Service & Engagement Can I speak to a manager?: A front end thread

[PackAndCry]

I think that’s what Target is going for anyway, obviously. Modernization and being more efficient. They’re not going to pay someone $15 an hour just to scan items and bag. You will have to be capable of more and execute.

They're also currently ripping IGS out of stores that had it and readding the separate service desk in remodels, so obviously someone figured out that returns at the lanes was a stupid idea.

 

[RTCry]

They're also currently ripping IGS out of stores that had it and readding the separate service desk in remodels, so obviously someone figured out that returns at the lanes was a stupid idea.

Maybe, but again, my store still doesn’t have SCO or Drive Up. I think the SD is more for OPU, Drive Up, and Registry. That’s what I see. I know guests appreciate that they can price match, make a RC payment, or return at a CLs. Plus, given that many of the lower volume stores are losing their cart attendant, SD will be closed the last hour of the business day so that TM can gather carts. Again...ASANTS. Just saying, Target is looking to maximize efficiency.

 

[PackAndCry]

Maybe, but again, my store still doesn’t have SCO or Drive Up. I think the SD is more for OPU, Drive Up, and Registry. That’s what I see. I know guests appreciate that they can price match, make a RC payment, or return at a CLs. Plus, given that many of the lower volume stores are losing their cart attendant, SD will be closed the last hour of the business day so that TM can gather carts. Again...ASANTS. Just saying, Target is looking to maximize efficiency.

The fact that they're spending so much converting IGS back to a regular service desk that has a giant metal "RETURNS AND EXCHANGES" sign behind it seems to show that at least someone realizes doing GS tasks at the lanes was a bad idea. We had abysmal survey scores most of the time because we were only ever given enough payroll for the IGS "cashier" and a SCO TM at most times, so the guests who didn't want to use SCO had to wait 20min behind Carol and Brenda returning 20 items each, and when we did have the payroll to have other lanes open, most guests would refuse to do normal checkout at the IGS lanes because they knew that they'd be in line far longer there. If they do try to let guests do returns at the lanes, good luck with those survey scores.

 

[Tessa120]

And honestly, if you haven’t gotten the message yet...you need to. Target is NOT paying people $15 an hour to do what they are doing now. You will be expected to do more. Your responsibilities will expand.

Jack of all trades is master of none. Every business out there has specialists. Even if certain tasks are shared equally by employees, there's always something that someone dedicates part of their time to master that no one else can do and something that someone else can do that the first person can't. It's needed because you need someone to get beyond good, to get excellent at certain tasks, and businesses know the tradeoff is there's only a finite amount of time so excellent at one or two means only barebones knowledge of the rest.

And the reason for that extremely common model is accountability. The more you spread something out, the tougher it is to figure out what is going wrong where and by whom. The more you create specialists, the likelihood of the work being done the same way every time increases dramatically. And people outside the business know who to contact when they need that specialty knowledge.

People parrot that $15 like it's aerospace engineer pay, but it's not. Yeah, better employee loyalty and people will want to work, but there's still a limit that one could reasonably expect for that $15. I do not think it is anywhere near reasonable to expect one entry level worker to know how to do everything in the store. As much as I kvetch about my specialty A&A, I could probably fumble my way through hardlines since I know how to reach shelf labels but not very well, and I don't have a clue as to what goes on in Market and Electronics. I know there's a lot about GS that I don't know that is not relevant to my job duties. Back room, I can find stuff guests want and I can backstock and that's it. And that is extremely reasonable for my pay grade, as I am an entry level TM trained for one thing. I shouldn't have to know the same stuff the STL does, even if I get paid $15 an hour.

It's the same for everyone. Leave people in their areas and they will become specialists who will make you feel all warm and fuzzy when you need something from that area and you see their face and you know that means they will hook you up. Expect them to know everything....well you better give everyone STL pay because you just put that expectation on them. Not reasonable, especially since $15 is only a smidgen over a living wage. A house framer makes more an hour to cut wood and nail wood in place.

