I just stumbled across this forum...I have been a Kroger employee for over 15yrs. I started out as a bagger and have made my way to a Meat Mgr. I have been going over this forum and notice that most of the posts on here are from employees from Texas. Are there any employees on here from Mi?
There is so much about Kroger that upsets me, from Key Retailing, to Elms, to the PPST and the POT. I could vent on here for HOURS!!!
I guess I got to take it one step at a time.
Is there anyone here that likes the PPST? Actually, I do...but to me, it is the Telzon F3 function that is the key. I really dislike the fact that we have this "Tool" that we are to use 3 times a day when we are creating our own numbers anyhow.
I know that we can adjust it and make the numbers our own, but the fact of the matter is, a PPST can take my cutters upwards of 40 minutes to do. We are so short-handed now, that those 40 minutes should be used for production rather than paperwork.
I can go out there with a tray and write a more effective list in 1/8 the time it takes for my employees to do the PPST and then not incur the shrink that the company says that I will create.
They say a good close makes for a good open. Well how is that possible when the employees I have to supervise don't care when I am gone? Elms...Bah to Elms, the fact is, it is based on tasks to be done and the amount of times it takes. I don't know what other meat depts are running, but I am running 70-75,000 weekly in meat sales (Combined with Packaged) with 6 employees...it is damn near impossible to keep up and what makes it harder is that I have to TRY to run a department from behind a saw.
It has come to the point where Kroger is micromanaging down to the very minute and the fact of the matter is...All their paperwork...all their numbers.....it doesn't mean a damn thing to the customer.
Some of us are pretty passionate about their jobs. We actually CARE about the customer, getting the job done and truly care about making it a Customer First Environment.
Upper management has taking away our ability to manage.
O yes the dreaded cutting tool. We have been using it for almost 4 years. It takes us about 25 minutes , each day to scan and record the info on the cutting tool. Then we are able to adjust it depending on sales,ad outs, weather and other items. IT takes about 30 minutes until we are able to start to pull what we need and cut. takes us about 10 minutes between each cut to inventory and adjust everything. Most of us hated it but did come to like it and the ordering tools that comes with it. Only problems we seem to have is not with that , ordering, key retailing or elms. It is the different interpretations that everyone else has as to how it is to be properly used. The other thing is that Elms will give you the correct time to complete every thing but getting a store manager to allow you to schedule all the time ( if it requires over time) is a different story. Elms people will preach to you that it is the standard and needs to be followed. Does not notice the difference between reg or ot hours. But when it comes to the accrual hours, Human resource will back their managers by saying it is only a suggestion for usage in the store when needed. We can change the cutting tool any time but just have to write down every thing we cut ( even if it is not on the tool) and document why we change anything that we feel needs changes.
how long have you been on key retailing? as far as your store or divition goes. It has been about 5 years in the dallas area. about 4 years for the meat department. Produce goes on it in the next wave and DSD on the wave after that .
We have been on Key Retailing for about the same I would guess. We are still only in Wave 4, but we keep going back and having Wave 2 and 3 checks. As I said, Key Retailing has its advantages and disadvantages. I think one of the key disadvantages is, just as you said, the cutting tool and the interpretation as to how it works.
They are essentially just starting the ELMS training for dept heads in Mi. Right now.
We just completed the OZ training which, I actually totally disagree with. Accountability. As Dept heads it is very hard to take accountability for the actions of others in the dept when you don't have a management team to help back you.
Right now we have ZERO overtime in the Dept. Whether it be scheduled or as needed. I am currently down 88 hours in my dept, I get a budget of 320 or so and I am lucky, LUCKY to hit 260 -280 on my schedule. Fact of the matter is, I am down approx. 100 hrs on my schedule this week. I put myself on 6 days, The store manager called me and made me take a day off.
So not only is my dept down and is going to suffer.The hours that ELMS is calling for, I am not able to use, nor am I able to make up the hours that I am not able to use due to lack of help.
It used to be CUSTOMER FIRST...now...it is about the COMPANY FIRST and THE BOTTOM LINE DOLLAR.
I have a service counter that is in the middle of my store and they expect me to put a person behind that counter for 15 hours a day....How am I to do that.....It is one of the many disadvantages of the company. Many times the left hand doesn't know what the right had is doing. There is a total lack of communication.
Between the Temperature Logs, Cool Logs, Grinder Logs, Communication Reports, Pots, PPST's, ACT Training, Board Meetings, Communication Meets, Take-Away Meetings, Orders, Elms Scheduling, and all the other bull**** I have to do so that Kroger can micro-manage what I am doing, There is little to no time to take care of my customers.
I used to love being on the floor, filling counters, making the cutting lists, talking with my customers and meeting their needs....Now, I am luck if I interact with 3 customers a day.
