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Post Info TOPIC: Low ELMS Scores


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Low ELMS Scores
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We just had 2 cashiers moved at our store over low ELMS scores.  Has anyone else had this happen at your store?  Is it even legal to punish someone over a measurement that wasn't in place when they first started, or is it just considered as low job performance?



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Where were they moved to?  If it was off the front end they should be thankful.



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They may not punish any cashier for low elms scores. At least not in my district. They tried doing that to a few of the older cashiers and they filed grievances and won. Call the union rep. 



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*



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All of our cashiers' elms scores suck. Only mine and 2 other peoples are ever over 95%.

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I think it depends on how you view "punishment".

About a month ago, I was given a letter by our new store manager that my ELMS score was below where they wanted and told that if it went lower, I would be written up.  The next day, our union rep was in and I still had the letter in my smock.  I showed it to him and his exact words was "if you are written up for it, I'll shove it up their ass".  I was in the 70's about a week after that and nothing was said, but I have been getting scheduled more hours in other departments, mainly grocery.

If they are threatening your job, then I would consider that punishment.  If they are moving you to another area of the store (unless you are full time in that department), I don't think that applies.



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my elm scores are over 100 every week. I'm not even a cashier. Ask for their card first, use your right hand to pull things over the scanner and your left hand to push down the belt.

That's all I do and last week my elms were 103.

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BagBoy wrote:

my elm scores are over 100 every week. I'm not even a cashier. Ask for their card first, use your right hand to pull things over the scanner and your left hand to push down the belt.

That's all I do and last week my elms were 103.


 Two things I see with this:

The less hours you have as a cashier, the higher probability your score will be higher.  It's only when you spend more time on the register are you more prone to "screwups" and then your score is in the tank.

Asking for a card first depends on the customer.  There are some customers who treat it like a jackpot.  They want to see the savings go down and wait til the very end to either type in their phone number or hand it at the last minute.  Of course, then you have customers who don't have the plus card but have a phone number.  They type it in as fast as humanly possible then get pissed because it says "ReEnter Customer Number" and you have to type it in slower for them.

Trust me, the more hours you get on register, unless you are doing everything by the book, the lower your score will be.  I was joking with somebody who scored the highest in the store and it said on the board for him to "share his tips".  He said to do the exact opposite of everything on the tip sheet that was handed out to us.



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There are many things that can happen that a cashier doesn't even have control over.

*mocks customer*
Oh, I forgot my Kroger plus card... do you have one I can scan?
I need to get one more thing...
I can't find my debit card. It's in here... somewhere.
Oh... I forgot, I need cigarettes.
Those pickles didn't ring up right!

Besides having an override card, how does someone deal with situations like these? Why does management think that we can?

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Drew P Weiner wrote:
BagBoy wrote:

my elm scores are over 100 every week. I'm not even a cashier. Ask for their card first, use your right hand to pull things over the scanner and your left hand to push down the belt.

That's all I do and last week my elms were 103.


 Two things I see with this:

The less hours you have as a cashier, the higher probability your score will be higher.  It's only when you spend more time on the register are you more prone to "screwups" and then your score is in the tank.

Asking for a card first depends on the customer.  There are some customers who treat it like a jackpot.  They want to see the savings go down and wait til the very end to either type in their phone number or hand it at the last minute.  Of course, then you have customers who don't have the plus card but have a phone number.  They type it in as fast as humanly possible then get pissed because it says "ReEnter Customer Number" and you have to type it in slower for them.

Trust me, the more hours you get on register, unless you are doing everything by the book, the lower your score will be.  I was joking with somebody who scored the highest in the store and it said on the board for him to "share his tips".  He said to do the exact opposite of everything on the tip sheet that was handed out to us.


 

Ah, yes, the "you're on register for an hour so you think you're good" argument. Actually, today I was on registar for at least 3/4 of my shift. On the nosale-96-signon I scored at 0.64. That's a little above average but i did have a few "oh, wait." moments. Normally, I start off saying "Do you have a kroger card (with you)?" when they put a few things on the belt and normally they will get it for me and say "Oh, yes." or something stupid like that. I've had people say "i want to wait until the end" to which i respond "alright" and give a smile. If they say "I have a number" I'll tell them "type it at your leasure/whenever you're ready" and begin scanning items. If the machine didn't registar for their alt ID i say "I don't think/believe it went through when you typed it can you give it another shot/try for me?" if they get upset or something i calmly respond "Sometimes typing too quickly doesn't work for the old girl. She needs a softer touch. Wanna give her another try?".

There are going to be those people that screw with you but don't worry - **** happens. Also I believe where i'm a male that i kinda keep the ruder customers at bay as they would risk a confrontation with someone who might actually be able to stand up against them.

I always focus on trying to get a laugh in there somewhere because as long as you can make them laugh you can make them happy. at least half of the people that come through my line leave with at least a chuckle.

But, yeah, I know if i really wanted to get a super high score that all you need to do is do 3 super quick orders and you'll end up with ~0.33+ lol.

(lower = better with nosale-96-signon)



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Cathy wrote:

There are many things that can happen that a cashier doesn't even have control over.

