MEGATHREAD 2018-2019 Store Modernization Megathread

[Thunderbird1956]

People can have their opinions but the process works.

The process works only if it’s followed. Having the correct equipment and tools makes sure the process works. If the process worked with uboats and you’re using pallets then your team is going to have to be 110% to make up for not following the process. If the model of using eaches means every TM has a myDevice then the stores that don't have enough myDevices are going to need TMs that have memorized the store. That's not going to work for with the amount of churn Target is creating or in 4th quarter with new TMs, even in an ideal case they are going to need a few weeks to learn the store. You need to know what your peak device count is any given day and follow up when one goes missing. TMs can't hide them in lockers to make sure they have one for say price change.

Take the new ePick rollout, the pathing change in my store means per floor item you are spending an extra 30 second hitting skip for every item or an extra 1 min just following the pathing With our volumn that is an extra 5 hours a day that’s waisted. That’s not a personel issue that’s a broken process.

 

[skrepo1977]

I don’t know. As much as I hate to admit it, the process works. It was seriously tested in all sizes of store for a good amount of time before rolled out so I mean yes it works. I also know test stores get the payroll and they’re more of a perfect world idea of a new process but for the most part it’s going pretty well at my store. We are a store that gets a couple doubles a week and 6-7 doubles a week durrinh peak so we clearly get a lot of freight. This new process was definitely tough at first as is any change ever but if you have the team willing to change and you follow the guide enough but tweak it to your store you absolutely can be successful. We were a store that never came clean and now we come clean frequently. Not only are we coming clean but we’re working clean too and our early morning guests have stopped complaining the store is a mess while they’re shopping. The process isn’t broken it’s the team and the leadership that breaks a process. If you have teams not willing to chnage or Leadership not holding the team to these new standards that will lead to a failing process. People can have their opinions but the process works.

When do you start the offload process, midnight or 4 am? That makes a huge difference in it's success. For smaller stores that start at 6 it is quite a different beast. At least starting early you can bring out the uboats to the salesfloor and organize them accordingly without fear of guest. My store, I am lucky if minimum only run into three uboats, a flat, two zracks lazily thrown in the middle of receiving, on my way to dump trash or simply pullingmy uboat out. I frankly think bigger stores have once again, with these changes, have it easier. They have the time and the staffing to blow through this regardless if they have a double or not.

 

[Anelmi]

You need to know what your peak device count is any given day and follow up when one goes missing. TMs can't hide them in lockers to make sure they have one for say price change.

Other stores don't make you sign devices/walkies in and out each day? And our equipment room is always locked so you can't just waltz in and out and grab one.

 

[gsa4lyfe]

When do you start the offload process, midnight or 4 am? That makes a huge difference in it's success. For smaller stores that start at 6 it is quite a different beast. At least starting early you can bring out the uboats to the salesfloor and organize them accordingly without fear of guest. My store, I am lucky if minimum only run into three uboats, a flat, two zracks lazily thrown in the middle of receiving, on my way to dump trash or simply pullingmy uboat out. I frankly think bigger stores have once again, with these changes, have it easier. They have the time and the staffing to blow through this regardless if they have a double or not.

We are a 4am process.

 

[PackAndCry]

And there it is. If every store was a 4am process, it would probably work better at every store. 6am and (shudder) 8am processes are a disaster once a truck gets slightly bigger than usual.

 

[can't touch this]

Y'all know how fucking annoying it is to try and work repacks from a 3tier uboat when you aren't allowed to put anything on the floor? It takes me more time to work 12 repacks from a 3tier uboat than it does to work 20 repacks from a flat.

Our new DTL was in our store the other day poking around and she bitched out the ETL-log because I was working from a stack of 3 repacks on the floor while the store was closed. You don't even know how close I was to going off on her and getting fired. Stupid fucking thot!

 

[Black Sheep 214]

If the process works, and there were dozens of pilots stores of all shapes and sizes it was tested at, why does district/regional/group leadership never have answers?

Group leadership visits store, sees that we have pallets of paper along an empty section, and screams bloody murder. ETL-Log attempts to explain that we simply have no room due to the softlines profile taking up so much space and change in process eating up most of bulk. Group leadership says they "don't care, figure it out."

Why do we need to figure it out? Shouldn't the pilot stores have already figured it out? If this process was tested so thoroughly, why are so many stores not getting answers to questions like that? It's always "figure it out, make it work, our way or the highway." The entire point of modernization is that we're all on the same page, with the exact same unload process -- so why aren't there specific instructions on how to deal with all the problems that arise from the new process? Why are stores left to figure it out themselves? That's the exact thing modernization was supposed to prevent.

