Archived So what are the chances that Target starts staffing their stores again?

[Anonymous]

It would seem to me that what made Target so successful in the first place boils down to a few key things... not listed in order of importance.

The stores were clean, organized and zoned.
The guest service was top notch.
The clothing and domestics lines were mostly affordable yet not seriously lacking in quality.
Relatively unique and trendy items could be found in various places in the store.

The first two have completely gone out of the window compared to where the company was at 10+ years ago.

The last two have taken a serious hit compared to where the company was at 10+ years ago.

But I really think that if the stores were staffed properly, the ship would be righted, so to speak.

So here's my question... even if someone took over as CEO that agreed with these principles and actively tried to turn back the clock to a certain extent, could they be successful at doing so or would they lose their job due to a lessened short term profitability?

How profitable is Target right now? Year before last prior to the major Canada fuckup they made what... 3 billion in net profit? How much would putting 500 million to 1 billion(random numbers I pulled out of my ass) back into the stores in terms of payroll help the team morale and long term outlook?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

[Life201]

Also... it seems like the biggest thing that Target has going for it with all of the massive changes since the beginning of GS's tenure is the fact that it's "not Wal-Mart". Agree or disagree?

Corp. won't see any need to change that UNTIL the public opens its eyes & realizes the same reasons they despise Walmart for their business practices also applies to Target.

So far, having stores that are cleaner & attracting a higher end customers allows Target to fly under the radar very stealthily & they get a free pass.

 

[Life201]

It would seem to me that what made Target so successful in the first place boils down to a few key things... not listed in order of importance.

The stores were clean, organized and zoned.
The guest service was top notch.
The clothing and domestics lines were mostly affordable yet not seriously lacking in quality.
Relatively unique and trendy items could be found in various places in the store.

The first two have completely gone out of the window compared to where the company was at 10+ years ago.

The last two have taken a serious hit compared to where the company was at 10+ years ago.

But I really think that if the stores were staffed properly, the ship would be righted, so to speak.

So here's my question... even if someone took over as CEO that agreed with these principles and actively tried to turn back the clock to a certain extent, could they be successful at doing so or would they lose their job due to a lessened short term profitability?

How profitable is Target right now? Year before last prior to the major Canada fuckup they made what... 3 billion in net profit? How much would putting 500 million to 1 billion(random numbers I pulled out of my ass) back into the stores in terms of payroll help the team morale and long term outlook?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Don't feel guilty about pulling numbers out of your ass - corporate does this as a rule.

 

[Bosch]

But the OP at least admits it.

 

[tgtguy]

With the new 730 unload process....I don't see that Spot can even claim they are "cleaner: than Wal Mart. My store on truck days has pallets all over the floor, card board cages etc. There are certain spots in the store that if a guests needs something from them ( on truck days) there is no way they can even get to the merchandise. Spot is slowly turning into everything it once criticized Wal- Mart for

 

[looseseal]

With the new 730 unload process....I don't see that Spot can even claim they are "cleaner: than Wal Mart. My store on truck days has pallets all over the floor, card board cages etc. There are certain spots in the store that if a guests needs something from them ( on truck days) there is no way they can even get to the merchandise. Spot is slowly turning into everything it once criticized Wal- Mart for

Our guests have been complaining so much lately about all of the clutter from truck. Our flow team switched up their push process a bit which seems to have helped the clutter problem slightly, but its still not enough. I'm getting tired of listening to guests bitch about everything, and they're getting tired of having to shop through all the clutter. But hey, having the whole flow team on the floor in the morning to "vibe" makes all of that go away, right?! Trucks need to go back to being an overnight or 4am process, but I feel like it's going to take a guest tripping over a box of Tide and breaking their neck to make that happen.

I'm really hoping this new CEO makes some positive changes for the company, but I'm not holding my breath at this point.

 

[tgtguy]

With the new 730 unload process....I don't see that Spot can even claim they are "cleaner: than Wal Mart. My store on truck days has pallets all over the floor, card board cages etc. There are certain spots in the store that if a guests needs something from them ( on truck days) there is no way they can even get to the merchandise. Spot is slowly turning into everything it once criticized Wal- Mart for

Our guests have been complaining so much lately about all of the clutter from truck. Our flow team switched up their push process a bit which seems to have helped the clutter problem slightly, but its still not enough. I'm getting tired of listening to guests bitch about everything, and they're getting tired of having to shop through all the clutter. But hey, having the whole flow team on the floor in the morning to "vibe" makes all of that go away, right?! Trucks need to go back to being an overnight or 4am process, but I feel like it's going to take a guest tripping over a box of Tide and breaking their neck to make that happen.

I'm really hoping this new CEO makes some positive changes for the company, but I'm not holding my breath at this point.

