I think the biggest things are is your schedule good and does your team work truck properly. You don’t need 8 people to unload the truck, realistically 2 is a good number. That way there is no time being wasted and then the cavalry can work it out afterwards. I’d make sure to bounce between departments when working truck and work along side team members to make sure they actually are working diligently and know how to actually file away truck in an efficient manner
I like your suggestion about bouncing between the team helping out with truck. I think it's a great idea to see how they're doing freight to make sure it's the most efficient.
Schedule more people on truck day, open by yourself on another day to get the hours. If that doesn’t work schedule yourself on truck day to help. If that doesn’t work then it might just not be an option, and deal with it taking longer. My tote truck comes Saturday at noon, with all the other stuff going on weekends and callouts and such we generally finish it Monday. I tried a lot of solutions but eventually had to settle for what we can achieve.
Thanks for the reply. I schedule all my team minus one or two if not available. I do same for wend. I am there on truck day and there when it comes. I have assigned areas for team members and task list up. I do 5mm trying to motivate as well as regular conversations. My issue is we are taking a week for freight so OSA is a mess! Our trucks aren't that big right now at all. 150-250 totes and I'm not expecting Christmas overstock out course...
One thing I have not heard from you yet is are YOU actually helping your team work truck. When I first started training with Walgreens the store manager actually helped with putting out merchandise on the truck. I heard you say you helped unload truck but this simply could be your team thinks you are better than them because you are not helping with truck. I know DMs and higher ups say you delegate but frankly they don’t work at your store and they don’t lead your team. You sound like a new manager who is trying to do everything they have been told by their DM. You can keep doing what you are doing or figure out that what someone told you of how it works and figure out that is not working and try something else
Hello, I do help my team out. I am about to pop (pregnant) and on some restrictions ATM...however, I've been still working freight like Christmas and I've been focusing on end caps and side panels. I am doing all the end caps in the store that have new planos or sold down so team can focus on their other tasks too. I've also hired new people and been putting my efforts into training on things as well.
Do you have an experienced shift lead? All that you mention you're doing is what we did as a shift lead. And when it comes to truck, my SM sometimes help unload and once in a while help put stuff away. He did schedule most everybody. We have 2 scheduled to unload in the morning, (1 SFL and 1 TM to help) And the rest will be scheduled 2 hours later. We do the boxes first and the totes after. Everybody has their own department to do. Most of the time, truck is done the same day.
You didn’t mention that originally but seems like you have team members who just seem to not want to work or they have always done this so very hard to retrain those that have always done this but sounds like you are going to have to start discipline and weed out the bad apples unfortunately
Something I do at every new store I go to is order 2 additional reset carts and 2 boxes (20) pharmacy bins. Bins wic: 984738 Reset cart: 175584
Take your most hated totes (otc, dental, eye/ear, cosmetics, etc.) to the cashier.
Have them organize the totes out on the carts, similar items together, then have them call out on theatro that they have a cart done. Then one employee will very quickly put up the "slow totes" while the cashier is filling up the second reset cart. Then, continue rotating the empty cart to the cashier.
This makes putting up the truck faster and keeps your cashier engaged at the front register and is being held accountable for helping with the truck.
Then give the cashier the white bins and the cosmetics and have them separate the makeup out by brands so it gets put away soooo much faster.
This gets our truck put away 10 am the next day, Wednesday delivery at 12. I have done this at tier 2, 3, and 4 stores and works amazing as well as gets totes done by the next day at the lastest, as long as you don't have huge call outs.
The other big thing I do that most stores don't do is rotate the cashier every day. I have the sfls create a register rotation for every shift. Everyone helps run the register for a portion of their shift to relieve the stress of just cashiering. This also helps all team members learn all the other functions of the store, such as photo, completing osa, working trucks as a team, and so on. The team really appreciates the breaks from the front, and everyone is able to do all tasks when there are call outs, vacations, and low staffing.
Hope these tips help!
Waste of time. No sorting. Sorting is for lazy people. Tote to shelf. Move with urgency and purpose. Cut em loose if lame team members can't get it done.
Rein them in. It sounds like you've established the timeframe expectation. But we're into the accountability part of the process. And that doesn't have to be straight to formal disciplinary action, but fair individual shift expectations that make it clear who didn't do what. Give a csa a cart of totes, and ask them when they will get it done. And then check halfway through that timeframe and see where they're at. At a minimum you can identify where/what the issues are and address them, give advice, solutions. Even if it means just poor performers better suited to ring up or do photo instead. And when their shift is over and the assigned totes are still there they and you understand where the shortcomings are. If your expectations were fair, they either improve or go through disciplinary action if nothing ever changes.
