Archived Instocks

[RunForACallBox]

If it's rain check pads, per workbench instock process they are to be distributed between all Salesfloor spill stations for use.

 

[OhYouDidntKnow]

Anyone notice how the RIG process has changed? I don't know how the Out of Stock post-its are getting out because the RIGs don't bring us to the 0 on hand locations anymore. They seem to be bringing us to mostly CL and battery counts. Also a good number of RIGs are locations where we have product over capacity.

They are obviously fundamentally changing the position. I just wish they had the guts to be upfront about it.

 

[Circle9]

I was wondering about that too. The RIGs have always featured batteries here but now I'm spending a lot more time up front.

And here's something I'm curious about: what you all did for rainchecks in softlines. Because at my store there were several different answers and none made much sense.

 

[looseseal]

Anyone notice how the RIG process has changed? I don't know how the Out of Stock post-its are getting out because the RIGs don't bring us to the 0 on hand locations anymore. They seem to be bringing us to mostly CL and battery counts. Also a good number of RIGs are locations where we have product over capacity.

They are obviously fundamentally changing the position. I just wish they had the guts to be upfront about it.

I've noticed as well. I had 113 RIGs today and about half of those were at the checklanes counting gum and candy... At least one hit at every battery station too. It doesn't seem like they're taking us to true outs that would prompt for rainchecks anymore either, but if we are brought to something where you *see* 0, it's something that almost always has a backroom location. It basically feels like I'm doing TINV or inventory prep on RIG days.

@Circle9 At my store we didn't set up raincheck pads anywhere in softlines. It had to do with space and clutter for us. If an entire style/color of shirt was out in every size, it would be a mess having a raincheck pad for every single one. Plus guests never really ask for them over there anyways. Same idea with cosmetics.

 

[Bosch]

I was wondering about that too. The RIGs have always featured batteries here but now I'm spending a lot more time up front.

And here's something I'm curious about: what you all did for rainchecks in softlines. Because at my store there were several different answers and none made much sense.

Our working plan for Soft lines. For pegged merch that is easily defined sure R/C it.. Like the underwear walls. Tables and bins, and pegs with multiple sizes - pass on it.

When we were scored on R/C effectiveness if you covered the rest of the store, leaving soft lines without was never a big deal, we were always green. Now if a guest asks for a R/C by all means give them one and the sub of their choice if it makes sense and the system lets you. Same with cosmetics if its defined and clear sure if not pass.

Looseseal, I know with the RIGs, I would just love when it pulls from the backroom, if the CAF pusher they get to push our stuff would actually push it where its supposed to go. I pulled cases of Kleenex for the check lanes on Saturday and they back stocked all but 3 packs.. I saw it and pushed the entire case.. Grrrr.

 

[Rarejem]

There is a list available that has raincheck and substitution exclusions listed. I can't remember where it is on Workbench - I think under best practices.

 

[oath2order]

You might find yourself repeating

"The DPCI is *on* the package, and this shit is still stocked in the wrong place." ad nauseam.

Another favorite of mine "Reading *is* Fundamental."

Or the rant that goes through my head.

" MATCH THE COLOR WITH THE NUMBER WE HAVE THE GODDAMN SIGNS COSMETICS IS FUCKING EASY OMFG COLOR. NUMBER. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO EVEN READ. A SECOND GRADER COULD DO THIS."

 

[Bosch]

My personal fav is "cram it full until you break the fixture then push two more".

love my flow team.

 

[AmICrazy]

Have a PDA & a good trainer for starters. Then, grab a walkie.

If the store is anything like mine, you're going to get maaaaybe one of those. And it'll probably be the PDA after you spend ten minutes trying to beg, borrow and steal one. I'd find out if this is a "hey so we really need an extra hand on instocks for a shift or two" or a "so we're going to put you on the schedule for instocks" so that if you do take the offer, you know if you need the Cliff Notes or the actual training.

Instocks is a slow and tedious job if you're doing it right. Looking for items, counting items, cursing the TMs who don't know how to properly push or zone, dealing with guests. Possibly having to carry a printer and flex d-code. Can't go into too much detail since I don't know what your store's instocks process is (there's like 2 or 3 different ways of doing it now I think?). Some tips though, based on what I've learned from a year of fumbling around in instocks (my training was pretty much a shift of "here's a beepy machine, scan what it tells you to" and countless "hey so you screwed this up..."):
-Standalone Research app changes item counts for the whole store. Sometimes it asks for the POG label but otherwise you're zeroing out the whole floor or something. Hope you don't have to use it.
-Standalone OUTs doesn't change item counts. It probably does something else though.
-If your store makes rainchecks and substitutions, make them when the PDA tells you to. Otherwise instocks' scores get hit and bosses get grumpy.
-Ask questions. If you do this, try to scan with an instocks person.

Standalone OUTs resets the the Accumulator to zero.

At store we just stopped putting up rainchecks or subs and now just put up a Post-It sticky note explaining that we are out this item and to find a team member for a possible substitution.

