New Merch Ops TL

[SigningLady]

VERY frustrating to see. As a former Instocks tm, one of our biggest issue was the plano team not changing capacities and not doing SFQ because "we don't have time for that". Having those setting plano also doing instocks seems pretty futile.

Plano at my store seems to never “have time“ for anything other than setting, unless they are watched like a hawk.

It's always been the case plano workload hours do not account for pulling, pushing, updating counts, or backstocking. The hours are only allotted for setting. Hours are not always accurate though and a lot of the time a pog can be set in less time it is given so doing the rest of those things is easier to fit in. But- that only works if you have people who know the work REALLY REALLY well; TMs new to setting will not be able to accomplish this with any finesse and hence, don't have time for that.

 

[Dead and Khaki]

Plano at my store seems to never “have time“ for anything other than setting, unless they are watched like a hawk.

I have nothing to say to this except "Oh, honey."

 

[gracefulfillment]

What does this re-branding of instocks look like? Scanning and pulling outs/lows?

At my store -- I can't really think of anyone that would be good for this Merch Ops team. It's a *lot* of detail work, and people that tend to enjoy working backroom -- don't usually like setting, or pricing. And vice versa.

And "same payroll each week" -- doesn't sound all that great. workload for pricing tends to be high around the same time as POG + backroom (ie. transitions.)

Would you own pricing for GM/Food and Style?
Is there 6 people on your team daily? or total? Is the Receiver one of the six people?

Pray tell what is "findability"?

Not sure if this was shared already somewhere else but this is every process owned by Merch Ops

 

[EndcapQueen]

Good luck! Are you alone or do you have a peer and/or ETL? I'm probably gonna shoot for the ETL role if this rolls out to chain.

I am the only TL for the role but I do have an ETL who used to be our S&E ETL. He just started with the company last year so I have a lot to teach him but I’m also hoping to end up in the ETL position if another ETL decides to resign.

At my store -- I can't really think of anyone that would be good for this Merch Ops team. It's a *lot* of detail work, and people that tend to enjoy working backroom -- don't usually like setting, or pricing. And vice versa.

And "same payroll each week" -- doesn't sound all that great. workload for pricing tends to be high around the same time as POG + backroom (ie. transitions.)

Would you own pricing for GM/Food and Style?
Is there 6 people on your team daily? or total? Is the Receiver one of the six people?

Thankfully we already have 2 TMs who’ve been doing the pricing for the last 2 years, 3 people who always do Plano staying on & 3 people interested who did backroom boot camp so I have people who already know the basics. We won’t know exactly how much payroll it’ll be until February week 2 or 3 so not sure what I’m working with yet. Yes the receiver will be one of those people & my sd was just giving a rough estimate if we had 1 person coverage per dept so not sure if that’s exactly what it will look like.

What does this re-branding of instocks look like? Scanning and pulling outs/lows?

Their main job is rfid, system audits & manual audits as of right now.

 

[Selfish]

Not sure if this was shared already somewhere else but this is every process owned by Merch Ops

It's a bit concerning. One team is supposed to do all of the sets, all of the pricing, all of the audits (including RFID), all of the pulls (except F&B), all of the backstock (except F&B), and manage receiving? As well as keep both the fixture room and backroom clean and organized?

I can tell you back when the backroom team existed, we had 4 backroom TMs that worked 8 hour shifts and still only managed to do all the pulls, backstock, and backroom audits. Some stores are getting 6 TMs to do all of that and more? I'd say 5 because the receiver barely counts.

How is it supposed to work with the backroom team only staging pulls for the salesfloor teams to push? What happens if those teams take too long and truck backstock isn't brought back on time? Do carts just pile up in the backroom again?

 

[SigningLady]

It's a bit concerning. One team is supposed to do all of the sets, all of the pricing, all of the audits (including RFID), all of the pulls (except F&B), all of the backstock (except F&B), and manage receiving? As well as keep both the fixture room and backroom clean and organized?

I can tell you back when the backroom team existed, we had 4 backroom TMs that worked 8 hour shifts and still only managed to do all the pulls, backstock, and backroom audits. Some stores are getting 6 TMs to do all of that and more? I'd say 5 because the receiver barely counts.