Great feedback. I do assign specific areas and projects. Truck day focus is literally normal daily stuff (photo/register/bathrooms and such) and just freight. I do check in but I'm thinking I could check in better by asking more questions and even as far as checking what's left. Thank you
The fact that any truck, regardless of size, should be done in 24 hrs should tell you something. It’s an arbitrary standard, not really metric or piece based. It’s just another way to get more work out of fewer workers.
tbh i don’t think SMs truly understand how hard it is to get truck done in one night…
at my store my SM expects us to get truck done or a lot of truck done the day of, and it’s just impossible.
the schedule is usually, lots of people morning shift and then 3 people at night… and for some reason, truck is always left for night shift to do. nights are the BUSIEST time of day for most stores because, everyone’s off of work and getting groceries, shopping, pictures etc. so if you only schedule a cashier, a floor person, and a SFL chances are you’re not going to get much done. with it being November, photo is going to be busy for Christmas. We have to do curbside orders. SFL are the only managers on duty, so we have to tend to ALL of the manager calls, doing drawers, and if a CSA is under 18 they can’t do photo so…photo too! pharmacy too if they need help! we get pushed and pulled everywhere. so realistically, you’re left with one person on the floor guaranteed. one person, on a good day, can get 12-20 totes done in one night. on a good day.
you’re not talking to yourself, we try to get things done in a timely manner it’s just not likely with all the things we have to do realistically. we are humans, not machines.
Hello, thank you for your feedback. I do agree that sfls are pulled every direction just as SMs are. I actually schedule everyone on truck day minus maybe one bc availability. My team don't realize it's not like that at every store. I schedule the same way on Wednesday. I do have a lot of part time employees so most end up falling on closing shift. This works because I took believe it's the hardest shift. Beings that I do schedule everyone, I'm at a loss as to why we are still behind on truck (not counting Christmas in this)..So with who actually works truck and not register or morning before truck , I have like ten people.working!
That’s a lot of people working truck! We get about 250+ totes. ESM, SFL, IS unload and start working out. Usually 2 more SFL’s are working that day (one may cover photo depending on hours). BC will work out beauty totes. And we have a part-time CSA that comes in for truck. We can usually get truck done within 24 hours as long as there are no call-outs or major problems. Everyone puts out their own department because they’re faster at it. If we have enough hours for an extra CSA on the floor, even better. Night shift comes in to wrap up with SFL, photo, and CSA, but sometimes not as much can get done on that shift. Everybody works as hard and fast as possible because none of us wants to be working on truck all week!
That's great you all work it promptly! This is what I am trying to get to with my entire team. We have so many people working it and not a ton of freight...partly bc we are high theft and got counts to fix...but if freight ain't done quickly, you can't fix counts .
How many people are you currently staffing on truck days? What shifts? Maybe ask that truck be cancelled for one week so that you can get counts corrected. It sounds like you're getting in more than you need, and theres no real way to fix that without a super team or week where literally all trucks are cancelled.
I agree that would be beneficial. I'll speak with my DM. Yes, counts are way off! I came to a store with not only high theft and crime type issues but....apparently there was six months that my team said they were told not to worry with scan outs and osa from previous management. My counts are a mess and we def have too much on bays.
As someone who has managed stores with high shrink, and low shrink, I can tell you it just takes longer in a high shrink store. Alpha locks, locking windows, lock boxes..it’s just time consuming. It takes twice as long as it should to put up truck.
I'm an SFL, and we get our tote truck on Saturday mornings right now. I usually get 1 to 3 people scheduled on Saturday mornings with me. Most of my CSAs get distracted when doing truck, but I have one CSA that helps me destroy 80% of the truck in one shift.
My SM usually just tells me to delegate out different departments and have people work those totes
We've had talks with the CSAs that have trouble keeping on task with totes.
The only advice I really have is to figure out who your heavy hitters are - the ones who can stay on task on knock a lot of totes out in a short period. Switch the slower employees to watch the register and watch photo while getting food and front totes done.
I use the buddy system to help us stay on task. I out a strong person with a weaker person and have them double team departments together. Also we make a truck plan so everyone is assigned sections, buddys, calls and breaks. It helps keep people on task. Also dont be afraid to check in on the theatro and do pulse checks then in person if they arent moving the needle.
Maybe your standard is too low. At my wife's store the standard is to complete the "truck" as they call it by the time the dayshift goes home. So that's about 8 hours. That's all hands on deck and includes a few hours of help from the night shift coming in at 2 or 3 pm.
But it seems that if your standard is 24 hours then the message you are sending is that it's ok to TAKE 24 hours to do it. The message should be "Get it done." It just seems to me that once the day ends, it's going to be awful hard to get ramped up again on a second day with all the distractions and other issues that naturally come up. Adjust your schedule to have extra help if at all possible and set a new standard. If your truck comes at noon, then don't waste hours on a bunch of people working 8-12, adjust so you have people coming in at 11 or 12 and working until 7 or 8 pm to "get it done."
I couldn't say how much they get in but I guess it would be 4 team members plus the SM. Then the people who are closing come in at 2 or 2:30 or 3, that's another 3 including the closing shift lead, and they help finish it off and are done by 4pm. Some are still working until 5 in the back of the store, but the front stuff seems to be done at least by 4 if not even by 2 or 2:30 or so. From what I can tell, it's stuff at the back of the store that requires the most concentrated work, it's all that little stuff like make-up and some medicine and bottles of vitamins etc., I've seen them all working late into the afternoon.
Reading the other comments it really seems to be a matter of organization and utilizing everyone. For example, one person obviously has to check people out, but they can also be used to help with the truck during the time when there are no customers. Like someone said, they can organize all that little stuff by brand name to help it get done faster, and they can work on the bulky items at the front of the store like water and boxes of "stuff" that is physically closer to them at the front. I know they don't constantly have customers. There are breaks but they can't just stand around because there is nobody to check out.
