So, I'm starting Krogers next week, in the night shift stocking department, and I heard about this Key Retailing thing...how you have to report when you start stocking, when you end, when you take breaks and get back, and so on and on...is that what that is?-I'd appreciate some feed-back!-Thanks a lot!
Heres quick definition of Key Retailing. http://www.scribd.com/doc/982180/Ideas-for-Saving-Money-on-Grocery-Foods
Now take that and multiply it by 10. And you have Krogers Fabulous Key Retailing. Take all backstock and stack it as high as you can on a green stockcart and roll it into the rack thats supposed to hold pallets.
It creates paperwork, more labor & stress on the employee stocking or working there. Its a shame a job so simple has to be complicated.
Kroger is fanatically implementing this program now, they've been working on it for the past 2 years with Stage 1,Stage 2, Stage 3. More stages than Rocky movies.
Yes they want to know how many cases you start with, when you finish,when you break, when you lunch, when you break again. any delays, holes in the shelf.. Really redundant since you punch for breaks and lunch. They just want to be sure your throwing 50 cases an hour. The harder you work, the more they give you to do and don't have to hire anyone else.
Plain and simple, they make more money, you get burned out doing common sense things but now with paper work and their constant nagging for more, you get tired of a job thats supposed to be simple and quit then they replace you with a $6.50 hour new hire and start all over again.
Its the circle of life at Kroger. When you start,notice how none of the employees hardly ever speak, the tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife.
Don't listen to this person. Key retailing is a great tool for organizing things. Keeping thing running smooth is how things get done right the first time. this person that answered you back has no idea what key retailing is, and you shoul sit down with your manager and ask this question. What is key retailing, and how does it benifit the store and staff. There is a lot involved, but key retailing has so many cool tools that are used every day to make things simple, not confusing. There are some things that take quite a bit of time as far as paper work goes, but the whole time sheet in and out thing is so that you can track how fast you are. As an employee you should want to do good work for the company, and this allows you to see how good you really are.
Designed to Eliminate Full timers and replace with Part Timers with less wages,less benefits and the ability to work them 5 days aweek for 5-6 hours. Thats putting as many warm bodies in a area with less overhead. It leave those who remain to do more and pickup the slack. Our store has had 2 FT leave. NO Full Timers were hired to replace them, only PT. Less overhead on employees is maximum bonus for managers and maximum profits for Kroger. PT'ers don't get unemployment or very little if they do in their state. SO it doesn't hurt Krogers feelings to get rid of them.
Now Kroger has gotten into cutting hours every Holiday. Thanksgiving,Christmas, Easter this past week. Now guess where those hours are cut from? Part Timers. But the job still has to be done. But wait, Kroger only hires PT's now as their majority workforce. So they cut the work force that does the bulk of the work.
The customer cares less about any program at a grocery, they want their item for as cheap as they can get it. They'll shop in 3 different stores to get it.
Your still required to document every thing you do and the minutes it took you and 50+ case is their goal. Am I correct? I've worked with this Key Retailing since it was brought in. It has complicated the plumbing. Cost time spent on paper work, money on stock carts, and signs at the printer to plaster all over every Kroger, all this to put something in the shelf, and apply common sense.
++++If you want to know about Key Retailing..Go to the laborers that have to do it.The employees. Their the ones that has to deal with this mess. Not management,they just dictate what is handed down from some pencil pushing as$hole that doesn't do manual labor. They are forced to use it or they could loose their store to someone else and bonus. Management will lie to you like a saleman.
The guy above apparently is in management. Organization does not have to be like building a rocket. Organization and a place for everything has been around for many many years. I've done this crap longer than alot of store managers. No so called Key Retail was needed. Its sole purpose is to eliminate hours and bodies which in the long run means more profits. Afterall, Kroger has to pay all the retired people, the working staff, and want more profit each year. So how you gonna do it. Cut the working force and streamline it..........
FYI---I was told today the new cases per hour is 59. Thats 59 case in 60 minutes or 1 case a minute. Hows that for "Key Retailing" They gonna work that ass off.
Not only did they cut hours to the bone Easter(another big food holiday) they've cut hours again this week to the bone,but haven't cut those trucks down much. Squeeze it some more Execs..Sooner or later the well runs dry.
Wonder if Publix has these problems or is it just the economy and Kroger figures they can reem you cause we're all such idiot drones we couldn't find a job elsewhere?
59? Good luck with that. My guys cant hit 52, The Japanese tried this in the '50's, They reduced manpower and increased work in 10% increments until the lines broke down, It was only then that management relented.
My understanding is that Publix's pay structure is light on wage but heavy on bonus. Few, if any, full time positions.
Unfortunaley my good buddies...stupid Kroger, put me from night to day...to help stock bread, dairy, frozen...I hate it...I'd rather be staying up all night, stocking the shelves.
