MEGATHREAD Flexible Fulfillment

mathprofmatt said:
I got in at 5:00 yesterday and we were out of collates. 😳 We had already borrowed a box the day before from the closest store. Our SD had to drive to the nearest office supply store and buy legal paper. Our packers were cutting and taping shipping labels all night. We're also out of 454s, 280s, and 278s.

Thank God I'm off the rest of the week.
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Wow, glad my store no longer uses collates.
 
Can someone tell me how this one store can get this score for a whole month?? Yearly looks similar to this as well :oops:


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Can I get some tips on how to get my packers to pack faster. I know they’re not machines but our pack productivity is consistently in the toilet
 
Dog said:
Can I get some tips on how to get my packers to pack faster. I know they’re not machines but our pack productivity is consistently in the toilet
Click to expand...
Identify the underlying problems. Are they having to constantly stop to refill supplies? Is it because they don’t know how to troubleshoot if something jams back there? Or a general disinterest? I tell my team that one cart goes in, one has to come out. I’m going to give you guys a five minute warning when I’m finishing up my pick so that you have another cart ready for me when I need it.
 
Dog said:
Can I get some tips on how to get my packers to pack faster. I know they’re not machines but our pack productivity is consistently in the toilet
Click to expand...
Carts need to be prepped 100% before they pack, and the prep tables need a zebra printer to print UPC labels in myWork to stick on the items where the bubble wrap/hexcel covers up the barcode. They shouldn't have to prep ANYTHING as they are packing, the pack score doesn't account for them doing that. They should be building the box or grabbing the polybag and putting the items in it as they scan them, not scan them, build the box, then pack them. (Which sucks if the container is cancelled, but it does increase the speed)
 
INFThatShiz said:
Identify the underlying problems. Are they having to constantly stop to refill supplies? Is it because they don’t know how to troubleshoot if something jams back there? Or a general disinterest? I tell my team that one cart goes in, one has to come out. I’m going to give you guys a five minute warning when I’m finishing up my pick so that you have another cart ready for me when I need it.
Click to expand...
We have a giant organization problem. I am at a 6 pack station store and the carts that are prepped, not prepped, paused, empty, reshop all get shoved into the same spot. We don’t have the clips to put on carts (not sure if any stores do anymore?) so we use post it notes and they fall off or stay on the carts even when it should have a different note and people get confused. There’s really not too much space to navigate either and it’s a little crowded! They are also having a problem finding items on the carts while packing - with lots of large toy items and small appliances, bedding, etc it’s hard enough to fit everything on the cart as it is and they have to spend a lot of time digging through the cart to find stuff. (I showed them how to skip to the next container when they don’t immediately find something but they don’t do it.) Also stuff missing off of carts is slowing them down as I mentioned in one of my previous posts which sucks big time.

they show a general lack of interest as well so I would love to find a way to make it fun or motivate them
 
Honestly I’m just not really sure how to organize this. I have 40-80 people scheduled in ship per day and I’ll have all of the prep and pack stations full but they are still picking faster than the packers pack and we have a bunch of carts to pack at the end of the night. It gets way too crowded when we try to have 2 to a pack station despite the fact that we have the pack station extenders... should I just tell them to suck it up and double up?? But I feel like being crammed 2 to a space sucks for productivity also
 
PackAndCry said:
Carts need to be prepped 100% before they pack, and the prep tables need a zebra printer to print UPC labels in myWork to stick on the items where the bubble wrap/hexcel covers up the barcode. They shouldn't have to prep ANYTHING as they are packing, the pack score doesn't account for them doing that. They should be building the box or grabbing the polybag and putting the items in it as they scan them, not scan them, build the box, then pack them. (Which sucks if the container is cancelled, but it does increase the speed)
Click to expand...

Doesn't that negate why they added the "what box to use" prompt after you scan the items? I mean, they added it for a reason, right?
 
How many fucking clothes do people have to get in a single order my god

I refuse to go to the back. We're taking a double every day. I'm just not doing that. Maybe if I wasn't on day nine in a row I'd actually give a shit.
 
Why was yesterday worse than Black Friday & Cyber Monday combined? From stuff I'm seeing on reddit, my store wasn't alone in going red for SFS.

