MEGATHREAD Flexible Fulfillment

[Jayunderscore]

It got better today 🤣 I don’t think we even have 14 TMs to even add…
View attachment 12978

Is there anyone able to give a clear explanation of how this number is calculated? Either it's never right or I don't understand it. With my store's scheduling issues with OPU it'd be helpful to understand so I can provide feedback on coming clean at night without having everyone backing up the whole time.

 

[DatBoi9497]

Is there anyone able to give a clear explanation of how this number is calculated? Either it's never right or I don't understand it. With my store's scheduling issues with OPU it'd be helpful to understand so I can provide feedback on coming clean at night without having everyone backing up the whole time.

I have questions regarding how it works as well since last night it showed on MyDay that we had 1 unit to sort but we had sorted everything and MPM showed 0, my guess is that it was just slow to update but it stayed like that for over 30 minutes. Anyway, I'm fairly sure that the number that it shows in MyDay is calculated by the number of units to be picked that it shows in MyDay, even though yesterday at one point we had nothing not being worked on by someone and MyDay said to add 2 tms but we did have a few batches under 15 minutes. I would guess it has to do with the current number of units to pick and the 35 unit/hour pace that everyone should be going at. Until they somehow improve it, it makes more sense to go with whatever your gut feeling is currently

 

[CassRoslyn]

MyDay suffers from the same thing mpm does. It counts whatever is in-progress as part of the overall count so there's no accurate breakdown of what needs to be worked on still. Plus it takes forever to register who's jumped in and out of batches. Hence the wonky TM additions.

We've been struggling hardcore lately. They've given up on opu ever being on time...and they keep badgering us about infs but they are literally just bad audits and truck mispicks. I did the most opu units today, had the lowest inf%, and was still over 7% because all the items I couldn't find that had no arrival date, last sold a month ago, etcetc.

We are definitely heading towards a swift shut off and it's infuriating because my team is trying so hard and being ignored by management when we bring up issues.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

There's nothing particularly wrong with letting people order things that you only have one of or that hasn't sold in a long time. That's actually a good way to get rid of things that don't sell fast. Fulfillment picks these things all the time with no issue.

The problem is when you don't actually have the item. Spot just isn't willing to commit to the process and payroll to maintain accurate on hands. Instead, they leave it to DBOs to maintain as part of their routine. But, DBOs don't have the time to do anything about it proactively without letting something else slide. I know my on hands are terrible. Of course, when I discover that they are off for any individual item, I audit. Most of the time, however, I discover that when I'm pushing or pulling the item in question so then I can't audit it as its recently been replenished.

Target chooses to take the easy way out and just blame fulfillment. Since shit rolls downhill that means fulfillment experts are going to be the ones who get bitched at.

Personally, I find it somewhat enlightening about corporate priorities that they've created this whole new process for proactive shelf price audits and given some payroll for it. They really need to do that for inventory audits.

It really is frustrating when you are looking for something that we have not received in months and it shows 5 OH and there is none on the shelf and none in the back. So, of course, every time someone looks for this item it’s an INF and fulfillment takes the hit.

 

[CassRoslyn]

It really is frustrating when you are looking for something that we have not received in months and it shows 5 OH and there is none on the shelf and none in the back. So, of course, every time someone looks for this item it’s an INF and fulfillment takes the hit.

You'd think Target would have a system in place for stuff like this. Kind of like an audit but for things that haven't sold in X amount of weeks or been received in longer. If a list was generated of all items that haven't been received or sold in, say, one month we could then at the store level say "yes it's here maybe this location doesn't need to sell it anymore" or "no it's not here and that's why it hasn't sold". It'd cut down on infs and allow for a better rotation of products.

But to add my own two cents about nonsensical infs: vendor items should not be in our inf% at all. Like...stop it, corporate, I do not control if the bread vendor has shown up today or if the Frito-Lay guy brought the wrong stock in. And we can't audit those items so making us take the hit for them is dumb.

 

[SuperTarget]

You'd think Target would have a system in place for stuff like this. Kind of like an audit but for things that haven't sold in X amount of weeks or been received in longer. If a list was generated of all items that haven't been received or sold in, say, one month we could then at the store level say "yes it's here maybe this location doesn't need to sell it anymore" or "no it's not here and that's why it hasn't sold". It'd cut down on infs and allow for a better rotation of products.

But to add my own two cents about nonsensical infs: vendor items should not be in our inf% at all. Like...stop it, corporate, I do not control if the bread vendor has shown up today or if the Frito-Lay guy brought the wrong stock in. And we can't audit those items so making us take the hit for them is dumb.

Items your fulfillment team infs do drop into audit tasks.. most of the problems stores have with fulfillment are leadership and process issues. You have all the tools needed to fix the issue.

 

[moninity]

You can audit Frito-lay but you can’t audit bread, milk, trading cards or any other scan based item.

