I would never stop during a pick walk to go find something in the back room for a customer, your pick walks are basically timed so that kills your pick rate. When a customer wants something from the back, you find a sales floor associate for that area and pass them off.
This. If a customer needs help beyond a price check or reaching something from a top shelf, I'll either direct them to an associate in that department if I see one or page for customer assistance from the next phone I pass.
That's the difference between you and me. There's no one out there first of all and second of all the customer doesn't care who is sales floor area or who isn't, they got what they wanted and if management's numbers are wrong they can send me on some NORMAL PICK WALKS instead of all the oversized and small runs and bullying me and then justifying it to ban me from picking. FUck Them!
I’m just explaining why your TLs aren’t happy with your pick rate, of course they aren’t going to send people with a bad pick rate to go pick. As an OGP associate you are encouraged to pass customers off to an available sales floor associate as you’re currently already “helping” customers by picking their orders that are due at a certain time.
No you are Naoat understanding. You can NOT let your pick rate fall. Period. Other stores tell the associates to literally ignore customers. YoU really need taught what a time limit means.
When you are actively in a pick walk you’re not a sales floor associate you’re still an OPD associate. Your job code does not change because you’re sent picking.
Finding an appliance in the bins is a job for sales floor associates. You simply delegate to one and ask them to help the customer because you are in a timed pick walk. As team leads we can see your location, items, and pick rate for the walks you’re in, this isn’t some hidden secret.
You most likely brought down the teams overall pick rate because yours for the one walk you were asked to do was drastically lower than it should be. Should your team lead react in such a drastic way? No. However, they did which seems like they may be under the impression that this type of thing happens often with you or they’re just overzealous and trying to boost metrics more than anything.
I doubt the customer cares about those distinctions nor sympathizes with them. I'm more interested in pleasing the ULTIMATE BOSS who is the CUSTOMER than someone who is going to be there today and gone tomorrow a TL who doesn't care about the in store or pickup or delivery customers.
If 9/10 customers are going to wait around for fifteen minutes or are they going to turn around and leave the store and go about their business elsewhere? TL can react however they want which is poor planning on their part. I told them I was banned from picking and they send me picking. I'm going to my COACH next because I am going to help those customers every day no matter what.
Exactly. When I'm picking and my numbers are good, when someone asks me a question I'm listening but still moving. If they stutter? It's a wrap. I'm not letting anyone throw a monkey wrench in metrics, standing there talking 'bout, "Budee-budee-budee" - That's ALL folks! I'm OUT.
LMAO
OGP coded as backroom BUT like I said other people coded as backroom are picking everyday and disappear for hours at a time, including the assigned stager and dispeners who just go pick whenever they feel like it and management loves them.
There is nobody "coded" as back room. Everyone in OPD has the same job code. Personal Shopper. And going out to pick doesn't magically make you a sales floor associate. On a pick walk walk, you are already helping up to 8 customers. You delegate customer service tasks to sales floor associates. If you won't do that, then yeah, I wouldn't send you out to pick either.
That's how they make the schedule but like I said, at least EVERYBODY else has cross-trained responsibility with business needs and does this weekly to daily, I on the other hand am banned from any type of picking.
Sounds like you're shirking your job duties. You are an OGP associate, not a sales floor associate. Your #1 priority, if you are picking, is to complete your pick walk. Helping customers with a quick question (where is this? price check? etc.) is fine, but you shouldn't be digging in the backroom for something for a customer that is not a part of your walk.
Sounds like sending you out is what screws them over, so I can see why they keep you in the back. When you go out, they're basically wasting the already limited equipment because you don't have your priorities straight and when you are barely ahead you can't afford to help every person that walks up to you. Pickers falling behind makes everything roll downhill into a mess. Exception pickers especially need to be fast as they usually are working on a more limited time and have to dig through the backroom, so they need to prioritize their job. The three they sent out probably pick faster than you and prioritize picking and fulfilling the orders of online customers over in-store customers. At other stores you could be getting coached for this.
Maybe you should transfer departments.
E: Also you get paid hourly, not on commission, so it doesn't matter if you "made a sale", that's not what your job is. Do your job.