*mocks customer*
Oh, I forgot my Kroger plus card... do you have one I can scan?
I need to get one more thing...
I can't find my debit card. It's in here... somewhere.
Oh... I forgot, I need cigarettes.
Those pickles didn't ring up right!

Besides having an override card, how does someone deal with situations like these? Why does management think that we can?


That's why you asked them if they have one before you start the order.
You ask if that's all they need... otherwise there is no control over it.
stand and smile think of puppies or something.
Send a bagger.
Grab a supervisor, send a bagger, **** happens lol.

Situations like these are why cashiers should never have a sub-0.70 score for nosale. You balance out your ****ty orders with your good ones.



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Anonymous

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It's been nearly two decades since I've checked but I remember on the old registers you could put them on "hold" while you were waiting for the customer to dig out their coupons, money, checkbook, etc. and it would give you a much better score as far as how many items per minute you scanned.  I could easily scan well over 30 items per minute, but if I didn't put the register on "hold" while waiting for the customers to dig out everything they needed that scan percentage would drop way down because the internal clock on the register would still be running and it would look like I was scanning fewer items than I actually was.   



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BagBoy wrote:
Drew P Weiner wrote:
BagBoy wrote:

my elm scores are over 100 every week. I'm not even a cashier. Ask for their card first, use your right hand to pull things over the scanner and your left hand to push down the belt.

That's all I do and last week my elms were 103.


 Two things I see with this:

The less hours you have as a cashier, the higher probability your score will be higher.  It's only when you spend more time on the register are you more prone to "screwups" and then your score is in the tank.

Asking for a card first depends on the customer.  There are some customers who treat it like a jackpot.  They want to see the savings go down and wait til the very end to either type in their phone number or hand it at the last minute.  Of course, then you have customers who don't have the plus card but have a phone number.  They type it in as fast as humanly possible then get pissed because it says "ReEnter Customer Number" and you have to type it in slower for them.

Trust me, the more hours you get on register, unless you are doing everything by the book, the lower your score will be.  I was joking with somebody who scored the highest in the store and it said on the board for him to "share his tips".  He said to do the exact opposite of everything on the tip sheet that was handed out to us.


 

Ah, yes, the "you're on register for an hour so you think you're good" argument. Actually, today I was on registar for at least 3/4 of my shift. On the nosale-96-signon I scored at 0.64. That's a little above average but i did have a few "oh, wait." moments. Normally, I start off saying "Do you have a kroger card (with you)?" when they put a few things on the belt and normally they will get it for me and say "Oh, yes." or something stupid like that. I've had people say "i want to wait until the end" to which i respond "alright" and give a smile. If they say "I have a number" I'll tell them "type it at your leasure/whenever you're ready" and begin scanning items. If the machine didn't registar for their alt ID i say "I don't think/believe it went through when you typed it can you give it another shot/try for me?" if they get upset or something i calmly respond "Sometimes typing too quickly doesn't work for the old girl. She needs a softer touch. Wanna give her another try?".

There are going to be those people that screw with you but don't worry - **** happens. Also I believe where i'm a male that i kinda keep the ruder customers at bay as they would risk a confrontation with someone who might actually be able to stand up against them.

I always focus on trying to get a laugh in there somewhere because as long as you can make them laugh you can make them happy. at least half of the people that come through my line leave with at least a chuckle.

But, yeah, I know if i really wanted to get a super high score that all you need to do is do 3 super quick orders and you'll end up with ~0.33+ lol.

(lower = better with nosale-96-signon)


 I wasn't trying to be a smartass, but it does seem like the less time spent on register usually results in a higher ELMS score.  Maybe you do have something that works.

I've never done No-Sale 96 Sign On but out of curiosity what is it?  I've never worked in the office before and I know if I asked our head cashier her response would be "It's none of your business, you don't need to know it".



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No-Sale 96 Sign-On lets you check your items per minute. 28 items per minute is supposed to be 100%. It's a very good indicator of what your ELMS score will be. The problem is that there are so many other factors besides items per minute that go into the measurement of your score. By the way, I know the goal is 95%, but I forgot what the minimum score is that a cashier must stay above to avoid being shipped off to another department.

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Cathy wrote:

No-Sale 96 Sign-On lets you check your items per minute. 28 items per minute is supposed to be 100%. It's a very good indicator of what your ELMS score will be. The problem is that there are so many other factors besides items per minute that go into the measurement of your score. By the way, I know the goal is 95%, but I forgot what the minimum score is that a cashier must stay above to avoid being shipped off to another department.


 Interesting.  So if you can get a 100% scanning effectiveness, I'm curious how it affects your ELMS score with everything else factored in.



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Drew P Weiner wrote:

 I wasn't trying to be a smartass, but it does seem like the less time spent on register usually results in a higher ELMS score.  Maybe you do have something that works.

I've never done No-Sale 96 Sign On but out of curiosity what is it?  I've never worked in the office before and I know if I asked our head cashier her response would be "It's none of your business, you don't need to know it".


 Yeah, I know, and nor was I. I was just saying that even if you've had a HORRIBLE day that making over .70 is kind of hard unless you just don't care.