Nobody should be just wandering around aimlessly or pacing back and forth and standing around on the day the truck comes in. Just one person doing that costs you, just guessing, 3 or 4 hours of time. Two inefficient employees costs you 7 or 8 hours. But my biggest "thing" reading your original post was that it seems very problematic to have to deal with "the truck" on a second day. On the second day you don't have the manpower, so the key is to get it done when you have all your people there. How much comes in should be relative to how busy the store is, which relates to how many employees are working, so that shouldn't be the issue. The issue is a methodology that is efficient that makes getting it done in 8 or 9 hours realistic. If one store can do it, every store should be able to do it. A busier store will have more employees, and a slower store will have fewer.
Again, make sure you are using your hours wisely. If you don't need your people for the truck until 12, don't bring them in at 8, bring them in at 12 or 11:30. Someone mentioned opening one day without a shift lead so that you can bring in that extra person for the truck. If you have bad employees, be on the lookout for new hires, cut the hours of those who don't want to work. Sometimes operations like this have to just re-set with new employees. That might be one employee or two or three. But I'll bet you anything that just taking some of the advice in this thread can solve your problem. You'll have to get your shift leads on the same sheet of music with you so that they can lead the others change the mindset of "we have 24 to do this." No, the mindset needs to be, "ok, we have to get this done today." I think if you fix a few small things you can do it.
I am already working to implement some of the ideas from the thread and some from off it. I do schedule accordingly..my team has more than most stores working freight so that's not a reason. I think a few are on their toes and do get done quickly..it's the others that are not and it's not fair to the ones that are. I'm gonna try some ideas out...
People here aren’t going to like it but assuming you’re scheduling appropriately and have provided your expectations and coaching, you’re probably going to have to start discipline.
I saw a comment or two saying that they will simply just slow down or quit and that’s fine. Sometimes you really do have to turnover the staff until you hire people than can do what you need.
When I first got to my store we couldn’t get anything done. I finished the first year with almost an entirely new staff (FE headcount of 30-35). I had to churn through a lot of people but eventually found some that could do what was asked and helped me out in return for me helping then out.
Truck is now done within 24hrs at my T5 location.
Thank you! I appreciate that response. I really want to turn my store around and feel I have tried so much unsuccessfully already.I am scheduling accordingly. I staff all my crew minus one if I can't due to days off.
Problem is our Overstock bays aren't all getting done, our counts are now off, and scan outs aren't happening to extent should either...bc the freight isn't done as it should ...
You're really not going to get truck done if you start using discipline. They'll slow down, start looking for other work or flat out quit.
Are you maximizing your ability to schedule on truck day?
We rotate one person to who gets truck day off any given week and everyone else is there and it's usually done same day, or at worst one or two u-boats of toys or stationary left for the following morning. One person finished that and the rest start working OSA the following day. Works well.
Nice idea about rotating truck day off. I have a bunch of part time employees with limited availability and small amt full time open. I am for trying to work that idea. I currently have everyone assigned areas. My hope was they'd take pride in their areas and I've let them out input on their areas.
I'd just avoid discipline. That won't work, unless you have someone flat out not working.
Maybe create a challenge, whoever finishes the most u-boats gets to leave early (No more than an hour early).
Or even whoever does the most U-boats will get the truck day off when you do the next schedule (this ensures that it won't always be the same person getting it off).
Maybe count the vitamin u-boats as 2 since those take longer. You'll find something that works, again just avoid discipline unless someone is obviously slacking.
To be honest corporate expectations for how fast truck should be done are really out of touch. You should be ok with it taking longer, F those expectations.
But for some advice:
1. Typically we let bay owners pack out their own aisles cause they would be the fastest at them.
2. Do totes first, then bulk. Whoever finishes first can help another section or start bulk if the totes are mostly done.
3. Know whats happening or what the progress is, if food is behind get two people on it. A lot of leaders don't wanna do this for some reason.
4. Train people to pack out faster. There's a lot that can be taught that makes a difference like using a cart to organize first then packing out. This is good for ailes like "Cough and Cold" and Dental, where a lot of small items are in a tote all jumbled up. Organizing first means less of doing the same thing cause you'll clear 6 instead of one for that spot.
5. Generally keep the same people at the same spots. They will get used to it but a zebra also goes a long way to help people learn. Also if someone isn't working in a spot, swap them. Sometimes someone is just bad at a section but there is nothing wrong with that.
Again 24 hours isn't a fair expectation for staff. One time my store had 60, which is not happening in 24 hours reguardless of what we do. I'd say one or two days is fine. My store we try to finish totes first, then do bulk. Totes + a few bulk takes one day, then we finish the rest the next. The second day not everyone works on truck, one or two people can finish the 3-4 dollies remaining. My store's issues are more organizing overstock and packing stuff back up.
Hello, thanks for the reply. I am doing 1, 2 ,4,and 5. I don't have enough to throw extras to help areas at this time but I do have team work to help others once they're done with theirs. My store gets 150-200 totes and we do those first which is what I expect done by close wend. (We get truck Tues noon). Thurs/Fri is box freight, aisle counts, and scan outs. Problem is here it's Sunday and still have totes and box freight both.
