Archived No one in my store respects the Flow team...

[buliSBI]

Its typical.

During my tenure, I used to work all sorts of areas in one shift. I would be scheduled sales floor, yet I would have to get carts, help with breaks for Food Ave/Guest Service, backup cashier, help with breaks for Electronics and also work on assigned zone.

 

[konk]

BR says they don't push enough. SF says they over push. Will probably always be like that. I know for a fact that they do both, but there's nothing I can do about it.

The not pushing enough probably comes from not pushing to secondary locations I would guess.

Bingo! Also lots of GRC backstock from not FIFOing.

 

[Cel]

I love most of the people on our flow team. I hate the flow team as an entity, mainly thanks to a few lazy or overworked idiots making QMOS for me by pushing to the wrong locations, ignoring FIFO even on FDC truck pushes and oftentimes both. When product is pushed to the wrong location because they can't read a label or use their eyes to verify correct locations/capacity before placing product, that's going to make people angry. When chicken tenders that expire 12/17 are stuck behind chicken breasts expiring 12/23, and aren't discovered until I stick my head under there while pushing a chicken breast CAF on 12/17 (chicken tenders are marked as an out by the instocks team at this point), yeah I'm gonna get a bit upset, because it's a TPC coupon followed by a quick trip into the compactor after that.

 

[doxie71]

Flow team at my store gets blamed for almost everything. They overpush just about everything and most have no idea what a second location is. When they were pulling TLs and TMs in to help with trucks on double truck days, several of my TLs and I realized we all each emptied about 4 boxes of product in the time it took a flow TM to empty one. They never FIFO anything. We've shown the ETL LOG the amount of overpush we have found a million times. Doesn't care.

And you better believe flow in my store only does flow. Most of them wouldn't even know how to scan something on the register. People from other areas get pulled to help them. They constantly get told to take truck push and stick a pull clip on it to try & get the CAF pushers to push it so they don't have to. We've gotten smart though and can figure it out & if our TLs see truck push they label it as such and move it.

 

[seasonal]

Flow team at my store gets blamed for almost everything. They overpush just about everything and most have no idea what a second location is. When they were pulling TLs and TMs in to help with trucks on double truck days, several of my TLs and I realized we all each emptied about 4 boxes of product in the time it took a flow TM to empty one. They never FIFO anything. We've shown the ETL LOG the amount of overpush we have found a million times. Doesn't care.

And you better believe flow in my store only does flow. Most of them wouldn't even know how to scan something on the register. People from other areas get pulled to help them. They constantly get told to take truck push and stick a pull clip on it to try & get the CAF pushers to push it so they don't have to. We've gotten smart though and can figure it out & if our TLs see truck push they label it as such and move it.

FLOW FIFO?? :laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4:

 

[Rarejem]

The flow teams get blamed for ALL of the overstocking and empty second locations, but I would just like to say that I have seen Susie and Sammy High School-I-only-work-because-my mom-said-I-have-to-get-a-job do the same while pushing CAFs and reshop. Yes, the flow team is responsible for some of this, but definitely not all. The flow team at our store is so short staffed that they barely/rarely complete the truck. They can't possibly get pulled to other teams and it is usually the other way around. Most flow tm's at our store are not trained for cashiering (although we have cashiers that move to flow because they are one of the highest paid teams in the store) and do not carry walkies so they aren't able to take calls. They help guests as much as they can. Zone and FIFO for flow is NOT new and is part of your job - at least it has been for the over 10 years I've been with the company.

 

[doxie71]

The flow teams get blamed for ALL of the overstocking and empty second locations, but I would just like to say that I have seen Susie and Sammy High School-I-only-work-because-my mom-said-I-have-to-get-a-job do the same while pushing CAFs and reshop. Yes, the flow team is responsible for some of this, but definitely not all. The flow team at our store is so short staffed that they barely/rarely complete the truck. They can't possibly get pulled to other teams and it is usually the other way around. Most flow tm's at our store are not trained for cashiering (although we have cashiers that move to flow because they are one of the highest paid teams in the store) and do not carry walkies so they aren't able to take calls. They help guests as much as they can. Zone and FIFO for flow is NOT new and is part of your job - at least it has been for the over 10 years I've been with the company.

Flow TMs at my store tend to have walkies..and all of the other equipment. Those of us that come in at 6 have to beg & plead the BR TLs to get equipment to do our job functions (pricing, QMOS, SDA).
I have no issue with them not backing up. It's not part of their job description. But putting things in the right place and being able to understand a simple concept of FIFO is.
Yes others are to blame as well for overstocking & empty 2nd locations. But shoving so much on the shelf that it takes up another item's spot...not often you're gonna get a whole case of marshmallows in reshop. Or a whole shelf of several kinds of nuts & chocolate chips (I use this example because myself and a TL had to fix half the baking aisle the other day).