 

[REDcardJJ]

Leave people in their areas

With the raise to $15 an hour (which is a LOT more than you'll make pretty much anywhere else cashiering), there's the expectation that you'll be able to know the inside and out of your business. So a cashier should be able to take a simple return, price match, fix mistakes by themselves without the need for the guest to wait in another line at Guest Service. More complex stuff and other guest services will still be handled at the service desk. Stores are moving away from IGS because of the increased emphasis on registries and OPU/Drive Up, which are important ways to capture sales. I don't believe that asking a cashier to know how to do a return is the same thing as asking an A&A TM to know Market. It's more like asking that TM to know how to run the Fitting Room.

 

[Stuff2]

The fact that they're spending so much converting IGS back to a regular service desk that has a giant metal "RETURNS AND EXCHANGES" sign behind it seems to show that at least someone realizes doing GS tasks at the lanes was a bad idea. We had abysmal survey scores most of the time because we were only ever given enough payroll for the IGS "cashier" and a SCO TM at most times, so the guests who didn't want to use SCO had to wait 20min behind Carol and Brenda returning 20 items each, and when we did have the payroll to have other lanes open, most guests would refuse to do normal checkout at the IGS lanes because they knew that they'd be in line far longer there. If they do try to let guests do returns at the lanes, good luck with those survey scores.

Here in California, there's also the fact that it's illegal to buy alcohol at SCO, and alcohol is big business for us. It's a college area, and we have a full liquor license (meaning we sell spirits, not just beer and wine). If there's only SCO and IGS, anyone buying alcohol has to wait for that 20 minute return to be over. And don't forget about all the guests demanding returns at whatever register has the shortest line, whether it's IGS or not, and then getting pissed about being told no. That happened all the time at Ross.

 

[PackAndCry]

At least cashiers being paid $15 and owning the front end means they'll be able to clear backups on their own instead of stealing the experts, advocates, and consultants from the sales floor, right?

 

[Tessa120]

With the raise to $15 an hour (which is a LOT more than you'll make pretty much anywhere else cashiering), there's the expectation that you'll be able to know the inside and out of your business. So a cashier should be able to take a simple return, price match, fix mistakes by themselves without the need for the guest to wait in another line at Guest Service. More complex stuff and other guest services will still be handled at the service desk. Stores are moving away from IGS because of the increased emphasis on registries and OPU/Drive Up, which are important ways to capture sales. I don't believe that asking a cashier to know how to do a return is the same thing as asking an A&A TM to know Market. It's more like asking that TM to know how to run the Fitting Room.

But in order to know what is a simple return you have to know complicated returns. Otherwise it becomes really easy to mistake a complicated return for an easy one, and then the sales staff has to deal with the fallout of swapped tags or vacuum boxes filled with rocks or "unopened" packages that can't be returned once open that actually were opened, used and then resealed.

 

[unknown]

With the raise to $15 an hour (which is a LOT more than you'll make pretty much anywhere else cashiering), there's the expectation that you'll be able to know the inside and out of your business. So a cashier should be able to take a simple return, price match, fix mistakes by themselves without the need for the guest to wait in another line at Guest Service. More complex stuff and other guest services will still be handled at the service desk. Stores are moving away from IGS because of the increased emphasis on registries and OPU/Drive Up, which are important ways to capture sales. I don't believe that asking a cashier to know how to do a return is the same thing as asking an A&A TM to know Market. It's more like asking that TM to know how to run the Fitting Room.

Great. I expect every cashier, cart attendant, Starbucks barista and baristo to know how to set a cosmetics aisle, change out the pin lock on the truck, and throw the truck. "We're hiring you as a cashier but come in tomorrow at 4am to throw a 2500 piece truck. Train you? Lol silly. It's your first 90 days and we're paying you $15 an hour. It doesn't matter. After that, complete a 19 hour Maybelline pog in 2 hours while answering sales floor calls."

