Archived QMOS and Food Waste

[EllieKatieCat]

I'm working in a new, smaller Target. We've been opened for a few days now, and the amount of food we have thrown out is ASTRONOMICAL. Since opening, I've primarily worked in Pfresh, but I am trained to work in other areas of the store.

MOST of this QMOS was pushed to the floor, so it wasn't sitting in the Ambient Room or Cooler. Yet, despite only having perishable items for about a week, we're throwing out SOOOOOOOOOOOO much food.

Part of it is the responsibility of the closer in Pfresh. Whoever is there in the evenings (I leave by 1:30pm at the latest) is not pulling the meat and freezing it on its expiration date, so I have to throw it out the next morning).

However, it doesn't explain the HUNDREDS of bananas I am throwing out on a daily basis. Today, I had the QMOS bin full (though it wasn't emptied the night before) PLUS a smart cart AND a regular cart overflowing with produce that, according to the STL was "unsellable."

The standards Target holds for food is absolutely INSANE. (And I've noticed that MOST Targets don't follow those standards).

When I was trained, I was told to cull foods based on common sense. ("Would I buy this?") Obviously, big bruises, mold, and giant gashes in food gets tossed. However, a banana that's a little more yellow (with no green) and maybe even a speck or two of brown isn't the worst thing in the world. Some people DO want to buy food that's ready to eat. I think it makes perfect sense to put the rock-hard avocados on one half of a display, and the softer, ripe ones on the other. There are people who buy groceries for the week and want their produce to last (though, based on the amount of food we throw out, I doubt it would last our 'guests' very long- unless their standards are more realistic). However, there are also people who run to the store to pick up last-minute ingredients. They want their food to be ripe and ready to eat.

But ripe= garbage. One little mark (that most people probably wouldn't notice)= garbage.

It's not being composted or donated (even if it's just to the TMs). I threw out about a dozen Archer Farms sandwiches that were dated for today. I know some stores will take food like that (sandwiches/baked goods that are on or almost at their expiration date and place them in the break room for team members to eat since the food is still good).

It's just absolutely insane how much perfectly good food is being thrown out.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Partner with your tl on your concerns. The closer may of been on register half the night or leave at 9pm.

 

[Planosss]

Does the store donate any food?

 

[Snarf]

When I took over receiving I noticed we were throwing out too much. It was ridiculous the amount of food that was being thrown out on a daily basis.
I know its time consuming, but if you process defective food with a PDA it will more than likely come out as donate. When you QMOS on the zebra it doesn't give you the option to donate, it goes straight to toss. If management gives you any push back about it taking longer to do grocery then let them know this way of defecting is profitable to the store than just tossing.
HQ though really needs to change that on the zebra. When it comes to large quantities of bananas we still proccess them with a zebra because we would be defecting for a long time to donate 300+ bananas in one day.
Also if you do start donating more, partner with whomever picks up donations. My rep was only coming once a week and now I get him to come three times a week. I can also give him a call on off days if there is something that needs to be picked up that day.

 

[unknown]

I'm working in a new, smaller Target. We've been opened for a few days now, and the amount of food we have thrown out is ASTRONOMICAL. Since opening, I've primarily worked in Pfresh, but I am trained to work in other areas of the store.

MOST of this QMOS was pushed to the floor, so it wasn't sitting in the Ambient Room or Cooler. Yet, despite only having perishable items for about a week, we're throwing out SOOOOOOOOOOOO much food.

Part of it is the responsibility of the closer in Pfresh. Whoever is there in the evenings (I leave by 1:30pm at the latest) is not pulling the meat and freezing it on its expiration date, so I have to throw it out the next morning).

However, it doesn't explain the HUNDREDS of bananas I am throwing out on a daily basis. Today, I had the QMOS bin full (though it wasn't emptied the night before) PLUS a smart cart AND a regular cart overflowing with produce that, according to the STL was "unsellable."

The standards Target holds for food is absolutely INSANE. (And I've noticed that MOST Targets don't follow those standards).

When I was trained, I was told to cull foods based on common sense. ("Would I buy this?") Obviously, big bruises, mold, and giant gashes in food gets tossed. However, a banana that's a little more yellow (with no green) and maybe even a speck or two of brown isn't the worst thing in the world. Some people DO want to buy food that's ready to eat. I think it makes perfect sense to put the rock-hard avocados on one half of a display, and the softer, ripe ones on the other. There are people who buy groceries for the week and want their produce to last (though, based on the amount of food we throw out, I doubt it would last our 'guests' very long- unless their standards are more realistic). However, there are also people who run to the store to pick up last-minute ingredients. They want their food to be ripe and ready to eat.