 

[Backroom81]

Oops, forgot to include that. Yes, that's the reason. The dressings and the mayo don't have particularly short shelf-lives, but they're the last things people expect to expire usually, and they come up in our SDA at least once a month. Hostess stuff and the AF/SB chips especially have short shelf lives.

If memory serves, salad dressing has a shelf life of around 6-8 months compared to most of dry grocery having 1-2 years. Since Target is GREAT at sending too much at once and then replenishing when it even starts to sell down, it rarely gets rotated.

Also, doing proper FIFO in areas like that and dairy is extremely difficult with Target's logistic process. In almost every store, the Autofill is scheduled to drop after the truck is acknowledged and PUSH is ran. Since the PUSH application subtracts from the autofill, fresh product off the truck will get sent to the floor while the older stuff located in the backroom stays behind. Short dated items that also sell quickly (yogurt) go out of date all the time because we'll get sent 20 cases of various DPCIs at a time and then get replenished before we can even sell through it. The best you can do is try to check dates while stocking and rotate properly. If you're in backroom and are pulling a case out, make sure that it's the oldest case of that DPCI in the location that is being sent out.

 

[masterspot]

Coming from what is technically a high volume store where I'm at...

We just got new management. Much like the last management, they don't know how to talk to people.
They want everything done fast. It isn't. Not with the team members they have.
You shorten the hours and don't rotate the weekends.
Then you blame us for the lost sales or whatever else you wanna blame us for.

This is why FIFO doesn't matter. People are just plained burned out.

 

[masterspot]

Oops, forgot to include that. Yes, that's the reason. The dressings and the mayo don't have particularly short shelf-lives, but they're the last things people expect to expire usually, and they come up in our SDA at least once a month. Hostess stuff and the AF/SB chips especially have short shelf lives.

If memory serves, salad dressing has a shelf life of around 6-8 months compared to most of dry grocery having 1-2 years. Since Target is GREAT at sending too much at once and then replenishing when it even starts to sell down, it rarely gets rotated.

Also, doing proper FIFO in areas like that and dairy is extremely difficult with Target's logistic process. In almost every store, the Autofill is scheduled to drop after the truck is acknowledged and PUSH is ran. Since the PUSH application subtracts from the autofill, fresh product off the truck will get sent to the floor while the older stuff located in the backroom stays behind. Short dated items that also sell quickly (yogurt) go out of date all the time because we'll get sent 20 cases of various DPCIs at a time and then get replenished before we can even sell through it. The best you can do is try to check dates while stocking and rotate properly. If you're in backroom and are pulling a case out, make sure that it's the oldest case of that DPCI in the location that is being sent out.

What I've seen done, which makes sense for the sake of keeping it moving, is moving all the old stuff to the left and trying to fit the new stuff in the right.

 

[Mugen]

I understand where Flow hate comes from. Having been on both sides, working on flow and cleaning up after flow, I can see why there is animosity for them.

Flow team at my store gets blamed for almost everything. They overpush just about everything and most have no idea what a second location is. When they were pulling TLs and TMs in to help with trucks on double truck days, several of my TLs and I realized we all each emptied about 4 boxes of product in the time it took a flow TM to empty one. They never FIFO anything. We've shown the ETL LOG the amount of overpush we have found a million times. Doesn't care.

And you better believe flow in my store only does flow. Most of them wouldn't even know how to scan something on the register. People from other areas get pulled to help them. They constantly get told to take truck push and stick a pull clip on it to try & get the CAF pushers to push it so they don't have to. We've gotten smart though and can figure it out & if our TLs see truck push they label it as such and move it.

Our ETL LOG babied flow and at one point, started scheduling early morning BR lunches to "help out flow" (and that it didn't....). She tried teaching the register to bolster up RedCards and that was a flop. The amount of Challenge we get on a daily basis is ridiculous and when we complain about it, we're told to "just backstock it, that is your job.

Don't get me started on double trucks and food truck days. They'll take their sweet time and jump out ASAP.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Coming from what is technically a high volume store where I'm at...

We just got new management. Much like the last management, they don't know how to talk to people.
They want everything done fast. It isn't. Not with the team members they have.
You shorten the hours and don't rotate the weekends.
Then you blame us for the lost sales or whatever else you wanna blame us for.

This is why FIFO doesn't matter. People are just plained burned out.

Spot will catch up to them.

 

[konk]

A CAF can't be overstocked unless it was overstocked already. Well that's not entirely true, but it mostly is.

 

[RhettB]

A CAF can't be overstocked unless it was overstocked already. Well that's not entirely true, but it mostly is.

I'd say mostly untrue.

If your trigger in the accumulator generates a pull for the item, the item pulls. The backroom pulls a full case of 12 bottles of shampoo, you only sold 3.

