Specialty Two DPCI’s per Waco

[Electro Steve]

Hello everybody! Our district manager or some higher up, I’m not really sure, stopped by and said we should now limit two DPCI’s per Waco. Is that just us or is it for all Target stores? What are your thoughts? Is it something that should be taken seriously?

I work in electronics and as you can see in this photo we are doing a great job... 😂

For context this is what the books portion of our back room looks like. We call it the library because its always packed full of old dusty books that haven’t seen the sales floor in years.

As soon as our district manager mentioned the whole two DPCI’s per Waco thing I just chuckled and asked him if he plans on clearing out our back room first and he just looked clueless as any other corporate minion would. I continued to explain our back room needs to be double the size to accomplish that and forget any hope of removing ladders. Probably not a big deal just thought the whole thing was hilarious 😂

 

[The Dude Abides]

Corporate is making a big deal about streamlining backrooms because it will improve pick times for fulfillment. Unfortunately, we are still receiving way too much on trucks of product that just does not sell at all. Kind of hard to clean the backroom when I get 6 cases of d-code product for a DPCI that only fits 6 eaches on the floor. I have one item that I literally have more than 300 of and it isn't exactly small.

 

[MrT]

Data accuracy, IRs, flexing on the sales floor properly. The more you fight it the worse itll be. It seems out of reach but its what is going to happen one way or the other.

 

[Shani]

What a fucking joke.

My aisle is completely stuffed full of stuff we didn't need and isn't selling because they love to send us products we already have 30+ of in the back. I am running out of room to backstock anything. Some of that product will die in that backroom, as it will expire before it sells at this rate.

They won't let us sweep anything we really need to send back. MySupports get ignored.

And some months ago, I organized the entire aisle to match the sales floor, removing all cases and plastic, and putting up signs with floor aisle numbers and what products go where. It looked amazing, pulling batches went nice and smooth cause like things were all grouped together. Leadership gushed over it.

Ever since, all the other TMs who help out have been allowed to trash it by backstocking shit wherever they please, in partial cases, in plastic, everything in the wrong sections. Large products are stuffed into tiny wacos because heaven forbid anyone have to step on a ladder, and the wacos bust. Cases are shoved behind and stacked upon other cases so when order pickers come, they make the mess even bigger because they have to shift everything around in attempt to find what they need (not their fault though). Complaints to leads have fallen on deaf ears. Nobody is held accountable anymore. Nobody is told about their mistakes or made to fix them. And then leadership has the gall to tell me that I need to fix it because it is my aisle.

Maybe... maybe if all this shit was fixed, I might manage that. But it won't be. So it's a no from me.

 

[allnew2]

2 dpci per Waco has been at least for 10 years as a Backroom relay
By the way that stockroom really needs a refresh . New Waco’s , and dividers , new Backroom labels . as well as kids books with kids , hardcover on its own , paper back own . A section for Nop to make it easier for ir.

 

[Electro Steve]

Corporate is making a big deal about streamlining backrooms because it will improve pick times for fulfillment. Unfortunately, we are still receiving way too much on trucks of product that just does not sell at all. Kind of hard to clean the backroom when I get 6 cases of d-code product for a DPCI that only fits 6 eaches on the floor. I have one item that I literally have more than 300 of and it isn't exactly small.

Yeah I can see the benefits to rules like this but management and corporate really need to fix other issues first. We often need to take things into our own hands. We teamed up with guest services to just defect dozens of boxes of dvds, books, video games, etc... that aren’t selling or just sit in the back room.

But just think... All it would take is basic coding to create and roll out an algorithm that predicts what items are trending or NOT trending and ship only what a store is about to need or currently has a shortage of. It would dramatically boost sales and reduce waste but they are too lazy and bureaucracy in a company this big can be a pain in the ass.

 

[Electro Steve]

2 dpci per Waco has been at least for 10 years as a Backroom relay
By the way that stockroom really needs a refresh . New Waco’s , and dividers , new Backroom labels . as well as kids books with kids , hardcover on its own , paper back own . A section for Nop to make it easier for ir.