Been thru the elms training about a month ago. I got a store director that has been with the company for less that 2 years. He has had about 18 years with Wal-Mart. He wants to believe that if every department follows a set and determined task duty that everything will run fine and everything perfect to a tee. e has the type of hands on management for every department. He has gotten us enough help to cover elms but they are only bodies and no experiance. I was off for union duty for two days. I can back and he wanted to know why we did not have third cuts done , two orders missed stalk not worked. I told him that was the resault of his schedual and lack of what anyone can do. But the bottom line is a write up for me for quality of work because idiots do not know what to do, poor scheduals, no training and no follow-up from management. He expects me to walk to work several times to check up on help and to take the time to trsain them when he does not want to schedual time to do so.
Yestarday we just passes wave 4 of recertification for the store. Only thing they got the meat deparment for was we had 12 cases of lunchmeat back stock and it was on one cart. key retailing says it has to be on three carts since 4 peices was spacails. Had too many items marked down with a lever 3 and not enough level 1 mark downs and finally not having a zero listed on the cutting tools instead of a slash in some boxes when inventorying the fresh meat case.
Damn, 12 cases is all? What are you guys running a week on packaged meat...thats pretty awesome 12 cases...I can't believe that they would mark you down for that and not having it on 3 carts....That is micromanagement to a tee. I would be ecstatic if I could get the lunchmeat down to a single L-Cart. But we are running ridiculous numbers in packaged
Yeah I have a feeling that is how they are going to get rid of us older contract people, or the hight wage personal, Write ups on department conditions when we actually have no control of scheduling or even the store management to back us up when it comes to writing up our employees.
What kind of schedules do they have you working, Up here it is 7-3:30 no earlier and one night till close whether it be 9pm or 10pm.
Where is your store at...are you in Texas as well? I work for Kroger in Mi, Local 876, we just had our contract lapse and apparently, they renegotiated it so we have yet to get the details yet.
"Damn, 12 cases is all? What are you guys running a week on packaged meat..."
Running about 30 in packaged meat a week.
"thats pretty awesome 12 cases..."
Yes but we had total store inventory on monday and certification on Tuesday truck day. so we wanted it down to nothing
"I can't believe that they would mark you down for that and not having it on 3 carts....That is micromanagement to a tee"
We can usually get it to one cart and a spacail cart but key retailing states it has to be in two carts and a third one for specails only. We did nit have the spacails comming in until Wend so we was told by the store manager to put it on one cart and leave it at that. He did take the blame on that one.
" I would be ecstatic if I could get the lunchmeat down to a single L-Cart. But we are running ridiculous numbers in packaged"
Are`s is getting better. Only problem is that the store is a small one and no display space for anything.
"Yeah I have a feeling that is how they are going to get rid of us older contract people, or the hight wage personal, Write ups on department conditions when we actually have no control of scheduling or even the store management to back us up when it comes to writing up our employees."
Well under our contract I and other market managers are not permitted to write up anyone. Only the store manager can. And his problem and a few others are trying to generalize all write-up as quality of work or quantity of work. The union has won every one of them as when it gets to arbitration , the they are being disposed of for not being spacific. We do have a great union rep that seems to get most everything handled in our favore.
"What kind of schedules do they have you working, Up here it is 7-3:30 no earlier and one night till close whether it be 9pm or 10pm."
Have one person in at 7 am andthen cutter at 9 am. We then have an 11 am person in and then a 2 pm person to close All out at 3 pm 5 pm 7 pm and 10 pm. No lunches schedualed and they are volentary if we want to take them or work straight thru with just a half hour break.
" Where is your store at...are you in Texas as well?
I am in Texas. SWKMA , Dallas area. Store 488 in Mckinneyt texas about half way between dallas and the oklahomas boarder.
"I work for Kroger in Mi, Local 876, we just had our contract lapse and apparently, they renegotiated it so we have yet to get the details yet."
I am in local 540 and our contract expired in the 12th or midnight tomorrow. It is extender and I did see that you had one tenatively agreed on. Post what you got on contract area please. Interested in what people get. Ours wiull not get done until Local 455 in houston is done. We will then be about the same as them. They have been with out one since april and Local !00 ( Dallas Clerks ) justr got settles ant it took them 7 months to get done.
Meat Mgr wrote:
Damn, 12 cases is all? What are you guys running a week on packaged meat...thats pretty awesome 12 cases...I can't believe that they would mark you down for that and not having it on 3 carts....That is micromanagement to a tee. I would be ecstatic if I could get the lunchmeat down to a single L-Cart. But we are running ridiculous numbers in packaged
Yeah I have a feeling that is how they are going to get rid of us older contract people, or the hight wage personal, Write ups on department conditions when we actually have no control of scheduling or even the store management to back us up when it comes to writing up our employees.
What kind of schedules do they have you working, Up here it is 7-3:30 no earlier and one night till close whether it be 9pm or 10pm.
Where is your store at...are you in Texas as well? I work for Kroger in Mi, Local 876, we just had our contract lapse and apparently, they renegotiated it so we have yet to get the details yet.
They still haven't released the details of the contract yet, but there are rumors of course! You know how the Kroger Grapevine works....As soon as I hear something I will post it up here on a separate thread
