I've only been working in the Dairy Dept. for a month but I've been tasked with coming up with a better way to organize the stock in the cooler because we have an issue with stock going out of date. The main problem with the way it is now - the milk, OJ, etc. palette at the back of the cooler is often getting neglected and ending up out of date. The current layout is (if I can explain this well enough) When you open the cooler door, immediately to your left is the non-customer side of the dairy front (where you slide in the stock from back to front) and in that left corner are 2 silver flats where we put product that is to be scanned as damaged or out of date. Directly to the right when entering the cooler is 1 or 2 egg flats, followed by more flats of creamer/cheese dips/juices and other boxed (generally non-milk crate) products all up against the right wall. Nudged up against them going all the way to the back of the cooler we have 1 and eventually 2 rows of u-boats loaded with new stock and back stock of boxed items, as in small yogurts, jello, biscuits, cheese etc. If I need to get to a u-boat in the back I have to pull out several u-boats ahead of it, eating away at the time.
If anyone can give some suggestions or even understands my description it would be greatly appreciated! I can take pics if you think it would help and any pics you can share would be very helpful.
I don't have a sloution, just an observation after working nearly 30 years at Kroger. You can organize a cooler or freezer perfectly, but unless you're the only one who goes in there to put product away or pull product out, someone else will screw it up. Someone will pull something out and instead of putting the remainder back where it goes, they'll just toss it on the truck, pallet, or shelf that's closest to the door. It only takes one or two days for it to become a disaster.
Actually, should you have that much stock in your cooler? Yes, Milk...etc But isn't OE causing backstock to be limited (and most likely OOS higher then before)
Actually, should you have that much stock in your cooler? Yes, Milk...etc But isn't OE causing backstock to be limited (and most likely OOS higher then before)
He shouldn't. I can see having a lot of BS if you're a high volume store, but the backstock wouldn't be lasting long enough to go out of date unless it's not getting run or over-ordering is happening. Our cooler is identical (except the doors are on the right, not left). On the left, we keep two pallets of eggs, then uboats of backstock. On the right goes all of the milk and other items that come in on that truck. Procedure for Dairy is they come in, fill milk/eggs/crate items, and start truck. Helper comes in a few hours later and starts conditioning and either assisting with truck (if big) or running backstock (if small). Our dairy lead has done it a long time so generally unless it's holiday season he can do most of the truck himself. We have 1-2 afternoon workers (kids) and they'll usually work 2-8 or 12-8 restocking milk, eggs, and running backstock carts. Also, they're supposed to condition the department prior to leaving so that the morning worker(s) doesn't have to do as much, but this doesn't always happen.
I would start to look at minimums on items and generally, I aim for a 2-3 days supply for most items. Of course Kroger thinks you have to be "fresh and full" so certain items you have to keep in stock a certain amount even though you won't sell them, but if you sell only one or two a month and the shelf holds 20, don't order a case of 12 when you hit eight. Set that minimum to 2-3 and standards be damned. Don't do it for every item, but certainly I'll take a hole on a crappy item over a box of crappy items going out of date. Also he needs to figure out why stock isn't getting turned over, which if I had to guess trucks are being over ordered.
Actually, should you have that much stock in your cooler? Yes, Milk...etc But isn't OE causing backstock to be limited (and most likely OOS higher then before)
He shouldn't. I can see having a lot of BS if you're a high volume store, but the backstock wouldn't be lasting long enough to go out of date unless it's not getting run or over-ordering is happening. Our cooler is identical (except the doors are on the right, not left). On the left, we keep two pallets of eggs, then uboats of backstock. On the right goes all of the milk and other items that come in on that truck. Procedure for Dairy is they come in, fill milk/eggs/crate items, and start truck. Helper comes in a few hours later and starts conditioning and either assisting with truck (if big) or running backstock (if small). Our dairy lead has done it a long time so generally unless it's holiday season he can do most of the truck himself. We have 1-2 afternoon workers (kids) and they'll usually work 2-8 or 12-8 restocking milk, eggs, and running backstock carts. Also, they're supposed to condition the department prior to leaving so that the morning worker(s) doesn't have to do as much, but this doesn't always happen.
I would start to look at minimums on items and generally, I aim for a 2-3 days supply for most items. Of course Kroger thinks you have to be "fresh and full" so certain items you have to keep in stock a certain amount even though you won't sell them, but if you sell only one or two a month and the shelf holds 20, don't order a case of 12 when you hit eight. Set that minimum to 2-3 and standards be damned. Don't do it for every item, but certainly I'll take a hole on a crappy item over a box of crappy items going out of date. Also he needs to figure out why stock isn't getting turned over, which if I had to guess trucks are being over ordered.
Have you gone to the new OE min rule? A couple months ago we were given the go ahead to start adjusting mins based on a variety of factors & MDS. OE no longer sets mins here. That being said, if it can be faced to look full, and a very low volume item, there'd be no problem adjusting it down to 2-3. It just becomes a problem when you can obviously tell the shelf is empty when it can hold 30+ and you have the min at 2. That just creates a poor presentation. In that case, I'd set it around 6.