How is it supposed to work with the backroom team only staging pulls for the salesfloor teams to push? What happens if those teams take too long and truck backstock isn't brought back on time? Do carts just pile up in the backroom again?

I was thinking along these lines too. Back in the day with these process teams we had (roughly):
2-3 people for Price Change
4-5 people for Presentation
2-3 people for In Stocks
3-4 people for Backroom
1 receiver

Plano tended to be the most versatile, being trained in Price Change, In Stocks, and Backroom because that's where they'd end up when their workload was light depending on the time of year.

A team of 6 or so will not be able to handle weeks like this week for example where there is almost 5000 markdowns in Style alone, the entire cosmetics area is resetting, transition is coming in heavy for skincare/haircare, in addition to all the regular daily audit tasks.

 

[Dysprosed]

We're not staging pulls. Plan is for the team pulling to work.

 

[Far from newbie]

FIRST:
unless you have EVER been ON a presentation team PLEASE do NOT comment on what they ”have time for”.
We have NEVER had time to clean, set, remerch, change data, pull and push with the hours given on ANY transition, ever.
Some pogs within, sure, but for a whole transition: Something is always sacrificed. Sometimes, no data. Other times, no pulling or no pushing. Even when things go smoothly - we have NEVER had enough time.

NOW;
reading the OPS TL responsibilities has me wondering if I should LAUGH or CRY.
I currently SET 38 hours per week.
How am I going to ADD receiving, RFID, Backroom AND Audit to THAT ??? I can hear the answer now : “you will have a TEAM to do those things.”
Ok. And what about when there is a call-out, someone is new and working slow, when every detail of every pog needs to be audited for accuracy and ISM and the RFID equipment isn’t functioning and price change is out of control and….and…. And…backup cashier, help guests, take an LOD shift.
All I can say is NO, No, No. it May be time to start setting up interviews cause this is UNREALISTIC.
6 people for all that - NOT possible.

 

[Rarejem]

FIRST:
unless you have EVER been ON a presentation team PLEASE do NOT comment on what they ”have time for”.

If you take a breath, my comment is that this WAS a problem when there were separate teams and now giving those distinctly different tasks to the same people does not allow the time to get it completed under either job title and does not allow for checks and balance. This seems like a lot for just a few people. It's what it is and is in quotation marks because it is literally a quote of what was said by the tl every single time they were challenged to do it. At the time, it was best practice, but instocks assumed the job because it was necessary. I have been on presentation. I have been on instocks. I have been on pricing. I have been a backroom tm. I know how the synergy between these teams work and how that also affected how much freight we received and how much backstock resulted. I feel qualified enough to say that while the shelves are being filled the capacities can be correctly set and that instocks can update the SFQ. The newest challenge right now is that revisions have become a matter of changing labels rather than actually moving any product. This is affecting the times for fulfillment because the items are not actually where the app is telling the tm it is. Why is this being done? Because there is no time for that. I get it. It doesn't mean it isn't a problem. Having no time is not unique to any team.

 

[Inboundbeast]

I’m glad Target is taking a step back and going more for process teams but sadly I think they will try to do this with little payroll and just F it all up

 

[Selfish]

We're not staging pulls. Plan is for the team pulling to work.

https://www.thebreakroom.org/attachments/357cd7c8-0363-49ec-a6f6-7e6bdf5c7ee3-png.14610/

^ says General Merchandise and Specialty Merchandise are supposed to work their pulls. It's doubtful that Merchandise Operations will receive enough payroll or staff to do the things they're actually supposed to do, let alone things other teams are meant to do.

 

[starmaster1000]

View attachment 14610

Lol why does everyone misspell "Stationery," even Corporate?

 

[Dysprosed]

https://www.thebreakroom.org/attachments/357cd7c8-0363-49ec-a6f6-7e6bdf5c7ee3-png.14610/

^ says General Merchandise and Specialty Merchandise are supposed to work their pulls. It's doubtful that Merchandise Operations will receive enough payroll or staff to do the things they're actually supposed to do, let alone things other teams are meant to do.