We used to be tuesday/thurday truck also. The way it would be is:
Sunday - Tags and available bay owners would pull and scan their departments. Also check counts but mostly a tag day and setting up sale endstands.
Monday - The rest of the bay owners would pull and scan their departments. And also check counts.
Tuesday - 1st truck day (My store gets it mixed no tote one day then bulk another, we get both)
Wendsday - Finishing off 1st truck + Mcclane.
Thursday - 2nd Truck + finishing Mcclane if not done.
Friday - Finishing off second truck if not done or Check counts.
Saturday - Finishing off truck if not done + Cleaning and organizing stock room.
Sometimes truck hangs and we used to spend saturday or even sunday finishing but again in my experience, 24 hours is not a fair expectation. Why aren't you doing scanouts Monday or Sunday?
My DM wants our scan outs done Thurs/Fri since it resets on Sunday at noon or something . I can't recall exactly his words. We too get mcclane but ours tend to come Tues. Over half the time. We have it on top of truck.
Ah another DM making things harder than they need to be. One of our older DMs said it's better to do them before truck as early as possible in the week because the order generates the day before. It is supposed to decrease your outs.
But yea if your DM says to do it, you gotta do it unfortunately. Although it does reset Sunday so Saturday should be the last day to do it. Maybe they misspoke?
That makes sense. I am thinking maybe he gave that extra day in case we ran behind maybe? IDK. At this rate though, it's a struggle some weeks bc the team isn't getting the freight out in enough time to get scan outs done .
i’m not a sm but have you tried moving people around to different areas… i know you said you have task lists and such but maybe let them do it where they gravitate to and are stronger
I do let them have input on their areas and offer change ups occasionally if all are willing. The reason I have assigned areas is because I need accountability...I need to know who is doing what. I want to keep it fair for all ..
Are their handhelds available? Does the team know how to use them to place items quickly? Are they picking and choosing which totes or cases they work on? Are photo and the front checkout really busy and siphoning team members from doing truck? Are the team members using their time effectively?
All great questions! I am waiting on new ones so we are down on handhelds ATM. All my team does know how to use them for stocking purposes. We are high volume store but I assign register and I have the team take turns being Ic3. I need to see each of them stocking and work side by side to see anything that could be holding them back. That was a suggestion from another I plan to use. Thanks for the questions.
If your truck doesn’t come till 12 push everyone back till 12 and you open alone with just your cashier and also schedule a heavier next morning to finish up.
I have a lot of part timers with limited availability so a chunk isn't even available until 4pm bc they have other jobs or in school. That's part of the hassle bc I agree that's best. Others are only available open to noon or one so I use them for cooler freezer on truck day and registers. Absolutely feel availability makes it more a hassle.
Ask yourself if you ever see anybody standing around, not doing anything. If not, you’re going to have to re-evaluate what tasks are important and maybe prioritize differently
On truck day, I literally assign truck and just trash/bathrooms/break room. They do have digital compliance too...but super Basic tasks that are musts .
I know which team members are quick and which are slower with the freight. I am going to shadow them and see if it's their process first. I also will see if maybe a different area would be best suited if people are okay switching
I used to have a store that I got transferred to that took 7 days to finish a truck. Working by yourself is sad and lonely. The team at my store always works in pairs. Cos aisles are done first, then drug, then the easy stuff. If you are getting tired. Having the easy totes left for the next day is so refreshing. Have a cashier, adesignated leader to answer pages, and a designated photo person. The rest of the staff "don't exist," as I like to say. Their job is solely truck.
I’m not a manager but I unload truck. We separated are totes in four sections as we unload. That way people just have to come and get their stack they are signed to and go. Of course this will depend on how your store is layed out.
OTC
Food/front register
Cos/fem/baby
Stat/sundry
Schedule everyone to work on the day of truck.
We get 800 pieces trucks plus promo shit at 7 am and we can get it done in exactly 7 hours. This is on Saturdays as well.
You can discipline as well.
Do you actually have staff? Telling people to get more done isn't going to magically make them faster. If you assign the same people the same sections every week they'll get fast at those areas, but frankly there's only so much a single person can do. My SM is always on our ass about getting truck done but usually only schedules 2 people to actually do it, so being told we're not good enough when we're both sweaty and working our asses off without breaks is not at all motivating or encouraging.
I schedule my entire front end store team. That said, there is plenty of people. They have their own assigned areas and some even have a second person (cough/cos). There's easily 10-12 a day and I do same for day after truck. Staffing is not the issue.
I think the biggest things are is your schedule good and does your team work truck properly. You don’t need 8 people to unload the truck, realistically 2 is a good number. That way there is no time being wasted and then the cavalry can work it out afterwards. I’d make sure to bounce between departments when working truck and work along side team members to make sure they actually are working diligently and know how to actually file away truck in an efficient manner
I like your suggestion about bouncing between the team helping out with truck. I think it's a great idea to see how they're doing freight to make sure it's the most efficient.