 

[AmICrazy]

My personal fav is "cram it full until you break the fixture then push two more".

love my flow team.

Just wished I could catch the people doing this and them have my HR ETL take the cost of the new fixture out of their pay.

 

[Kompa]

Flow team be like- "backstock? LOL, I can make this fit, hold my beer!"

 

[oath2order]

Flow team be like- "backstock? LOL, I can make this fit, hold my beer!"

And they still need all the goddamn PDAs

 

[Bosch]

Flow team be like- "backstock? LOL, I can make this fit, hold my beer!"

And they still need all the goddamn PDAs

Why? They can't be bothered to use them.

 

[oath2order]

Flow team be like- "backstock? LOL, I can make this fit, hold my beer!"

And they still need all the goddamn PDAs

Why? They can't be bothered to use them.

All I know is that my store is 4AM process. I got in at 9AM, went on my 30 at 1PM, and when I got back at 1:30PM they were still there and there were still no PDAs.

This is a common thing.

 

[mrknownothing]

Instocks is such a mess sometimes. I spent my shift pushing autos instead of scanning, as per the ETL-Logistics orders.

At my store, they've been doing re-shop every day because the two sales floor TMs couldn't get all 30 carts done the previous night. Leadership doesn't seem to care anymore that they're still doing the task list well after 11:00.

 

[Circle9]

Rainchecks for softlines in our store were "make the raincheck and the sub, toss out the signs and put the pad in the tied 'check box." That was the final word; previous positions ranged from "instocks doesn't need to scan softlines" to "make the raincheck and somehow put it up on a rack full of bras."

Flow team be like- "backstock? LOL, I can make this fit, hold my beer!"

And they still need all the goddamn PDAs

We're one the stores testing the iPods so the rush for PDAs is less hellish but between POG, Price and Backroom, along with all the TLs and ETLs it gets rough. Still there is one guy who works in softlines for flow and will, if he can get away with it, grab an LPDA and just disappear. Sometimes I'm tempted to grab a PDA and stash it in a locker nobody uses when I'm doing instocks a few days in a row. Haven't yet because that's a dick move.

At my store, they've been doing re-shop every day because the two sales floor TMs couldn't get all 30 carts done the previous night. Leadership doesn't seem to care anymore that they're still doing the task list well after 11:00.

It used to be that instocks was the "hey so we need truck finished or autos worked on" team and there'd be days when I was scheduled flow and instocks and never switched over. Or spent half my shift working autos, regularly. Then they cracked down on that and decided instocks really needed to do instocks stuff. So this Sunday was kind of a flashback to me.

 

[Stocker]

I like to remind tm's that there is NO PRIZE for fitting the most items on a shelf.

There is a prize. Not having to backstock it. [Especially pertaining to the flow team, where they get audited on backstock they send back, to make sure it won't go out, but not on the aisles they worked to make sure it was pushed correctly. I watched a flow team member put a stack of orange towels in a location clearly meant for green towels, considering there are green bath sheets above and green hand towels, washcloths, and bath rugs below. I as a lowly instocks TM walked with the ETL for receiving and called out 3 different TMs stocking "by sight," not to POG. And that was just between 6 aisles in domestics. I always felt that the flow team is pushed too hard to meet time goals and not hard enough to meet accuracy goals. I have had some conversations with leadership at my store where I struggled to maintain professionalism because it's so hard to see why they can't just do the f&@*#% job right the first time. That a good accurate zone is second only to great guest service.

I'm kind of glad for the end of the instocks team.

/rant]

TL;DR: Instocks will drive you crazy

The Instocks team has almost ended at my store 3 times over the last 5 or 6 years. So I will not consider it finished till it is. If Viper does go forward it will end the Instocks team but there will still be plenty of scanning especially if they do scrap the accumulator. Instock team members are the best prepared for Viper at this point. Salesfloor next and you will need to really train backroom if they start scanning under Viper.

 

[Rarejem]

I like to remind tm's that there is NO PRIZE for fitting the most items on a shelf.

There is a prize. Not having to backstock it. [Especially pertaining to the flow team, where they get audited on backstock they send back, to make sure it won't go out, but not on the aisles they worked to make sure it was pushed correctly. I watched a flow team member put a stack of orange towels in a location clearly meant for green towels, considering there are green bath sheets above and green hand towels, washcloths, and bath rugs below. I as a lowly instocks TM walked with the ETL for receiving and called out 3 different TMs stocking "by sight," not to POG. And that was just between 6 aisles in domestics. I always felt that the flow team is pushed too hard to meet time goals and not hard enough to meet accuracy goals. I have had some conversations with leadership at my store where I struggled to maintain professionalism because it's so hard to see why they can't just do the f&@*#% job right the first time. That a good accurate zone is second only to great guest service.

I'm kind of glad for the end of the instocks team.