The new unload process cost us 20 pallet spots and plenty of steel for bulk plastics, furniture, bedding, and plug. Why didn't the new unload process account for all that space being lost? Or did it, and no one is just telling us the secret?

^This. Corporate designed this system, tested it, and should know exactly how it should be implemented. This knowledge should have been passed to group leadership, who should pass it on to district, and district to store leadership. Leadership’s answer “figure it out, make it work” says one of two things- either leadership doesn’t understand how to implement the process, or it is impossible to properly implement the process as designed with the payroll allotted and backroom space available. Since leadership apparently has no answers, they pass the buck downward along with the blame for failure to do the impossible. Note the exodus of store leadership who are quitting, being forced out or fired, while their replacements seem to fare little better. Yet Corporate thinks everything is going wonderfully, because they apparently are never told the truth about what a cluster modernization is. If they want to know how a process really works, some unannounced visits should clear up the confusion. Very quickly.😳

 

[Times Up]

. I also know test stores get the payroll

Well, that in itself can make a huge difference.

 

[can't touch this]

A better run company would, at the very least, account for differences in store layout, salesfloor space, backroom size, volume, remodel phase, staff level, etc. etc. etc. These are details that they already know because it's a centralized corporation that has all this info on file at HQ. Perhaps in stages with stores grouped into one of several specific categories according to those parameters above. E.g. store T-1040 has 500 million square feet of backroom space with a weekly sales forecast of $1B, so they get Rollout type A1, but store T-9000 has only 5,400 sq ft of backroom space with a weekly forecast of $300K so they get Rollout type C5. Each type is customized to the store's general specs rather than just plunked down at all stores as a one size fits all deal.

A better run company would also approach the rollout phase more practically as the test pattern that it is and expect detailed, honest reporting of the process. A software company, for example, would want to know and account for any issues so that they could be corrected before final release, or else you end up shipping a buggy software that doesn't work. As an employee you might even get in trouble for NOT reporting issues with enough detail. Instead we get the North Korea method where Dear Leader visits various factories and shoots anybody who tells him that the machinery at plant #2 keeps breaking down. I really don't get why a company would choose to go the KoolAid route with stuff like this. Say what you will about corporations, most of them at least recognize that better processes means making more money.

 

[GlobalTL123]

A better run company would make sure all of its stores had the tools (uboats, flats, etc) to be able to do the new process as intended. Not force every store to be constantly harrassed by group leadership about being 100% when we only have the tools to do 50%. I want these jerks to come unload and see what it is like to be on the front lines of this bs.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

A better run company would make sure all of its stores had the tools (uboats, flats, etc) to be able to do the new process as intended. Not force every store to be constantly harrassed by group leadership about being 100% when we only have the tools to do 50%. I want these jerks to come unload and see what it is like to be on the front lines of this bs.

Amen.

 

[No I in Team]

I've posted in the past two (2) company's sponsored videos from targetred360.com about the store modernization/E2E changes. The two videos are almost exactly a year apart. These videos only confirm how far out of touch corp is from the DC's and the Store's operationally. A lot of us are going to be in serious trouble come 4th Qtr. if we can't move away from this process or at the least, modify it a lot.

Once this economy cycles, a lot of us will be looking for jobs as this new process is excessively labor intensive and low volume stores will not be able to support the payroll required. Target just does not generate the type of margin to support it at the low end.

What we are doing with the "u boats" is not new at all. I learned from a former Family Dollar Regional Manager they did the same thing a decade or so ago with the same results we're experiencing today. A lot of retailers tried this and moved away from it due to the same problems we're having. The sort has to take place at the point were items are picked, not delivered.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

What we are doing with the "u boats" is not new at all. I learned from a former Family Dollar Regional Manager they did the same thing a decade or so ago with the same results we're experiencing today. A lot of retailers tried this and moved away from it due to the same problems we're having. The sort has to take place at the point were items are picked, not delivered.

Why can’t corporate executives learn from other’s mistakes? Why do corporations continue to recycle the same failed processes of other corporations ad infinitem? It’s not like any of these processes are all that secret. Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. Truly. 😳

 

[Frontlanegirl]

The process works only if it’s followed. Having the correct equipment and tools makes sure the process works. If the process worked with uboats and you’re using pallets then your team is going to have to be 110% to make up for not following the process. If the model of using eaches means every TM has a myDevice then the stores that don't have enough myDevices are going to need TMs that have memorized the store. That's not going to work for with the amount of churn Target is creating or in 4th quarter with new TMs, even in an ideal case they are going to need a few weeks to learn the store. You need to know what your peak device count is any given day and follow up when one goes missing. TMs can't hide them in lockers to make sure they have one for say price change.

