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.
REDcardJJ said:
i'll be following up with my peers when their team members aren't answering the phone. it's completely unacceptable that the phone is constantly ringing all day long when we've got the new phone tree and myDevice Phone app up and running -- everyone should answer the calls for their department. my advocates first priority has to be the guest in store, and if the team was using the phone correctly, the operator phone at the service desk would very rarely ring.
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Only problem is that the store never has payroll to train tms to do their jobs. If they don’t know what the hell they're doing how do you expect them to do it? I work weekends and I don’t know what the hell has changed half the time. I guess its not worth the leaders time to inform me of changes.
 
jenna said:
I am wondering how many tm's will quit once BTS season *really* hits. That's a lot of freight in a short amount of time...
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The DC needs to be very smart about how it’s going to send it’s freight otherwise the push won’t get completed, even with an army. Especially since sorting repacks is a no no now.
 
Inbound Monkey said:
The DC needs to be very smart about how it’s going to send it’s freight otherwise the push won’t get completed, even with an army. Especially since sorting repacks is a no no now.
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I think we have an army scheduled next Thursday for BTS fillback. Pretty sure it's going to be a shitshow.
 
SigningLady said:
I think we have an army scheduled next Thursday for BTS fillback. Pretty sure it's going to be a shitshow.
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Oh, I bet my firstborn that it will be. Imagine the push after the initial set though? I’m a seasonal “expert” but I don’t see the push getting done especially with guests expecting you to do their entire shopping list for them.
 
BoxCutter said:
Report to your HR and BPHR.
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you do know these are the ones allowing the ADA people to be forces out? AND both of these "offices" are there to protect the Company above all else. we are a vary very distant… well to honest we are dead last.
 
Inbound Monkey said:
Oh, I bet my firstborn that it will be. Imagine the push after the initial set though? I’m a seasonal “expert” but I don’t see the push getting done especially with guests expecting you to do their entire shopping list for them.
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Oh god I hadn't though of that! BTS SFS orders will be coming out of our ears too...
 
countingsheep said:
Thank you all! I talked to HR today and she told me to submit a punch correction and was going to find out who all closed with me that night and have them do the same or change it herself (can she do that legally?) and another tm had their husband mention it to HRBP who was walking today. We both close and he sees her more often and even talk often. I hope she gets canned for this crap I didnt think it was suddenly ok but with everything I dont know anymore. This chick has already had hotlune called on her for other things i dont see a point to keep kicking that rock
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balthrop said:
you do know these are the ones allowing the ADA people to be forces out? AND both of these "offices" are there to protect the Company above all else. we are a vary very distant… well to honest we are dead last.
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Unfortunately, forcing out ADA protected people can be done in such a way that on paper it doesn't look like that is what is being done.

However, making TMs work off the clock is much easier to prove with multiple TMs reporting the issue and other evidence existing. Any HR department, and their personnel, are there to protect the company (no matter how friendly they are or how much they say they are there for you).

These TMs could go to the Labor Department, but it will take more time than going to the HRBP. No company wants any branch of government looking into any part of their business. It is the responsibility of the ETL-HR and HRBP to protect the company from this sort of investigation and any possible fines and bad publicity that comes with it. I worked with an ETL-HR who was terminated for not doing due diligence and had TMs file a law suit that the company chose to settle. The same day the settlement was announced, that ETL-HR was let go.

The important thing to remember when going to your ETL-HR, or calling the HRBP or Hotline, is to NOT state your complaint in the way it is affecting you personally, but to frame you grievance in a way that shows it could be harmful to the corporation if a lawsuit could be filed, a complaint made to a governing agency, or the bad publicity that could occur if the public ever found out about it.
 
Hows the trailer unload going for everyone? It's been while since I've heard any updates.

I was gone for a few days and I came back to a shitshow. Rather than doing a quick 30 minute zone and hoping on the line right away, we come in, spend 2-2.5 hours pushing rollover, take our break and then start the truck. Apparently it was so bad a couple days that they had to stop the truck to take lunch. Nearly everyone else on the line just started being on the line
 
rog the dog said:
Our guests complain about a lot but I really feel them on this one and they're 100% right. Freight should be finishing up / finished (depending on truck size) by store open not JUST getting started.
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Yeah to bad to actually unload the truck we have to push uboats for an hour or more to just have vehicles and then set up the back room aka make a bale and clean up the crap left from the dayside/Closing since they NEVER/REFUSE to clean up their crap from the night before. So even when you come at 4am you don't touch the trailer until 6am most days. So getting anything complete before open ain't happening.
 
We've been doing pretty well with the unload. It does take a bit to get the line set up just right, but our TL has been harping on everyone to put their empty vehicles back in the right places instead of just leaving them wherever. As some teams (POG, price change) have gone away, there's been some shuffling around, but it's a pretty good unload crew. Most often, as far as I know anyway, most of us come clean before our shift ends. There have been a couple of times that I've had to finish up my truck push from the previous shift before I start the current shift's push, but that's rare.
 
countingsheep said:
Soooo had modernization now allowed off the clock work? Our floor etl not only encouraged but praised two cashieres for pusing carts while they were waiting to pick up other co workers. The other day we were leaving and she wouldnt let us exit until each one gave an explanation of why our zones werent green. Today we got told to clock out then we had a huddle and she made us finish zoning up dollar spot. Afte rclicking out. Seriously. Tell me this isnt ok because i know it isnt.
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That is a punch correction and a hotline call.. No doubt and no bullshit from that ETL.. The TM's are not getting in trouble that ETL will have her ass handed to her though.. You know the lawsuits that opens them up to?