 

[Times Up]

At least cashiers being paid $15 and owning the front end means they'll be able to clear backups on their own instead of stealing the experts, advocates, and consultants from the sales floor, right?

Um, no. When there is only 1 cashier and 15 guests all chose the same time to check out, $15/hr doesn't cause me to grow more arms so I can run more registers. Still just 1 person who can check out 1 guest at a time. Now the higher pay gets me to engage with the guest more, still can only do 1 guest at a time.

 

[REDcardJJ]

Great. I expect every cashier, cart attendant, Starbucks barista and baristo to know how to set a cosmetics aisle, change out the pin lock on the truck, and throw the truck. "We're hiring you as a cashier but come in tomorrow at 4am to throw a 2500 piece truck. Train you? Lol silly. It's your first 90 days and we're paying you $15 an hour. It doesn't matter. After that, complete a 19 hour Maybelline pog in 2 hours while answering sales floor calls."

Apples and oranges. See my response to Tessa about why it's not the same thing.

 

[Tessa120]

Apples and oranges. See my response to Tessa about why it's not the same thing.

And you ignored my response about how a "simple" return may not be simple. Many things that other people may view as simple really aren't.

You're saying that because people are making a decent wage, with many many other jobs in other places that require an equal amount of education offering more, they should have specialized training that is beyond the job description. However they are going to be hired for specific job duties at that wage, and all sense of "it's unfair, they should do far more than the listed job duties that goes with the wage simply because I started with less" is not applicable. There's lots of things to be trained on to cover GS and if that's not part of the listed job duties then the powers that be have decided the wage is fair for less duties.

 

[REDcardJJ]

and if that's not part of the listed job duties then the powers that be have decided the wage is fair for less duties.

I believe that the job duties will change. I do not believe that Target will be paying people $15 an hour to ONLY cashier. They will likely be expected to be trained in other parts of their department, such as self-checkout and Guest Services, which is what would make this whole concept work.

But 2020 is still more than a year away, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[can't touch this]

since I’m ever the pessimist I’d just like to remind everyone (and corporate because I know they’re lurking ITT) that $15 an hour isn’t the Forbes/Davos tier wage that they’re pretending it is, especially at 12 hours per week. This would be a much bigger deal if we were bumped to $15 back when it would’ve actually mattered (like in 1998) but the cost of living has gone through the stratosphere since then as we all know, and realistically the bump is a long overdue adjustment for inflation only.

 

[GoodyNN]

The sad thing about Target's move to $15 is that in about 18 months, I'll be making more as a PT cashier than my husband who's been at his third shift stocking job and working 40/wk for so long that he's at the top of the scale.

 

[OneArmedJesus]

I dunno, put me in the same camp as people who believe if Cashiers are being paid 15 an hour, they should be able to know more than just using a register, should they know how to do sales floor tasks. Nah. But should they be able to do Front End tasks, like watch SCO and etc, then yeah

 

[RedcardReba]

My store is crosstraining every cashier now in guest services and sco. That training makes better cashiers and the flow works better. It's not rocket science.

 

[GoodyNN]

I'm all for cross training every cashier to SCO. I'm not as confident with regard to GS, simply because I've seen the sorts of people we've been hiring lately and I have my doubts about the ability of a couple people to handle the additional stress.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

90% I think is pushing it. While most can be done at the lanes though, the question is SHOULD they? Fraud etc

I know the 90% is too high. Most of the time guests do not have their original receipt. Then we need to figure out which card they used for the purchase. Now if they need to do an exchange we need them to get the item they want. I could go on and on.

 

[REDcardJJ]

I know the 90% is too high. Most of the time guests do not have their original receipt. Then we need to figure out which card they used for the purchase. Now if they need to do an exchange we need them to get the item they want. I could go on and on.

I really think that you're exaggerating how difficult most returns are.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

My store is crosstraining every cashier now in guest services and sco. That training makes better cashiers and the flow works better. It's not rocket science.

