without a speed ID. "Modernization??"

Or for the advocates at SCO that have to log in to process coupons, remove a double scanned item, and check on all of the things that Karen needs help with.

 

[The Dude Abides]

Of all the complaints we could have that is a really dumb one. I can type my team member number in just as quickly as I can scan a speed id. Anyone who spends more than a few days at the front should be able to type their numbers in very quickly.

 

[unknown]

Your hours were reallocated to the depts and the depts are not doing their signing. That’s on the store and the team. The hours are still there. They just aren’t set aside for signing specifically.

Really? Now what department hangs FOS signing? Front end? And what department breaks down and sorts the pallets?

 

[Anelmi]

Of all the complaints we could have that is a really dumb one. I can type my team member number in just as quickly as I can scan a speed id. Anyone who spends more than a few days at the front should be able to type their numbers in very quickly.

Yeah. I haven't used a speed ID in forever. For awhile, we were actually encouraged not to use them bc easier access for thieves.

 

[REDcardJJ]

Really? Now what department hangs FOS signing? Front end? And what department breaks down and sorts the pallets?

GM?

 

[ShortTM]

Something that I thought about today. Wouldn't it make more sense to push autos and the truck unload before doing EXFs and audits? My store is having us do EXFs first but I feel like it takes longer to scan lows and outs at the beginning because then you need to see if it was delivered or pulled that morning. Maybe there's just something I don't know about

 

[Frontlanegirl]

The entire point of modernization is efficiency (though that should be in quotations, for obvious reasons). Why? To do more with less. Of course hours are going to go down. That's the goal.

You can have less cashiers when everyone can cash, for example. Compared to last year, we're at ~500-600 less hours each week, sometimes more. The trucks are all the same size as they were before, so the workload hasn't changed. We're just given less hours to actually do it.

I can tell you right now that everyone does not cash in my store. I can call for backup and it might be the one general merch person who responds. So much for all the other team members on the floor not helping the front.

 

[seasonaldude]

GM Experts are given a massive workload and no time to do it in.

True. True.

Is the front going to help them with backstock later? Or push? Or zoning? No. How is that fair?

Yes. If you help us. I'm OPU. My hours come from guest services. I help GM all the time between picks. If my day is really slow, I'll go the a GM TL and ask if they have anything they need done. But, normally, I'm doing your reshop, zoning up your aisles, or auditing your outs.

I, however, can also be quite petty. Those GM TMs who do not answer calls to help the front end don't receive very much of my help, if any. People who have a team attitude get help from team members. People who don't have that attitude, well, sorry, I think I saw a couple of abandoned carts in rear seasonal I really have to wrangle up. By the way, your reshop bin is overflowing.

 

[REDcardJJ]

i don't get why a store would schedule someone to pick orders using Service Desk hours which aren't actually earned or allocated for picking orders

 

[Proficient]

Something that I thought about today. Wouldn't it make more sense to push autos and the truck unload before doing EXFs and audits? My store is having us do EXFs first but I feel like it takes longer to scan lows and outs at the beginning because then you need to see if it was delivered or pulled that morning. Maybe there's just something I don't know about

Your store is funny leadership might be one of those that know shyt about logistics. Its always zone first push truck push autos then you can scan outs and lows. Above all is guest first nothing is more important. It doesn't matter if you got vehicles in your aisles or lots of freight/tasks to do ofc if your not Fulfillment xD if they call for guest first must respond.