I walked into a total mess at 2:00, with more orders than we could handle by far. I've seen us not make goal for packing only twice before, yesterday was the first time we missed goal for picking by 4:30 as well. And we missed it by a lot, almost 500 dpcis, which is more than a regular, non Q-4 day for our store. They kept picking but meanwhile noting was prepped and the carts kept stacking up...ran out of SFS carts, almost ran out of 3-tiers too. I was scheduled to close and had two newbies scheduled who didn't show, one seasonal was scheduled but walked off the job mid-shift on Saturday, and a seasonal tm did a no call, no show...I lost most of who was actually there at 6:30 & 7:30. My tl went to lunch and said she'd be back, but never returned. She gave strict instructions to keep picking and ignore the pack. The SD later called and said stop picking, just pack. The closing tl saw the mess and asked a couple of people to stay, so we had several of us stay till 1 am and we still didn't get it done. I took my lunch, but no breaks because there was just so much work and there was absolutely nothing more I could have done. I'm sure that one ETL will say that we just didn't work hard enough *eyeroll*

I hate that the team this morning walked into a nightmare too and I can't wait to hear the fallout from this...it's demoralizing.
 
Dog said:
We have a giant organization problem. I am at a 6 pack station store and the carts that are prepped, not prepped, paused, empty, reshop all get shoved into the same spot. We don’t have the clips to put on carts (not sure if any stores do anymore?) so we use post it notes and they fall off or stay on the carts even when it should have a different note and people get confused. There’s really not too much space to navigate either and it’s a little crowded! They are also having a problem finding items on the carts while packing - with lots of large toy items and small appliances, bedding, etc it’s hard enough to fit everything on the cart as it is and they have to spend a lot of time digging through the cart to find stuff. (I showed them how to skip to the next container when they don’t immediately find something but they don’t do it.) Also stuff missing off of carts is slowing them down as I mentioned in one of my previous posts which sucks big time.

they show a general lack of interest as well so I would love to find a way to make it fun or motivate them
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Mystery carts on a daily basis, missing items on a daily basis, having to hunt down small items buried in a cart rather than place for easy access daily...most people would lose their spunk and simply do their time and clock in and out because it would seem that nothing they do is going to make things right, and nothing they do is going to fix the problems that prevent the logical processes that would help them make a real difference.
 
I printed out little signs on magnet sheets that say prep, pack, paused, and audit for my team to slap on the carts so we know what's what. I got tired of wasting post it notes. I also made a bunch of SFS cart tags and put them on binder rings so if people are picking in 3 tiers or tubs (we were that busy the past few days) they can grab a tag, attach it to their vehicle, and we remove it when packed. It helped a lot.
 

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I'm so proud of my team, we came completely clean last night, had a happy pop in from our DTL. He was asking me what I did before Target, and seemed pleased when I said I used to manage a store before doing the mom thing for 15ish years.
 
Dog said:
There has to be a problem with the system I’m thinking, there’s absolutely no way that we should be having so much stuff missing off of carts when we go to pack them? My ETL and I personally picked carts and went to pack them immediately after and it was asking us to pack things that epick never had us put on the carts. I don’t get it. I’m sure this is happening to other team members and we’re missing a ton of stuff every day. Anyone else having this problem? Should I call 701?
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I’ve never seen so many things not be there than this past week. I’d look for an item with an TM, cancel it and then minutes later it would says to scan it in.
 
vngoghlvr said:
I printed out little signs on magnet sheets that say prep, pack, paused, and audit for my team to slap on the carts so we know what's what. I got tired of wasting post it notes. I also made a bunch of SFS cart tags and put them on binder rings so if people are picking in 3 tiers or tubs (we were that busy the past few days) they can grab a tag, attach it to their vehicle, and we remove it when packed. It helped a lot.
Click to expand...
That's brilliant! Thanks for the suggestions.

