MEGATHREAD Flexible Fulfillment

[seasonaldude]

Ehhh. Every year so far my store has been deader than dead during the deal days. I'm not holding my breath this year will be busier, but maybe we will be.

Exactly. Deal Days and Fun Runs have always been a big bust. People are too busy shopping on Amazon and we're usually way under normal volume. Unfortunately, what we do get is often a pain in the ass to pick. But, it's good for hours, I guess.

 

[CassRoslyn]

People are too busy shopping on Amazon

I mean, yeah, because their deals are a lot more interesting. Target's deals are...blah. Like, wow $5 off a pair of headphones. Oooo 15% off an instapot. Snore. Same deals we have all the dang time but hyped way up.

We'd be a ton busier if Target actually put any effort into their deals. But they don't~

 

[Bosch]

We only got slammed on grocery today, everything else was chaos since people have been fired, quit or called out.. I am still covering the receiving and they kept bugging me to pick, but no one wanted to come check in vendors for me to go pick.. So never picked a batch.. They were not going to make the 4:30 goal time, and were blowing some OPU goal times as well. Bad day all around.

 

[CosmicFish]

All of us SFS folks have been scheduled for a 6th day next week because of Target Deal Days. Our SFS numbers run high anyway and if TDD bumps them up even higher we will struggle as we're short staffed already. Between Father's Day, Target Deal Days and the run-up to the 4th of July we've all been told to expect overtime this coming week and next.

 

[slowhands]

We've had our hours cut drastically the next two weeks. We dont even have full coverage some days.

 

[seasonaldude]

We've had our hours cut drastically the next two weeks. We dont even have full coverage some days.

Same. We've actually been there for the last couple of weeks. Naturally, we've been well over forecast every day too. It's great.

 

[Bosch]

If you are interested here is a barcode sheet (I didn’t make just found) that uses the new codes SFS box barcodes

Didn't see unil now, so borrowed. Thanks!

 

[JustMeT]

So I saw a communication that says starting June 10, we should have been able to start selecting a location from the taskbar in e-pick instead of having to press skip a million times. I tried it yesterday, but it didn't work. Is it just an ASANTS thing, or has it just not rolled out to all stores yet? My co-worker said it was working for OPU, but I haven't been in OPUs to try it out lately. Has anyone else been able to do this?

 

[gracefulfillment]

So I saw a communication that says starting June 10, we should have been able to start selecting a location from the taskbar in e-pick instead of having to press skip a million times. I tried it yesterday, but it didn't work. Is it just an ASANTS thing, or has it just not rolled out to all stores yet? My co-worker said it was working for OPU, but I haven't been in OPUs to try it out lately. Has anyone else been able to do this?

My store has it for OPU. The POG location in the task list will be in blue type and you'll be able to select it to skip directly to that location (or backroom location) rather than skip, skip, skip, skip... through the whole list. It will come to standard later this year when standard gets the other updates OPU has gotten (DPCI vs task count, no resetting, etc.)

 

[JustMeT]

I was able to try it today when I was in a few OPU batches. Pretty cool. I'm in Ship batches more, so I definitely look forward to when it is available for that, and the DPCI count.

 

[BadWolf4531]

Also, for those whose stores are poor at communicating...

According to the July Planner, guests will soon have the option to select "backup grocery items" for select categories when placing an OPU. Basically, substitutions made in advance. So essentially, if you INF something and the guest has selected a backup item in its place, your batch will populate with a list of "backup items" so that the guest can still get something similar to their original request. Not sure how many items it will apply to at rollout, but sounds like the list will increase as the year goes on. I think it's a good idea. How many times have you needed to INF something when we had a bigger or smaller size available? Or the same item, just different brand?

 

[lucidtm]

Also, for those whose stores are poor at communicating...

According to the July Planner, guests will soon have the option to select "backup grocery items" for select categories when placing an OPU. Basically, substitutions made in advance. So essentially, if you INF something and the guest has selected a backup item in its place, your batch will populate with a list of "backup items" so that the guest can still get something similar to their original request. Not sure how many items it will apply to at rollout, but sounds like the list will increase as the year goes on. I think it's a good idea. How many times have you needed to INF something when we had a bigger or smaller size available? Or the same item, just different brand?