I'm usually pro-Kroger, but I can't fathom key retailing. I've had my work streamlined (by about 12 hours worth of work each week) but had almost 40 hours cut out of my department. I've recently had extra work added to my section, so extra hours...right? Nope...had 6 hours worth of work added to my week got another 5 hours cut. Called the office, talked with the hours person. Was basically told up was down and left was right (since I have my hours cut I should be more productive....what???).
Just lost an experienced full-timer to another store (got a position where he can work 40 hours with out working in three departments). I've just been told that I can't even replace him with a part-timer because I've now got a new set of duties to perform so my hours are about to be adjusted (wanna bet they're going down again). I guess this falls under the Dilbert idea that if you cut enough costs and lay off enough employees, you can make a profit with out selling anything... Can anyone make any sense of this? No one upstairs is listening. Do they really want catastrophic failure??
I do about 60 cases an hour, sometimes a little more sometimes a little less, but quite consistantly. I have about had it with Kroger. What will I do? My notice is probably soon in comming then I will really kick it into gear seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. How about seeing 2 cases done a minute? Don't the managers realize the numbers come back around to bite them in the arse? I will be gone but the numbers will remain and be expected and even expected to improve and all because I will give them what they ask. I ask for 2 nights off a week and instead am frequently asked or told to stay over the morning before I do get my one night off.
I may have enough cause for grievence if I really desired and would look into it, but what I really desire is to seek employment in which there should be no cause for this. Part-time 6 nights a week 40+ hours per week and work all holidays and no insurance. Perhaps I should tell them I want more hours and if you want more you should say you would like less.
if you have worked 8 weeks at 40+ hours a week, you are officially a full time employee...check into it! even part timers have insurance after the 9 month waiting period.
oldtoys nailed it. Plus with signs everywhere and lots of tape showing you where everything goes. Kroger is idiot proofing its stores for the waves of retards and morons they continually hire to replace most of the workers who die or retire
heres a idea ,kroger has about 290,000 employees stop buying there **** if every one that just spent 100 dollars a week didnt shop there that would be 29,000.000 dollars a week one year would be 1,450,000,000 they might start to notice that , and how many people just spend a 100 dollars a week
Key Retailing, It creates a ****ing mess, more reason for the wonderful management team to troll around and and bitch about how **** isn't up to those standards, and to also provide a job to some fat slob to sit at a computer and come up with stupid ****ing ideas like hey lets label everything in the ****ing store, DOOR, WALL, SINK, CART, and to say hey it should take you this long to put this **** on the shelf, and to say this should be done at this time and that should be done at that time, not taking into consideration that we deal with the ****ing public so this makes nothing routine as **** changes day to day it don't take a god damn rocket scientist to figure this **** out.
1.Clock IN 2.Put **** on shelf/Bag/Check out customers/Get carts/Fix foods and so on. 3.Breaks/Lunch/Break 4.Clock out for shift. 5.Repeat (This method is a registered trademark anybody or any company found using this method and/or claiming it to be their own shall be subject to criminal prosecution.)
well you get my point, ITS ****ING USELESS. About as useless as the HR positions. Get rid of key retailing and the HR positions and the stores shall save so much.
Kroger is an institutionalized disaster not of planet Earth. Giant game of Simon Says. If you are a motivated, goal oriented individual you do not belong there.
It does not eliminate full time people... i dont see facts in what your saying. It does work... I can buy things now that i couldnt before because it was always out so something must be working there. Besides be glad you have a place to work and have some income as millions dont right now and would be glad to have what you have.
Right on Oldtoys! I've only worked at Kroger a couple of years, but it didn't take me long to see the handwriting on the wall. They recently put key retailing in place in our produce dept. What a fuster cluck that was...and still is. A sign on the wall telling where to put the trash can!? Really ? I'm surprised they didn't make us label every rubber band, pen, pencil. "This is a produce stock cart. There are many others like it, but this one is yours. It will be your friend. It may even save your life.......". Now we're heading into another busy holiday week and the store manager has cut 10 hours just from our dept. I guess she thinks we're all going to work harder, faster, better. Think of all the money they've spent on key retailing and now Q vision...does anyone really think it has worked? I think that all corporate management knows improvement, if any, is well below expectations and they've just managed to throw money at a problem that some pencil neck marketing geek sold them a "solution" to.
Key Retailing is a set of standards Kroger has come up with. Yes, like every program there's some flaws, some things Kroger wants that are darn near impossible to make happen. However, overall, this is a good program. Look at the "Salvage Solution" in the backroom. Plastic pallets are stacked with other plastic pallets, blue cheps are stacked with blue cheps. Yes, that sounds like common sense, but I have seen stores stack a few plastic pallets on top of the blue cheps, and so on. Another plus of Key Retailing is the Commodity Alligned Deliverys, meaning you do not have to "Sort" cases. All you have to do is seperate the double stacked pallets of product, and take it straight out to the floor to be worked. Keep in mind, I'm speaking for the Mid Atantic Salem Warehouse, and not the Peyton Warehouse in TN. Merry Christmas!