But ripe= garbage. One little mark (that most people probably wouldn't notice)= garbage.

It's not being composted or donated (even if it's just to the TMs). I threw out about a dozen Archer Farms sandwiches that were dated for today. I know some stores will take food like that (sandwiches/baked goods that are on or almost at their expiration date and place them in the break room for team members to eat since the food is still good).

It's just absolutely insane how much perfectly good food is being thrown out.

Don't care. Don't care. Don't care. That should be your creed. Do your job. But don't care past that.

 

[qmosqueen]

The more you throw away the more you will start selling cause the floor will be fresh. And watch how you order so that less will be wasted. Donate as much as possible.

 

[LaTarjetaRoja]

Coupons and TPCs are your friends.

 

[Malkiacera]

Partner with TL, see who’s ordering what and why. Don’t order any niche items that don’t sell well (ex: we don’t sell organic baby red’s, why bother wasting space when we’re always running out of bagged onions first on the floor?) TPC bulk sooner than later.

 

[EllieKatieCat]

Coupons and TPCs are your friends.

We don't have any coupons, and that won't help with the produce that is being thrown out even though there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with it.

We had almost nothing on the floor because 90% of what was out there and what we had in the back (which wasn't much) had to be thrown out. Avocados were ripe and ready to eat, so they were all tossed- meaning we had NO avocados on the floor. Many of the apples had slight scars- which tends to happen with MOST produce items due to many factors. None of this food was rotten, molded, or otherwise unsafe to eat. In fact, I had to investigate every single apple meticulously to find some of these defects, but because they weren't ABSOLUTELY perfect, they had to be tossed. (Next step is to get a food scale and tape measure to make sure that apples are the correct weight and diameter.)

The biggest things we're throwing out are apples, bananas, and avocados. Most of these items are getting tossed within a day of being delivered due to very slight cosmetic issues or because they are actually ripe and ready to eat. We can't sell food like that because people don't want to buy milk that expires in a day, so why would they want bananas that only last a day.

(If they are ripening on our shelves within a day or two, then they're not going to slow down outside of the store. Besides, some people do want to buy food that they can eat immediately).

 

[smashandthrash]

This is common in the grocery world. Something you can try and implement is a second chance bag for fruit with marks and such.

Others have mentioned marking items down, which is a great idea if you have too much product on hand. Throwing away that many bananas doesn't surprise me. Apparently you can possibly donate. That's a positive thing.

It's very sad, yes, I agree. Unfortunately the consumer is extremely picky and it seems like your STL is picky. Some managers are pickier than others about those standards. Controlling shrink/QMOS is a tricky business. Sounds like you need to work with your closer and work on ordering. Small stores can't sit on a lot of product for very long.

 

[NKG]

Does the store donate any food?

To add to planosss- you may want to check to make sure your suppose to be donating food. We are told send everything even expired food to donation unless its extremely old and to let them decide if they want it.

 

[Planosss]

We have a local food bank come and pick up donations every morning, its mostly produce , some expired but frozen meats and stuff thats soon to be expired but we have a ton of.
Talk to your TL about getting in touch with a local food bank or a charity, its a big tax write off for spot. You are also earning “good karma points” along the way

 

[Planosss]

We don't have any coupons, and that won't help with the produce that is being thrown out even though there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with it.

We had almost nothing on the floor because 90% of what was out there and what we had in the back (which wasn't much) had to be thrown out. Avocados were ripe and ready to eat, so they were all tossed- meaning we had NO avocados on the floor. Many of the apples had slight scars- which tends to happen with MOST produce items due to many factors. None of this food was rotten, molded, or otherwise unsafe to eat. In fact, I had to investigate every single apple meticulously to find some of these defects, but because they weren't ABSOLUTELY perfect, they had to be tossed. (Next step is to get a food scale and tape measure to make sure that apples are the correct weight and diameter.)

The biggest things we're throwing out are apples, bananas, and avocados. Most of these items are getting tossed within a day of being delivered due to very slight cosmetic issues or because they are actually ripe and ready to eat. We can't sell food like that because people don't want to buy milk that expires in a day, so why would they want bananas that only last a day.

(If they are ripening on our shelves within a day or two, then they're not going to slow down outside of the store. Besides, some people do want to buy food that they can eat immediately).

