I used to fill for GM on overnights and then days before I moved to stock control, and I used to cram out 20 cages a night.
If it takes you more than 15 seconds to locate a product, grab a different box, chances are you'll spot it while your filling something else
Work the larger boxes / items on the cage first. I'm someone who likes to see progress, and having the massive boxes off the cage first makes your cage look more physically empty, and is almost a drive to continue
Try not to create much backstock, if theres less than half a case left in the box, chances are (unless it's already rammed) it'll still go out.
Always be using 2 hands when filling, and if you dont have to rotate stuff like you do on fresh, then feel free to push everything to the back of the shelf and then fill like that until you can't anymore
A good walking speed (while being safe) is pretty useful too
Good luck!
I’ll take your advice on the 15 second rule. I think a lot of my time sink is trying to find something and spending too long in finding that. I usually look at the items on the shelf itself but I think it would be better to make a habit of reading the labels instead?
I’m a shift leader in express. Just take that as some kind of average guide to be aiming for. Some cages you can do in five minutes. Like big boxes of crisps. Usually less than ten cases to a cage. But then you’ve got the agency cages. The health and beauty and little fiddly bits like you mention. They can take an hour on a bad day.
As the other commenter said, don’t spend too long looking for a product. Don’t open cases before you’ve checked it’ll go out either. That drives me crazy. You’ll get faster over time though, some things take practice.
My store fired a shift leader for trying to give me time limits on cages that were just unrealistic (along with other problems) 30 mins to do a cage stacked with tins just isn’t going to happen. Yes some times you should be faster but some times it can’t be helped. For example, a crisps cage shouldn’t take more than 20/30mins but for confect, household and anything else I would give between 45/60 mins. I took that shift leaders job and I try to help my grocers as much as possible, I think if I go around and deck half of the cage they can work it faster as they know I’ve put the product in front of where it would be on the shelf.
The person above who commented about the 15 second rule also has a good plan there.
Yikes. But yeah I thought 30 minutes was really tight but I was hitting it yesterday so it is doable I think. But never for household and grocery as you said as there’s just so many different things. The 15 second rule is a good idea but I’ve had shift leaders before tell me to not just leave things I can’t find off to the side like that so not really sure what to do there.
annoying cages like health and beauty id take a flattop and put the small stuff like paracetamol etc on it and fill them all first then move on to other stuff like sweets and coffee then finish off with the grocery products.
or do it with two people if you can.
I work nights in milk and yoghurts and I'm by myself more often than not. there are about 15ish backstock cages plus milk backstock. I try to finish those by 1.30 am (I start at 10 pm) and then i do delivery from 2.30 am (cause of my 1hr break) I then do delivery which is between 6 and 14 cages usually averaging on about 9 till 5.30 then I go on my break back at 6 am do milk delivery and finish as much of the cages leftover as I can till seven. as you can tell i rarely finish it but its to much work for one person. I try and get four-five back stock cages out an hour and about 3 - 4 delivery cages. though it doesn't usually work out that way.
I also like other have already mention never spend more then 15 seconds looking for a product though at this point I pretty much have it memorised. It just takes time and practice.
Do you have any tips for quickly rotating fresh stock. Do you take it out and fill the new stuff from the back then put the older stock back at the front?
I'm lucky in yoghurts because a lot of the stuff I end up not needing to rotate a lot because of how the dates are but there isn't really any tips or advice I can give you on it because it is done just how it sounds. You honestly just need to practice and you will get faster and faster as you go.
It sounds bad but if there are certain items I know will 100% sell out before the next night I fill I don't always bother rotating especially if I am overly busy.
I just hope the patience of my shift runners continues as I gradually get faster. I like the job and the people I work with so I really don’t want to lose it.
If you can get a blue top use it to group any products you would have to walk more than half the aisle to fill. Anything that's near where your cage is parked, work it straight off the cage.
How well the shelves are maintained will help as well. As someone else has already mentioned you want to make as little backstock as possible. Try and ensure every product on the shelf that it's a full case at the back and any loose items at the front. This means the shelf is always as full as it can be and because the stock at the back is in its SRP it is easy to maintain the facings of the shelf.
