MEGATHREAD Flexible Fulfillment

I have all my tms call me before they inf anything. Im curious if other stores do this as well. I told every tm when i started that this was the policy, and only had to document a couple conversations that first week. Its not a problem anymore atleast while im there. 90% of the time i tell them its ok to inf it right away because its something ive already looked for or ismt worth looking for, but ive had green infs since i started besides the week seasonal got tied before they pushed anything 😑.
 
MrT said:
I have all my tms call me before they inf anything. Im curious if other stores do this as well. I told every tm when i started that this was the policy, and only had to document a couple conversations that first week. Its not a problem anymore atleast while im there. 90% of the time i tell them its ok to inf it right away because its something ive already looked for or ismt worth looking for, but ive had green infs since i started besides the week seasonal got tied before they pushed anything 😑.
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Also my drive up team is amazing, idk what they do up there but its very rarely over 2 minutes and usually like 1:10. Even with the crazy numbers above forecast for opus
 
MrT said:
Idk how your store does it but i have my tms check the the designated locations amd immediate area. Depending on the time of day they are supposed to ask the dbo of that area. Every item gets checked with me before an inf. Every style item gets checked with the style tl or etl (supposed to doesnt happen as often as id like). I also have my tms ask about toys and seasonal right away so i can look for them in the back. Last stop is gs for reshop then they inf. I give my tms 10 minutes to look in back and other areas for there items so id say that averages 3 minutes per item. This is all relative to how busy it is that day, but my goal os to help them as much as possible to keep them picking.
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I only ask if the inventory information indicates that I might be missing something. E.g., I have a large on hand, nothing on the floor, and nothing unlocated in the backroom. That's worth checking in with the DBO or appropriate TL to see if they flexed it somewhere weird or have a shipper floating around. I might check in quickly with our inbound TL about possibly rolled freight. Sometimes, I'll check to save time too, like asking our Pfresh person if they have more carrots in the back or the like. Things like that. Otherwise I don't bother and I would kill my TL if she started making me check with people. My INFs are under 3% for the year in OPU with a productivity over 60 UPH though, so no one minds if I just do what I want.
 
I definitely appreciate the tips and encouragement from everyone. How do you guys think Black Friday will be for us with Covid ongoing?
 
seasonaldude said:
I only ask if the inventory information indicates that I might be missing something. E.g., I have a large on hand, nothing on the floor, and nothing unlocated in the backroom. That's worth checking in with the DBO or appropriate TL to see if they flexed it somewhere weird or have a shipper floating around. I might check in quickly with our inbound TL about possibly rolled freight. Sometimes, I'll check to save time too, like asking our Pfresh person if they have more carrots in the back or the like. Things like that. Otherwise I don't bother and I would kill my TL if she started making me check with people. My INFs are under 3% for the year in OPU with a productivity over 60 UPH though, so no one minds if I just do what I want.
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Lol flexes rules at my store
" check with dbo/tm in that section.
Check backstock area for that isle.
Check freight.
Check near by / behind things
Check reshop
"
Oh and non of gm gets audited ever so the number can be crazy off for on-hand.

And style they insist you rfid everything in their breakout, floor and backstock locations.
 
MrT said:
I have all my tms call me before they inf anything. Im curious if other stores do this as well. I told every tm when i started that this was the policy, and only had to document a couple conversations that first week. Its not a problem anymore atleast while im there. 90% of the time i tell them its ok to inf it right away because its something ive already looked for or ismt worth looking for, but ive had green infs since i started besides the week seasonal got tied before they pushed anything 😑.
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They are supposed to ask me but they are too good for it!
I had so many eye roll, I sometimes for kicks, look at the INF on mpm and go find the missing items, just to be petty!!!
 
I had a few tms that im ok with inf on there own but they still check im with me. It does sound annoying but everyone is ok with it. The veterans know when there is no hope of finding something amd they just do a quick he i cant find this item that hasnt been sold in 72 days and i just so its ok. I just try to hold everyone to the same standard so the newbies dont get any ideas and its worked well for me. I definitely audit my infs in mpm. I eben try and do as many of the system generated audits as i can since its mostly infs. I do feel like i might be a bit overkill but my team seems to appreciate the help i give them and it has definitely helped me train some new tms. Most tms dont really care about there metrics but the people that do feel better that they domt have to worry if they have a bad inf because its on me to let them inf
 
MrT said:
I had a few tms that im ok with inf on there own but they still check im with me. It does sound annoying but everyone is ok with it. The veterans know when there is no hope of finding something amd they just do a quick he i cant find this item that hasnt been sold in 72 days and i just so its ok. I just try to hold everyone to the same standard so the newbies dont get any ideas and its worked well for me. I definitely audit my infs in mpm. I eben try and do as many of the system generated audits as i can since its mostly infs. I do feel like i might be a bit overkill but my team seems to appreciate the help i give them and it has definitely helped me train some new tms. Most tms dont really care about there metrics but the people that do feel better that they domt have to worry if they have a bad inf because its on me to let them inf
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I should note that most of my veteran tms for sfs were either turned into dbos or are gone. I have 2 veteran tms and a transfer from another store, i have 3-4 solid tms that are newish, and about 60 people that are less then 6 months into working at spot 😑.
 