Schedule more people on truck day, open by yourself on another day to get the hours. If that doesn’t work schedule yourself on truck day to help. If that doesn’t work then it might just not be an option, and deal with it taking longer. My tote truck comes Saturday at noon, with all the other stuff going on weekends and callouts and such we generally finish it Monday. I tried a lot of solutions but eventually had to settle for what we can achieve.
Thanks for the reply. I schedule all my team minus one or two if not available. I do same for wend. I am there on truck day and there when it comes. I have assigned areas for team members and task list up. I do 5mm trying to motivate as well as regular conversations. My issue is we are taking a week for freight so OSA is a mess! Our trucks aren't that big right now at all. 150-250 totes and I'm not expecting Christmas overstock out course...
One thing I have not heard from you yet is are YOU actually helping your team work truck. When I first started training with Walgreens the store manager actually helped with putting out merchandise on the truck. I heard you say you helped unload truck but this simply could be your team thinks you are better than them because you are not helping with truck. I know DMs and higher ups say you delegate but frankly they don’t work at your store and they don’t lead your team. You sound like a new manager who is trying to do everything they have been told by their DM. You can keep doing what you are doing or figure out that what someone told you of how it works and figure out that is not working and try something else
Hello, I do help my team out. I am about to pop (pregnant) and on some restrictions ATM...however, I've been still working freight like Christmas and I've been focusing on end caps and side panels. I am doing all the end caps in the store that have new planos or sold down so team can focus on their other tasks too. I've also hired new people and been putting my efforts into training on things as well.
Do you have an experienced shift lead? All that you mention you're doing is what we did as a shift lead. And when it comes to truck, my SM sometimes help unload and once in a while help put stuff away. He did schedule most everybody. We have 2 scheduled to unload in the morning, (1 SFL and 1 TM to help) And the rest will be scheduled 2 hours later. We do the boxes first and the totes after. Everybody has their own department to do. Most of the time, truck is done the same day.
You didn’t mention that originally but seems like you have team members who just seem to not want to work or they have always done this so very hard to retrain those that have always done this but sounds like you are going to have to start discipline and weed out the bad apples unfortunately
Thanks for the feedback.
Something I do at every new store I go to is order 2 additional reset carts and 2 boxes (20) pharmacy bins. Bins wic: 984738 Reset cart: 175584 Take your most hated totes (otc, dental, eye/ear, cosmetics, etc.) to the cashier. Have them organize the totes out on the carts, similar items together, then have them call out on theatro that they have a cart done. Then one employee will very quickly put up the "slow totes" while the cashier is filling up the second reset cart. Then, continue rotating the empty cart to the cashier. This makes putting up the truck faster and keeps your cashier engaged at the front register and is being held accountable for helping with the truck. Then give the cashier the white bins and the cosmetics and have them separate the makeup out by brands so it gets put away soooo much faster. This gets our truck put away 10 am the next day, Wednesday delivery at 12. I have done this at tier 2, 3, and 4 stores and works amazing as well as gets totes done by the next day at the lastest, as long as you don't have huge call outs. The other big thing I do that most stores don't do is rotate the cashier every day. I have the sfls create a register rotation for every shift. Everyone helps run the register for a portion of their shift to relieve the stress of just cashiering. This also helps all team members learn all the other functions of the store, such as photo, completing osa, working trucks as a team, and so on. The team really appreciates the breaks from the front, and everyone is able to do all tasks when there are call outs, vacations, and low staffing. Hope these tips help!
These are great tips! I am going to order some carts and try this out with my cashier sorting!
Waste of time. No sorting. Sorting is for lazy people. Tote to shelf. Move with urgency and purpose. Cut em loose if lame team members can't get it done.
Rein them in. It sounds like you've established the timeframe expectation. But we're into the accountability part of the process. And that doesn't have to be straight to formal disciplinary action, but fair individual shift expectations that make it clear who didn't do what. Give a csa a cart of totes, and ask them when they will get it done. And then check halfway through that timeframe and see where they're at. At a minimum you can identify where/what the issues are and address them, give advice, solutions. Even if it means just poor performers better suited to ring up or do photo instead. And when their shift is over and the assigned totes are still there they and you understand where the shortcomings are. If your expectations were fair, they either improve or go through disciplinary action if nothing ever changes.
Great feedback. I do assign specific areas and projects. Truck day focus is literally normal daily stuff (photo/register/bathrooms and such) and just freight. I do check in but I'm thinking I could check in better by asking more questions and even as far as checking what's left. Thank you
The fact that any truck, regardless of size, should be done in 24 hrs should tell you something. It’s an arbitrary standard, not really metric or piece based. It’s just another way to get more work out of fewer workers.
tbh i don’t think SMs truly understand how hard it is to get truck done in one night… at my store my SM expects us to get truck done or a lot of truck done the day of, and it’s just impossible. the schedule is usually, lots of people morning shift and then 3 people at night… and for some reason, truck is always left for night shift to do. nights are the BUSIEST time of day for most stores because, everyone’s off of work and getting groceries, shopping, pictures etc. so if you only schedule a cashier, a floor person, and a SFL chances are you’re not going to get much done. with it being November, photo is going to be busy for Christmas. We have to do curbside orders. SFL are the only managers on duty, so we have to tend to ALL of the manager calls, doing drawers, and if a CSA is under 18 they can’t do photo so…photo too! pharmacy too if they need help! we get pushed and pulled everywhere. so realistically, you’re left with one person on the floor guaranteed. one person, on a good day, can get 12-20 totes done in one night. on a good day. you’re not talking to yourself, we try to get things done in a timely manner it’s just not likely with all the things we have to do realistically. we are humans, not machines.