It does not eliminate full time people... i dont see facts in what your saying. It does work... I can buy things now that i couldnt before because it was always out so something must be working there. Besides be glad you have a place to work and have some income as millions dont right now and would be glad to have what you have.
I know for a fact, as in heard it directly from a district managers mouth that the divisions (Central Division) goal was to reduce the number of full time employees in each store and add more part timers. It was a bonus variable this year. It's as solid a fact as the sky is blue and the Pope still being Catholic. Key Retailing is not the cause, but is a contributing factor.
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My views don't reflect those of anyone, not even me. I may not have even made this statement. It's all lies, all of it!
Old thread I know, but just to let the perverbial cat out of the bag in the southwest, they are now using Key Retailing to threaten the night crews into making the crew sheets at the start of the shift (such as 10pm) and if the crews resist, they are told they have to come in when management arrives at midnight. And the managers/ secretaries that now make the schedules can't even get night management covered properly. Half the time the night bosses are out for a class or changed a day off, it's the scanning coordinator that is more or less forced to play grocery manager.
This goes for FT-ers, too. So, essentially the 10p - 6am shift you've worked so hard to maintain as a FTer all these years (such as myself who is trying to go to school in the daytime), is generally bitched.
I had an assistant tell me that "hey, it's just a job" after I came unglued about a BOH/ALO audit on an aisle I've been trying to fix for weeks because the "best stocker in Kroger" had no concept of organization in even the mildest expectations of Shelf Ready Stocking. And SHE's been doing this for 27 yrs.
So, after that statement, I fumed for an entire day thinking to myself that this job is all I've got that brings home my food, keeps my car rolling down the road, and keeps my ******* just that much more tighter in a one bedroom apartment shared with my wife because now in a state of massive inflation we can't afford a damn thing because what used to be a legitimate way to earn a living has more or less become the emaciated carcass that is part of the American Dream.
This year is a contract year, and I sure as hell hope that my union pulls its head out of their so-called collective asses and actually does something, and I will be the first in line to help.
In short, Key Retailing is to slash the labor force and their wages, count beans, and fatten profits of the investors. It has nothing to do with controlling anything other than you, the employee and if you don't want to play, well then I guess you have no choice or bargaining power.
Maybe we should all walk. On the day negotiations begin, we don't get what we deserve, everyone and I don't care what state and/or city, walks. Want to send a message? Form a collective.Won't have a store if they don't have a crew.
I work in the Deli at King Soopers and what I've experienced with Key Retailing is that there are certain things to be cleaned in a certain way and have everything in your department "grand opening" ready is what i was taught. Just last month our deli recieved 100% on our walk through we all worked together and learned a lot from our manager and eachother. The coaching helps to get it done.
You should all walk! Please!?! If you can't see the obvious benefits that key retailing has provided. How about cleaner, safer, more organized stockrooms? Better in-stocks that satisfy our customers needs? Standards that allow you to work in any Kroger store across the enterprise because of uniformity in the expectations? You all use the word "streamlined" in a negative tone. The key retailing team has given every associate a clear definition of their role. Its also given management a tool to hold all the slackers accountable. Maybe your Kroger division is different from mine. But I am proud to work for Fred Meyer. My store just scored 95% on our store audit. Everyone worked together and we're proud that our hard work was recognized. Key retailing is all about working smarter. You guys need to get on board. Or get left behind by someone who embraces the programs and works more efficiently than you.
Oh and for all of you that complain about being "required" to throw 50 cases per hour.......GET THE LEAD OUT! My grandma could throw 50/hour! Our whole crew throws around 80.
Obviously you are brain washed. key retailing is nothing but micro management, it's a waste of money that could be used to improve the store, it's money they could be paying hard working dedicated employees. each department has it's own department head, it's there job to see that the work is done. our deli is a joke, they have an average of two employees doing a job intended for 4 people. A person running the deli meat counter is expected to cook chicken, clean areas outside there department, take trash out that another shift is to lazy to take out and the bakery department personel are usually all cleaned up and gone by 4 pm daily, which leaves the deli personel another department run. Key Retailing is nothing but a joke, the managers " if they did there jobs" would see to it that the store was clean, but instead they have key retailing which has nothing to do with customers. department heads should know what needs to be done without having to have top brass come in and insult the hard work we do, they are blind to the fact we are the ones paying his salary, if it wasn't for our hard work taking care of customers which comes first and foremost he would be working somewhere else. there are better ways to operate a store without key retailing, it's the managers job to see to it that the store is in good shape, the part time employees do all the hard work the full time employees do so much less but take the high fives when the time comes for " job well done hand shake"
You are right, it is a great tool to manage stock and outs. It allows the CAO to do more of the work for you and set you free to complete other projects, like taking great care of your lifeblood the customer. I read so many complaints about key retailing, what I have found is most of the people who complain about it have not worked it properly nor have they given it a chance to prove it works.