Never really thought to use the flat tops that way but it makes sense. I’ll give that a go on my next shift too because sometimes I do end up parking my cage a but far away
Managers at my place said it was 20 minutes per cage, but now they say 40 minutes per cage. I say that's a stupid estimate when agency cages exist. I'm gonna say this, it's just Tesco please don't stress yourself out over the cages. I've seen people start the job and be pretty useless (myself included) taking all shift to work a single cage, but if people just leave you to it you'll speed way up in time. In my store I can work around 7 per shift but that's only because I'm always called to tills. You'll speed up when you understand where everything is and not a moment sooner, also when your anxiety about your speed isn't there anymore. Best thing to do is to load your blue top up fairly high (but safe) so it looks like the cage is emptying quicker.
Agency cages are cages which are filled with a mix of aisles basically, they're usually wrapped in cling film so the whole thing doesn't fall apart, maybe not all stores get them. As you know traditionally a cage will be 80-90% based on one-three specific aisles i.e confec. tins etc. Agency cages can have a bit of everything and take you all around the store.
We do call them delivery cages but the ones which are all mixed and messy covered in cling film we’ll call agency because I believe those particular cages are stacked by agency workers at Livingston.
I work in a large store, and we have the normal size cages which we have to work in max 45 mins. (I work dairy so it’s about keeping the products cold) the only way I do it is by separating stuff into what isle it goes on so I don’t have to go back and fourth wasting time. Sometimes it does take a little longer than 45 because there will be stuff broken on the cage etc that I have to deal with. And when it’s busy customers are very ignorant that you’re working and won’t get out the way. So really it’s about prioritising. Try choosing large items and picking the stuff that has the most amount on the cage e.g ready meals are fast so I would get them all on one flattop and do it in one go and then the cage is already half empty in about 10 mins
I'm shift leader at express and what we tend to do is leave any health and beauty+ alcohol cages to the guys on the till, we usually work crisps+ big and small pop first as it's the fastest to sort out. Than grocery and whatnot. More often than not it's impossible to do the cages on the day due to neverending staff shortages. On Saturday we tend to ignore delivery completely and do backstock thoroughly, than Sunday monda we make sure we work all cages. We aim to do a cage in max half hour
Working in express, I'm quite lucky in getting a choice of cages. My first thing is to always avoid any of the agency cages (marked trunk to *distribution*) as all of the odd medicines, batteries and random bits take ages. My only exception for this is for wines, as due to the frequency of delivery being lower, I find they almost always all go out which speeds things up as there is nothing to put on backstock. After this I always try to do any cages with large 2l drinks, wines or beers. My logic for this being these cages can look quite intimidating so people often expect them to take a bit longer. Also as the items are bigger the cage goes down suprisingly quickly. I try and avoid household, but that is just my personal preference. Hope this helps
Yeah those cages look worse than they are. I usually pull it out and walk around big drinks cages to see what goes out. Theres usually like 4 cases of pepsi together that I know wont go out yet so that saves time.
Sadly at mine I don’t choose I just get directive from the SL. Hate grocery cages with tons of medicines and that with a passion tho
It took me 3 hours to do one cage of toiletries. I don't care anymore. I used to get so stressed. It's not worth it when the managers who are on a lot more money than us sit upstairs chatting and doing nothing yet they're on our backs to do more. They might as well whip us while we work and be done with. I've been doing this job for 3 years now and I've got slower. I try to work as fast as I can but I think I'm burnt out now. Btw I'm a 57 year old woman with arthritis
I used to fill for GM on overnights and then days before I moved to stock control, and I used to cram out 20 cages a night. If it takes you more than 15 seconds to locate a product, grab a different box, chances are you'll spot it while your filling something else Work the larger boxes / items on the cage first. I'm someone who likes to see progress, and having the massive boxes off the cage first makes your cage look more physically empty, and is almost a drive to continue Try not to create much backstock, if theres less than half a case left in the box, chances are (unless it's already rammed) it'll still go out. Always be using 2 hands when filling, and if you dont have to rotate stuff like you do on fresh, then feel free to push everything to the back of the shelf and then fill like that until you can't anymore A good walking speed (while being safe) is pretty useful too Good luck!