I did make myself something similar, a binder ring that is attached to my box cutter cord with a couple of SHP cart designations that I use for OPUs. It's so much easier when on the go to scan the one at my hip instead of scanning physical cart locations. It's a pain to bring my cart into the HBA stockroom or down a backroom aisle, so this is a lifesaver. I can also pick up a second set of OPUs without having to pause anything with my first cart. However I hadn't thought of doing that for when we have to resort to 3-tiers or flats for ship alones...genius!
 
The One in Red said:
Why was yesterday worse than Black Friday & Cyber Monday combined? From stuff I'm seeing on reddit, my store wasn't alone in going red for SFS.

I walked into a total mess at 2:00, with more orders than we could handle by far. I've seen us not make goal for packing only twice before, yesterday was the first time we missed goal for picking by 4:30 as well. And we missed it by a lot, almost 500 dpcis, which is more than a regular, non Q-4 day for our store. They kept picking but meanwhile noting was prepped and the carts kept stacking up...ran out of SFS carts, almost ran out of 3-tiers too. I was scheduled to close and had two newbies scheduled who didn't show, one seasonal was scheduled but walked off the job mid-shift on Saturday, and a seasonal tm did a no call, no show...I lost most of who was actually there at 6:30 & 7:30. My tl went to lunch and said she'd be back, but never returned. She gave strict instructions to keep picking and ignore the pack. The SD later called and said stop picking, just pack. The closing tl saw the mess and asked a couple of people to stay, so we had several of us stay till 1 am and we still didn't get it done. I took my lunch, but no breaks because there was just so much work and there was absolutely nothing more I could have done. I'm sure that one ETL will say that we just didn't work hard enough *eyeroll*

I hate that the team this morning walked into a nightmare too and I can't wait to hear the fallout from this...it's demoralizing.
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Don't forget that while you are working through your breaks, the people in upper management are at home asleep benefiting from you not taking them.
 
Lol SD and DSD are still dumb and don't know how pick/sort by close works. They're under the impression that the team is being lazy because there's always something to be picked. It cannot be that orders drop in all day every day. 🤔
 
Antennae said:
If you come clean with 0 pick/0 pack by store close, does that mean your store will get more orders?
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You are only ever going to get 10% more than forecasted which is set a few weeks out and is available on greenfield. They due this because of scheduling. They can send you more and adjust your forecast but have to get approval from the store first to make sure they can handle it.

Antennae said:
Lol SD and DSD are still dumb and don't know how pick/sort by close works. They're under the impression that the team is being lazy because there's always something to be picked. It cannot be that orders drop in all day every day. 🤔
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You shouldn’t get much after 8pm
 
Last edited:
Besides prepping, what tricks do you guys use to increase pack speed?

3 packers all over 100 speed....couldn't knock off 3k in 8 hours....do you use a 4th prepping? Or finishing taping boxes?
 
We have been green across the board all week. Strategies used by our TL include:
1) Pack stations ALWAYS in use. If sort needs to be done, call someone. If break or lunch is taken, the packer must be covered.
2) 1 person per station. He found that extra people packing actually slows the process.
3) You can have extra people prepping and still be efficient there.
4) Use your team where they are best--If they suck at packing, they don't pack, regardless of how much they want to.
5) Everyone helps. From SD to Starbucks, we have all been picking, prepping, or packing at some point (I'm a great picker, but I suck at packing, lol).
6) TL is on top of everything. He knows where everyone is, where we stand, what needs done. He calls out TM stats on the walkie (good ones) which truly motivates everyone.
 
Yetive said:
We have been green across the board all week. Strategies used by our TL include:
1) Pack stations ALWAYS in use. If sort needs to be done, call someone. If break or lunch is taken, the packer must be covered.
2) 1 person per station. He found that extra people packing actually slows the process.
3) You can have extra people prepping and still be efficient there.
4) Use your team where they are best--If they suck at packing, they don't pack, regardless of how much they want to.
5) Everyone helps. From SD to Starbucks, we have all been picking, prepping, or packing at some point (I'm a great picker, but I suck at packing, lol).
6) TL is on top of everything. He knows where everyone is, where we stand, what needs done. He calls out TM stats on the walkie (good ones) which truly motivates everyone.
Click to expand...

Yeah my SD has definitely gotten this message. She's been on pack and running the ship back there, keeping everything running smooth.
 

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