Our store decided to deviate from that. Doing so has a few benefits. No need to pass off or stage vehicles, which creates its own problems. Person pulling is better positioned to maintain consistency across SFC, SFQ, OH, and BRQ data integrity. Can't speak to the payroll situation, since those details aren't quite out yet, but since the store director allocates payroll and it was their idea to have merch ops work the pulls, we shall see how it goes.

 

[Sisyphus]

Who will be responsible for SPL's? And where does MINI seasonal fall, specialty too?

 

[allnew2]

Who will be responsible for SPL's? And where does MINI seasonal fall, specialty too?

Mini has always been under food and Bev.

 

[SilentCrow]

What’s funny is most stores in my district found a way to do this unofficially. Hybrid of modernization and the old process because some things just worked from the past and Target is realizing that finally. It hasn’t been officially rolled out here yet but interested to see how it goes for y’all.

Im most interested in the payroll aspect.

 

[MrT]

What’s funny is most stores in my district found a way to do this unofficially. Hybrid of modernization and the old process because some things just worked from the past and Target is realizing that finally. It hasn’t been officially rolled out here yet but interested to see how it goes for y’all.

Im most interested in the payroll aspect.

Same but we were told to do this before 4th quarter the previous year. Hybrid truck unload, Plano/pricing team, zone/reshop team. We have lost quite a bit of tms and our hours are terrible so we have fallen behind quite a bit. We have had major leadership issues too but it's starting to get sorted out finally. Hopefully it sticks this time probably 3rd time in a year amd a half we've had leadership issues.

 

[Rarejem]

Mini has always been under food and Bev.

Mini has always been taken care of in all ways by our rear seasonal tms.

 

[allnew2]

Mini has always been taken care of in all ways by our rear seasonal tms.

I Can see how it’s easy to take care of during rear garden and valentines/Easter . But after that bts , Halloween and Christmas is to much to own both .

 

[Rarejem]

I Can see how it’s easy to take care of during rear garden and valentines/Easter . But after that bts , Halloween and Christmas is to much to own both .

Ahhh... you should meet our amazing rear seasonal tm... all one of them!

 

[EndcapQueen]

Who will be responsible for SPL's? And where does MINI seasonal fall, specialty too?

GM/Specialty will own their spls, mini falls under gm & rear falls under specialty for this pilot at my store

 

[Far from newbie]

3rd time in a year amd a half we've had leadership issues.

yes, this. Maybe I have selective memory but it seems like the caliber of leadership has really decreased. individuals are being promoted to positions they are simply not prepared tor and do not handle well. Seems like better individuals were chosen for these positions in the past. is the pool of applicants that poor ?

 

[EndcapQueen]

yes, this. Maybe I have selective memory but it seems like the caliber of leadership has really decreased. individuals are being promoted to positions they are simply not prepared tor and do not handle well. Seems like better individuals were chosen for these positions in the past. is the pool of applicants that poor ?

I completely agree, majority of ETLs are outside hires that just don’t understand anything about Target & aren’t willing to learn from their more tenured TLs that are just trying to help. Meanwhile, they’ve had me be a TL for every department over the last 11 years & they won’t even let me try to interview for an etl spot 😅

 

[MrT]

yes, this. Maybe I have selective memory but it seems like the caliber of leadership has really decreased. individuals are being promoted to positions they are simply not prepared tor and do not handle well. Seems like better individuals were chosen for these positions in the past. is the pool of applicants that poor ?

Idk we've had multiple out of company etls and multiple TM to TL promotions from other stores that have been absolutely not ready for there roles.

 

[jenna]

yes, this. Maybe I have selective memory but it seems like the caliber of leadership has really decreased. individuals are being promoted to positions they are simply not prepared tor and do not handle well. Seems like better individuals were chosen for these positions in the past. is the pool of applicants that poor ?

meh. Mine's about the same. Very meh across the board. It's just become more noticeable with cuts [in "leadership" positions] and continued lack of payroll + increased freight and expectations.