This is wonderful! Hopefully they take into consideration the same products (literally exactly the same) with different DCPI numbers.

For example... we have some SPF & Skincare that have 2-3 different DCPI numbers (so the brands & Target can see where the products are selling best at... regular location, seasonal, endcap, check lanes, etc) - they're the exact same product with a different UPC label over the regular UPC label. It's a real kick in the butt to have to INF something that is right there that you can't pick because of the company's marketing tricks. I get why they're doing it, but for cases like SFS & OPU the DCPI numbers should be merged.

 

[Shizle7]

Also, for those whose stores are poor at communicating...

According to the July Planner, guests will soon have the option to select "backup grocery items" for select categories when placing an OPU. Basically, substitutions made in advance. So essentially, if you INF something and the guest has selected a backup item in its place, your batch will populate with a list of "backup items" so that the guest can still get something similar to their original request. Not sure how many items it will apply to at rollout, but sounds like the list will increase as the year goes on. I think it's a good idea. How many times have you needed to INF something when we had a bigger or smaller size available? Or the same item, just different brand?

Very interesting. I wonder how they will handle the replacement with the guest.

With Giant grocery delivery, it will show you a replacement item-you can select or choose not to select as a replacement. If the replacement item is used and it costs more vs original item, you pay original item (lesser) cost. If it costs less, you pay the lesser cost.

I know with Shipt at Target, if they show you a replacement and you agree, you are paying that replacement cost regardless of if it is more or less.

 

[FulfillmentMatt]

My state is moving away from plastic bags July 1, so today my store already started switching over. My lead put up all the new PAPER bags in our mobile cart and grocery hold areas today. Just one size (for now). Our mobile cart has been adjusted to have room for all the bags in the hold locations, but these bags take up SO MUCH SPACE in the cooler/freezer wacos. Oh, well. Just day one.

they do look really nice, though. I can definitely see the company eventually phasing out plastic bags completely - not just in states that are moving to ban plastic bags in general.

 

[LUNCHpod]

If we have a 2:30p pickup on Saturday, will ship on time show 100% no matter what? Also with no pickup on Sunday, we can schedule people later with no consequence, right? So sort of let ship stay heavier in the early morning and have more people come in at 10-2 than 8.

 

[LUNCHpod]

My state is moving away from plastic bags July 1, so today my store already started switching over. My lead put up all the new PAPER bags in our mobile cart and grocery hold areas today. Just one size (for now). Our mobile cart has been adjusted to have room for all the bags in the hold locations, but these bags take up SO MUCH SPACE in the cooler/freezer wacos. Oh, well. Just day one.

they do look really nice, though. I can definitely see the company eventually phasing out plastic bags completely - not just in states that are moving to ban plastic bags in general.

My state's bag ban starts July 1, but we are going to start using the reusable plastic bags, kind of like the old pickup bags

 

[BadWolf4531]

If we have a 2:30p pickup on Saturday, will ship on time show 100% no matter what? Also with no pickup on Sunday, we can schedule people later with no consequence, right? So sort of let ship stay heavier in the early morning and have more people come in at 10-2 than 8.

The way I've interpreted it, as long as you've (a) sorted all of your Due by 4:30 and (b) scanned out your pallets each day there is a scheduled carrier pickup, by end of day, you will be 100%. So, in theory, if you didn't get everything sorted until 5:00, but you were still able to hand off everything to the carrier, you wouldn't get penalized. So yes, Sunday's workload could be finished a little bit later if necessary.

I would have your SD reach out about the 2:30 Saturday pickup. In my mind, if they think you're supposed to have a pickup, then anything in your Due by 4:30s for that day that aren't handed off at 2:30 would go against your Ship on Time score (which is bogus).

 

[CassRoslyn]

We had a weird thing happen with the new ship on time metric. I finished packing everything by 2pm Monday and scanned out our sheet so no one else had to remember to. Someone went and grabbed a carry over cart after that but it didn't get packed until this morning because opu blew up I guess, idk.