There are some cashiers who should not be at GS because even with training, some do not work out. You need to multi-task at GS and it is a skill some people do not have.

 

[Tessa120]

I really think that you're exaggerating how difficult most returns are.

Someone returns a shirt with the tag attached. Do you look to make sure the brand on the neck tag or the neck printing matches the tag? Do you check the description on the tag to see if it visually goes with the shirt? Do you check to see if the size of the shirt matches the size on the tag? Do you check to see if there's any stains, deodorant marks or tears/split seams that the guest is not telling you about that would make reselling not possible and necessitate defecting out? Do you check the areas that tend to rub like under the arms to see if it's an older shirt rather than a newly bought shirt? If it's a matching outfit like a sleepwear set, do you do all that and then check the top and bottom to make sure they are both the same size? Do you compare the dpci's on both tags?

Returning an item with the tag attached seems like it would be simple, but if you don't do all that then you could be accepting a fraudulent return. Now think from that mindset, there's only a few people accepting returns now, so repeated fraudulent returns could be easily spotted. When everyone's doing returns, it seems like it would be easier to bring stuff in a lot more often and the risk of getting caught would get a lot lower.

 

[gsa4lyfe]

All front end TMs should be trained in every aspect of the front end. If they’re people you think “aren’t the right fit” then they don’t deserve $15 and should be gone. Sure there’s plenty of people with availability that doesn’t make sense for GS but they should all atleast have a basic understanding

 

[REDcardJJ]

Someone returns a shirt with the tag attached. Do you look to make sure the brand on the neck tag or the neck printing matches the tag? Do you check the description on the tag to see if it visually goes with the shirt? Do you check to see if the size of the shirt matches the size on the tag? Do you check to see if there's any stains, deodorant marks or tears/split seams that the guest is not telling you about that would make reselling not possible and necessitate defecting out? Do you check the areas that tend to rub like under the arms to see if it's an older shirt rather than a newly bought shirt? If it's a matching outfit like a sleepwear set, do you do all that and then check the top and bottom to make sure they are both the same size? Do you compare the dpci's on both tags?

No, I'm not going to spend 20 minutes examining one item. Perhaps that's why your returns aren't very quick? If the item they have is the item on their receipt, that's all that matters. People who work at Guest Service need to remember that they are not AP.

 

[LearningTree]

I wouldn't want every cashier processing returns, especially not at SCO. Yes, they should be expected to do more than just simply scanning and bagging. I fully support cashiers knowing how to "fix a mistake" but returns is taking it too far. Maybe it's different at some stores where the applicant pool is decent but at my store we're very much scrapping the bottom of the barrel. Even the veteran cashiers have a hard time fixing small price discrepancies (seriously stop calling over the GSTL for a $1 dollar price difference. F*cking fix it and move on).

Besides, guests expect to get through checkout fairly quickly. Returns tend to slow that down. Even though we'd like to get returns done just as quickly, too often the guests are hunting for their receipt, unsure of which card they used, pissed about some stupid sh*t, etc. At least most guests resign themselves to a longer wait in the returns line.

I'm also very concerned about those scammers that love to take advantage of the newbies and try to get away with shady sh*t. The second we make returns at the front lanes an expectation, you're going to start getting more scammers filling their iPad boxes with rocks and returning.

Target's training structure just doesn't support those kinds of expectations. The best training experience would be a dedicated training store with dedicated training registers. These are not presented as regular registers and there is a very clear distinction between the 2. Give cashiers a week long training, where a trainer can go over everything in detail. As they get further along in their training, they'd invite over real guests. Similar training structure for all positions would be great as well. I've had entry level barista positions that trained like this and the payoff is great. Newly trained TMs go off to their home stores and, while they'll still need a bit of help, they're more of an asset to the team rather than an burden. With training like this you could easily teach cashiers how to do so much more.