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:
smh yall salty for no reason about backup cashiering smh
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The reason is simple for me, and it has nothing to do with getting or not getting my job done: I hate ringing with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. In fact, "hate" is not a strong enough word to express my utter dread and despair at the thought of having to respond to a backup call.
 
REDcardJJ said:
smh yall salty for no reason about backup cashiering smh
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I wouldn't agree with "for no reason." You might not agree with the reason, but constantly getting pulled from your work center and putting your primary work behind is frustrating.

If I'm setting an aisle, I'm responsible for getting it done in the time allotted. What happens when my time is up and it's not done because .... I was backup cashiering, getting carts, carry outs, etc.?
 
I would more happily respond to codes if the Front showed consideration for the TMs who are responding to code.

If you call code and I have to respond and I get up front and there is no reason I’m calling you out for it. Your wallow worked just fine to ask me to leave my office, come downstairs, and get on a lane so I know it will work to say cancel code a large group just left together. I promise you it works.

When I do hop on and the crowds clear stand by my lane and direct guests to your scheduled Guest Advocates. I’m the only lane in the back row open and I’m the closest to the sales floor, of course they’re coming to me first. I did my part by helping clear the crowd but you gotta do your part and help me get back to my other tasks.
 
Antennae said:
What if scheduled cashiers scanned a tiny bit faster instead of relying on backup all the time. Are there any goals for them besides redcards and not taking fake bills?
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☝️This.

Before I was Tech I was Instocks then Hardliners. I was always the first, and most of the time, the only TM to backup the front end. It got to a point where Leaders would walkie, "Hey! Box can't be the only one responding, Softlines, Market, other HL TMs, you have to backup, too!"

I like cashiering, so it wasn't a problem for me (other than being the only one going up).

My two problems with it were:

1.) We are a two tier register store. The GSAs were always sending the backups to the registers closest to the salesfloor, not the ones close to the exit. If you are really moving trying to get the line down so you can get back to your work, new guests walking up to checkout go into your line because they see how quickly you're getting people through. GSAs would not direct guests to the registers in the front that had scheduled cashiers. I kept telling the TLs and ETLs, put the regular cashiers on the back registers, and leave the front ones for backup since they were easier to get off of once the line was busted down to a reasonable size.

2.) Cashiers at my store have 2 speeds: slow and stop. I understand that Spot wants them to be friendly and engage the guest, but if the lines are long, PICKUP YOUR SCANNING PACE! Engage less, the guest probably wants to get out of there fast at this point and doesn't want to chit chat.
 
Antennae said:
Lol if you're just going to always snipe at everyone about helping front end without taking in any suggestions you could stop posting since that's all you do.

But posting is a lovely disease so ;)
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okay, let's go back to your original post and discuss your "suggestions"

What if scheduled cashiers scanned a tiny bit faster instead of relying on backup all the time.
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exactly how fast can YOU ring a 200-300 dollar purchase of groceries, apparel, and home items? do you have the magic ability to make POS load faster? how long would it take YOU to ring up 5 or 6 more guests with similar basket sizes? did you remember to ask every guest about REDcard? what if you have a guest who wants to sign up with you?

Are there any goals for them besides redcards and not taking fake bills?
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educating our guests about REDcard, Cartwheel, Target Wallet, Shipt, Order Pickup, Drive Up weekly ad deals, Target Circle (in beta markets) just to name a few
have you ever heard of myGuest or seen your store's net promoter score? there's literally a metric for "wait time at checkout", which is why Target chooses to have backup cashiers be a thing.

i can't believe you cracked the code and eliminated backup cashiers! all they had to do was scan faster! wow! how innovative! gold star for you!
 
A large % of Target cashiers are slow. They don’t utilize both hands. Every time I would go up to cashier, guests would comment how fast I was. It’s not difficult to be quick if your movements are efficient.

