MEGATHREAD Flexible Fulfillment

Question for fulfillment and service desk. Obviously everyone knows how brutal Q4 is for OPU. Obviously when guests are picking up orders something I think would obviously be helpful is if all the bags are located in the same area. How hard would it be to label the isles from 0-9 and whatever number the order ended with would be where the bag went. Obviously cooler and freezer bags wouldn’t be effected and there would still be a section for big items. This would allow for big orders to all be put in the same area making orders that took minutes only seconds. Thoughts on this idea.
 
azure said:
Question for fulfillment and service desk. Obviously everyone knows how brutal Q4 is for OPU. Obviously when guests are picking up orders something I think would obviously be helpful is if all the bags are located in the same area. How hard would it be to label the isles from 0-9 and whatever number the order ended with would be where the bag went. Obviously cooler and freezer bags wouldn’t be effected and there would still be a section for big items. This would allow for big orders to all be put in the same area making orders that took minutes only seconds. Thoughts on this idea.
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From a GS point of view, order number doesn’t matter. It tells us where to get the bag, we get it. Having all the orders that end in 9 being together wouldn’t help us in any way because those orders aren’t related. Now if you did it by last name, so one persons orders were all together, that would be good
 
secretsanta said:
Did you guys have a slow weekend for SFS and then get slammed with a ton of units last night? That’s what happened to us so we are had an insane amount of carryover today
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Honestly, this was a fairly normal Sunday ---> Monday for us. Granted our forecast is about 25% higher right now for SFS, but I've seen worse. The big difference today was that we weren't able to get help from any other areas, which we normally have to do to get through our Monday numbers.

This is more the result of being down ~7 leaders for the last two months, including an ETL-GM, and payroll being super tight in July, yet we've still been taking triples 3-4 days a week. We're at least 4 trucks behind right now and at the point where if it came on a recent truck it's getting an automatic INF because there are just endless rows of repacks 6 feet tall under the steel.

I think it's safe to say we're officially drowning -- SFS is being shut off, trucks are being cancelled, and DSD is coming tomorrow along with support teams from two other stores just to help get us caught up.
 
azure said:
Question for fulfillment and service desk. Obviously everyone knows how brutal Q4 is for OPU. Obviously when guests are picking up orders something I think would obviously be helpful is if all the bags are located in the same area. How hard would it be to label the isles from 0-9 and whatever number the order ended with would be where the bag went. Obviously cooler and freezer bags wouldn’t be effected and there would still be a section for big items. This would allow for big orders to all be put in the same area making orders that took minutes only seconds. Thoughts on this idea.
Click to expand...

No...And, no to the alphabetical idea below too. While they sound alright in theory, the ebb and flow of orders just doesn't allow for it. Sometimes, there isn't going to be room in the dedicated section for each order. Fulfillment will have to place bags elsewhere due to space at times. And, inevitably GS is going to bitch about that because by the time the guest finally arrives to get their shit, the dedicated space will be empty. It will just cause more tension between teams.

And, let's be honest. Fulfillment already has a lot or rules about putting things to hold. Those rules are difficult enough to get them to follow. Please don't add another headache for TLs/Pacesetters.

I will say that I always do try to place every guest's order within one four foot section, whenever possible given our many other restrictions. I train others to do so as well. I know where you're coming from. Just don't make it a rule. Keep it a guideline.
 
mathprofmatt said:
So, umm, how was everyone else's Monday?View attachment 12722View attachment 12723
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Our printer is still down with "No ETA for repair". It went down last Thursday.. The replacement printer showed up about 2min before I was about to walk out for the day. Cause we are three station store <looks around for where the other two stations are? Don't see them, cause they don't exist.> Que TL and STL blowing gaskets and making phones scream for mercy..

azure: I place each bag of one order in a different waco, why? Cause the idiots we had for a long time pulling those orders would grab one bag of the entire order and leave stuff behind so every bag now has to get pulled from a different location. We tried post it notes with "3 12pks" They still grabbed the one and left the other two, same with lining them up behind each other. Nope, grabbed the front one left the others. So all stowed individually.
 
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mathprofmatt said:
Honestly, this was a fairly normal Sunday ---> Monday for us. Granted our forecast is about 25% higher right now for SFS, but I've seen worse. The big difference today was that we weren't able to get help from any other areas, which we normally have to do to get through our Monday numbers.

This is more the result of being down ~7 leaders for the last two months, including an ETL-GM, and payroll being super tight in July, yet we've still been taking triples 3-4 days a week. We're at least 4 trucks behind right now and at the point where if it came on a recent truck it's getting an automatic INF because there are just endless rows of repacks 6 feet tall under the steel.