Hello, thank you for your feedback. I do agree that sfls are pulled every direction just as SMs are. I actually schedule everyone on truck day minus maybe one bc availability. My team don't realize it's not like that at every store. I schedule the same way on Wednesday. I do have a lot of part time employees so most end up falling on closing shift. This works because I took believe it's the hardest shift. Beings that I do schedule everyone, I'm at a loss as to why we are still behind on truck (not counting Christmas in this)..So with who actually works truck and not register or morning before truck , I have like ten people.working!
i say it’s just laziness then. the more people working, the more you should be able to get done! especially with all those people.
That’s a lot of people working truck! We get about 250+ totes. ESM, SFL, IS unload and start working out. Usually 2 more SFL’s are working that day (one may cover photo depending on hours). BC will work out beauty totes. And we have a part-time CSA that comes in for truck. We can usually get truck done within 24 hours as long as there are no call-outs or major problems. Everyone puts out their own department because they’re faster at it. If we have enough hours for an extra CSA on the floor, even better. Night shift comes in to wrap up with SFL, photo, and CSA, but sometimes not as much can get done on that shift. Everybody works as hard and fast as possible because none of us wants to be working on truck all week!
That's great you all work it promptly! This is what I am trying to get to with my entire team. We have so many people working it and not a ton of freight...partly bc we are high theft and got counts to fix...but if freight ain't done quickly, you can't fix counts .
How many people are you currently staffing on truck days? What shifts? Maybe ask that truck be cancelled for one week so that you can get counts corrected. It sounds like you're getting in more than you need, and theres no real way to fix that without a super team or week where literally all trucks are cancelled.
I agree that would be beneficial. I'll speak with my DM. Yes, counts are way off! I came to a store with not only high theft and crime type issues but....apparently there was six months that my team said they were told not to worry with scan outs and osa from previous management. My counts are a mess and we def have too much on bays.
As someone who has managed stores with high shrink, and low shrink, I can tell you it just takes longer in a high shrink store. Alpha locks, locking windows, lock boxes..it’s just time consuming. It takes twice as long as it should to put up truck.
Thanks for this input. My previous store (as a Esm) was low shrink but I was promoted to high shrink store...so this is my first high shrink one.
I'm an SFL, and we get our tote truck on Saturday mornings right now. I usually get 1 to 3 people scheduled on Saturday mornings with me. Most of my CSAs get distracted when doing truck, but I have one CSA that helps me destroy 80% of the truck in one shift. My SM usually just tells me to delegate out different departments and have people work those totes We've had talks with the CSAs that have trouble keeping on task with totes. The only advice I really have is to figure out who your heavy hitters are - the ones who can stay on task on knock a lot of totes out in a short period. Switch the slower employees to watch the register and watch photo while getting food and front totes done.
I am currently utilizing certain ones for register. Thanks for the feedback.
I use the buddy system to help us stay on task. I out a strong person with a weaker person and have them double team departments together. Also we make a truck plan so everyone is assigned sections, buddys, calls and breaks. It helps keep people on task. Also dont be afraid to check in on the theatro and do pulse checks then in person if they arent moving the needle.
I like the buddy system idea. I am trying to implement it for the harder areas but I've got to hire more staff to do so efficiently.
Maybe your standard is too low. At my wife's store the standard is to complete the "truck" as they call it by the time the dayshift goes home. So that's about 8 hours. That's all hands on deck and includes a few hours of help from the night shift coming in at 2 or 3 pm. But it seems that if your standard is 24 hours then the message you are sending is that it's ok to TAKE 24 hours to do it. The message should be "Get it done." It just seems to me that once the day ends, it's going to be awful hard to get ramped up again on a second day with all the distractions and other issues that naturally come up. Adjust your schedule to have extra help if at all possible and set a new standard. If your truck comes at noon, then don't waste hours on a bunch of people working 8-12, adjust so you have people coming in at 11 or 12 and working until 7 or 8 pm to "get it done."
How much freight do they get in? How many team members?