Produce is almost always store ordered, do you know who is doing the order? Maybe help gauge and guide that process? Its really a balance between keeping the shelves full and not ending up with coolers full of merchandise.

Edit:- are you familiar with the Food IQ app on the zebra? Its a great tool for learning how and what to cull. Slight bruising is normal.
As for bananas, there is option to order them green. If you are getting ripen bananas all the time, mysupport it asap.

 

[glo]

TPC. If you're tossing perfectly good food, you're overordering. If you need to overorder to keep displays abundant, you need to actively TPC product to keep it moving. There's a training thing on the Food process page on Workbench, that shows expected sales lift with % discount. Pretty informative, but not always realistic.

But yeah, if you're tossing product that's not bad, mark it down slightly.

 

[Ahem]

I have no commentary on your actual topic but I actually hate the green banana policy. Every banana in the store is green lol. I buy bananas and they sit for a week before they're edible to me.

 

[glo]

Also the coupons are autoshipped every quarter. Keep an eye out for them. They're also orderable on SAP.

 

[PackAndCry]

I have no commentary on your actual topic but I actually hate the green banana policy. Every banana in the store is green lol. I buy bananas and they sit for a week before they're edible to me.

I just hate it because it means I can't grab one to eat on my break, but the FATM always gives me a dirty look when I asked to buy one of the "free fruit for kids" ones at FA because they're the only yellow ones in the store.

 

[REDcardJJ]

I just hate it because it means I can't grab one to eat on my break, but the FATM always gives me a dirty look when I asked to buy one of the "free fruit for kids" ones at FA because they're the only yellow ones in the store.

wtf lol

Baristas don't care about the fruit at my store, they let anyone take them for free (I still pay tho bc I'm good)

 

[PackAndCry]

wtf lol

Baristas don't care about the fruit at my store, they let anyone take them for free (I still pay tho bc I'm good)

With ours it depends on who's there, if it's the Food TL she always tells me to just take one (I'm usually getting a drink anyway) and if a barista is covering they usually don't care, but the FATMs both get snarky about it.

I always wonder if anyone realizes that having green bananas on the checklane banana tree totally defeats the purpose of it.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

We don't have any coupons, and that won't help with the produce that is being thrown out even though there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with it.

We had almost nothing on the floor because 90% of what was out there and what we had in the back (which wasn't much) had to be thrown out. Avocados were ripe and ready to eat, so they were all tossed- meaning we had NO avocados on the floor. Many of the apples had slight scars- which tends to happen with MOST produce items due to many factors. None of this food was rotten, molded, or otherwise unsafe to eat. In fact, I had to investigate every single apple meticulously to find some of these defects, but because they weren't ABSOLUTELY perfect, they had to be tossed. (Next step is to get a food scale and tape measure to make sure that apples are the correct weight and diameter.)

The biggest things we're throwing out are apples, bananas, and avocados. Most of these items are getting tossed within a day of being delivered due to very slight cosmetic issues or because they are actually ripe and ready to eat. We can't sell food like that because people don't want to buy milk that expires in a day, so why would they want bananas that only last a day.

(If they are ripening on our shelves within a day or two, then they're not going to slow down outside of the store. Besides, some people do want to buy food that they can eat immediately).

Edit: your scarcasm flew right over my head. lol

 

[Ahem]

I just hate it because it means I can't grab one to eat on my break, but the FATM always gives me a dirty look when I asked to buy one of the "free fruit for kids" ones at FA because they're the only yellow ones in the store.

I stopped trying to get bananas on my break. Also whenever no one grabs bananas ahead of time (for sbux) I have to go to market and hope to find a yellow one when someone orders that stupid smoothie lol.

 

[YoNanas]

Donate anything and everything whether or not you use a PDA or Zebra. Any meat that is not discolored or been out of temp just donate it. Freeze up meat that is even past the freeze date. Anything. Use common sense. FIFO. Donate food past the date. It isn't really spoiled nor has it disappeared from the package. Technically it is a "sell by" date. Donate produce that doesn't look picture perfect.

 

[YoNanas]

Don't care. Don't care. Don't care. That should be your creed. Do your job. But don't care past that.

One day when you have nothing to eat then you will learn. Food should not be wasted.

 

[YoNanas]

Also quit being too picky when culling bulk produce. Go to other grocery stores in your free time to get an idea how produce generally looks if you're going too crazy over culling.