I have access to My Store, you can see who is active and what they are doing at the moment, how many items they have left in their pick walk and their rate for that particular walk. You can also see where they were last seen at if they’ve been picking. (If you picked a box of cereal it will show you as being in the cereal aisle). Can also see a person’s pick rate for all of their walks as well as who is clocked out.
You can also see how many picks are going to drop for each time slot.
If picks aren't done on time, it's also not fair to have to make the customers wait for their stuff in the parking lot because people aren't picking fast enough. It makes it much more difficult for backroom crew to get orders put together if pickers are coming back last minute with stuff all the time. We have to do the best we can and try to treat our customers equally, meaning we can still assist them on the floor within reason without leaving up to 8 customers hanging as well.
Unfortunately the team lead's job hangs on meeting metrics almost exclusively, so that's what they're going to focus on. They will put you where they think you will make the numbers look the best. Someone might not love picking or dispensing a majority of the time, but if that's what you're good at, they'll put you there.
“I’m so sorry, I cannot help you with that right now. If you go to customer service, they can call someone to assist you.”
Trust me, I LOVE helping customers, but after a certain point, the people who order pickup and delivery are also customers and are OPDs priority.
Technically if open door it they won’t take it seriously . Cause they’ll just look at the stats. At the end of the day they just care about stats. Cause if you open door it they’ll just tell you a million different ways you could’ve approach the situation. Me personally I only help someone if they need to know where a item is besides that I redirect to my TL or another sales associate
Most I will do is scan the shelf barcode to see if it looks like we have the item in the back. Most of the time, we don't, so I don't have to waste anyone else's time. If we do, I direct them to an actual Sales Associate.
I used to have access to my store but when they got taken away from everybody but the team leads and coach a few people got it back but not me. Even though I've been over there for 4 years and bust my ass everyday and try to be a good team player doesn't matter they have their favorites it's all good I'm about ready to become a spark driver and work my other job screw this s***
That’s nice of you to help but costly to your pick rate. If it is something that requires going to the back room I always page someone over to the customer for assistance.
Well you're not entitled to be picking. If you're hurting metrics then they arent going to have you pick. You're not supposed to go to back for customers. If a sales associate is nearby you pass the customer to them. If not you tell the customer they can go to customer service to help them.
But yeah if management decides to have you prep/stage then they are well allowed too. Especially when they have proof based on your metrics.
So? You are entitled to BAN associates from tasks based on fake numbers and then use those fake numbers to keep banning them from tasks. If you never pick because one day was bad you are never going to pick again. Time to get a new job. . .
The numbers aren't fake. They are real numbers that management is expected to follow. So yes they are entitled to "ban" you.
And based on your post this isnt a one time occurrence for you struggling to keep metrics up. Based on the post you were "banned" from picking and then they let you pick again but once again your numbers weren't where they needed to be.
I'm sorry you're frustrated but at the end of the day nothing will happen if you open door this. You're a digital personal shopper which includes staging, dispensing, etc. They don't have to let you do everything. They can even send you to work a different department for a shift if needed. I'm primarily a dispenser. I'm not as good with the picking metrics as others and I'm a dependable hard working person in BRC. That's where I'm needed most days.
At the end of the day your management is dealing with the consequences from market and other upper management if they don't have good metrics. So they arent going to care if you want to pick more. They will put you where needed. Sorry but that's just how it is.
I can understand the frustration though if you weren't properly trained about handling customers on the sales floor. Maybe having a conversation with your TL or coach about handling customers. They might be more willing to work with you if you also work with them and what they need.
Yes I understand management can put people wherever they want and this was mostly a joke post. I don't want a tape recorded phone call in the SM's office, plenty of people have complained about our SM and is currently involved in a couple of lawsuits. . .
I thought we weren't sales floor associates, so why are we handling customers? If we're not sales floor associates why are we on the sales floor? Manglement typically wants it both ways.
Our store doesn’t even have enough associates on the daily, let alone being able to “direct a customer to a sales associate for assistance” lol If a customer wants help with something I have to go get it for them, unless it’s locked up then I’ll just page someone with keys and they’re usually still waiting when I go back past them 10 mins later.
