i am a night crew manager. We have a new grocery manager who doesn't do much but let management make decisions and do his work for him. He has no idea what nights is about and like every other night crew expects us to rebuild the store every night. First off i have only 3 full time stockers including myself, and 4 very part time stockers if even that. We have to fill out these crew sheets that they claim are part of key retailing but for some reason day crew does not and is not required to fill them out. Day crew waste there hours every day because they dont break down trucks until after the reciever leaves at 3pm. So we come into a truck never broke down and the backroom left a mess. Then because i am the manager they expect me not to work truck which is bull**** but then bitch because truck isn't finished. The crew sheets stocking peyton and grocery, conditioning and cleaning up give us NO EXTRA TIME. He threatens us every day if truck doesn't get done but doesn't consider everything we have to do. At our store for some reason grocery is held responsible for unloading all the trucks because we are the only ones here...bull****. THe super trucks take forever to unload and kept showing up after 6:30am. So our grocery manager hates getting up early and didnt want to come in any earlier so he moved our shifts from 10pm-6:30am to midnight to 8:30. This completely messed up everyones sleep schedule and daily lives and he doesn't care. Not only that it messed up our pay because now we are loosing 2 hours of night premium....is there anything the union can do about this? And now because he doesn't know how to order he expects everyone to work a backstock cart a night so now the trucks really dont get done and they still expect them too. The grocery manager wont come and work nights for a week to see what it is really like. So this is all very stressful for me and i don't have any control over what happens to my crew because they don't care what i have to say. Is there anything i can do, trust me i have spoken up many times and they just push us harder?
Well this is "Key Retailing" at Kroger. When I worked for another chain, we always had guys from Kroger coming in and asking if we were hiring. And that was a 3 years ago so I imagine its worse now.
My philosophy is the Grocery Manager is basically the "head put'er upper guy". He's not a CEO a District Manager or teeing off with the head of the board members. Usually not invited for the behind door meetings with upper management. And therefore should not be treated like he is. He's a grocery manager and he needs to get in there an work with the rest of his crew. The 2nd in charge of the crew seems to catch the crap and responsiblity but without the pay.
Kroger has this idea that the Grocery Manager should "delegate".Which is another way of saying GO GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT. Theres already a co,asst, and manager. So NO more chiefs is needed, what is needed is some indians .
Theire gonna screw you over in hopes you'll pull this off. Best thing is thicken up your hide, take some of their crybaby fits and threats and let it sit in the back room a few times and when the store manager gets his ass chewed, then something will get done like the list shorter or more laborers to carry out the long list. Afterall you can only get so much out of so few till it hits bottom. Your situation is why I wouldn't take GroMgr at Kroger, I was offered and was GroMgr at 2 different chains and I wouldn't do it for all the rice in china. Good Luck
"Kroger has this idea that the Grocery Manager should "delegate".Which is another way of saying GO GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT. Theres already a co,asst, and manager. So NO more chiefs is needed, what is needed is some indians ."
This is exactly why Kroger is in trouble. The organization is too top heavy with very little production for the pay/bonuses.
I too am night shift and run a crew of 6. I am the only full timer on the team. My Grocery Manager comes in about 4 and sees us for 2 hours. Cup of coffee in one hand and a CAO gun in the other, there is very little that this person does.
Try talking to your steward to see if there is anything the union can do about your hours. Be careful though, check to see if doing this will get back to you in a bad way.
I remember starting in 76' in the grocery business. We had 6 guys on the crew then. You think their selling more groceries today than then? Yep, I see less bodies with a bigger list than then.
This is what Key Retailing is all about.And I have never been a fan of it. Cutting the FT out and getting PT and very few at that. The grocery business doesn't seem to be getting hammered as bad as some business in the recession. People are gonna eat and their using more coupons now than ever.
Your situation is very common, that's why the grocery crew both day and night are the backbone of the store. How many trucks u think market and produce has unloaded??That's the way it goes. Oh and your shift was probably moved forward so a manager can walk the aisles before u guys leave. I was a grocery manager for three years and am now an associate so I know how it goes i've been on both sides and both sides suck sometimes.
lol id be real concerend about that night premium....kroger pays so much more to make it worth it to work nights. a whole 30 cents at our area lol....most night shifts are 2 or more dollars an hour to work nights... just remember u work at kroger they dont care about anyone and never will...thought everyone knew this
lol, sounds like a typical day for our night crew. Including manager, 5 total with one on medical leave currently.
First, read your union handbook for night pay. Our contract states that if more than half our hours are before 5am, then we get payed night premium for all hours that we worked for the week.
I work nights too. I lead one day a week with one indian to help me run a 500 piece truck! I know exactly what you are talking about.
You are the manager. Do you'll use tsg or ddp? Do you know what the TSG allowed for all the tasks? The sheet on the back of a clipboard that you are filling out is basically the tsg in a different format(ddp). We run and scan certain aisle backstocks on certain days. We run other aisle backstock if we have time left over.
Do you'll run off of pallets, L trucks or spot in the store? Do you'll face as you go or face at end of night?
Scanning certain aisles on certain days, ddp and running stock off pallets is Key Retailing.
Find a way to delegate tasks efficiently.
Facing store: How long?
Recieving: How long?
Ordering: How long?
Backstock review: How long?
How many guys are working how many hours subtracting lunches and breaks.
There are two ways to count productivity:
40 cases an hour and facing an aisle. Not easy to do for long tedious aisles.
60 cases an hour is what ddp expects and being allowed a standard time to face the aisle. Not hard to do.
I can normally hit in between the numbers.
We do not run totes or peyton unless daycrew leaves them for us and we have time. We spot the grocery cases and run them that way. We are supposed to run them off pallets and will be forced to eventually. They are not aisle friendly.
Don't just make up excuses and fuss. Show the day manager solid proof where your time is going and why you don't have enough time to get everything done.