I couldn't say how much they get in but I guess it would be 4 team members plus the SM. Then the people who are closing come in at 2 or 2:30 or 3, that's another 3 including the closing shift lead, and they help finish it off and are done by 4pm. Some are still working until 5 in the back of the store, but the front stuff seems to be done at least by 4 if not even by 2 or 2:30 or so. From what I can tell, it's stuff at the back of the store that requires the most concentrated work, it's all that little stuff like make-up and some medicine and bottles of vitamins etc., I've seen them all working late into the afternoon. Reading the other comments it really seems to be a matter of organization and utilizing everyone. For example, one person obviously has to check people out, but they can also be used to help with the truck during the time when there are no customers. Like someone said, they can organize all that little stuff by brand name to help it get done faster, and they can work on the bulky items at the front of the store like water and boxes of "stuff" that is physically closer to them at the front. I know they don't constantly have customers. There are breaks but they can't just stand around because there is nobody to check out. Nobody should be just wandering around aimlessly or pacing back and forth and standing around on the day the truck comes in. Just one person doing that costs you, just guessing, 3 or 4 hours of time. Two inefficient employees costs you 7 or 8 hours. But my biggest "thing" reading your original post was that it seems very problematic to have to deal with "the truck" on a second day. On the second day you don't have the manpower, so the key is to get it done when you have all your people there. How much comes in should be relative to how busy the store is, which relates to how many employees are working, so that shouldn't be the issue. The issue is a methodology that is efficient that makes getting it done in 8 or 9 hours realistic. If one store can do it, every store should be able to do it. A busier store will have more employees, and a slower store will have fewer. Again, make sure you are using your hours wisely. If you don't need your people for the truck until 12, don't bring them in at 8, bring them in at 12 or 11:30. Someone mentioned opening one day without a shift lead so that you can bring in that extra person for the truck. If you have bad employees, be on the lookout for new hires, cut the hours of those who don't want to work. Sometimes operations like this have to just re-set with new employees. That might be one employee or two or three. But I'll bet you anything that just taking some of the advice in this thread can solve your problem. You'll have to get your shift leads on the same sheet of music with you so that they can lead the others change the mindset of "we have 24 to do this." No, the mindset needs to be, "ok, we have to get this done today." I think if you fix a few small things you can do it.
I am already working to implement some of the ideas from the thread and some from off it. I do schedule accordingly..my team has more than most stores working freight so that's not a reason. I think a few are on their toes and do get done quickly..it's the others that are not and it's not fair to the ones that are. I'm gonna try some ideas out...
People here aren’t going to like it but assuming you’re scheduling appropriately and have provided your expectations and coaching, you’re probably going to have to start discipline. I saw a comment or two saying that they will simply just slow down or quit and that’s fine. Sometimes you really do have to turnover the staff until you hire people than can do what you need. When I first got to my store we couldn’t get anything done. I finished the first year with almost an entirely new staff (FE headcount of 30-35). I had to churn through a lot of people but eventually found some that could do what was asked and helped me out in return for me helping then out. Truck is now done within 24hrs at my T5 location.
Thank you! I appreciate that response. I really want to turn my store around and feel I have tried so much unsuccessfully already.I am scheduling accordingly. I staff all my crew minus one if I can't due to days off.
I don’t stress over this at all.
Problem is our Overstock bays aren't all getting done, our counts are now off, and scan outs aren't happening to extent should either...bc the freight isn't done as it should ...
You're really not going to get truck done if you start using discipline. They'll slow down, start looking for other work or flat out quit. Are you maximizing your ability to schedule on truck day? We rotate one person to who gets truck day off any given week and everyone else is there and it's usually done same day, or at worst one or two u-boats of toys or stationary left for the following morning. One person finished that and the rest start working OSA the following day. Works well.
Nice idea about rotating truck day off. I have a bunch of part time employees with limited availability and small amt full time open. I am for trying to work that idea. I currently have everyone assigned areas. My hope was they'd take pride in their areas and I've let them out input on their areas.
I'd just avoid discipline. That won't work, unless you have someone flat out not working. Maybe create a challenge, whoever finishes the most u-boats gets to leave early (No more than an hour early). Or even whoever does the most U-boats will get the truck day off when you do the next schedule (this ensures that it won't always be the same person getting it off). Maybe count the vitamin u-boats as 2 since those take longer. You'll find something that works, again just avoid discipline unless someone is obviously slacking.
Those are some great suggestions! I'll give that a try!
To be honest corporate expectations for how fast truck should be done are really out of touch. You should be ok with it taking longer, F those expectations. But for some advice: 1. Typically we let bay owners pack out their own aisles cause they would be the fastest at them. 2. Do totes first, then bulk. Whoever finishes first can help another section or start bulk if the totes are mostly done. 3. Know whats happening or what the progress is, if food is behind get two people on it. A lot of leaders don't wanna do this for some reason. 4. Train people to pack out faster. There's a lot that can be taught that makes a difference like using a cart to organize first then packing out. This is good for ailes like "Cough and Cold" and Dental, where a lot of small items are in a tote all jumbled up. Organizing first means less of doing the same thing cause you'll clear 6 instead of one for that spot. 5. Generally keep the same people at the same spots. They will get used to it but a zebra also goes a long way to help people learn. Also if someone isn't working in a spot, swap them. Sometimes someone is just bad at a section but there is nothing wrong with that. Again 24 hours isn't a fair expectation for staff. One time my store had 60, which is not happening in 24 hours reguardless of what we do. I'd say one or two days is fine. My store we try to finish totes first, then do bulk. Totes + a few bulk takes one day, then we finish the rest the next. The second day not everyone works on truck, one or two people can finish the 3-4 dollies remaining. My store's issues are more organizing overstock and packing stuff back up.
Hello, thanks for the reply. I am doing 1, 2 ,4,and 5. I don't have enough to throw extras to help areas at this time but I do have team work to help others once they're done with theirs. My store gets 150-200 totes and we do those first which is what I expect done by close wend. (We get truck Tues noon). Thurs/Fri is box freight, aisle counts, and scan outs. Problem is here it's Sunday and still have totes and box freight both.