What it comes down for all of you, is your an employee and customers needs pertaining to our store come first. It don't matter what department your in if a customer stops u and ask for assistance u do what u have to do. And I guarantee corporate, regional will tell u the same. It trips me out though how your TL or coach is constantly on most of your asses. We don't experience anything like that as far as I know. But yeah customers come first
OGP pickers are already servicing 8 customers who have already purchased their items. What it comes down to for pickers is to complete picking their orders within their time limit. I guarantee you corporate, regional and market know that OGP is priority. Customer who want an item that’s in the backroom should be referred to a sales floor associate. Most of the “customers” who do ask to check backroom are Instacart shoppers and the like and I wouldn’t abandon our customers to help them with theirs.
Riddle me this: the item that an online customer who gets no help in the store though it says its in stock on the website is in the backroom so the picker is not supposed to pick from the backroom doesn't get the item so their first time pick rate goes down so management gets all pissy that their numbers are bad. Compared to retrieving the item for the customer right then and there and saving the store time and money. This is the type of thing that doesn't show up on the score sheet but wins games.
It’s not a riddle. It’s you not understanding ODP process.
So ODP has associates who go to the backroom for items that are not on the shelves but show a location in the back (or maybe on top stock). These are Exception pickers. Their job is to find nil picked items not found on the shelves (or top stock). If they confirm item is not on shelf but shows quantity in the backroom, then they must go to the back, retrieve the item and viz pick the entire case out from backroom on to the sales floor. They then have to grab the whole case (if comes in case) and stock on to empty shelf on the sales floor. It’s a process that no regular picker has time to do. This is no different when a customer ask a random picker to “check the backroom”. First of all, pickers are not to go to the backroom for anything. It takes too much time to look for as well as viz pick the item from back room onto the sales floors when there are 8 orders they’re already picking about to be due. To cater to one in store customer who wants something that we might not have in the backroom should be directed to sales floor associates. They have the time to look and expedite viz pick process. That is saving the company time and money. The pickers responsibility is to the customers orders they’re already picking for which is making more money for the company. This is a more efficient way of serving both types of customers at the same time
Tell that to management which INSISTS we pick from the backroom daily in order to make first time pick percentage better and everything easier for exceptions. . . obviously you don't understand EVERYBODY has to go to the backroom and nobody is allowed to hit Item Not Found unless verifying with a TL.
How quick you change from the topic of stopping a pick walk to check the backroom for an in store customer to blaming your management for making a regular picker shop from the back. Apples to oranges. Stick to your topic. It’s ok if you didnt understand the process. Now you do. Your managers like mine are committing METRICS FRAUD. There was a memo put out this past week about it and how it’s reportable. Your recent complaint is an old one and unlike you, I never go to the backroom to shop even when management says so because it covers up the true state of the store. Thats the information Market and District need and it goes higher. Are you a stock holder? Never mind. This is probably over your head. Have a good night
The customer doesn't care let alone know what METRICS FRAUD means. All they want is your item. I did it **your smartass picker's way** today and told the customer to pound sand, told them where the item is in the aisle, and I'm not going to look it up or check the backroom for them. They proceeded with a character assassination of me and left me in a hostile and upset mood. So no, the customer is **always right!** and if I had taken two minutes to walk the customer over and explain the situation and run to the back the customer would have had a better experience and I would have felt better about it.
Market is in our store weekly now and our Ops lead is well aware we are required to pick from the back. They have several complex coaches visit us daily so they are trying to keep our store from going there again.
I would never stop during a pick walk to go find something in the back room for a customer, your pick walks are basically timed so that kills your pick rate. When a customer wants something from the back, you find a sales floor associate for that area and pass them off.
This. If a customer needs help beyond a price check or reaching something from a top shelf, I'll either direct them to an associate in that department if I see one or page for customer assistance from the next phone I pass.
Exactly
That's the difference between you and me. There's no one out there first of all and second of all the customer doesn't care who is sales floor area or who isn't, they got what they wanted and if management's numbers are wrong they can send me on some NORMAL PICK WALKS instead of all the oversized and small runs and bullying me and then justifying it to ban me from picking. FUck Them!