I’m just a guest now but I see the same thing in the stores in my area: pick up the item, scan it and put it in the bag using the same hand the whole time. No sense of urgency. 🙄
 
BoxCutter said:
1.) We are a two tier register store. The GSAs were always sending the backups to the registers closest to the salesfloor, not the ones close to the exit. If you are really moving trying to get the line down so you can get back to your work, new guests walking up to checkout go into your line because they see how quickly you're getting people through. GSAs would not direct guests to the registers in the front that had scheduled cashiers. I kept telling the TLs and ETLs, put the regular cashiers on the back registers, and leave the front ones for backup since they were easier to get off of once the line was busted down to a reasonable size.
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We have the same register layout. Our backups always go to the back bc they know they will NEVER be able to leave if they are closest to the salesfloor. Idk why but our guests seem to have trouble seeing that back bank of registers.
 
Sloth said:
We have stock and sort times for GM Experts and all sorts of metrics for Fulfillment. It's time to have ring up times for cashiers.

Yeah, yeah. Guest experience and all that is your primary focus, not speed.. sure, whatever. The same is true of GM Experts, and we're still timed.
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Cashier speed used to be measured with a big red R or a big green G. Too many reds and you got coached. GM experts also have to meet sales metrics, set on time metrics, price changes, and pull time goals in addition to stock and sort time goals. I probably missed a few others. We are also expected to utilize myCheckout to save sales on the floor. I will admit to getting pretty fed up with being called for backup when I have 6 uboats and 2 flats left to stock and know that there will never be a cashier called to the floor to help with that. Fewer than 1/2 of them know how to read a shelf label, find the capacity or know the difference between electronics and entertainment or home decor and housewares. Service and engagement expert is not the most important job in the store. HRTM (or whatever they're called now) is. They submit the payroll and I get a check.
 
Well, congrats, modernization. You're turning us all against each other. This used to be the place where we came to vent, but also to help each other. Lately, it seems that all we're doing is sniping at each other. It's too bad.

It's worth noting here that ASANTS still very much exists. At my store, we're still responsible for everything up front (Bullseye, checklanes, etc.), despite the fact that the Almighty Book clearly states that's supposed to fall under GM's umbrella. We aren't "there" yet. That's not the fault of GM, who's also groaning under their workload, and GM payroll has yet to be allocated for the front--a situation that's not the fault of the people working in GM, either. Things are what they are. I don't have the time or energy to finger-point. Every job in that store's important. Full stop.

We aren't rotating TMs among work centers like we should be up front, either, because they're too resistant to change. They "don't feel comfortable" with GS. They "don't want to" cashier because it's a "waste of their talents." Well, I didn't go to college for any of this, but my degree field's gone contract and I need a steady paycheck. So until I can successfully pivot, guess what? I suck it up and do the thing. I have to flat-out tell my peers when I'm there that I'm not a GSA anymore, and that while I'm happy to offer guidance, I'm not a TL/ETL/whatever they're called today. If you're SCO, you've got the keys until the TL comes in. Trust yourself to make decisions, including asking me to cover someone's break/get on a lane/whatever. (I think they think they'll offend me since they're used to me asking them to do XYZ. They won't.)

We're told by the SD to call for backup only as a last line of defense, and to alternate between Style and GM, calling by name. Once the CL takes over, they decide who's coming up if we send up the distress signal.

Spot's hell-bent on this new process, however egregiously flawed it is. The only constant in life is change, so I'll roll with it. I have no other choice while I'm still there. What I find increasingly harder to stomach is the cultural change accompanying it. The day I care more about metrics than people is the day I'll quit without a net.

And on that note, I'll take my constantly aching stomach to work for another day of fun and live for going into the CO this afternoon for an hour and 15 of peace and quiet.
 
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starfishncoffee said:
Well, congrats, modernization. You're turning us all against each other. This used to be the place where we came to vent, but also to help each other. Lately, it seems that all we're doing is sniping at each other. It's too bad.

