Archived End of IGS?

[fiddlesteinfip]

My store, and it seems like a few more stores in my group, are getting a remodel in March. One of the aspects of this remodel is that Guest Service is moving back into "the wall," (for lack of a better term) just like how all Targets used to have it.

Looks like the new GS will have one register specifically for OPU, and two registers for regular GS functions. The back area will be a bigger area for OPU and STS storage, along with hold storage.

So was IGS just a failed experiment? It seems so strange they'd get rid of it after only a few years.

 

[legend2828]

I've worked at IGS stores and non IGS and the actual desk is much better and I think they should kill IGS

 

[The Dude Abides]

IGS was an idea that anyone who had actually worked in a store could tell was a bad idea from a mile away.

 

[Yetive]

I think they rushed IGS into some of the stores without considering OPU at all. Many of the IGS stores are smaller, so it is more difficult for them to staff a separate OPU area, but there isn't enough space to house OPU at an IGS, especially at this time of year.

 

[HRZone]

So was IGS just a failed experiment?

IGS was fine before the era of self checkouts.

At a lower volume store with only 8 lanes and no SCO, you needed the flexibility to have 11 lanes for checkout.

My store is turning our cafe into guest services for our remodel and our current IGS will probably become self checkout

 

[Anelmi]

Ours is supposed to switch over sometime this summer.

 

[can't touch this]

IGS was an idea that anyone who had actually worked in a store could tell was a bad idea from a mile away.

^^^^this, pretty much all the dumb shit we have to do can be attributed to decision makers who live on another planet in another galaxy in a parallel dimension

 

[RhettB]

If not for SPU, it would work in an ULV store.

 

[can't touch this]

also, self checkouts should be a grim reminder that if Blade Runner quality AI ever hits the market it will instantaneously obsolete every last one of us and you can bet that corporate already has a game plan for when the erotically cheap android staff is rolled out

 

[domesticsdude]

Can someone describe what IGS looks like? I’ve never really understood what the difference is.

 

[PackAndCry]

Can someone describe what IGS looks like? I’ve never really understood what the difference is.

Guest Service is at the registers, and their signs say "Returns and Checkout", and they end up functioning as both registers and guest service. It's a way for Spot to try to save money on cashiers, I guess, and let guests take care of returning stuff and checking out at the same time (as if they want to prance around the store with their returns in their cart), but it doesn't work in practice.

 

[Goingstrong]

IGS was a Greg thing. He hated the "waste" of payroll that is a service desk, so if we can absorb that into the regular cash grid, it's a win.

Have to remember, "back in the day" we were very anti self-check because it took away part of our touch point with the guest, and OPU wasn't on anyone's radar. Hell, we didn't even operate our own website, Target.com was operated by ::dum dum dummmm:: Amazon.

So glad we're finally killing this stupid idea.

 

[Yetive]

Target.com was operated by ::dum dum dummmm:: Amazon.

And it hasn't worked as well since.

 

[Anelmi]

Actually IGS works pretty well in my store.

 

[Leo47]

I actually like the “old” GS we have with the big desk and the wall hiding all the reshop. I just wish the back area was A LOT bigger because once you put more than 1 cart that needs to be sorted back there it’s almost impossible to move around. It was a damn nightmare Black Friday/cyber week trying to get to peoples’ order pickups when it was all literally blocked by sorts

 

[Tyrant]

I actually like the “old” GS we have with the big desk and the wall hiding all the reshop. I just wish the back area was A LOT bigger because once you put more than 1 cart that needs to be sorted back there it’s almost impossible to move around. It was a damn nightmare Black Friday/cyber week trying to get to peoples’ order pickups when it was all literally blocked by sorts

You're allowed to have vehicles back there? Carts even? Our GS has been forbidden from all of that, so basically reshop just sits on the desk or on the floor until people pick it up.

Yes the salesfloor is supposed to pick it up on the regular but with how short staffed we are it's not very practical to constantly make runs up front.

 

[Leo47]

You're allowed to have vehicles back there? Carts even? Our GS has been forbidden from all of that, so basically reshop just sits on the desk or on the floor until people pick it up.

Yes the salesfloor is supposed to pick it up on the regular but with how short staffed we are it's not very practical to constantly make runs up front.

That sounds so ugly lol. We just walkie each department every time their cart gets full. Someone grabs it and replaces it with an empty cart (or they’re supposed to, seasonals are really bad about just taking their cart and not replacing it). We do a return then just turn around and throw the item in its corresponding cart behind the wall, keeps the desk area clean and looking nice. We also keep all defects/CSC/vendor pickup etc back there hidden

 

[SFSFun]

That sounds so ugly lol. We just walkie each department every time their cart gets full. Someone grabs it and replaces it with an empty cart (or they’re supposed to, seasonals are really bad about just taking their cart and not replacing it). We do a return then just turn around and throw the item in its corresponding cart behind the wall, keeps the desk area clean and looking nice. We also keep all defects/CSC/vendor pickup etc back there hidden

We used to do that, but it was deemed too messy looking. So now returns get piled up on the floor and on the ledge where guests can see it much more clearly and it's in an unsorted mess that you have to dig through to find reshop for your area.

 

[On6]

IGS was a flawed plan from the start. Even people at corporate knew it. We had a new store open up a couple years ago right around the time IGS became a thing. Even then I knew the company wasn't "all-in" on the plan, evidenced by the fact that they still set aside the space that was traditionally used for the guest service desk as a back up plan.

Currently that space is used for One Spot/Bulleyes Playground/whatever they call it now. In January that store is due to get a remodel to move the service desk.