I agree with you....the 730 truck process is about the dumbest thing ever. The extra sleep is nice...but to be honest...the store looks like crap at opening . Spot needs to re think things fast .

 

[MissionStarlight]

With the new 730 unload process....I don't see that Spot can even claim they are "cleaner: than Wal Mart. My store on truck days has pallets all over the floor, card board cages etc. There are certain spots in the store that if a guests needs something from them ( on truck days) there is no way they can even get to the merchandise. Spot is slowly turning into everything it once criticized Wal- Mart for

Our guests have been complaining so much lately about all of the clutter from truck. Our flow team switched up their push process a bit which seems to have helped the clutter problem slightly, but its still not enough. I'm getting tired of listening to guests bitch about everything, and they're getting tired of having to shop through all the clutter. But hey, having the whole flow team on the floor in the morning to "vibe" makes all of that go away, right?! Trucks need to go back to being an overnight or 4am process, but I feel like it's going to take a guest tripping over a box of Tide and breaking their neck to make that happen.

I'm really hoping this new CEO makes some positive changes for the company, but I'm not holding my breath at this point.

Thankfully my store has resisted the 730 unload process--mostly because they'd have to fire half their flow team cause they're not guest-friendly in any sense of the word. They push like nothing else but they're not there to be friendly, which is totally ok. But we have big trucks (for our store size) so the floor is often still a total disaster for at least an hour after open while they clean up.

The biggest problem at my store is twofold--lack of staffing and out of stock items. Our instocks team is good about shooting but it just won't come in for ages. The staffing thing is obvious. We just need more people on the floor. We'd keep new hires longer that way, too. Our newest batch has already flamed out, poor things. Which is a shame because we had lucked into some really great people but half are already gone to better jobs.

What Target's biggest issue seems to be a deep lack of basic understanding on how to run stores at ETL level and above. I've worked at a variety of retail (like most people) and a concept that is missing from Target lingo is "broken store". Every other place I've worked at would consider 90% of Target stores in my district "broken" right now. And the weird part to me is retail is pretty basic--doing it well is a skill like any job but the principal is very elementary. And broken stores are really easy to fix. But corporate cares so little about what's going on in the stores day to day that to fix them all is going to be a huge undertaking--and not one that I'm sure our corporate even knows how to fix. Like, I probably could if given proper authority but I've learned how at other stores. Nothing I've learned from Target would have given me the knowledge to fix the problems. And I peek at ETL and TL literature (I'm nosy) and it's all junk. Nothing about real management--it's all buzzwords and busy work. This isn't news to anyone on these boards but it's still baffling to me. They're managers, supposedly. Let them be real managers.

And for all the bitching--I think Target still has the bones of a good company. I do enjoy working here and most people I talk to really want to like working here. Proper staffing would go a long way of fixing their problems. It'd snap a lot of stores out of emergency mode and they'd have time and energy to fix problems instead of shoving them aside.

 

[JustJoe]

mostly because they'd have to fire half their flow team cause they're not guest-friendly in any sense of the word.

Last week (or the week before, I don't recall) a flow TM comes up to me and asks if I can help a guest. Guest wants to know how much something is. I scan it at the price scanner. Still can't figure out why the other TM couldn't hande it.

 

[tgtguy]

With the new 730 unload process....I don't see that Spot can even claim they are "cleaner: than Wal Mart. My store on truck days has pallets all over the floor, card board cages etc. There are certain spots in the store that if a guests needs something from them ( on truck days) there is no way they can even get to the merchandise. Spot is slowly turning into everything it once criticized Wal- Mart for

Our guests have been complaining so much lately about all of the clutter from truck. Our flow team switched up their push process a bit which seems to have helped the clutter problem slightly, but its still not enough. I'm getting tired of listening to guests bitch about everything, and they're getting tired of having to shop through all the clutter. But hey, having the whole flow team on the floor in the morning to "vibe" makes all of that go away, right?! Trucks need to go back to being an overnight or 4am process, but I feel like it's going to take a guest tripping over a box of Tide and breaking their neck to make that happen.

I'm really hoping this new CEO makes some positive changes for the company, but I'm not holding my breath at this point.

Thankfully my store has resisted the 730 unload process--mostly because they'd have to fire half their flow team cause they're not guest-friendly in any sense of the word. They push like nothing else but they're not there to be friendly, which is totally ok. But we have big trucks (for our store size) so the floor is often still a total disaster for at least an hour after open while they clean up.

The biggest problem at my store is twofold--lack of staffing and out of stock items. Our instocks team is good about shooting but it just won't come in for ages. The staffing thing is obvious. We just need more people on the floor. We'd keep new hires longer that way, too. Our newest batch has already flamed out, poor things. Which is a shame because we had lucked into some really great people but half are already gone to better jobs.

