Our store (Columbus Division) has had four VERY late trucks in a row, and several more in the past couple of weeks. Is this happening to all the stores in the division? How are you all dealing with it?
I'm in the Atlanta Division and we're also getting late perishable trucks. It doesn't help that our management has really started the "I can make it right" programs so we're handing out discounts and rain checks like crazy. So glad I'm a bagger and don't have to deal with it much.
-- Edited by SharpStuff on Sunday 21st of June 2015 07:01:40 PM
The grocery trucks out of Daten have been running really behind lately. It sucks we've been throwing everything we can't get done into the meat cooler. It really sucks.
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Would you like fries with th... I mean, your milk in a bag?
Ours is late sometimes as well. We use the 'Make it Right' program.... But our manager uses it with discretion. We don't hand out discounts, freebees etc, just because the customers fart a certain way or cry about how the color is off on a box of Oreos.
I am in Michigan. Our grocery trucks have been arriving 4 hours late from Ohio. We send the order at 3am and the truck is supposed to be delivered by 9 pm the same night. So, we are not as bad off as stores that get there deliveries a day later. The last two didn't show until 1 am and we are a curfew store....Gave me time to run backstock and condition. Then, stock like a madman before the store opened.
The driver wasn't sure what to do. I had to explain to him that he drops off his trailer and takes our salvage trailer back. Ok, he knew he was there to make a drop and haul a different trailer off. :) Just didn't know it was salvage.
These are the two rumors I heard. I can not verify if they are true.
Last week I heard the employees at the warehouse were calling in by the masses so they could watch play-off games. I could believe this because the pallets were stacked by amateurs. Everything was stacked straight up and just wrapped. No layering or tying the product to make it more stable. And tons of mispicks! :(
This week, I heard that a different trucking company took over. It used to be Fleet for the grocery truck, now it is a different trucking company.
It could be because of the volume we are ordering because of the upcoming holiday.
-- Edited by Anonymouse1 on Monday 22nd of June 2015 10:57:14 AM
-- Edited by Anonymouse1 on Monday 22nd of June 2015 11:07:45 AM
I'm in Columbus division too. From what I have been told the warehouse is behind and that is the reason for the late trucks. I work in bakery and our frozen is coming out of Shelbyville right now. The problem with that, they don't carry all of the product that we carry. I am out of Italian bread dough and a few other things that they don't carry. I also heard that the Delaware distribution center got in trouble for hiring illegals again.
I'm struck by how geographically extensive this is. Trucks are a day behind in north Texas. Totally-unsubstantiated rumors include 1) insufficient pickers 2) some kind of driver action as a negotiation tactic.
In the Southwest division, I'm sure the store I'm at isn't the only one in the division that is being inconvenienced by this. Grocery, produce, meat market... all those departments are really getting messed up because of this. Management has to work overnight grocery's truck because by the time the truck gets here, the overnight crew is either already gone or is close to leaving, and can't stay to work the entire truck, so that falls on the co-managers' shoulders.
Yeah, not a lot of happy people as of late, be it customers, management or regular employees.
This late truck thing is making everyone mad at my store. Perishable trucks supposed to be in at 11am comes at 9pm, grocery truck supposed to come in at 8pm comes in at 7 am the next day. From what I heard the Delaware warehouse lost around 200 people from them either walking out or fireing them. All the truck drivers say there is a huge sign outside trying to get new employees. Ive even heard they are sending people from the Atlanta warehouse up to help out in Delaware.
The warehouse is now also adding extras to our orders to "compensate" for them being late. The other day our department head ordered a 800 piece truck and we ended up with 1200. They have been doing this for the past week and our back room is so full we have to leave the pallets with product on it just to make it fit.
Okay, how are you handling late trucks in the Produce Department, when your department is understaffed?
One of our managers is trying to help out by calling people in and letting us stay over to break down the truck. The others only let us stay until our bananas are uncapped and tell us to leave. What sucks is people are not buying very much and product is not moving out. We have about 7 dollies full of grapes and 6 dollies of bananas. We hope the trucks are late so we get more room to put them in our back room. Mornings have been hell for the past week and I hope today is somewhat better.
Jesus, sounds like your produce manager needs to learn how to inventory,gauge product movement better, and order better. That's a bonafied produce shrink disaster. :)
Okay, how are you handling late trucks in the Produce Department, when your department is understaffed?
One of our managers is trying to help out by calling people in and letting us stay over to break down the truck. The others only let us stay until our bananas are uncapped and tell us to leave. What sucks is people are not buying very much and product is not moving out. We have about 7 dollies full of grapes and 6 dollies of bananas. We hope the trucks are late so we get more room to put them in our back room. Mornings have been hell for the past week and I hope today is somewhat better.
sheesh. I walked into our freezer to find icecream for a customer the other night. What a cluster****! It is a huge freezer: 30' x 20' atleast. Pallets, L-carts, U-boats and crap covered all space. I do not work frozen but I did make an attempt to find the icecream backstock cart. No dice so I zeroed it out. :)
Then, 5 hours later, we filled the last remaining space with seafood in shopping carts because the fast alert said the bunker was too warm.
Does the Keller, Texas warehouse get stuff from Delaware?
Good! I wish the rest of Kroger employees would do the same. Just flat out cripple Kroger's business.
Yes, the sentiment, the nuts, and the guts are all inspirational; however, are those warehouse guys Teamsters? Our UFCW contract has a no-strike/no-lockout clause.
The pay is horrible, and the treatment isn't too much better . . . something does need to be done.
Fort Worth, TX area, got no produce truck whatsoever yesterday. Heard there was a sickout at the warehouse on Father's Day.
And this is how employees should handle it. They way they treat employees, I think everyone should call out on July 3rd. Across the state, the US. Make a statement. Eff the no strike clause. I used to hate WalMart before I worked for Kroger. I actually hate them both now, but for my own convenience I will shop at WalMart. I found a local Minyards about 20 minutes away I may shop at weekly, stock up. Albertsons has some pretty good sales, I may check them out.
In contrast, our meat department barely marks down the green meat: never below cost, it's just slightly less profitable. (Hell, how many Krogrr employees can afford Krogrr meat, anyway?)
Yeah, grocery, frozen, and produce trucks have showed up: it's feast after the famine, flood following the drought.
Oh, yeah: even while the bold, all-caps, giant-font sign is still up declaring no overtime under threat of death (or write-ups), today is wide-open OT for all comers who want to work down the late-truck pile-up.
Overtime is absolutely forbidden . . . except when it isn't.