/rant]

TL;DR: Instocks will drive you crazy

The Instocks team has almost ended at my store 3 times over the last 5 or 6 years. So I will not consider it finished till it is. If Viper does go forward it will end the Instocks team but there will still be plenty of scanning especially if they do scrap the accumulator. Instock team members are the best prepared for Viper at this point. Salesfloor next and you will need to really train backroom if they start scanning under Viper.

There is NO TEAM that understands the synergy of operations better than the Instocks team. They are THE team no matter where you put them!!!

 

[BigEyedPhish]

I like to remind tm's that there is NO PRIZE for fitting the most items on a shelf.

There is a prize. Not having to backstock it. [Especially pertaining to the flow team, where they get audited on backstock they send back, to make sure it won't go out, but not on the aisles they worked to make sure it was pushed correctly. I watched a flow team member put a stack of orange towels in a location clearly meant for green towels, considering there are green bath sheets above and green hand towels, washcloths, and bath rugs below. I as a lowly instocks TM walked with the ETL for receiving and called out 3 different TMs stocking "by sight," not to POG. And that was just between 6 aisles in domestics. I always felt that the flow team is pushed too hard to meet time goals and not hard enough to meet accuracy goals. I have had some conversations with leadership at my store where I struggled to maintain professionalism because it's so hard to see why they can't just do the f&@*#% job right the first time. That a good accurate zone is second only to great guest service.

I'm kind of glad for the end of the instocks team.

/rant]

TL;DR: Instocks will drive you crazy

The Instocks team has almost ended at my store 3 times over the last 5 or 6 years. So I will not consider it finished till it is. If Viper does go forward it will end the Instocks team but there will still be plenty of scanning especially if they do scrap the accumulator. Instock team members are the best prepared for Viper at this point. Salesfloor next and you will need to really train backroom if they start scanning under Viper.

There is NO TEAM that understands the synergy of operations better than the Instocks team. They are THE team no matter where you put them!!!

You can call me biased here, but I would say us Perishables Assistants will probably have the easiest transition to a "Post Viper World".

 

[mrknownothing]

You can call me biased here, but I would say us Perishables Assistants will probably have the easiest transition to a "Post Viper World".

Viper isn't just about knowing all the processes, but owning your area.

But then again, some might argue that Instocks effectively owns every area.

 

[Bosch]

I don't think they have planned for

You can call me biased here, but I would say us Perishables Assistants will probably have the easiest transition to a "Post Viper World".

Viper isn't just about knowing all the processes, but owning your area.

But then again, some might argue that Instocks effectively owns every area.

In my store besides the market team who are awesome, we are the only ones who give a shit about anything other than ourselves. We have several team leads who when they have major transitions in their areas always seem to have vacation time. So who gets to do the transition? In-Stocks..

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

I like to remind tm's that there is NO PRIZE for fitting the most items on a shelf.

There is a prize. Not having to backstock it. [Especially pertaining to the flow team, where they get audited on backstock they send back, to make sure it won't go out, but not on the aisles they worked to make sure it was pushed correctly. I watched a flow team member put a stack of orange towels in a location clearly meant for green towels, considering there are green bath sheets above and green hand towels, washcloths, and bath rugs below. I as a lowly instocks TM walked with the ETL for receiving and called out 3 different TMs stocking "by sight," not to POG. And that was just between 6 aisles in domestics. I always felt that the flow team is pushed too hard to meet time goals and not hard enough to meet accuracy goals. I have had some conversations with leadership at my store where I struggled to maintain professionalism because it's so hard to see why they can't just do the f&@*#% job right the first time. That a good accurate zone is second only to great guest service.

I'm kind of glad for the end of the instocks team.

/rant]

TL;DR: Instocks will drive you crazy

The Instocks team has almost ended at my store 3 times over the last 5 or 6 years. So I will not consider it finished till it is. If Viper does go forward it will end the Instocks team but there will still be plenty of scanning especially if they do scrap the accumulator. Instock team members are the best prepared for Viper at this point. Salesfloor next and you will need to really train backroom if they start scanning under Viper.

There is NO TEAM that understands the synergy of operations better than the Instocks team. They are THE team no matter where you put them!!!

Once at my store, the instocks team were the ninjas,. They would solve it, move on & complete their tasks. But, not anymore.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

You can call me biased here, but I would say us Perishables Assistants will probably have the easiest transition to a "Post Viper World".

Viper isn't just about knowing all the processes, but owning your area.

But then again, some might argue that In-stocks effectively owns every area.

being a good PA doesn't involve just knowing all the processes, its about owning all the processes. Ordering your own inventory and maintaining it is the next level of researching.

I will say that In-stocks would have a much MUCH easier time (And would probably be the Chief-go-to Trainers, for a Viper Transition) than, the Backroom/Sales Floor Team Members would.

Honestly Viper would probably make my life much much easier.

 

[Kompa]

Flow should be the first to do Viper

Nothing can possibly go wrong. 🙂

 

[BigEyedPhish]

Flow should be the first to do Viper

Nothing can possibly go wrong. 🙂

lol, even if the zone is slightly ruffed up, my Flow teams head spins faster than an ETL-GE's first scent of a Red Card.