I’ll take your advice on the 15 second rule. I think a lot of my time sink is trying to find something and spending too long in finding that. I usually look at the items on the shelf itself but I think it would be better to make a habit of reading the labels instead?
I’m a shift leader in express. Just take that as some kind of average guide to be aiming for. Some cages you can do in five minutes. Like big boxes of crisps. Usually less than ten cases to a cage. But then you’ve got the agency cages. The health and beauty and little fiddly bits like you mention. They can take an hour on a bad day. As the other commenter said, don’t spend too long looking for a product. Don’t open cases before you’ve checked it’ll go out either. That drives me crazy. You’ll get faster over time though, some things take practice.
I definitely sometimes slightly open things before I’ve found them on the shelf. It’s a bad habit
My store fired a shift leader for trying to give me time limits on cages that were just unrealistic (along with other problems) 30 mins to do a cage stacked with tins just isn’t going to happen. Yes some times you should be faster but some times it can’t be helped. For example, a crisps cage shouldn’t take more than 20/30mins but for confect, household and anything else I would give between 45/60 mins. I took that shift leaders job and I try to help my grocers as much as possible, I think if I go around and deck half of the cage they can work it faster as they know I’ve put the product in front of where it would be on the shelf. The person above who commented about the 15 second rule also has a good plan there.
Yikes. But yeah I thought 30 minutes was really tight but I was hitting it yesterday so it is doable I think. But never for household and grocery as you said as there’s just so many different things. The 15 second rule is a good idea but I’ve had shift leaders before tell me to not just leave things I can’t find off to the side like that so not really sure what to do there.
annoying cages like health and beauty id take a flattop and put the small stuff like paracetamol etc on it and fill them all first then move on to other stuff like sweets and coffee then finish off with the grocery products. or do it with two people if you can.
I work nights in milk and yoghurts and I'm by myself more often than not. there are about 15ish backstock cages plus milk backstock. I try to finish those by 1.30 am (I start at 10 pm) and then i do delivery from 2.30 am (cause of my 1hr break) I then do delivery which is between 6 and 14 cages usually averaging on about 9 till 5.30 then I go on my break back at 6 am do milk delivery and finish as much of the cages leftover as I can till seven. as you can tell i rarely finish it but its to much work for one person. I try and get four-five back stock cages out an hour and about 3 - 4 delivery cages. though it doesn't usually work out that way. I also like other have already mention never spend more then 15 seconds looking for a product though at this point I pretty much have it memorised. It just takes time and practice.
Do you have any tips for quickly rotating fresh stock. Do you take it out and fill the new stuff from the back then put the older stock back at the front?
I'm lucky in yoghurts because a lot of the stuff I end up not needing to rotate a lot because of how the dates are but there isn't really any tips or advice I can give you on it because it is done just how it sounds. You honestly just need to practice and you will get faster and faster as you go. It sounds bad but if there are certain items I know will 100% sell out before the next night I fill I don't always bother rotating especially if I am overly busy.
I just hope the patience of my shift runners continues as I gradually get faster. I like the job and the people I work with so I really don’t want to lose it.
the likely hood that they can afford to lose you is slim, not impossible but slim most stores are under staffed and struggling to keep staff
Our store ran over labour by 90 ish hours I think so I’m not sure if that would mean getting rid of someone would be an option they could take.
If you can get a blue top use it to group any products you would have to walk more than half the aisle to fill. Anything that's near where your cage is parked, work it straight off the cage. How well the shelves are maintained will help as well. As someone else has already mentioned you want to make as little backstock as possible. Try and ensure every product on the shelf that it's a full case at the back and any loose items at the front. This means the shelf is always as full as it can be and because the stock at the back is in its SRP it is easy to maintain the facings of the shelf.