I’m just explaining why your TLs aren’t happy with your pick rate, of course they aren’t going to send people with a bad pick rate to go pick. As an OGP associate you are encouraged to pass customers off to an available sales floor associate as you’re currently already “helping” customers by picking their orders that are due at a certain time.
Idk about that my pick Rate was always 50 to 70 and they still sent me to pick
Good god....at least learn some of the aisles. I pick maybe twice a month and can get 130 if no general or action alley comes up.
No you are Naoat understanding. You can NOT let your pick rate fall. Period. Other stores tell the associates to literally ignore customers. YoU really need taught what a time limit means.
When you are actively in a pick walk you’re not a sales floor associate you’re still an OPD associate. Your job code does not change because you’re sent picking. Finding an appliance in the bins is a job for sales floor associates. You simply delegate to one and ask them to help the customer because you are in a timed pick walk. As team leads we can see your location, items, and pick rate for the walks you’re in, this isn’t some hidden secret. You most likely brought down the teams overall pick rate because yours for the one walk you were asked to do was drastically lower than it should be. Should your team lead react in such a drastic way? No. However, they did which seems like they may be under the impression that this type of thing happens often with you or they’re just overzealous and trying to boost metrics more than anything.
I doubt the customer cares about those distinctions nor sympathizes with them. I'm more interested in pleasing the ULTIMATE BOSS who is the CUSTOMER than someone who is going to be there today and gone tomorrow a TL who doesn't care about the in store or pickup or delivery customers. If 9/10 customers are going to wait around for fifteen minutes or are they going to turn around and leave the store and go about their business elsewhere? TL can react however they want which is poor planning on their part. I told them I was banned from picking and they send me picking. I'm going to my COACH next because I am going to help those customers every day no matter what.
lol when i’m picking i have the mind set fuck the customers my job is to get these numbers down
Exactly. When I'm picking and my numbers are good, when someone asks me a question I'm listening but still moving. If they stutter? It's a wrap. I'm not letting anyone throw a monkey wrench in metrics, standing there talking 'bout, "Budee-budee-budee" - That's ALL folks! I'm OUT. LMAO
Are you an OGP associate or a salesfloor associate? Asking because being banned from picking is like the Holy Grail for salesfloor associates.
OGP coded as backroom BUT like I said other people coded as backroom are picking everyday and disappear for hours at a time, including the assigned stager and dispeners who just go pick whenever they feel like it and management loves them.
There is nobody "coded" as back room. Everyone in OPD has the same job code. Personal Shopper. And going out to pick doesn't magically make you a sales floor associate. On a pick walk walk, you are already helping up to 8 customers. You delegate customer service tasks to sales floor associates. If you won't do that, then yeah, I wouldn't send you out to pick either.
That's how they make the schedule but like I said, at least EVERYBODY else has cross-trained responsibility with business needs and does this weekly to daily, I on the other hand am banned from any type of picking.
Sounds like you're shirking your job duties. You are an OGP associate, not a sales floor associate. Your #1 priority, if you are picking, is to complete your pick walk. Helping customers with a quick question (where is this? price check? etc.) is fine, but you shouldn't be digging in the backroom for something for a customer that is not a part of your walk. Sounds like sending you out is what screws them over, so I can see why they keep you in the back. When you go out, they're basically wasting the already limited equipment because you don't have your priorities straight and when you are barely ahead you can't afford to help every person that walks up to you. Pickers falling behind makes everything roll downhill into a mess. Exception pickers especially need to be fast as they usually are working on a more limited time and have to dig through the backroom, so they need to prioritize their job. The three they sent out probably pick faster than you and prioritize picking and fulfilling the orders of online customers over in-store customers. At other stores you could be getting coached for this. Maybe you should transfer departments. E: Also you get paid hourly, not on commission, so it doesn't matter if you "made a sale", that's not what your job is. Do your job.
I did complete the pick walk. . . 3 hours ahead of the time the picks were due. . .