It's worth noting here that ASANTS still very much exists. At my store, we're still responsible for everything up front (Bullseye, checklanes, etc.), despite the fact that the Almighty Book clearly states that's supposed to fall under GM's umbrella. We aren't "there" yet. That's not the fault of GM, who's also groaning under their workload, and GM payroll has yet to be allocated for the front--a situation that's not the fault of the people working in GM, either. Things are what they are. I don't have the time or energy to finger-point. Every job in that store's important. Full stop.

We aren't rotating TMs among work centers like we should be up front, either, because they're too resistant to change. They "don't feel comfortable" with GS. They "don't want to" cashier because it's a "waste of their talents." Well, I didn't go to college for any of this, but my degree field's gone contract and I need a steady paycheck. So until I can successfully pivot, guess what? I suck it up and do the thing. I have to flat-out tell my peers when I'm there that I'm not a GSA anymore, and that while I'm happy to offer guidance, I'm not a TL/ETL/whatever they're called today. If you're SCO, you've got the keys until the TL comes in. Trust yourself to make decisions, including asking me to cover someone's break/get on a lane/whatever. (I think they think they'll offend me since they're used to me asking them to do XYZ. They won't.)

We're told by the SD to call for backup only as a last line of defense, and to alternate between Style and GM, calling by name. Once the CL takes over, they decide who's coming up if we send up the distress signal.

Spot's hell-bent on this new process, however egregiously flawed it is. The only constant in life is change, so I'll roll with it. I have no other choice while I'm still there. What I find increasingly harder to stomach is the cultural change accompanying it. The day I care more about metrics than people is the day I'll quit without a net.

And on that note, I'll take my constantly aching stomach to work for another day of fun and live for going into the CO this afternoon for an hour and 15 of peace and quiet.
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Well-said!

My store is the same, in that Front End is still handling Bullseye and checklanes. It seems to depend on who's running the front with regard to backup calls - some pull the trigger faster than others, but I will say that it is not as frequent as it used to be, and the former GSAs are definitely jumping on a lane now, as well as the ETL and TL.

I guess I'm lucky in some ways, because I'm a relative newb and definitely not as invested as others here. My work ethic does make me stress at certain things, and I have to talk myself down sometimes and remind myself that I'm just along for the ride and really don't have any skin in this game except, you know, employment. So I just do the best I can every shift, and luckily, my leaders think highly of me and know I am a good worker - not tooting my own horn, just going by the feedback I receive.

I watched my old store crash and burn, a store that I was a part of for over 20 years, and it was hard, so I am empathetic to how you long-term TMs are feeling. It was sad and difficult to watch a once-thriving, top-of-the-game company slowly disintegrate. But let me tell you, it took a long, long, LONG time for it to go under. Even if this is the beginning of the end (which I don't believe it is) Target will still be around for decades. Accept that there is nothing you can do to stop what's going on, and just do your best every day. It's not worth getting stomachaches over things of which you have no control. And if it all came crashing down tomorrow, life would still go on, believe me.
 
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Ok, I'm going to be a real pain in the ass here, but can anybody explain the idea behind Dedicated Business Owners? I mean, I get the concept, but if I recall correctly, someone said they rolled this out to some stores at the beginning of Modernization and then abandoned the idea, so some stores have them and some don't. Or, maybe it depends on your store size or volume? Why do some stores have them and others (like mine) don't?
 
The idea is that if you make someone responsible from beginning to end of just one area, they will care about that area and want it to succeed , more than they would if given limited tasks that bounce them around the store. The concept relies on finding people of the right mindset to feel a sense of pride, a "this is my territory and it will be right", and not punch in/punch out.

But implementation sucks all kinds of ways. You want people to feel possessive of their areas, you need to compensate them accordingly, and they need to be in those areas a majority of the week. And they would need some amount of supervisor rights for making decisions to be carried out when they are not there. And the lack of all that is why the DBO concept isn't working very well.
 
