Joy. With Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays behind us, we leave behind one long, "fun" stretch in the world of retail and now enter a new, almost as obnoxious, time of the year, exclusive to Kroger (lucky us). The holidays have come and gone, so now it's time to "reemphasize" the importance of Key Retailing, at my store, and I'm sure at many other Kroger stores too. It may vary from store to store, but I know we're in an "eight week period" to "get back to where we need to be" in order to be compliant with Key Retailing standards. This means stuff like, "oh? There's a broom over there? We need to make a sign that reads... 'Broom' and while we're at it, we need signs for this, that and everything else," to the point where in some areas, you see more signs than wall. Of course, every department has its own Key Retailing guidelines, and we were informed today that no "extra hours" will be budgeted by the company for this process because it's something we should be doing "year round already". Departments, like produce at my store, are already undermanned due to a lack of viable applicants to fill open spots, and have trouble keeping product stocked to meet daily demand, and as you can imagine, this refocus is only going to put them and the other departments further behind. Management wants everyone to pull together and help out, but with departments stretched thin as is, plus the front end calling for help on a regular basis, it's pretty obvious why departments look trashed on a regular basis, except to those living in their own special kind of reality, namely those that make up corporate.
The idea is that there should be more 'free' time to play with key retailing just because it's January. Problem is, the total department hours are adjusted down to meet the (lower) demands of the department, making the time of year irrelevant.
Yah, we have a key retailing visit next week. But, I am being asked to work extra hours to get our department ready.
I have to admit, I did see a comanager cleaning up by putting supplies away the other day.
I drove by my old store and they have a lot of stuff(crates and old produce display shelving) sitting in the back of the building like they are house cleaning too.
I haven't heard anyone even whisper anything about Key Retailing in forever. We had one co-manager for a while that used to dangle it like a carrot... as if it was going to be any day now, so we better get ready, then nothing.
Joy. With Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays behind us, we leave behind one long, "fun" stretch in the world of retail and now enter a new, almost as obnoxious, time of the year, exclusive to Kroger (lucky us). The holidays have come and gone, so now it's time to "reemphasize" the importance of Key Retailing, at my store, and I'm sure at many other Kroger stores too. It may vary from store to store, but I know we're in an "eight week period" to "get back to where we need to be" in order to be compliant with Key Retailing standards. This means stuff like, "oh? There's a broom over there? We need to make a sign that reads... 'Broom' and while we're at it, we need signs for this, that and everything else," to the point where in some areas, you see more signs than wall. Of course, every department has its own Key Retailing guidelines, and we were informed today that no "extra hours" will be budgeted by the company for this process because it's something we should be doing "year round already". Departments, like produce at my store, are already undermanned due to a lack of viable applicants to fill open spots, and have trouble keeping product stocked to meet daily demand, and as you can imagine, this refocus is only going to put them and the other departments further behind. Management wants everyone to pull together and help out, but with departments stretched thin as is, plus the front end calling for help on a regular basis, it's pretty obvious why departments look trashed on a regular basis, except to those living in their own special kind of reality, namely those that make up corporate.
Fun times ahead, as always.
If produce is understaffed I wish I could come and work at your store. I'm a fast learner and don't mind cutting up the fruit and re-stocking the vegetables. I put in for Food Depot a few days ago, hoping to hear something from them. Front End plain out sucks.
Well, Kroger just increased the night crew wages to $9.50 per hour with a 50 cent per hour increase every 6 months until top pay of $14.15/hr. We use Key Retailing Standards and I as part of the night crew stockers can say some of it helps with organization, but some of it is uncalled for. The "truck to the floor" doesn't work in our store. It is a new store and the largest in Texas to date. The warehouse doesn't put products on the pallets compatible with our isles. IF the warehouse would coordinate with our store to set the pallets up based on what is on each isle it would make things faster and more efficient. Each pallet we pull off has no less than five different isles worth of products and they are not layered just randomly placed on the pallet. So, we end up spotting these pallets where it goes before stocking which saves about two hrs of time. So, this is one area of Key Retailing that has not worked for us. The backstock issue really has to do with those who set up the shelf allocations and ordering. My buddy and I team up to get more done and we have personally had to start resetting the allocations, minimums, and BOH so the CAO could work properly. Once we get it working where when the minimum is triggered a case comes in so the case goes from the pallet to the shelf starts to work our lead cancels that part of the CAO and we end up low in stock and having to order twice or three times as much later adding to our work load eventually creating backstock as they then try to compensate and over order. The CAO works beautifully if management will leave it alone. The KMP portion is what lacks organization at our location, but we are trying to fix this issue as well. The backstock carts are a good system but should not be full all the time like at our store. I work two jobs to make ends meat of course, but the backstock and ordering system at Kroger is better than the second retailer I work for which is utter chaos and they are a multimillion dollar retailer too. Key Retailing is good for some things but not for everything. We don't have to clock in and out for breaks or lunch. Our shift is 8 hrs with some overtime depending on truck size. Kroger doesnt like overtime, but sometimes it is impossible to avoid. So far our managers work with us, but the night crew basically has had to step up and run the show in order to get things done on time and efficiently...lack of leadership from the lower management is a joke.
Well, Kroger just increased the night crew wages to $9.50 per hour with a 50 cent per hour increase every 6 months until top pay of $14.15/hr. We use Key Retailing Standards and I as part of the night crew stockers can say some of it helps with organization, but some of it is uncalled for. The "truck to the floor" doesn't work in our store. It is a new store and the largest in Texas to date. The warehouse doesn't put products on the pallets compatible with our isles. IF the warehouse would coordinate with our store to set the pallets up based on what is on each isle it would make things faster and more efficient. Each pallet we pull off has no less than five different isles worth of products and they are not layered just randomly placed on the pallet. So, we end up spotting these pallets where it goes before stocking which saves about two hrs of time. So, this is one area of Key Retailing that has not worked for us. The backstock issue really has to do with those who set up the shelf allocations and ordering. My buddy and I team up to get more done and we have personally had to start resetting the allocations, minimums, and BOH so the CAO could work properly. Once we get it working where when the minimum is triggered a case comes in so the case goes from the pallet to the shelf starts to work our lead cancels that part of the CAO and we end up low in stock and having to order twice or three times as much later adding to our work load eventually creating backstock as they then try to compensate and over order. The CAO works beautifully if management will leave it alone. The KMP portion is what lacks organization at our location, but we are trying to fix this issue as well. The backstock carts are a good system but should not be full all the time like at our store. I work two jobs to make ends meat of course, but the backstock and ordering system at Kroger is better than the second retailer I work for which is utter chaos and they are a multimillion dollar retailer too. Key Retailing is good for some things but not for everything. We don't have to clock in and out for breaks or lunch. Our shift is 8 hrs with some overtime depending on truck size. Kroger doesnt like overtime, but sometimes it is impossible to avoid. So far our managers work with us, but the night crew basically has had to step up and run the show in order to get things done on time and efficiently...lack of leadership from the lower management is a joke.
It'd be pretty difficult for the warehouse to get everything separated by aisle for every store - if not impossible. Think about how many different store setups there could be. I don't think every store is "center store" yet. Those stores are going to be different than other stores.