 

[StackerMistress]

Flow has a reputation in our store for overstocking, not checking second locations, and not pushing challenge, ever. But I know that salesfloor is guilty of this stuff, too. We have a few really, really good flow TMs who work hard and quickly. Most don't, though.

The only confirmed issue I have with them is when I roll in at 7:30 am and need a PDA, I'm told to go ask flow for one. And yet, as soon as they see me coming, they either hide them (no joke), or they tell me they "need" their PDA. You don't need a PDA to push B block! If I don't have a PDA, I literally cannot do my job. So I have to be a jerk and demand it, or I have to go get a TL to be a jerk and demand one for me. I wish we could all have PDAs, truly. Maybe then you guys would actually push things to all locations. But that won't happen, so just give me the damn PDA.

 

[Kompa]

i noticed that if my flow team doesn't have a pda, they have to wait for the etl to finnaly walk around and check for a second location

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Hit the price checker or look around, is your best bet.

 

[Gravalpea]

Greetings all! I am a member of the flow team, also trained to back stock and pull, responsible for electronics/MMB and one of the lucky flow team members that needs a PDA. While there are a few hard/good workers with this particular flow team, most are just there to draw a paycheck and take no pride in what they do.
FIFO is pretty much nonexistent with flow team and overstocking achieving ridiculous levels.
On two separate occasions I have had to take what was called "back stock" and check it, because I was curious. It turns out, no one trained that flow team member where the facing number on the labels is. I was able to empty the box that was "back-stock".
On multiple occasions where there is a truck, I have seen team members take unworked repacks and place them on back stock flats/tubs. I should clarify though that the store I work at completed a remodel about eight months ago and the system for picking was never updated, so repacks need to be sorted on the line to make life easier later in the day.
And may the lord help you if flow team has to flex!

 

[redeye58]

Welcome to the red 'hood, GP.
You're def among good company.

 

[looseseal]

Hit the price checker or look around, is your best bet.

Items that have a second location will have an asterisk next to the schematic on the DC label as well (ex: G19 1-2-5*). The label won't tell you the second location, but you'll at least know it has one. The majority of the time it'll be on an endcap near the home, so hopefully you shouldn't have to wander too far.

 

[Backroom81]

The amount of Challenge we get on a daily basis is ridiculous and when we complain about it, we're told to "just backstock it, that is your job.

Try to teach them that if you override and backstock challenge it WILL come back out on every CAF pull that day. It is a complete waste of time to backstock challenge.

 

[mrknownothing]

The amount of Challenge we get on a daily basis is ridiculous and when we complain about it, we're told to "just backstock it, that is your job.

Try to teach them that if you override and backstock challenge it WILL come back out on every CAF pull that day. It is a complete waste of time to backstock challenge.

Unless you SUBT999 it, in which case you're screwing up the accumulator and get the instocks team in trouble instead of the flow team/CAF pushers.

 

[brobley]

Hi. Flow team member here, hired as seasonal, but it looks like I'll be staying. Would someone be so kind as to explain - or point me to where an explanation is already posted - what CAF pulls are, and what the general process is for pulls and autofill and such? I mostly pull pallets to the floor and push. We send blackline and backstock to the back, but I don't know what happens to it after that, and I'd like to. Thanks.

 

[The Dude Abides]

Hi. Flow team member here, hired as seasonal, but it looks like I'll be staying. Would someone be so kind as to explain - or point me to where an explanation is already posted - what CAF pulls are, and what the general process is for pulls and autofill and such? I mostly pull pallets to the floor and push. We send blackline and backstock to the back, but I don't know what happens to it after that, and I'd like to. Thanks.

CAF pulls are items that drop hourly during the middle of the day (hours depend on store volume) and are intended to fill items sold during the day. They are generally significantly smaller than the autofill pulls in the morning which flow team generally pushes in addition to the truck.

At my store overstocking does occur from flow usually on case packs they look to flex out, but the bigger issue is they tend to push my sight. Due to this if they don't see an item they assume it's backstock and we get TONS of empty location backstock come to the backroom. The backroom team points out that roughly 40% of what's brought back can be pushed into empty locations every single truck, but the leadership team ignores it. The result is our floor is always light and empty looking, the backroom aisles are jampacked, the CAF batches are a nightmare and Instock pulls are huge.

 

[brobley]

Thanks, The Dude Abides.

On flow, in addition to the truck, we get "autofills" of freight to be pushed. Are autofills the same as CAF pulls? If not, what does CAF stand for/represent, and what is the difference between the two?

Oftentimes, I barely get to the green clip pulls before my whistle blows, but when I have, they turn out to be back stock too. Stuff that goes back and forth in a circle every day from truck to push to backstock to whatever happens then... but seems to just circle back to the floor when it's still not needed. Is there a way to identify/stop that?