@REDcardJJ@ you
Tessa120 said:
The idea is that if you make someone responsible from beginning to end of just one area, they will care about that area and want it to succeed , more than they would if given limited tasks that bounce them around the store. The concept relies on finding people of the right mindset to feel a sense of pride, a "this is my territory and it will be right", and not punch in/punch out.

But implementation sucks all kinds of ways. You want people to feel possessive of their areas, you need to compensate them accordingly, and they need to be in those areas a majority of the week. And they would need some amount of supervisor rights for making decisions to be carried out when they are not there. And the lack of all that is why the DBO concept isn't working very well.
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but that's now how humans work. People have different skill sets and are most proficient when given specialized tasks. That is why the specialization of labor was such a profound breakthrough in the neolithic revolution. That is why the assembly line was more efficient than having each crew assemble a whole car themselves. Giving a person one, or a limited set of tasks that can be generalized to an area is far more efficient than expecting them to know a wide array of tasks and specialize that toward one area. It fails from the very conception of the idea.
 
Yes and no. Specialization works great. But the concept of DBOs is similar to, if you enlarge the area, the general manager of a small retail store. They have to know it all, they have to work crazy hours to keep it together and to keep it on track when they aren't there, they have look at any one item and know if it's displayed properly and if the display should be altered because of sales.

But, hours in store vs total open hours and compensation. Only a few masochistic souls will want more than punch in/punch out under these conditions.
 
Tessa120 said:
The idea is that if you make someone responsible from beginning to end of just one area, they will care about that area and want it to succeed , more than they would if given limited tasks that bounce them around the store. The concept relies on finding people of the right mindset to feel a sense of pride, a "this is my territory and it will be right", and not punch in/punch out.

But implementation sucks all kinds of ways. You want people to feel possessive of their areas, you need to compensate them accordingly, and they need to be in those areas a majority of the week. And they would need some amount of supervisor rights for making decisions to be carried out when they are not there. And the lack of all that is why the DBO concept isn't working very well.
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Sucks in all ways. Doing the toy reset is really showing this. Reshop everywhere. Unmarked clearance. Trash everywhere. It is taking us longer than usual because we literally have to have a person just doing reshop for 2 or 3 hours a day as we set. I took 2 full pallets of boxed up clearance to the back today. No where to put it. Since so much is unmarked or not furthered, it isn't selling.

I overheard a tl ask a DBO why their area looked so bad today. She told her that when she's off, no one does the reshop or pushes when the the tl is off. And I've seen it not happen. It's just a failure. If higher ups don't see this, and I'm not sure they even care, then they are delusional.
 
The Dude Abides said:
@REDcardJJ@ you


but that's now how humans work. People have different skill sets and are most proficient when given specialized tasks. That is why the specialization of labor was such a profound breakthrough in the neolithic revolution. That is why the assembly line was more efficient than having each crew assemble a whole car themselves. Giving a person one, or a limited set of tasks that can be generalized to an area is far more efficient than expecting them to know a wide array of tasks and specialize that toward one area. It fails from the very conception of the idea.
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thanks for @ing me
 
unknown said:
Sucks in all ways. Doing the toy reset is really showing this. Reshop everywhere. Unmarked clearance. Trash everywhere. It is taking us longer than usual because we literally have to have a person just doing reshop for 2 or 3 hours a day as we set. I took 2 full pallets of boxed up clearance to the back today. No where to put it. Since so much is unmarked or not furthered, it isn't selling.

I overheard a tl ask a DBO why their area looked so bad today. She told her that when she's off, no one does the reshop or pushes when the the tl is off. And I've seen it not happen. It's just a failure. If higher ups don't see this, and I'm not sure they even care, then they are delusional.
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Well, this is normal for a Toys reset in our store.... except the pricing was completed by the pricing person.

This fall, the pricing wasn't even complete.

:eyeroll:
 

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