What Target's biggest issue seems to be a deep lack of basic understanding on how to run stores at ETL level and above. I've worked at a variety of retail (like most people) and a concept that is missing from Target lingo is "broken store". Every other place I've worked at would consider 90% of Target stores in my district "broken" right now. And the weird part to me is retail is pretty basic--doing it well is a skill like any job but the principal is very elementary. And broken stores are really easy to fix. But corporate cares so little about what's going on in the stores day to day that to fix them all is going to be a huge undertaking--and not one that I'm sure our corporate even knows how to fix. Like, I probably could if given proper authority but I've learned how at other stores. Nothing I've learned from Target would have given me the knowledge to fix the problems. And I peek at ETL and TL literature (I'm nosy) and it's all junk. Nothing about real management--it's all buzzwords and busy work. This isn't news to anyone on these boards but it's still baffling to me. They're managers, supposedly. Let them be real managers.

And for all the bitching--I think Target still has the bones of a good company. I do enjoy working here and most people I talk to really want to like working here. Proper staffing would go a long way of fixing their problems. It'd snap a lot of stores out of emergency mode and they'd have time and energy to fix problems instead of shoving them aside.

have been with Spot for quite some time...I hate to see where the company is today versus where it was when I started. I do realize that the company had to do some changing in order to counter the change in the economy etc. I am not ashamed to say I work at Spot....just not as proud to say it as I once was .

 

[whippingboy]

I had two guests in ONE DAY ask me if the store was going under. Lack of staffing, lack of zoning, lack of product. How long can Target run on bare bones before it's reputation is permanently tarnished?

 

[Bosch]

mostly because they'd have to fire half their flow team cause they're not guest-friendly in any sense of the word.

Last week (or the week before, I don't recall) a flow TM comes up to me and asks if I can help a guest. Guest wants to know how much something is. I scan it at the price scanner. Still can't figure out why the other TM couldn't hande it.

We have a few that are not great with their English, they work like madmen and women just speaking English is a challenge. Sometimes they could handle a price check but beyond that, its easier for us to handle it. I don't have a problem with it, you guys move the heavy bookcases, I can deal with a guest who might get fussy. And where my store is, fussy is the nice way of saying pretentious.

 

[commiecorvus]

Most of my flow team were monster workers but not the greatests with customer service due to language barriers and training.
To try and replace floor team members by putting flow people out there is like shooting yourself in the foot.
Now, could you you train the flow team better and make them floor people?
Mayyyybe... but you wouldn't be getting the work down anymore than you would when when needed the floor people.

If you want Target to be something special that stands apart from the places out there than you have to have people on the floor.
I can go online and order a computer table, easy peasy but if I want to know if it will fit the chair that Target sells having someone on the floor to help me will make a lot of difference.
If Target wants to keep it's head above water in the future and not go the way of other big box stores it needs to offer things that the net doesn't.

 

[GangulonCyst]

Target has lost the roots it was once known for.

Cheap Chic???? Not so much Chic, but plenty of cheap. Clothing is not fashionable anymore, it's the same junk you find at Wal-mart. Also, our designer clothing lines lately have not generated anything near the buzz like we had with some designers(i.e. Missoni).

There is nothing special about our Domestic and Houseware items, everything is basic and generic looking. Few if any "Target Exclusive" items ever make it to these departments anymore(Think Global Bazaar).

Electronics? We rarely get "Target Red" exclusive items anymore(other than bonus tracks on CD's, but who buys CD's anymore???), and 99.9% of what we sell in electronics is available cheaper online or at other local retailers.

Our front end seems to be the one bright spot as far as keeping things at or very near 1+1 by pulling from other areas of the store. But this is decimating the levels of service we are providing to our guests on the floor, and I personally know of TM's that are filling out surveys with "10's" because they are tired of hearing about poor survey scores because everyone is on a register all day.

Toys? If it's a popular toy you can bet we will be out of stock for weeks on end. Our buyers simply have lost track of what consumers want.

Stationery? Sure we can sell a pallet of 8 ct crayons during back to school! It was only appx 10,000 individual pcs, and we are a city of 140,000. I am sure 1 in 14 citizens is a 1st or 2nd grader and none of them shop any other retailers! Get realistic on the stock levels on this stuff!

Grocery items? Good idea to drive people in for basics, but enough is enough. We are not a grocery store, so quit trying to make us one. We also are not a liquor store, so let's reduce that wine aisle to something more managable!

Automotive? Where? That is all.

Sporting goods? Yeah, we sell some stuff for various sports, but with people focused on fitness why don't we get rid of some tents and airbeds and get in some fitness machines?