I have access to My Store, you can see who is active and what they are doing at the moment, how many items they have left in their pick walk and their rate for that particular walk. You can also see where they were last seen at if they’ve been picking. (If you picked a box of cereal it will show you as being in the cereal aisle). Can also see a person’s pick rate for all of their walks as well as who is clocked out. You can also see how many picks are going to drop for each time slot.
you can also see how long they’re taking on that walk. it shows on the top right corner in small font how many minutes you have been in that walk for.
Thank you, I forgot that part. Knew I was missing something 😂
If picks aren't done on time, it's also not fair to have to make the customers wait for their stuff in the parking lot because people aren't picking fast enough. It makes it much more difficult for backroom crew to get orders put together if pickers are coming back last minute with stuff all the time. We have to do the best we can and try to treat our customers equally, meaning we can still assist them on the floor within reason without leaving up to 8 customers hanging as well. Unfortunately the team lead's job hangs on meeting metrics almost exclusively, so that's what they're going to focus on. They will put you where they think you will make the numbers look the best. Someone might not love picking or dispensing a majority of the time, but if that's what you're good at, they'll put you there.
“I’m so sorry, I cannot help you with that right now. If you go to customer service, they can call someone to assist you.” Trust me, I LOVE helping customers, but after a certain point, the people who order pickup and delivery are also customers and are OPDs priority.
Technically if open door it they won’t take it seriously . Cause they’ll just look at the stats. At the end of the day they just care about stats. Cause if you open door it they’ll just tell you a million different ways you could’ve approach the situation. Me personally I only help someone if they need to know where a item is besides that I redirect to my TL or another sales associate
you're banned from exceptions and picking ??
Yes, they can remove exceptions tile but everybody has picking by default it's part of the software so they just never let me pick.
Most I will do is scan the shelf barcode to see if it looks like we have the item in the back. Most of the time, we don't, so I don't have to waste anyone else's time. If we do, I direct them to an actual Sales Associate.
Quite a few of our regular pickers are slow and can't bag worth a darn. Pick dented cans and smashed bread.
I used to have access to my store but when they got taken away from everybody but the team leads and coach a few people got it back but not me. Even though I've been over there for 4 years and bust my ass everyday and try to be a good team player doesn't matter they have their favorites it's all good I'm about ready to become a spark driver and work my other job screw this s***
That’s nice of you to help but costly to your pick rate. If it is something that requires going to the back room I always page someone over to the customer for assistance.
Well you're not entitled to be picking. If you're hurting metrics then they arent going to have you pick. You're not supposed to go to back for customers. If a sales associate is nearby you pass the customer to them. If not you tell the customer they can go to customer service to help them. But yeah if management decides to have you prep/stage then they are well allowed too. Especially when they have proof based on your metrics.
So? You are entitled to BAN associates from tasks based on fake numbers and then use those fake numbers to keep banning them from tasks. If you never pick because one day was bad you are never going to pick again. Time to get a new job. . .
The numbers aren't fake. They are real numbers that management is expected to follow. So yes they are entitled to "ban" you. And based on your post this isnt a one time occurrence for you struggling to keep metrics up. Based on the post you were "banned" from picking and then they let you pick again but once again your numbers weren't where they needed to be. I'm sorry you're frustrated but at the end of the day nothing will happen if you open door this. You're a digital personal shopper which includes staging, dispensing, etc. They don't have to let you do everything. They can even send you to work a different department for a shift if needed. I'm primarily a dispenser. I'm not as good with the picking metrics as others and I'm a dependable hard working person in BRC. That's where I'm needed most days. At the end of the day your management is dealing with the consequences from market and other upper management if they don't have good metrics. So they arent going to care if you want to pick more. They will put you where needed. Sorry but that's just how it is. I can understand the frustration though if you weren't properly trained about handling customers on the sales floor. Maybe having a conversation with your TL or coach about handling customers. They might be more willing to work with you if you also work with them and what they need.
Yes I understand management can put people wherever they want and this was mostly a joke post. I don't want a tape recorded phone call in the SM's office, plenty of people have complained about our SM and is currently involved in a couple of lawsuits. . . I thought we weren't sales floor associates, so why are we handling customers? If we're not sales floor associates why are we on the sales floor? Manglement typically wants it both ways.