So, the weird thing was: our ship on time metric was at like 98% for yesterday on Greenfield this morning? Like the carryover being picked before our official UPS pickup time effected something? Even though it was a new pallet and not for that day.

 

[vyrt]

We had a weird thing happen with the new ship on time metric. I finished packing everything by 2pm Monday and scanned out our sheet so no one else had to remember to. Someone went and grabbed a carry over cart after that but it didn't get packed until this morning because opu blew up I guess, idk.

So, the weird thing was: our ship on time metric was at like 98% for yesterday on Greenfield this morning? Like the carryover being picked before our official UPS pickup time effected something? Even though it was a new pallet and not for that day.

I’ve been noticing issues with ours too. It would be slow some days and they’d finish the 4:30 hella early but still show as not on time.

 

[LollipopBoyz]

I’ve had my SD forward me emails she’s received and from my understanding the way the Ship on Time metric works is, each pallet is to have a unique pallet slip and they aren’t supposed to be scanned out until the carrier comes to pick up from 4:30-6:30pm(for UPS). The reason being is you can create a carrier issue if the carrier doesn’t take everything or doesn’t show up at all. With a carrier issue submitted, your store will still receive credit for ship on time since it is out of your control if the carrier doesn’t do their part. It is also important you don’t try to cheat the system and lie saying the carrier missed a pick up or didn’t take everything because they can do video review for validation. Also it appears that if your store happens to get all the “due today by 4:30” units picked, packed, and sorted and then start working ahead - all future units that are packed before 4:30pm also need to be shipped for 100% ship on time.

 

[LollipopBoyz]

The way I've interpreted it, as long as you've (a) sorted all of your Due by 4:30 and (b) scanned out your pallets each day there is a scheduled carrier pickup, by end of day, you will be 100%. So, in theory, if you didn't get everything sorted until 5:00, but you were still able to hand off everything to the carrier, you wouldn't get penalized. So yes, Sunday's workload could be finished a little bit later if necessary.

I would have your SD reach out about the 2:30 Saturday pickup. In my mind, if they think you're supposed to have a pickup, then anything in your Due by 4:30s for that day that aren't handed off at 2:30 would go against your Ship on Time score (which is bogus).

Each pallet is supposed to have unique pallet slips for that reason, so that if the carrier does an early pickup and doesn’t come back later to get the rest of due by 4:30 units then we are able to hold them accountable by submitting a carrier issue - this way you still receive credit for ship on time

 

[BadWolf4531]

Each pallet is supposed to have unique pallet slips for that reason, so that if the carrier does an early pickup and doesn’t come back later to get the rest of due by 4:30 units then we are able to hold them accountable by submitting a carrier issue - this way you still receive credit for ship on time

Ah, that makes sense. Our store has never created unique pallets only because we have only one carrier and the pickup time is always 4:30 M-F. We do get a drop trailer on weekends, so we have a unique pallet for anything that goes onto that, but that's pretty much it.

 

[DatBoi9497]

Our store just uses one barcode since we only have one pack station and UPS can always take what we have or they just have another driver come take whats left. Today we are starting to use Fedex as well so we'll have two barcodes one for each carrier but getting our tms to actually scan out the pallet and not just throw the label in the trash is another issue...

 

[CassRoslyn]

but getting our tms to actually scan out the pallet and not just throw the label in the trash is another issue...

I feel this. I often come back from my days off to unscanned pallets either: in the trash, with newer pallet stickers stuck over them, or just hanging out stuck to a pack station. Or sometimes they like to spice things up and scan out the pallets...but the weekend pallet(s) that haven't been physically picked up because it's, ya know, a Sunday. Sigh.

 

[MrGSTLman]

Question - and if this was posted somewhere I'm sorry -- it's easier than reading through 414 pages.

Was there ever a function in the ePick app, similar to the Pickup app, that would tell you where a guest's additional orders are placed? For example: if a guest makes multiple separate orders before picking them up did the app (or any version of the app for that matter) tell you what hold locations they were in so they could be placed close together? Not sure if I'm making sense here but it's serviceable for this late hour.