 

[KirbyKirbs]

Question....do you all have to zone while picking? With the new system with everything dropping with an hour left to pick, it's hard enough to get done in time and now they want us to zone too. Not to mention, I freaking always have to go in the backroom fridge and freezers because nothing is stocked. I end up stocking too. Market really expects too much out of us. They always talk down about us too.

 

[gracefulfillment]

Items your fulfillment team infs do drop into audit tasks.. most of the problems stores have with fulfillment are leadership and process issues. You have all the tools needed to fix the issue.

the problem with this is that guided audits don't get done until after we INF something rather than being proactive about it. yes the counts will then be accurate, but we still have to take the INF hit. I agree on the leadership and process though; salesfloor teams should be given the time and resources to regularly audit the counts on the floor and in the backroom.

 

[CassRoslyn]

Items your fulfillment team infs do drop into audit tasks.. most of the problems stores have with fulfillment are leadership and process issues. You have all the tools needed to fix the issue.

Trust me. I'm aware. There's a lot going on right now and I'm not the TL so I have 0 say in fixing the issues. I'm keeping my team afloat as much as I can and voicing concerns, though.

the problem with this is that guided audits don't get done until after we INF something rather than being proactive about it. yes the counts will then be accurate, but we still have to take the INF hit.

Exactly! Infs highlight the problem. And fulfillment doesn't have much say on if the audit actually happens. I can hand audit things a thousand times if I notice something, but the guided audit seems to be the be-all-end-all.

You can audit Frito-lay but you can’t audit bread, milk, trading cards or any other scan based item.

Yep, sorry, was just using a random vendor name haha. You def can audit Frito. Bread is our main problem child. Milk a close second.

 

[slowhands]

Question....do you all have to zone while picking? With the new system with everything dropping with an hour left to pick, it's hard enough to get done in time and now they want us to zone too. Not to mention, I freaking always have to go in the backroom fridge and freezers because nothing is stocked. I end up stocking too. Market really expects too much out of us. They always talk down about us too.

No. Just grab and go. We don't have time for that. And hell no im not stocking shelves while I pick. At most I'll occasionally update on the floor counts so items in the back will actually get pulled.

 

[jenna]

yes. the expectation is to zone while picking - zone up the item that you have picked (not talking folding an entire mound of clothes, but being careful about picking a single clothing item without trashing the stack.) Pulling an item forward adds an extra couple of seconds to the pick.

 

[lucidtm]

Question....do you all have to zone while picking? With the new system with everything dropping with an hour left to pick, it's hard enough to get done in time and now they want us to zone too. Not to mention, I freaking always have to go in the backroom fridge and freezers because nothing is stocked. I end up stocking too. Market really expects too much out of us. They always talk down about us too.

Yes, you should zone while picking. If you're low on time for OPU it's ok not to, just don't destroy the stack trying to get to something. And please make sure you're taking care in style to not mess up their folded piles and that you're not knocking things to the floor and not picking them up. You can be quick and still be polite. I see so many from fulfillment knocking tons of hanging shirts to the ground and run right around them instead of taking 3 seconds to pick them back up.

ETA: You should absolutely not be stocking the shelves while you're on fulfillment. Not unless it's Q1 and there is nothing to do. Grab what you need and go.

 

[Rarejem]

Our biggest INF challenge is all of the stuff still in repack boxes before the truck is fully worked. We just don't have enough people to get the freight out early in all areas and we don't have enough seasoned staff to know which repack box is the right one to search. Then there's the whole repack boxes being filled to the brim but not sorted in a way that makes any sense, setting up anyone picking low priority push areas for certain failure.

 

[seasonaldude]

Our biggest INF challenge is all of the stuff still in repack boxes before the truck is fully worked. We just don't have enough people to get the freight out early in all areas and we don't have enough seasoned staff to know which repack box is the right one to search. Then there's the whole repack boxes being filled to the brim but not sorted in a way that makes any sense, setting up anyone picking low priority push areas for certain failure.

The repacks are numbered. You need to give fulfillment cheat sheets for them. The only really difficult ones at this point are 4s as they contain stuff for a lot of areas: kitchen, chem, paper, pets, kitchen domestics and potentially mini, seasonal, family sleep, toys, amp gifting, and sporting goods. The rest of the repacks are fairly straightforward.

 

[Rarejem]

The repacks are numbered. You need to give fulfillment cheat sheets for them. The only really difficult ones at this point are 4s as they contain stuff for a lot of areas: kitchen, chem, paper, pets, kitchen domestics and potentially mini, seasonal, family sleep, toys, amp gifting, and sporting goods. The rest of the repacks are fairly straightforward.

I get it. Right now our fulfillment team is filled with barely trained newbies who are lucky to find the stationary uboats behind the line much less know which of the 9 repack boxes on the uboat to search. I'm not their lead, so not really my place. Just making an observation.