BurgerBob said:
Lol flexes rules at my store
" check with dbo/tm in that section.
Check backstock area for that isle.
Check freight.
Check near by / behind things
Check reshop
"
Oh and non of gm gets audited ever so the number can be crazy off for on-hand.

And style they insist you rfid everything in their breakout, floor and backstock locations.
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Yeah, those are the general rules for fulfillment. I just don't follow them. Why bother checking reshop if you're looking for a bath item at 9:00am and your bath DBO came in at 7 and she always, always, always starts her day with her reshop? Why check a backroom aisle if you know that it was just purged last week and the item hasn't been recently delivered? Why bother to check frieght, if the item wasn't delivered today and that section was clean for previous days? Why bother to RFID style breakout for something that wasn't delivered that day when you can just ask the breakout TMs if anything was left over for that brand from the prior day's truck? Why bother to ask a DBO who you know is an idiot that will just ask for the DPCI, walk to the floor location where the item is supposed to be, see nothing and say, "I don't have that." Or even better who will just say, "It says zero on hand. That means we don't have it."



As for auditing GM, I just partner with the appropriate TL or ETL if an area is rough. They'll order an audit when it's needed.
 
Not even a fulfillment TL but just a lonely SFS Q4 captain without the pay increase but some people I literally could not trust to some have any will to inf anything without me verifying it, even those that were hired on at the beginning of this whole covid situation. Then all the seasonals that just cancel black Friday deal stuff that they can't find on the floor but there's like 100 of in the back or they just can't find where it is on the floor is astounding, even after I told them to just ask on the walkie and I wouldn't get mad. I hate to baby people because we are so busy and its such a waste of time, but whenever they have to check their INF's through me they magically go down by a lot.
 
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calimero said:
What are dumbest things a seasonal did?
For me, scan the shoe box and no shoes inside, an empty box to pack.
Hit inf because the item was not in the right place, it was supposed to be (1)3-2-1 but the instant pot was on (1)3-1-1 .
reprint label in OPU and don’t remove any of the security devices!
Inf 65% because she wanted to go on her break and didn’t know what to do.
i am a trainer but haven’t trained anyone yet!
Newbies trained them.
It’s quite entertaining
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Mine keep throwing away the spools for the tape dispensers and have also lost/thrown away the parts for the prep tables for the hanging rolls.
Some of the newbies coming in and working a single batch together.

DatBoi9497 said:
Not even a fulfillment TL but just a lonely SFS Q4 captain without the pay increase but some people I literally could not trust to some have any will to inf anything without me verifying it, even those that were hired on at the beginning of this whole covid situation. Then all the seasonals that just cancel black Friday deal stuff that they can't find on the floor but there's like 100 of in the back or they just can't find where it is on the floor is astounding, even after I told them to just ask on the walkie and I wouldn't get mad. I hate to baby people because we are so busy and its such a waste of time, but whenever they have to check their INF's through me they magically go down by a lot.
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We have so many pallets and flex locations for Christmas lights right now and I keep having to hound folks to check them all as well, 0 on floor 0 in back 350 on hands doesn’t mean they’re not here!!!! I would much rather not hound folks and I thought they’d all be proactive now, but jeez some of them just refuse to get approval and then ding us when they INF multiple boxes of lights before they get caught.
 
Anyone else have fulfillment veterans, leadership, and captains just...not communicating well?

I stepped down as Captain due to the pandemic and now I'm hearing crazy stuff like veterans being pulled and leaving seasonals to pick/pack, the captain bossing the veterans around, leadership letting the captains do whatever they want like they're actual leadership and not glorified babysitters...

One of my vets is really upset about being treated like she doesn't know anything, and another got annoyed about her being upset today and it ended up in an entire argument between 4 of us where I was just like "y'all need to communicate better".

Like...I ran the entirety of fulfillment as Captain last year, 30 seasonals/newbies and 0 vetrans to help, and I didn't have this much drama? I'm not sure how to mediate this, or even if I can/should.
 
I have a few pacesetters/captains. Some focus on opu, the others on sfs. They know they aren't there to replace me, but to support the team. They assist others in finding items, direct TMs on what to do as workflow demands, give peer to peer feedback, and keep me informed on what happened when I was off or on a different shift.

I am trying to stay out of the workload as much as possible so I can support my team with finding items, restocking supplies, or whatever else needs to be done as well as leadership for the store. Yesterday I ended up working at the boat for a bit because I was going through the cage for one of my TMs and the tech TM realized they were going to violate. Later I received a bunch of beer for a vendor because the receiver was gone. Each day is different, lol.