I actually have a slip i stuck in my pocket like a month ago.

I'll post it for you

 

OPERATOR PERFORMANCE
(date) (time) (store number) (something) (something) (operator ID)

**************************************
Statistics For      (Your First Name)
**************************************

Items Per Minute                           23.16
Customers Per Hour                       38.78
Tender Time Per Customer               0.46
Misc. Items Sold                                  0

OPERATION COMPLETE (date) (time)

 

That's exactly what it says That's actually a pretty good slip.



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How the hell do you have ZERO misc. items sold? I always have at least 2 or 3....

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that's particular snapshot was taken at 6:30pm only 3 hours into my shift. I normally have 1-2 by the end of a shift.

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Ok... I was gonna say! It's hard not to have misc. when you get "item not found" and we have that A LOT at our store.

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Normally, I only get those on the small 8pack bottles of soda (not sure why that happens though) or things that have shipping codes on them like the boxes of big K.

Our stocking/pricing people are actually pretty good.

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do produce UPC codes on berries and strawberries and whatnot go in? i remember working at wild oats and those were never in the system.

at another retail outlet, they had a system where if a cashier puts in a upc that isnt in the system it goes onto a report that gets worked the next day so it gets fixed.



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remember this -

"i won't back down. you can stand me up to the gates of hell. but i won't back down"

"well i know whats right. i got just one life. in a world that keeps on pushin' me around. but i'll stand my ground and i won't back down"

tom petty



-- Edited by thedude on Saturday 7th of May 2011 07:25:48 AM

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We have 4 pricing coordinators and it's a constant uphill battle trying to get them to enter prices and UPC's correctly. The worse one of all is the PS Angus ground beef. It's been six months since it's been brought to their attention and it still isn't fixed.

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I make sure everything is on the belt before I start.

I ask the customer if there is anything else they want (like cigarettes, postage stamps, or maybe they forgot something)

If the customer says "you can go ahead and start" while there's only a few items on the belt,  I'm like "Nope" and I come around and start putting items on the belt for them.

The customers say stuff like "I never had this kind of service before" or "you guys are becoming like walmart."

Some even tell management that they received "excellent service."

They appreciate the help, but I don't tell them that I'm doing it for my own benefit.

No more scanning delays for me

been getting 100%+ for consectutive months now



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Anonymous wrote:

I make sure everything is on the belt before I start.

I ask the customer if there is anything else they want (like cigarettes, postage stamps, or maybe they forgot something)

If the customer says "you can go ahead and start" while there's only a few items on the belt,  I'm like "Nope" and I come around and start putting items on the belt for them.

The customers say stuff like "I never had this kind of service before" or "you guys are becoming like walmart."

Some even tell management that they received "excellent service."

They appreciate the help, but I don't tell them that I'm doing it for my own benefit.

No more scanning delays for me

been getting 100%+ for consectutive months now


 Yeah, and I've had people freak out when I come around to help them unload. 

"Well! I'm sorry I'm not going fast enough for you!"

"If I needed anything else I would have told you!"

"I unload my cart in a particular way! Don't touch it!"

"I can do it myself! I'm not THAT damn old!"

Sometimes, it's a no win no matter what you do or say. 

 

Cathy, you don't need an over ride card for any of those situation you mentioned.

Just hit the EFT key and it stops (or puts the order on hold as someone else mentioned). If something rings up wrong, just void it off and ring it up for free as if you were doing a rain check but instead of hitting the number for rain check just hit customer service. 



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Oboro718 wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

I make sure everything is on the belt before I start.

I ask the customer if there is anything else they want (like cigarettes, postage stamps, or maybe they forgot something)

If the customer says "you can go ahead and start" while there's only a few items on the belt,  I'm like "Nope" and I come around and start putting items on the belt for them.

The customers say stuff like "I never had this kind of service before" or "you guys are becoming like walmart."

Some even tell management that they received "excellent service."

They appreciate the help, but I don't tell them that I'm doing it for my own benefit.

No more scanning delays for me

been getting 100%+ for consectutive months now


 Yeah, and I've had people freak out when I come around to help them unload. 

"Well! I'm sorry I'm not going fast enough for you!"

"If I needed anything else I would have told you!"

"I unload my cart in a particular way! Don't touch it!"

"I can do it myself! I'm not THAT damn old!"

Sometimes, it's a no win no matter what you do or say. 

 

Cathy, you don't need an over ride card for any of those situation you mentioned.

Just hit the EFT key and it stops (or puts the order on hold as someone else mentioned). If something rings up wrong, just void it off and ring it up for free as if you were doing a rain check but instead of hitting the number for rain check just hit customer service. 


 You know... i heard about the whole EBT putting the order on hold trick but i never actually put it into practice for too long. does it really work? have you actually tried it?



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I've personally never tried the whole EFT thing

 

I usually get 3-4 slow customers in a 4-hour shift.  I still get ~100%, so I don't bother



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EFT works. I guess it's our certain customers who are slower than all get out because I have to use it all the time lol

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the reason your elms score is so high is because youre not a cashier.



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