Fulfillment being phased out?

[YankeRaider]

I put my 2 weeks in as a grocery TL, and on Monday the STL had a meeting with the ETLs and TLs, about this. Of course being my last week, I was not part of the meeting, instead held the store down during the hour long meeting, I heard about it through my TMs. When I asked my ETL I got no real answers.

Another of the many issues popping up, this last 2 weeks, confirming I'm making the right choice for leaving.

I see this as most have in this thread;

My Market team might get 1-2 fulfillment TMs adding 30-70 hr of payroll a week, for 80-100 hrs of added workload a week. We are already spending 18-20 on Truck unload/sort, after we blew-up the unload team with 9-10 RDC trucks a weeks, 21-35 hrs of Guest 1st/Back-up cashier a week, another 7-10 hrs of helping out All Store/ "One Store one Team" e.t. making bales/cleaning fixture room/or whatever is needed.., now 80-100 hrs of Fulfillment?...

I do not see this being successful. I think TMs are already at the tipping point of burnout and stress levels are high.

STL/ETL thought process;
"30 mins is the expectation, but I saw you do this in 20 the other day" (hauling ass stressed to the max, trying to get to lunch before 5 hrs)
"20 mins is the new expectation."
"If you can do it in 20 mins, let's try for 15 mins..."
"Hey I'm going to have to document this, because you didn't meet the 15 min expectation."

"I was able to do it in 15 mins the other day , so you should be able to do it also" (actually it was closer to 25 mins and you didn't backstock or bale your boxes. You just pushed the u-boat to the back, and the next day chastised/documented the DBO in the area for haveinig Sh!t u-boats in the backroom area.) 😅🤣😢😤😡🥵🥶😰😵🥴🤒☠️

 

[JiJi]

Lmao. I have this issue when doing flex, . I'll be looking for a item and I look at its details. "Last time audited, 162 days ago, 5 on hand. "
But I'm clearly looking at a wide blank space on the sales floor with none back stocked and the dbo being like "nah we haven't had that item in a month"

TL still is being a pain in the ass about the inf.

last audited 273 days ago
no delivery date/to be delivered date
last sold 629 days ago
5 OH (0 in back, 2 on floor)

ಠ_ಠ​

 

[Tessa120]

Okay I didn’t read all of the replies, but here goes an unpopular opinion: You work for Target, so do whatever they tell you to or quit.

People can be angry about being set up to fail. People can care enough about doing a good job that the no-win scenario actually hurts. People can be angry that the tools needed for success are being held out of reach and yet people are being punished for not reaching the tools.

 

[Bosch]

People can be angry about being set up to fail. People can care enough about doing a good job that the no-win scenario actually hurts. People can be angry that the tools needed for success are being held out of reach and yet people are being punished for not reaching the tools.

This right here.. I get downright bitchy when I know I am being set up. Why are your INF's so high for HBA and Cosmetics? Well there are five pallets of repacks. No one is working them. The response? So you haven't look fast enough? Yes they expect me to search through five pallets of mixed up repacks that were stacked with no reason other than to get the mess that fell over and spilled on to other pallet spaces out of the way for a single bottle of vitamins. Then repeat that batch after batch and while you do that don't fall behind on picking the orders cause you did have three people but now it's just you. But orders are still at pandemic levels aka heavy. Kindly go fuck yourself.

 

[IWishIKnew]

This probably isn't feasible, but cosmetics should totally be RFID, because it's so many tiny things in such a large area (this includes in a bunch of repacks). I had some fake nails the other day that were in freight and I got super lucky that they happened to be in the most accessible repack (out of 9 on the u boat). What could easily have taken a half hour or more took only a few minutes, but it was pure luck.

 

[CassRoslyn]

Okay I didn’t read all of the replies, but here goes an unpopular opinion: You work for Target, so do whatever they tell you to or quit.

Well aren't you a ball of sunshine. How about people can be concerned about their job changing out of the blue? Or just let them be worried about their workcenter going to hell for bad decisions?

Of course everyone here will do their job or move on to greener pastures lol. Doesn't mean we're not allowed to talk about it, yeah?

 

[FlowTeamChick]

In reality, even the best DBO can't get everything done and done right all the time. Even if they could, they can't be in the store all the time and always know what happens when they aren't there.

And this is why I'm always glad when one of our ship TMs finds me in my area to ask if we're really all out of something. I'm good but I'm not perfect and I miss stuff sometimes.
As to one more thing being added to my plate, I really hope ship stays as is. Our ship TMs (now that we're past the seasonal crush) are good at what they do. And, as noted, they sometimes catch things I miss, which I appreciate.