 

[seasonaldude]

I get it. Right now our fulfillment team is filled with barely trained newbies who are lucky to find the stationary uboats behind the line much less know which of the 9 repack boxes on the uboat to search. I'm not their lead, so not really my place. Just making an observation.

I hear you. Pretty much our entire fulfillment team from last quarter 4 either quit or demanded to change work centers (or they'd quit), myself included, this summer. I get things in my guided audit almost everyday that make me want to scream because they came on the truck that morning.

I suppose your store really needs to crack down on checking with the DBO of the area or a TL before INFing.

 

[Rarejem]

I hear you. Pretty much our entire fulfillment team from last quarter 4 either quit or demanded to change work centers (or they'd quit), myself included, this summer. I get things in my guided audit almost everyday that make me want to scream because they came on the truck that morning.

I suppose your store really needs to crack down on checking with the DBO of the area or a TL before INFing.

LOL you said DBO of the area.... like we have one in kitchen, decor, stationary, or OTC! LOL

 

[lucidtm]

I hear you. Pretty much our entire fulfillment team from last quarter 4 either quit or demanded to change work centers (or they'd quit), myself included, this summer. I get things in my guided audit almost everyday that make me want to scream because they came on the truck that morning.

I suppose your store really needs to crack down on checking with the DBO of the area or a TL before INFing.

What sucks is, when our DBOs quit earlier in the year due to lack of hours & employees to help (a few also got promoted to TL and moved to other stores)... the store never replaced them. The only DBOs we have left are the ones that stuck it out. We all have to see the TL or an ETL before an INF, no exceptions.

 

[happygoth]

Yes, you should zone while picking. If you're low on time for OPU it's ok not to, just don't destroy the stack trying to get to something. And please make sure you're taking care in style to not mess up their folded piles and that you're not knocking things to the floor and not picking them up. You can be quick and still be polite. I see so many from fulfillment knocking tons of hanging shirts to the ground and run right around them instead of taking 3 seconds to pick them back up.

ETA: You should absolutely not be stocking the shelves while you're on fulfillment. Not unless it's Q1 and there is nothing to do. Grab what you need and go.

Even as a Style TM I see both sides of this. I've never worked FF but I do 141s occasionally and they are a time suck. If one is in a hurry I can absolutely see why wacos would get a bit messy, which makes me understand why the floor would get messy as well. We are so behind on reshop that Fullfillment TMs have to dig through piled-high reshop racks and yes they are less than neat and I don't blame them. That shit should be pushed.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

We all have to see the TL or an ETL before an INF, no exceptions.

Almost the same thing at my store, except TLs couldn’t sign off on anything, even the Fulfillment TLs had to get INFs signed off by an ETL or the SD. What a colossal waste of time. In the first place, if the FF team AND the sales floor team couldn’t find an item, there’s no way in Hell one of our ETLS would be able to find it even if they bothered to look, which they didn’t. In the second place, finding an ETL who wasn’t in a “meeting”, on a conference call, hiding in their office, planning where to get food for their their daily two-hour meal break or kicking back enjoying that feast was very time consuming and nearly impossible to do in the allotted time before the order was late. And they wonder why they can’t keep a FF team…

 

[lucidtm]

Almost the same thing at my store, except TLs couldn’t sign off on anything, even the Fulfillment TLs had to get INFs signed off by an ETL or the SD. What a colossal waste of time. In the first place, if the FF team AND the sales floor team couldn’t find an item, there’s no way in Hell one of our ETLS would be able to find it even if they bothered to look, which they didn’t. In the second place, finding an ETL who wasn’t in a “meeting”, on a conference call, hiding in their office, planning where to get food for their their daily two-hour meal break or kicking back enjoying that feast was very time consuming and nearly impossible to do in the allotted time before the order was late. And they wonder why they can’t keep a FF team…

HUGE waste of time. Our ETL's help us out a lot with pack/prep and 2 even like to pick standard, but there is no way in hell they could be the final look. TBH Fulfillment TL's should be the only ones saying to INF unless it's a product in a specific dept. (for example, it's a shirt and a style TL knows it's gone, etc).

 

[spottymcspot]

Our etl is awesome but no way would they know where stuff was better than I would. I spend 40 hrs a week searching for this crap. We have tms ask tl until they prove they won't just INF everything. Then we relax a bit. Our scores are all always green though so we have that going for us.

 

[RunForACallBox]

I’m down to my final straw. I’m not gonna make it through this Q4… and stress test Monday and CEO visit. Suddenly everyone wants to do things correctly. 🙄

 

[lucidtm]

I’m down to my final straw. I’m not gonna make it through this Q4… and stress test Monday and CEO visit. Suddenly everyone wants to do things correctly. 🙄

omfg you have the CEO coming ON stress test day?! Ouch.