Target once prided itself on keeping things in the same areas to allow our guests to easily find things. Now it seems like we are hiding things from our guests by moving them around to new spots(i.e. moving Q-tips from HBA into Cosmetics, the constant shuffling of showerheads and scales between Domestics and Home Improvement). Many guests, upon not finding the item they are looking for in the location it used to be just assume we quit carrying the item - and remember they can't find anyone to ask as everyone is on the front end.

Target was known for treating it's teams very well. Now we are treating our teams as if they are children, scolding them for every little infraction we can so we have a reason to give puny raises that are more like a slap in the face. Not saying we should have out $1.00 raises like water, but when someone is rated excellent or outstanding, they deserve it.

Target's guest service back in the 90's was stellar. The teams actually took pride in approaching every guest and "schmoozing"(anyone remember that program?). Now the sales floor team only helps a guest if it keeps them from having to respond to backups. Between pushing what is left of the truck, trying to set POGs and endcaps, trying to push carts of reshop, taking care of the PCV and Flexible Fulfillment alerts, helping to pull and push hourly CAF batches, helping pricing finish their workload, running to call boxes in 60 seconds, and going to the front end for constant backups, it is a wonder ANY guest actually gets service from the teams. But wait! To help the stores, they are now having a 3rd party contractor zone Shoes and Ready to Wear for 20 hours each week until Christmas instead of giving that payroll to the stores. Notice that the contractor is only allowed to zone? Wow!

Ok. Stepping off the rantbox now. You may return to your regularly scheduled Target BS now.

 

[Dr Laytex]

But wait! To help the stores, they are now having a 3rd party contractor zone Shoes and Ready to Wear for 20 hours each week until Christmas instead of giving that payroll to the stores. Notice that the contractor is only allowed to zone? Wow!

Ok. Stepping off the rantbox now. You may return to your regularly scheduled Target BS now.

Wait... What?

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

But wait! To help the stores, they are now having a 3rd party contractor zone Shoes and Ready to Wear for 20 hours each week until Christmas instead of giving that payroll to the stores. Notice that the contractor is only allowed to zone? Wow!
Ok. Stepping off the rantbox now. You may return to your regularly scheduled Target BS now.

Wait... What?

Whoa, doggy! I have not seen any 3rd party folks at my store, yet.

 

[calimero]

We had a 3rd party supposedly zoning swimwear in May thru July ...what a joke !!
We have someone in jewelry / sunglasses ...

 

[oath2order]

Welcome to Corporate America, where the CEOs shit all over the company to try and make as much money as they can before retiring!

 

[Dr Laytex]

I am under the impression the jewelry person is a vendor/rep. What is this third party zoning company called?

 

[Nauzhror]

Our front end seems to be the one bright spot as far as keeping things at or very near 1+1 by pulling from other areas of the store. But this is decimating the levels of service we are providing to our guests on the floor, and I personally know of TM's that are filling out surveys with "10's" because they are tired of hearing about poor survey scores because everyone is on a register all day.

Never done a survey, but don't you have to give out personal information when filling it out thus making a TM filling it out super likely to be term'ed?

 

[dave white]

Yeah. I thought TMs would get term'd if they filled out surveys.

 

[waterspout]

I doubt Target investigates who is filling out surveys. So unless you are foolish enough to put in that you are a tm and stuff, how will they know? I could fill one out and use my sister's info.

Mind you, I'm not saying it is right or wrong.

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

They do term for filling out surveys. Lost a ETL due to that. Do it from a store kiosk, theres video. Do it from your home computer, IP address. The concept of surveys is ridiculous anyway.They do not accurately reflect anything from the store. If they did them right at the lanes, 2 or 3 questions right on the pin pad, you would get a more accurate result. People who are satisfied are not going to fill out a survey. Older guests are not computer savvy. Younger guests will use twitter to voice their concerns (and get results)With our track record of computer safety people still equate computers and Target with hacking.People don't have time to fill out surveys from everywhere they shop either. How about using your own damn eyes. Stores are littered with freight all the way to noon. 3 team members are covering an entire sales floor and then they are stuck on check lanes half of their shifts. 24 lanes of registers and 4 cashiers on a good day. Cut the stupid survey shit, use the money to staff the stores.

 

[Nauzhror]

There's no way they know the IP Addresses of their employees. It'd have to rely on people putting in their own personal info.

Not to mention it's clearly the happy people filling out most surveys, not the unhappy ones as our store is constantly 90%+ green for surveys, It's more used by people that want a chance to win the $10,000 gift card than by people that want us to know what they think IMO though.

 

[waterspout]

There is no way Target is going to track the IP address of a single survey.

Now if you fill out a hundred, then we might have a problem.