 

[CassRoslyn]

As to one more thing being added to my plate, I really hope ship stays as is.

My best guess is that if all areas are combined, Ship vets will remain scheduled to do fulfillment things just within the payroll of GM? I mean...I'd hope. Dbos have enough to do, so fingers crossed schedule makers do their thing and this is just a change mostly in name only.

Plus, I'm sure every store has areas where the thought of the dbo doing opu or Ship makes us fulfillment vets go "oh no, please no". Heck, our softlines hasnt pushed RTW in almost 2 weeks I don't want them touching my department lol.

 

[MxTarget]

If this is all true, it doesn’t really sound like the fulfillment position going away, but we are all becoming fulfillment plus addition of sales floor tasks. So the focus is to get tasks done as soon as possible then move to fulfillment. Hey, at least we won’t have to back-up cashier...

It kind of sounds like modernization needs to modernize to being 💯 fulfillment centric...

 

[Bosch]

If this is all true, it doesn’t really sound like the fulfillment position going away, but we are all becoming fulfillment plus addition of sales floor tasks. So the focus is to get tasks done as soon as possible then move to fulfillment. Hey, at least we won’t have to back-up cashier...

It kind of sounds like modernization needs to modernize to being 💯 fulfillment centric...

I would love if DBO's could DBO and be allowed to just get their area to the way it should be and let us who know where everything pretty much is do the picking/packing. We understand the flow. Cause if you guys are on it, it really make our job easy in one way we can pick faster cause things are where they are supposed to be.

 

[Ashfromoldsite]

My best guess is that if all areas are combined, Ship vets will remain scheduled to do fulfillment things just within the payroll of GM? I mean...I'd hope. Dbos have enough to do, so fingers crossed schedule makers do their thing and this is just a change mostly in name only.

Plus, I'm sure every store has areas where the thought of the dbo doing opu or Ship makes us fulfillment vets go "oh no, please no". Heck, our softlines hasnt pushed RTW in almost 2 weeks I don't want them touching my department lol.

Someone still has to reorganize all the picks into orders and pack them. They’ll move the fast pickers to gm and leave fast packers in sfs.

 

[Tarjayy]

Someone still has to reorganize all the picks into orders and pack them. They’ll move the fast pickers to gm and leave fast packers in sfs.

And what about all the slow pickers and packers that drain the payroll?

 

[DatBoi9497]

And what about all the slow pickers and packers that drain the payroll?

Electric chair

 

[SigningLady]

And what about all the slow pickers and packers that drain the payroll?

Cattle prod.

 

[Bosch]

Someone still has to reorganize all the picks into orders and pack them. They’ll move the fast pickers to gm and leave fast packers in sfs.

The problem my store has is that the fastest packers don't get all the items in the actual boxes. I am a bit slower but actually get the items in the damn box.. I just love walking in the next morning and finding prepped items left on the carts. When searched out finding they are parts of orders.

 

[Far from newbie]

I remember reading in a modernization workbook years ago “fulfill online orders” as a GM DBO responsibility. When I questioned it I was told - ignore that for now, we’re not ready yet.
Well, fast forward 3 years, I think they think we are ready. Newsflash: NOT in the least bit !!!

Not one DBO knows what price change is....either someone works 8 hours and clears the entire list or every TL does some but it is definitely NOT in DBO routines yet - heck, reshop only gets picked up once per day, only half the 1:1‘s get pulled - trying, we really are trying, but the day just isn’t long enough !
If an entire day is eaten up with guest assistance and back-up cashiering then it all goes to H Double hockey sticks....

I’m still struggling fulfilling all the TL duties and I’m NOT supposed to task ! so a typical day looks like this:

Unlock door, shut alarm, Punch in and ...........

Get equipment, sign in, Answer phone, let TM‘s in, unlock door, print a grid, label equipment sign in sheet, distribute keys, monitor truck unload, monitor SFS levels, move TM around to cover call-outs, 239, guest assistance, vendor assistance, Brand walk and DBO check-ins, workload assignments, set expectations utilizing push time estimate report, give out break schedules, read emails, print price change, scan/activate price change, hang price change, ticket clearance,move clearance, scan clearance endcap, process salvage, wrap the salvage pallet, pull discontinued merch, locate discontinued merch, move discontinued merch, complete audits, back up cashier, get others to back-up cashier, cover front lanes, answer cashier inquiries, answer guest inquiries, answer vendor inquiries, override punch ins that weren’t changed on the schedule, check in with entering tm’s to ask COVID questions, read e-mails, send e-mail updates, send required photo’s, complete PCV by noon, check BRLA, list errors and fix or assign fixes, randomly check br locations for errors, profile br aisles, audit SFQ and sf cap, map SPL locations,
print SPL labels, assign/set SPL, fill endcaps, ensure 1:1 is pulled twice per day or pull, ensure re-shop is collected three times per day or deliver.