Do not ever work for free..
 
Bosch said:
That is a punch correction and a hotline call.. No doubt and no bullshit from that ETL.. The TM's are not getting in trouble that ETL will have her ass handed to her though.. You know the lawsuits that opens them up to?

Do not ever work for free..
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^This! The ETL forces TMs to work off the clock, which is a termination offense for them? Uhh..no. Hell no. Since, next to profits, Spot seems to care most desperately about avoiding fines, lawsuits and bad publicity, and this ETL’s actions could open them up to all three, the hotline might actually help the TMs in this case. For once.
 
Apparently some tms called the hotline because today we got a scathing tslk at the huddle about working off the clock. Which was our fault but also complicated because of the intimidation of being fired for not doing it? Im really confused but punch corrections went through for it. Hr was walled up on a conference call the last couple days dunno if its related but id bet some chickens it was
 
Bosch said:
Yeah to bad to actually unload the truck we have to push uboats for an hour or more to just have vehicles and then set up the back room aka make a bale and clean up the crap left from the dayside/Closing since they NEVER/REFUSE to clean up their crap from the night before. So even when you come at 4am you don't touch the trailer until 6am most days. So getting anything complete before open ain't happening.
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Stores are still coming in at 4am? We've moved to 6am for awhile now, was under the impression that was a directive not a choice. That's what I'm talking about in any case, stop giving stores directives that force them to be pushing truck literally all day. There's nothing wrong with still pushing truck when the stores open, but we all know how much more sense it made to be done pretty soon after open.

Also your line should be pretty much set when you get in save for a few vehicles maybe, team members are not allowed to grab vehicles from off the line for any reason unless they're working that specific vehicles push. There's a plethora of three tiers available and a couple flats for carry outs, least at my store this is how this works.
 
rog the dog said:
Stores are still coming in at 4am? We've moved to 6am for awhile now, was under the impression that was a directive not a choice. That's what I'm talking about in any case, stop giving stores directives that force them to be pushing truck literally all day. There's nothing wrong with still pushing truck when the stores open, but we all know how much more sense it made to be done pretty soon after open.

Also your line should be pretty much set when you get in save for a few vehicles maybe, team members are not allowed to grab vehicles from off the line for any reason unless they're working that specific vehicles push. There's a plethora of three tiers available and a couple flats for carry outs, least at my store this is how this works.
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6am unload but we don't have much choice to clear receiving and the line all has to go on the sales floor, uboats have to be pushed before they have vehicles to actually unload the truck. Get the truck unloaded and then clear the floor and pack the receiver into her corner where she can't move like normal. Space is our issue, and the later dayside and close do not clean up so clearing up three cages of cardboard and making a bale since they seem to refuse to make one or two its a shit show in our small receiving space. Even if they did make a bale? There isn't anywhere to put it.

Shit gets deeper when you have very short staff who don't know what the fuck they are doing.
 
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Is there a breaking point?

A few days ago, we unloaded the first half of a truck with 4 people. This isn't totally unusually post-modernization despite it being less than ideal, but what is somewhat new is inbound team members only being scheduled for 3 hours or 4 hours. After 2 hours of cleaning up the rest of the store's trash and clearing off just enough u-boats for a truck, we started our unload around 8. 2 of the TMs left at the scheduled time. This left us with a truck thrower and one person on the line (myself). We didn't unload finish until 11:30.

In the breakroom for lunch, I didn't recognize a single person. Between the new seasonal hires and new GMs/Flex TMs had been hired in the last week or so, I almost felt like I was in a different store. The brand new TM operator continually referred to guests as "customers" and didn't know the very basics of the store layout ("which aisle is the toilet paper located"? lmao)*. We've lost several ETLs in the past few weeks and the logistics ETL is in a constant state of existential crisis. They are a good person and a hard worker but I don't know if they are going to last. We have some really good GM Team Leaders but they're all pushing really hard to just get the basics done day to day.

We're just now gearing up for BTS but it already feels like peak nightmare Holiday season. No vehicles. Backstock and unsorted repacks everywhere. Pallets scattered in the backroom filled with everything from clearance to BTS yet to be set. Barely enough TMs to unload.

When does this spill over into the guest experience? What happens when most of the institutional knowledge from experienced TMs is gone because they all became fed up and quit? Corporate can talk all day about having a super happy and upbeat attitude up front but if the shelves aren't stocked and stuff is in the wrong places/lost in the backroom on a pallet somewhere, this will eventually catch up to us. The toxic environment they've created will infect the Guest experience.

Morale is in the toilet. I dread what Holiday 2019 will look like, it will be retail end times.

...

Anyway, had a rough weekend and needed to rant. Stay safe out there during BTS. 👍

*This isn't to make fun of new TMs or anyone still learning the store layout, this is just to point out what a dire turnover rate we've dealt with.
 

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