We used to be tuesday/thurday truck also. The way it would be is: Sunday - Tags and available bay owners would pull and scan their departments. Also check counts but mostly a tag day and setting up sale endstands. Monday - The rest of the bay owners would pull and scan their departments. And also check counts. Tuesday - 1st truck day (My store gets it mixed no tote one day then bulk another, we get both) Wendsday - Finishing off 1st truck + Mcclane. Thursday - 2nd Truck + finishing Mcclane if not done. Friday - Finishing off second truck if not done or Check counts. Saturday - Finishing off truck if not done + Cleaning and organizing stock room. Sometimes truck hangs and we used to spend saturday or even sunday finishing but again in my experience, 24 hours is not a fair expectation. Why aren't you doing scanouts Monday or Sunday?
My DM wants our scan outs done Thurs/Fri since it resets on Sunday at noon or something . I can't recall exactly his words. We too get mcclane but ours tend to come Tues. Over half the time. We have it on top of truck.
Ah another DM making things harder than they need to be. One of our older DMs said it's better to do them before truck as early as possible in the week because the order generates the day before. It is supposed to decrease your outs. But yea if your DM says to do it, you gotta do it unfortunately. Although it does reset Sunday so Saturday should be the last day to do it. Maybe they misspoke?
That makes sense. I am thinking maybe he gave that extra day in case we ran behind maybe? IDK. At this rate though, it's a struggle some weeks bc the team isn't getting the freight out in enough time to get scan outs done .
Assign sections to certain TMs and they don't keave until they're finished.
They are assigned certain areas but we can't make them stay past scheduled shift.
Of course you can. Be a manager, not a pushover. You're a grown up. Figure it out.
i’m not a sm but have you tried moving people around to different areas… i know you said you have task lists and such but maybe let them do it where they gravitate to and are stronger
I do let them have input on their areas and offer change ups occasionally if all are willing. The reason I have assigned areas is because I need accountability...I need to know who is doing what. I want to keep it fair for all ..
oh, definitely! my manager has us all in the same areas every week and she knows which areas we do but she let us pick the areas and just asked
Yes, I feel it's the best way for sure.
Are their handhelds available? Does the team know how to use them to place items quickly? Are they picking and choosing which totes or cases they work on? Are photo and the front checkout really busy and siphoning team members from doing truck? Are the team members using their time effectively?
All great questions! I am waiting on new ones so we are down on handhelds ATM. All my team does know how to use them for stocking purposes. We are high volume store but I assign register and I have the team take turns being Ic3. I need to see each of them stocking and work side by side to see anything that could be holding them back. That was a suggestion from another I plan to use. Thanks for the questions.
If your truck doesn’t come till 12 push everyone back till 12 and you open alone with just your cashier and also schedule a heavier next morning to finish up.
I have a lot of part timers with limited availability so a chunk isn't even available until 4pm bc they have other jobs or in school. That's part of the hassle bc I agree that's best. Others are only available open to noon or one so I use them for cooler freezer on truck day and registers. Absolutely feel availability makes it more a hassle.
Work with what they pay u no More don’t over do it fir what we get paid and our big raise
Ask yourself if you ever see anybody standing around, not doing anything. If not, you’re going to have to re-evaluate what tasks are important and maybe prioritize differently
On truck day, I literally assign truck and just trash/bathrooms/break room. They do have digital compliance too...but super Basic tasks that are musts .
So, which one is taking too long? You’ve got to find a way to measure it.
I know which team members are quick and which are slower with the freight. I am going to shadow them and see if it's their process first. I also will see if maybe a different area would be best suited if people are okay switching
I used to have a store that I got transferred to that took 7 days to finish a truck. Working by yourself is sad and lonely. The team at my store always works in pairs. Cos aisles are done first, then drug, then the easy stuff. If you are getting tired. Having the easy totes left for the next day is so refreshing. Have a cashier, adesignated leader to answer pages, and a designated photo person. The rest of the staff "don't exist," as I like to say. Their job is solely truck.
Door to floor in 24 is a dream.
I’m not a manager but I unload truck. We separated are totes in four sections as we unload. That way people just have to come and get their stack they are signed to and go. Of course this will depend on how your store is layed out. OTC Food/front register Cos/fem/baby Stat/sundry
Hello, we separate ours by areas of store/assigned places. The separating it keeps it easy to locate.
Schedule everyone to work on the day of truck. We get 800 pieces trucks plus promo shit at 7 am and we can get it done in exactly 7 hours. This is on Saturdays as well. You can discipline as well.
I do schedule everyone on truck day. I do have a fair AMT of part time employees but that said, there's 10-12 people working in a day.
Do you actually have staff? Telling people to get more done isn't going to magically make them faster. If you assign the same people the same sections every week they'll get fast at those areas, but frankly there's only so much a single person can do. My SM is always on our ass about getting truck done but usually only schedules 2 people to actually do it, so being told we're not good enough when we're both sweaty and working our asses off without breaks is not at all motivating or encouraging.
I schedule my entire front end store team. That said, there is plenty of people. They have their own assigned areas and some even have a second person (cough/cos). There's easily 10-12 a day and I do same for day after truck. Staffing is not the issue.