Thanks you just motivated me to update our back room 😂 You are right the books are a complete mess. The electronics and movie sections are super clean but we had no idea how to organize books. Do you think we could organize it by floor isle numbers? So C could be isles F7-f8. D - F9-F10. E - F11-13. F - F14-F16. G - F17-F18 and H and I could be for NOP? We only have like 4-5 team members who are trained for electronics and ever venture into the cage so it’s super easy to roll out new strategies. My only concern is it doesn’t help the 2 DPCI’s per Waco crap because kids books might be jammed full but adult books might be empty.

 

[BurgerBob]

I love my back room setup, but honestly? 2 dpci is only possible in our apple section.

Our phone cases are separated into models like one has only iPhone 12, iPhone 12 pro in the next one. Then you go to phone accessories and itz just where ever shiy fit

 

[Electro Steve]

I love my back room setup, but honestly? 2 dpci is only possible in our apple section.

Our phone cases are separated into models like one has only iPhone 12, iPhone 12 pro in the next one. Then you go to phone accessories and itz just where ever shiy fit

Yep we have it divided one or two devices per Waco like Apple Watch series 6 40/44mm but accessories are a complete
mess.

 

[Ringwraith917]

We used to do that. Wacos up to 10ft, cases to the ceiling, case packs on the bottom two shelves too. That level of Management has no idea the impacts of changes on the daily life of TMs. Just say "I'll work on that" and you haven't lied

 

[JiJi]

Thanks you just motivated me to update our back room 😂 You are right the books are a complete mess. The electronics and movie sections are super clean but we had no idea how to organize books. Do you think we could organize it by floor isle numbers? So C could be isles F7-f8. D - F9-F10. E - F11-13. F - F14-F16. G - F17-F18 and H and I could be for NOP? We only have like 4-5 team members who are trained for electronics and ever venture into the cage so it’s super easy to roll out new strategies. My only concern is it doesn’t help the 2 DPCI’s per Waco crap because kids books might be jammed full but adult books might be empty.

My store doesn't use wacos for books, they just have them standing on the shelves. Makes it super easy to just walk through and grab.

 

[Electro Steve]

My store doesn't use wacos for books, they just have them standing on the shelves. Makes it super easy to just walk through and grab.

In our store it would be impossible to find books that way and we have so many that they fill the Waco’s from front to back.

 

[Budweisered4]

Our Heyday, Apple, Connected Living is actually just 1 DPCI per Waco and its because of how much we have of said product and space in stockroom. Our audio section would Be comparable to Entertainment on amount of items. As a store we go by 3 DPCI per Waco.

 

[Budweisered4]

Thanks you just motivated me to update our back room 😂 You are right the books are a complete mess. The electronics and movie sections are super clean but we had no idea how to organize books. Do you think we could organize it by floor isle numbers? So C could be isles F7-f8. D - F9-F10. E - F11-13. F - F14-F16. G - F17-F18 and H and I could be for NOP? We only have like 4-5 team members who are trained for electronics and ever venture into the cage so it’s super easy to roll out new strategies. My only concern is it doesn’t help the 2 DPCI’s per Waco crap because kids books might be jammed full but adult books might be empty.

That would definitely work but also asants. I would go by each backroom section first you might be able to combine multiple isles into 1 Section. I Know this is another Asants thing but I've had some leaders want books standing up with title facing out when you pull the Waco out and some that wanted the title facing up when you pull the Waco out. Both ways are beneficial depending on the size of the book.

 

[allnew2]

You guys don’t backstock by Plano?

 

[PogDog]

Corp always rolls these changes out for the entire backroom or salesfloor or wherever. It's never a small area.

If they'd focus on one department. Make very concerted changes and show how effective it can be. Then there would be more buy in. Plus, it would be easier to implement piecemeal like that.

Blanket changes are frustrating. And hard to apply one rule to every area (I.e., books is a bad example because d-code needs to be backstocked for IR reasons).

 

[Black Sheep 214]

We used to do that. Wacos up to 10ft, cases to the ceiling, case packs on the bottom two shelves too. That level of Management has no idea the impacts of changes on the daily life of TMs. Just say "I'll work on that" and you haven't lied

My best friend (who ran the department) used to do that at another retailer, only the phrase was “Yes, we could do that...” I suspect the unspoken end of the phrase was “on the twelfth of never”, since no ridiculous time-wasting project that received that comment never even got started. Got to the point that I could hardly keep from laughing when the manager was was laying out these elaborate suggestions that no one had time to complete, because I could just look at my friend and know what was coming...😁😂

 

[LuvMyPack]

I have my backroom organized by aisle/type of book. Board and learning books together. Then chapter, middle reader, young adult, paperback fiction, hard cover fiction, and finally non fiction. This mirrors my sales floor. And when I go to put them out, non fiction is the first aisle I come to, so I just work my books in the opposite order that I pulled them. Makes it super easy. And I usually only have 1 DPCI in most of these wacos. At the end I have 2 sections for nop books, kids and adult (separated so if I have to flex, it makes it easier). And these wacos are stuffed full at times, but with mirs done every week, it usually doesn’t last long.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

It depends on the size of the stockroom too.