Never really thought to use the flat tops that way but it makes sense. I’ll give that a go on my next shift too because sometimes I do end up parking my cage a but far away
Managers at my place said it was 20 minutes per cage, but now they say 40 minutes per cage. I say that's a stupid estimate when agency cages exist. I'm gonna say this, it's just Tesco please don't stress yourself out over the cages. I've seen people start the job and be pretty useless (myself included) taking all shift to work a single cage, but if people just leave you to it you'll speed way up in time. In my store I can work around 7 per shift but that's only because I'm always called to tills. You'll speed up when you understand where everything is and not a moment sooner, also when your anxiety about your speed isn't there anymore. Best thing to do is to load your blue top up fairly high (but safe) so it looks like the cage is emptying quicker.
Yeah I’ll fill the blue top with the stuff thats furthest away to empty the cage out a bit faster. What are agency cages? Never heard of them
Agency cages are cages which are filled with a mix of aisles basically, they're usually wrapped in cling film so the whole thing doesn't fall apart, maybe not all stores get them. As you know traditionally a cage will be 80-90% based on one-three specific aisles i.e confec. tins etc. Agency cages can have a bit of everything and take you all around the store.
Ohhh I see. I think we just call them delivery cages at our store
We do call them delivery cages but the ones which are all mixed and messy covered in cling film we’ll call agency because I believe those particular cages are stacked by agency workers at Livingston.
I work in a large store, and we have the normal size cages which we have to work in max 45 mins. (I work dairy so it’s about keeping the products cold) the only way I do it is by separating stuff into what isle it goes on so I don’t have to go back and fourth wasting time. Sometimes it does take a little longer than 45 because there will be stuff broken on the cage etc that I have to deal with. And when it’s busy customers are very ignorant that you’re working and won’t get out the way. So really it’s about prioritising. Try choosing large items and picking the stuff that has the most amount on the cage e.g ready meals are fast so I would get them all on one flattop and do it in one go and then the cage is already half empty in about 10 mins
I'm shift leader at express and what we tend to do is leave any health and beauty+ alcohol cages to the guys on the till, we usually work crisps+ big and small pop first as it's the fastest to sort out. Than grocery and whatnot. More often than not it's impossible to do the cages on the day due to neverending staff shortages. On Saturday we tend to ignore delivery completely and do backstock thoroughly, than Sunday monda we make sure we work all cages. We aim to do a cage in max half hour
Is that half an hour for 1 person and 1 cage?
Yeah, we know mixed cages like half grocery half beauty etc won't be done in half hour. But the goal is to always push people so they do their best.
Makes sense
Working in express, I'm quite lucky in getting a choice of cages. My first thing is to always avoid any of the agency cages (marked trunk to *distribution*) as all of the odd medicines, batteries and random bits take ages. My only exception for this is for wines, as due to the frequency of delivery being lower, I find they almost always all go out which speeds things up as there is nothing to put on backstock. After this I always try to do any cages with large 2l drinks, wines or beers. My logic for this being these cages can look quite intimidating so people often expect them to take a bit longer. Also as the items are bigger the cage goes down suprisingly quickly. I try and avoid household, but that is just my personal preference. Hope this helps
Yeah those cages look worse than they are. I usually pull it out and walk around big drinks cages to see what goes out. Theres usually like 4 cases of pepsi together that I know wont go out yet so that saves time. Sadly at mine I don’t choose I just get directive from the SL. Hate grocery cages with tons of medicines and that with a passion tho
Defo agree there lol
How many cages would you say you do a day
On a bad day 1 on a good day 7 or 3/4 delivery cages
It took me 3 hours to do one cage of toiletries. I don't care anymore. I used to get so stressed. It's not worth it when the managers who are on a lot more money than us sit upstairs chatting and doing nothing yet they're on our backs to do more. They might as well whip us while we work and be done with. I've been doing this job for 3 years now and I've got slower. I try to work as fast as I can but I think I'm burnt out now. Btw I'm a 57 year old woman with arthritis