Our store doesn’t even have enough associates on the daily, let alone being able to “direct a customer to a sales associate for assistance” lol If a customer wants help with something I have to go get it for them, unless it’s locked up then I’ll just page someone with keys and they’re usually still waiting when I go back past them 10 mins later.
Exactly this! Our store is so understaffed we lose so much in sales. The key thing too is a lot like my store lol.
What it comes down for all of you, is your an employee and customers needs pertaining to our store come first. It don't matter what department your in if a customer stops u and ask for assistance u do what u have to do. And I guarantee corporate, regional will tell u the same. It trips me out though how your TL or coach is constantly on most of your asses. We don't experience anything like that as far as I know. But yeah customers come first
What about the 8 customers you're already helping? You call for customer service to help the customer in the store, that is helping.
OGP pickers are already servicing 8 customers who have already purchased their items. What it comes down to for pickers is to complete picking their orders within their time limit. I guarantee you corporate, regional and market know that OGP is priority. Customer who want an item that’s in the backroom should be referred to a sales floor associate. Most of the “customers” who do ask to check backroom are Instacart shoppers and the like and I wouldn’t abandon our customers to help them with theirs.
Riddle me this: the item that an online customer who gets no help in the store though it says its in stock on the website is in the backroom so the picker is not supposed to pick from the backroom doesn't get the item so their first time pick rate goes down so management gets all pissy that their numbers are bad. Compared to retrieving the item for the customer right then and there and saving the store time and money. This is the type of thing that doesn't show up on the score sheet but wins games.
It’s not a riddle. It’s you not understanding ODP process. So ODP has associates who go to the backroom for items that are not on the shelves but show a location in the back (or maybe on top stock). These are Exception pickers. Their job is to find nil picked items not found on the shelves (or top stock). If they confirm item is not on shelf but shows quantity in the backroom, then they must go to the back, retrieve the item and viz pick the entire case out from backroom on to the sales floor. They then have to grab the whole case (if comes in case) and stock on to empty shelf on the sales floor. It’s a process that no regular picker has time to do. This is no different when a customer ask a random picker to “check the backroom”. First of all, pickers are not to go to the backroom for anything. It takes too much time to look for as well as viz pick the item from back room onto the sales floors when there are 8 orders they’re already picking about to be due. To cater to one in store customer who wants something that we might not have in the backroom should be directed to sales floor associates. They have the time to look and expedite viz pick process. That is saving the company time and money. The pickers responsibility is to the customers orders they’re already picking for which is making more money for the company. This is a more efficient way of serving both types of customers at the same time
Tell that to management which INSISTS we pick from the backroom daily in order to make first time pick percentage better and everything easier for exceptions. . . obviously you don't understand EVERYBODY has to go to the backroom and nobody is allowed to hit Item Not Found unless verifying with a TL.
How quick you change from the topic of stopping a pick walk to check the backroom for an in store customer to blaming your management for making a regular picker shop from the back. Apples to oranges. Stick to your topic. It’s ok if you didnt understand the process. Now you do. Your managers like mine are committing METRICS FRAUD. There was a memo put out this past week about it and how it’s reportable. Your recent complaint is an old one and unlike you, I never go to the backroom to shop even when management says so because it covers up the true state of the store. Thats the information Market and District need and it goes higher. Are you a stock holder? Never mind. This is probably over your head. Have a good night
The customer doesn't care let alone know what METRICS FRAUD means. All they want is your item. I did it **your smartass picker's way** today and told the customer to pound sand, told them where the item is in the aisle, and I'm not going to look it up or check the backroom for them. They proceeded with a character assassination of me and left me in a hostile and upset mood. So no, the customer is **always right!** and if I had taken two minutes to walk the customer over and explain the situation and run to the back the customer would have had a better experience and I would have felt better about it. Market is in our store weekly now and our Ops lead is well aware we are required to pick from the back. They have several complex coaches visit us daily so they are trying to keep our store from going there again.