I do have my team talk to me or another leader before INF. I tell them that they don't say that they can't find it, that they need to say I looked in x,y,z and spoke to the dbo, do you have any other ideas? They need to do their due diligence first. Yesterday tech told my TM we were out of Switches so he INF'd it without talking to me. In reality we had 2 trucks, and the 2nd truck push was on a flatbed in the back. The Switches were there. I was pissed. I reminded the TM why he needed to talk to me first.
 
The other day I only picked opu's. I picked more units and had a faster pick speed doing that than anyone doing the regular ship work. Its so sad.

Also, fuck being a "captain". They need to pay people more for that. Me and my fellow vets in ship refused to do it this year.
 
vngoghlvr said:
I can support my team with finding items, restocking supplies, or whatever else needs to be done
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Oh, so the Box Fairy doesn't visit your store, either? My store likes to wait for the Box Fairy to arrive, but she never does. They like us to be picking and packing all night, neglecting to realize that the only boxes not in the steel are S6s. So when I take over the Box Fairy's duties and get on the Wave, I get yelled at because my scheduled hours are being counted in our carryover total, but I'm not picking or packing. But leadership is still waiting in the Box Fairy that will never come.

(Translation: I'm so tired because our seasonals were not given adequate training hours and now the store is requiring them to be perfect as we're still not getting adequate hours to keep the team running.)
 
OrderSickUp said:
Oh, so the Box Fairy doesn't visit your store, either? My store likes to wait for the Box Fairy to arrive, but she never does. They like us to be picking and packing all night, neglecting to realize that the only boxes not in the steel are S6s. So when I take over the Box Fairy's duties and get on the Wave, I get yelled at because my scheduled hours are being counted in our carryover total, but I'm not picking or packing. But leadership is still waiting in the Box Fairy that will never come.

(Translation: I'm so tired because our seasonals were not given adequate training hours and now the store is requiring them to be perfect as we're still not getting adequate hours to keep the team running.)
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Lol, no box fairy. I have made it my mission to train my whole team on the wave and crown to help with that. I was able to use the alcove for pallets of supplies so we try to keep loose stuff in all the steel above our area to make it easier for them to refill. S5, S6, and S7 are easy to grab with a step stool while the bigger boxes are higher. We also keep a box of labels, WAT tape, and 2 airbags at each pack station. OPU has been way busier than ship for us so we aren't blowing through supplies like normal.
 
CassRoslyn said:
Anyone else have fulfillment veterans, leadership, and captains just...not communicating well?

I stepped down as Captain due to the pandemic and now I'm hearing crazy stuff like veterans being pulled and leaving seasonals to pick/pack, the captain bossing the veterans around, leadership letting the captains do whatever they want like they're actual leadership and not glorified babysitters...

One of my vets is really upset about being treated like she doesn't know anything, and another got annoyed about her being upset today and it ended up in an entire argument between 4 of us where I was just like "y'all need to communicate better".

Like...I ran the entirety of fulfillment as Captain last year, 30 seasonals/newbies and 0 vetrans to help, and I didn't have this much drama? I'm not sure how to mediate this, or even if I can/should.
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Yeah. Most of our communication right now is just a sentence or two over the walkie. Misunderstandings are frequent. But, OPUs are now 25% of store sales. We don't have time to communicate. Or to help the seasonals. Or to help DUTMs. Our TL went overnight because no other TL wanted to do it, so we can't run everything through that avenue even.

It's been fun.
 
The box fairy is slacking off big time, I’m the only one at my store who deals with the boxes and the etls like to pull me away from the area weeks at a time. When I’m able to actually work in my own area it usually takes me 2 hours to get everything sorted to where I can figure out what we need for an order.
 
seasonaldude said:
Yeah. Most of our communication right now is just a sentence or two over the walkie. Misunderstandings are frequent. But, OPUs are now 25% of store sales. We don't have time to communicate. Or to help the seasonals. Or to help DUTMs. Our TL went overnight because no other TL wanted to do it, so we can't run everything through that avenue even.

It's been fun.
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Our TL is out with Covid, and our overnights are run till 2am by the closing lead and and then truck lead comes in. So it's a whole other realm of "wtf going on in fulfillment rn".

And it's not so much they have no time to communicate. OPU is running fine, it's our Ship that's sinking and the vetrans there are being treated (by captains with less experience) as if they're no better than seasonals themselves. This was just brought to my attention and idk how to help my vets, who I still feel responsible for since I trained them. I guess I can't really do anything, though...
 
Why wont anyone deal with boxes??? I am seriously the only one who will deal with it at my store too and its obnoxious. Overnight crew has had nothing to do all week with carrier restrictions- but all pallets are empty. They will seriously get the wave and pull down bundles rather than get the pallets down.
 
spottymcspot said:
Why wont anyone deal with boxes??? I am seriously the only one who will deal with it at my store too and its obnoxious. Overnight crew has had nothing to do all week with carrier restrictions- but all pallets are empty. They will seriously get the wave and pull down bundles rather than get the pallets down.
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So logical. It's easier to put pallets there when deliveries arrive. DUH.
 

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