LUNCHTIME - a chance to clean office, read correspondence, eat, organize work, answer “I’m at lunch” on the walkie 3X, check in with HR for trainings due

lunch over: remind tm’s to complete training, ensure salesfloor is clean, trash is cleared, backstock is truly backstock and located, write “you” cards,
train a new Tm or a current Tm on a new process, validate work completed, correctly, pick a few OPU’s to help, sit in a status meeting,
confirm all signing is up, have attendance conversations, enter attendance and performance PDD’s, plan week ahead workload, be sure to leave on time.

yippee - 7 hour shift over and there were NO complications, good day.

REALITY - 2 of those things got done.

 

[RunForACallBox]

Modernization has been the absolute worst thing to happen to Target. Someone in HQ with some fucking sense help us out.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Modernization has been the absolute worst thing to happen to Target. Someone in HQ with some fucking sense help us out.

I wonder if they still work for spot?

 

[JiJi]

I wonder if they still work for spot?

If they had any sense, they're probably not working here anymore

 

[RunForACallBox]

I wonder if they still work for spot?

I thought Brian Cornell threw Janna Potts under the bus that she was the architect behind Modernization, which I thought with the backlash of it, forcered her an early retirement? 🤔🤔

 

[balthrop]

I thought Brian Cornell threw Janna Potts under the bus that she was the architect behind Modernization, which I thought with the backlash of it, forcered her an early retirement? 🤔🤔

she got the "spend time with family" IIRC.

and I do think the brain trust that came up with End to End, Store Modernization etc have for the most part left the company to seek employment elsewhere.

 

[IcePeasant]

I just heard about this last week...i think they called it end to end team for GM, forcing all stores in my area to do it except those who are consistently green which was a handful. Someone in a neighboring group had a hand in creating modernization - still with the company, and its a wonder why that area is not doing so well.

 

[IcePeasant]

where did you hear about it? planning on asking my ETL and TL about it tomorrow

I’m a flock leader - calls and emails last week.

 

[YugTegrat]

I really want to meet the people who come up with these decisions. It's more than obvious that GM is overworked as it is. Lots of metrics that were green prior to Modernization still haven't quite recovered from when they tanked during the rollout.

It really just doesn't make sense to add even more to the plate. In my store, this has seemingly already started with all TMs in GM/Inbound being expected to pick at least one batch before they leave for the day. Fulfillment's hours dropped severely and multiple TMs from that department have already been put into GM or F&B. It's beyond stressful for leaders in the building now compared to how it was before.

I mean, I get it. I understand why they're doing this. Outside of Q4, there's no need to have a dozen or so TMs in fulfillment since the orders aren't going to drop as nearly as heavily as they did before. They would rather have more GM and F&B Experts that can do more for the company than keep Fulfillment Experts around and throw them in those areas when they aren't busy. It makes a lot of sense on paper.

.. except no, it doesn't, because GM and F&B still can't fully complete the workload they had prior to this. So what the fuck?

 

[slowhands]

I really want to meet the people who come up with these decisions. It's more than obvious that GM is overworked as it is. Lots of metrics that were green prior to Modernization still haven't quite recovered from when they tanked during the rollout.

It really just doesn't make sense to add even more to the plate. In my store, this has seemingly already started with all TMs in GM/Inbound being expected to pick at least one batch before they leave for the day. Fulfillment's hours dropped severely and multiple TMs from that department have already been put into GM or F&B. It's beyond stressful for leaders in the building now compared to how it was before.

I mean, I get it. I understand why they're doing this. Outside of Q4, there's no need to have a dozen or so TMs in fulfillment since the orders aren't going to drop as nearly as heavily as they did before. They would rather have more GM and F&B Experts that can do more for the company than keep Fulfillment Experts around and throw them in those areas when they aren't busy. It makes a lot of sense on paper.

.. except no, it doesn't, because GM and F&B still can't fully complete the workload they had prior to this. So what the fuck?

Instead of holding gm accountable for their work, they want Flex experts to cover their asses since they know we work harder. That seems to be the bottom line here, as i see it.

At least, thats what would happen at my store if they try this.