I think it's safe to say we're officially drowning -- SFS is being shut off, trucks are being cancelled, and DSD is coming tomorrow along with support teams from two other stores just to help get us caught up.
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I wish we got support from other areas. Your open units in OPU is INSANE in that photo… are you in an area hit hard with Covid right now? Cuz we generally have - 2000-3000+ forecast units for OPU (havent met forecast and usually do around 1700-2300) and 2000+ for SFS. However we are very understaffed for inbound with double everyday and regularly roll over at a minimum 1 truck. Last week we canceled several trucks and they shut down SFS for the sole purpose of using SFS hours to push
 
secretsanta said:
I wish we got support from other areas. Your open units in OPU is INSANE in that photo… are you in an area hit hard with Covid right now? Cuz we generally have - 2000-3000+ forecast units for OPU (havent met forecast and usually do around 1700-2300) and 2000+ for SFS. However we are very understaffed for inbound with double everyday and regularly roll over at a minimum 1 truck. Last week we canceled several trucks and they shut down SFS for the sole purpose of using SFS hours to push
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I take that back… I wish they would hire / retain more for inbound because that’s what screws us over in the end…. Having to sacrifice productivity or INF because truck is consistently rolled over is a daily struggle. I try to show the ETLs how our numbers are phenomenal when we come clean on the truck but all I get is “we need to work harder/faster” like …. ??? Logic doesn’t exist with them
 
secretsanta said:
I take that back… I wish they would hire / retain more for inbound because that’s what screws us over in the end…. Having to sacrifice productivity or INF because truck is consistently rolled over is a daily struggle. I try to show the ETLs how our numbers are phenomenal when we come clean on the truck but all I get is “we need to work harder/faster” like …. ??? Logic doesn’t exist with them
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Suggestion: See if you can get some of your fulfillment TMs inbound shifts. I used to work freight early in the morning and was on the line a few times. It made me an expert at locating unpushed freight. I know what the different cases look like and how to find them. It's how my personal INFs always stay green when the store is a mess and falling behind on push.
 
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secretsanta said:
I wish we got support from other areas. Your open units in OPU is INSANE in that photo… are you in an area hit hard with Covid right now? Cuz we generally have - 2000-3000+ forecast units for OPU (havent met forecast and usually do around 1700-2300) and 2000+ for SFS. However we are very understaffed for inbound with double everyday and regularly roll over at a minimum 1 truck. Last week we canceled several trucks and they shut down SFS for the sole purpose of using SFS hours to push
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No, our COVID numbers are pretty average right now. We are just the only Super T in our group and we get hit HARD with Grocery OPUs on Sundays and Mondays, which is what 2/3 of those open units are. We never seem to get enough payroll to cover them, so we usually have to rely on Consumables and Dairy/Frozen teams to hop in a few times a day to help. They just weren't able today because they were helping GM all weekend and now everyone is behind.

My SD asked me why I thought OPU numbers were so high today. I replied, "They're not. This is normal. This is just what it looks like when we don't call for help."
 
seasonaldude said:
Suggestion: See if you can get some of your fulfillment TMs inbound shifts. I used to work freight early in the morning and was on the line a few times. It made me an expert at location unpushed freight. I know what the different cases look like and how to find. It's how my personal INFs always stay green when the store is a mess and falling behind on push.
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We are an overnight store so most peoples availablity doesn’t make them able to inbound. I’ve been working on teaching them tips and tricks(case pack #s, Understanding what DPCI is and how to read them, knowing if something might be on a transition pallet etc) for finding stuff and most of them know how to push but there is still a lot of training i can give them on that perspective. Most of our volume is style and Ive been pushing for for everyone to be cross trained there but priority is always 100% GM (if we have SFS hours to spare to help the store). Depending on the day though it really is a balance between INF and productivity when our line is so stuffed we can’t even reach 1/2 of it because pallets are in the way or stuffed in the trailer waiting to be pushed
 
seasonaldude said:
Suggestion: See if you can get some of your fulfillment TMs inbound shifts. I used to work freight early in the morning and was on the line a few times. It made me an expert at location unpushed freight. I know what the different cases look like and how to find. It's how my personal INFs always stay green when the store is a mess and falling behind on push.
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We also are so understaffed across the board at my store that everyone is struggling, to give them inbound hours would cut into our payroll without having to hand out OT to everyone lol
 
Amanda Cantwell said:
From a GS point of view, order number doesn’t matter. It tells us where to get the bag, we get it. Having all the orders that end in 9 being together wouldn’t help us in any way because those orders aren’t related. Now if you did it by last name, so one persons orders were all together, that would be good
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I know we don’t use it but it would allow for big orders to have all their bags in the same area and would also allow for multiple preppers with an easy way to split up the orders.
 
seasonaldude said:
No...And, no to the alphabetical idea below too. While they sound alright in theory, the ebb and flow of orders just doesn't allow for it. Sometimes, there isn't going to be room in the dedicated section for each order. Fulfillment will have to place bags elsewhere due to space at times. And, inevitably GS is going to bitch about that because by the time the guest finally arrives to get their shit, the dedicated space will be empty. It will just cause more tension between teams.

And, let's be honest. Fulfillment already has a lot or rules about putting things to hold. Those rules are difficult enough to get them to follow. Please don't add another headache for TLs/Pacesetters.
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So much this. This is exactly why it wouldn't work from a picking perspective. Like, I always keep orders in the same waco or at least in the adjacent waco/space. So does my team. That's just common sense when packing orders.