 

[jenna]

Not going to happen at my store.

Anyone tearing down Seasonal soon to set Lawn and Garden? - not going to happen.

 

[YugTegrat]

I feel like the people who come up with these ideas have never actually worked in a store before, let alone the backroom. Organizing the backroom like the salesfloor and keeping 2 DPCIs per WACO, at most, is impossible for a lot of stores. You'd need to have WACOs from floor to ceiling.. but then you're not "low and pro" or ladderless, so you really cannot win.

 

[allnew2]

Not going to happen at my store.

Anyone tearing down Seasonal soon to set Lawn and Garden? - not going to happen.

Wait what ? I’m already about to set Easter mini , and rear seasonal has been set since dec 26

 

[seasonaldude]

Wait what ? I’m already about to set Easter mini , and rear seasonal has been set since dec 26

There was a communication. Corporate doesn't have enough lawn and garden to actually stock all stores. We're allowed to set except for the displays. But, apparently we aren't supposed to stock anything right now. We might be going straight into BTS (they haven't made that clear) because we still have all the shit that didn't sell last year and that never went clearance or salvage. We do now have pallets of charcoal, weed killer, and bug spray. I have no idea what they want us to do with that.

We're also being told we can't set Easter mini until after Valentine's Day. Yes, of course, the damn candy is coming in on every truck.

 

[allnew2]

There was a communication. Corporate doesn't have enough lawn and garden to actually stock all stores. We're allowed to set except for the displays. But, apparently we aren't supposed to stock anything right now. We might be going straight into BTS (they haven't made that clear) because we still have all the shit that didn't sell last year and that never went clearance or salvage. We do now have pallets of charcoal, weed killer, and bug spray. I have no idea what they want us to do with that.

We're also being told we can't set Easter mini until after Valentine's Day. Yes, of course, the damn candy is coming in on every truck.

The bts went clearance in December as well as some of bts went carry forward the direction was to backstock the nop and it will get new pogs and the backpacks went clearance 2 weeks ago tho. However i didn’t see the communication that you are speaking off. I just remember the communication from nov where I had to set lawn and garden December 26th as well as valentines . I’m getting no valentines candy I had to go to a different store and get 8 pallets of it because I was sold out and now the only candy I’m getting it’s Easter .

 

[FlowTeamChick]

But just think... All it would take is basic coding to create and roll out an algorithm that predicts what items are trending or NOT trending and ship only what a store is about to need or currently has a shortage of. It would dramatically boost sales and reduce waste but they are too lazy and bureaucracy in a company this big can be a pain in the ass.

In my dreams.... Overheard the pharmacy tech say to the pharmacist that she thinks the place that prepares their drug shipments picks an item each week and sends a bunch of it every day. And the next week it'll be a different item but same scenario. Sounds familiar to me!

We used to do that. Wacos up to 10ft, cases to the ceiling, case packs on the bottom two shelves too. That level of Management has no idea the impacts of changes on the daily life of TMs. Just say "I'll work on that" and you haven't lied

Yep, 100%.

In our store it would be impossible to find books that way and we have so many that they fill the Waco’s from front to back.

Used to work at a book store with hundreds of titles, maybe thousands, and no wacos in the back room. The backroom was organized entirely by author. Of course, stuff will still get lost if it's not done properly.

If I could somehow get rid of all the excess hand sanitizer - last spring, I didn't think we'd ever have any excess! - that would help a ton with freeing up space. I put case packs of transition wherever I could fit them, including way up high, and the best I could do was clump together products that were part of the same POG. It was a nightmare that will need some cleaning up once all my POGs are done.

And seriously, two DPCIs per waco? Ain't ever gonna happen in my back room. Too much product, not enough wacos.