Take the new ePick rollout, the pathing change in my store means per floor item you are spending an extra 30 second hitting skip for every item or an extra 1 min just following the pathing With our volumn that is an extra 5 hours a day that’s waisted. That’s not a personel issue that’s a broken process.

This theoretically might work if stores are adequately staffed. I know mine has been understaffed for a while.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

If the process works, and there were dozens of pilots stores of all shapes and sizes it was tested at, why does district/regional/group leadership never have answers?

Group leadership visits store, sees that we have pallets of paper along an empty section, and screams bloody murder. ETL-Log attempts to explain that we simply have no room due to the softlines profile taking up so much space and change in process eating up most of bulk. Group leadership says they "don't care, figure it out."

Why do we need to figure it out? Shouldn't the pilot stores have already figured it out? If this process was tested so thoroughly, why are so many stores not getting answers to questions like that? It's always "figure it out, make it work, our way or the highway." The entire point of modernization is that we're all on the same page, with the exact same unload process -- so why aren't there specific instructions on how to deal with all the problems that arise from the new process? Why are stores left to figure it out themselves? That's the exact thing modernization was supposed to prevent.

The new unload process cost us 20 pallet spots and plenty of steel for bulk plastics, furniture, bedding, and plug. Why didn't the new unload process account for all that space being lost? Or did it, and no one is just telling us the secret?

If it is working so well, then why are so many guests complaining about our empty shelves. I hear it in the store and you can read it online.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

If it is working so well, then why are so many guests complaining about our empty shelves. I hear it in the store and you can read it online.

In my area sales floor shelves are empty and backrooms are bursting at the seams...😳

 

[seasonaldude]

If it is working so well, then why are so many guests complaining about our empty shelves. I hear it in the store and you can read it online.

At least our guests seem to mostly find amusement so far when I explain to them that even though the website says we have what they want in stock, that doesn't necessarily mean that anyone in the store has any idea where it is.

 

[can't touch this]

In my area sales floor shelves are empty and backrooms are bursting at the seams...😳

 

[MavDog]

If it is working so well, then why are so many guests complaining about our empty shelves. I hear it in the store and you can read it online.

My store has a bunch of empty shelves but mostly because the stuff has never arrived. My little tikes aisle in sporting good that was transition from like 3 weeks ago at this point is still less than half in stock

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Electronics stockroom is loaded with stock & nothing on the floor .Tm’s have do manuals when they have time to fill shelves. On hands are jacked up too.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

In my area sales floor shelves are empty and backrooms are bursting at the seams...😳

Same here. I thought this whole modernization process is supposed to be the reverse of what we are seeing in our stores. Less stock in the back and more on the sales floor. Right now the backrooms are a mess and a safety hazard, the stock sits on pallets unlocated, price change and salvage is behind, and our shelves are empty.

 

[Stocker]

Jeff Bezos can gag on my dick

(sorry 4 shitpost)

Talking about Amazon what does everyone think of their raise to $15? I mean sure they screwed people that were fast enough to make a decent bonus but it does sound more attractive overall.

 

[Stocker]

Same here. I thought this whole modernization process is supposed to be the reverse of what we are seeing in our stores. Less stock in the back and more on the sales floor. Right now the backrooms are a mess and a safety hazard, the stock sits on pallets unlocated, price change and salvage is behind, and our shelves are empty.

This has been my main problem with this whole process. They should have started on the DC/trailer side of this instead of the salesfloor first. Our backroom has the same problem, some aisles are completly packed with backstock and no room.

 

[Thunderbird1956]

Who is challenging the backstock that gets brought back? We've found 75% goes out fits in the floor, about 10% is due to quantities that fit on the shelf being wrong or inventory being off and the rest is actually backstock. Way more issues with POGs than normal lately and my understanding is they did another purge of the corporate POG design team.

 

[Signingmitch]

Who is challenging the backstock that gets brought back? We've found 75% goes out fits in the floor, about 10% is due to quantities that fit on the shelf being wrong or inventory being off and the rest is actually backstock. Way more issues with POGs than normal lately and my understanding is they did another purge of the corporate POG design team.

If 75% of your backstock goes out your push team isn’t doing their job