The problem, currently, comes from when orders are split between batches. If 2 TMs are picking from the same person's order or even if 1 TM picks it between multiple carts; In either scenario bags are going to end up somewhere different. Because, sorry, we arent psychic and don't have perfect memory recall to know where XYZ order is already stowed.

And even if we did have the space and time to alphabetize (or label by order#...?) nothing would ever end up perfectly together because, yeah, spaces fill up and empty out depending on busyness and it'd all become a mess.

Like, if A orders something at 9am and again something at 12pm but all of the A-name or #9 spaces (assuming that multiple orders by the same person would even have similar numbers) are full so the TM has to put the later order in Z...that's just gonna get some poor fulfillment TM yelled at later on for doing their job and help no one out.

I get it. It sucks, and we're sorry, but there's no perfect system. Everyone should just take the technology survey and tell the app developers to give us a notication that shows in epick across batches "A, Smith ordered X and it's stowed in waco B002". That'd help everyone out!
 
You used to be able to at least sort orders by drive-up or order pickup but even that is pointless now since any opu can be switched to a drive up. For any store that has a medium to large opu operations it just doesn't make sense to sort orders at all since it is ultimately a waste of time. The only real rule should be find an empty waco instead of shoving 14 bags into one location while 2 shelfs down there are empty wacos. No matter how well fulfillment stows orders, guest service will complain at my store; bags are too high, bags are too low, no unique label for every item, too many labels to scan, they forget bags when they are all placed in the same waco, but then complain when they have to go to 5 different locations for a whole order
 
DatBoi9497 said:
You used to be able to at least sort orders by drive-up or order pickup but even that is pointless now since any opu can be switched to a drive up. For any store that has a medium to large opu operations it just doesn't make sense to sort orders at all since it is ultimately a waste of time. The only real rule should be find an empty waco instead of shoving 14 bags into one location while 2 shelfs down there are empty wacos. No matter how well fulfillment stows orders, guest service will complain at my store; bags are too high, bags are too low, no unique label for every item, too many labels to scan, they forget bags when they are all placed in the same waco, but then complain when they have to go to 5 different locations for a whole order
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No because if all the bags are in the same isle for an order that has 10+ bags it would take half the time to prepare. I am at one of the top 10 busiest stores. Big orders are what kill the time. It’s the same idea as backstocking. Certain items go in certain areas. Certain orders go in certain areas. Every other company has a system except target. It’s proven to be more efficient when orders are in the same area. We never forget bags when they are in the same spot as long as you do “create label” and not reprint.

Edit: The top stores are also making the order limit 3x the size it is now.
 
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azure said:
It’s proven to be more efficient when orders are in the same area.
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You're very adamant that your idea could work, so, go try it I guess?

Ignoring the fact that other store chains have much stricter ordering rules (X amount of money per order. Time slots for pickup. Etcetc)...

As we've ready mentioned, spaces fill up and overflow will happen or multiple orders from the same person could end up in different sections (because different order #s). There is literally no tried and true method of organization that could work. All you'll do is stress fulfillment out more, make drive up TMs angry when things inevitably couldn't be put in the appropriately labeled spot, and all to save a few seconds of time?

Also...how many targets have the space for this type of set up, realistically? We are the busiest store in our district for opu and if I had to arbitrarily number our 26 or so green racks that go in a snaking pattern around our hold space as sections 0-9 and teach the kids where everything should go I'd end up with quite the headache lol.

Just petition the app makers to prompt TMs with "this person has a previous order stored in B002". No need to go around making arbitrary rules no one has the time, energy, or resources to follow.

azure said:
We never forget bags when they are in the same spot as long as you do “create label” and not reprint.
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Well you must have super duper competent drive up TMs that are never in too much of a hurry that they scan a label blindly and then only remember to pick up one bag lol. Stuff happens. Mistakes happen. Not everything is Big Bad Fulfillment not doing everything in their power to help drive up TMs out.
 
CassRoslyn said:
Just petition the app makers to prompt TMs with "this person has a previous order stored in B002". No need to go around making arbitrary rules no one has the time, energy, or resources to follow.
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This^^^^^
CassRoslyn said:
Well you must have super duper competent drive up TMs that are never in too much of a hurry that they scan a label blindly and then only remember to pick up one bag lol. Stuff happens. Mistakes happen. Not everything is Big Bad Fulfillment not doing everything in their power to help drive up TMs out.
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I always say it is 100% GS’s job to ensure the accuracy of every order. Regardless of whether or not fulfillment does their job, we have to do ours and ensure all items are present. But sometimes it’s one DU ™ with 10 drive ups arriving at once with no prep time… and it’s times like those where we have to rely on fulfillment doing their job correctly
 
I confess, I have no knowledge of how FF works, but just based on what I have heard here, I have a question: Why are orders not picked as a whole order? Like, what's this batch nonsense? As a guest, if I place an order I would figure that someone on the other end is working on my whole order, getting it together and storing it all together so that when I come to pick it up, all the employee would have to do is find the spot where my whole order is stored. Obviously this would not apply to cold food, but other than that, why would my order be stored piecemeal and all willy-nilly?
 

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