Hello. I have recently been hired as a part time associate at Kroger working as a Night Stocker, Third Shift. I have worked for three days today. All three days I have been working canned goods; soups, fruit, beans, vegetables, tomatoes, as well as boxed stock and soups, and other assorted related things in that lane. I am s l o w. I don't really count the amount of stuff I am actually doing, but I had an 11PM-5AM shift, and ended up working until ~8:30AM with occasional help from my supervisor and not even finishing conditioning. I don't understand what I am doing wrong, I try to do things one side of the aisle at a time, I am making sure to do the SRP only when I am supposed to, I toss plastic and deconstruct boxes. My knees, neck, and back feel like they are exploding and I don't take breaks unless I feel physically ill, so I can eat something. My disgustingly big ham hands prevent me from doing a lot of the work two handed, unless I want to knock everything over. Everything in the soup section is mixed up when I get there and there is a lot of extremely dented product on the shelves already. I help unload the Peyton truck's palettes onto the "U-boat" carts once I am done with the first truck palettes and the back stock, and I help the few people who come into the aisle at night and need help. I am doing everything I can, but I am s t i l l s o d a m n s l o w. My supervisor says it's fine, that I will get faster, but I just don't see what I am supposed to be improving. Help me please, even little things I may be doing wrong may help.
Tl;dr: I need advice on how to do Night Stocking faster, without losing the quality of work
Probably one of the hardest things about stocking is learning where everything goes. Do you have to hunt for where stuff goes or can you open a box and immediately put the contents where they belong?
Dude don't worry about it. You will gain speed with time. Knowing where things go w/o thinking about it is important. Then stocking similar stuff at same time instead of going up & down the aisle each time you finish a box. Do you guys bring u-boat out to the aisle then slide the stock down to near where it goes or do you just grab a box of the uboat then go find it?
What state do you work in? Don't give specific store info.
Don't skip breaks. I know you are trying to get more done but you also wear yourself down with physical and mental fatigue. All those mixed up soup cans start to look like a blur. Step outside to get some air, wet your face with cold water, step into the dairy cooler and get some AC air, or go into the breakroom to sit still. For a 6 hour shift, we get a 15 minute break. For an 8 hour shift, we get 15 minute break, a 30 minute lunch and another 15 minute break. Your manager might let you skip the lunch if you want to leave earlier. It is a state law here that we have to take lunches.
That is the most time consuming aisle. I have always been told by store managers and another night manager that that aisle is not for a beginner. But, when I started, that is where everyone starts working. If you can run the stock in that aisle, you will be able to run any aisle. You work at a double truck store. Usually, they are high volume stores. From what I read, you are running your backstock, running a first truck(01 catalog) and Peyton(69 catalog). Wow, I am impressed for a beginner trying to do all that. Most night managers assign aisles. Either you already pissed off your night manager or they are testing to see what you are made of. Always try your best but don't tear your body up. I will be honest with you, most people can not handle working that aisle. As team players, if everyone else finishes their aisles, they should be helping you out. I am not sure how your manager does things or how your coworkers roll.
I work at a single truck store currently. We either run, 01 or 69 or have a backstock night. We spot products for half the store. I don't have enough workers to assign aisles. I have everyone run that aisle first after it is spotted. Then, I split everyone into different aisles. I have many slow workers so we rarely are able to run back stock.
We will be moving into a double truck store soon. A truck everynight, double truck 4 nights a week and no night to run backstock. I will be training some seasoned employees but mostly new employees on running stock in that store. We will be running most of the stock off of pallets. There will not be any time to spot everything.
I dare you to count your cases of live stock and backstock. A seasoned employee should be running more than 60 cases an hour. And, that aisle should take 1 to 1.5 hours to condition. You don't get anytime for spotting pallets or sorting onto Uboats. Spotting helps a new person learn where everything goes in an aisle. That is your future goal. You won't be able to do that after working 3 days.
I an 8 hour shift, a seasoned employee should be running 360 cases and conditioning that aisle in 8 hours. 1.5 to condition, .5 for breaks, 6 hours to run stock. Another way of calculating it is run and condition 40 cases an hour with the aisle already spotted. So, 7.5 hrs x 40=300 cases. So, I would use the 300 cases instead of 360 cases as your goal. Then, try to improve from there. Count cases next time you work. Then, count again in 2 weeks. You will see a great improvement at your speed every 2 weeks. If you get too good, you might also be ordering that aisle(depends on your night manager) so proceed with caution. :)
I spent 8 months running that aisle everyday. No one could match how I was able to get the aisle done timewise, how well the back stock was under control, how well it was ordered and how well it was conditioned. The aisle was a challenge even tho I had been with Kroger for 7 years when I started working at that store full time in that aisle. # 1 in sales in district.
I started around Thanksgiving. I was getting slammed with 400-500 cases a night by myself(30%+ of the truck with 7-8 people on the night crew). I ignored how little everyone else was doing and got my **** done. The first day I tried spotting because that is what I was used to. The second day, I ran off of pallets. From there, I never looked back. The 01 pallets are generally aisle friendly. Everything for that aisle is on one pallet with a few items for other aisles. For the 69 pallets, sometimes I could run off the pallets until I got to the layer with the other aisles. Other times, it was easier to sort onto an empty pallet. We rarely had empty Uboats but I can work off of those too.
I would tie a plastic bag to the guard on the pallet jack. Make sure I had a sharp blade in my box cutter. Maybe oil the cutter so it slides better. Then, roll the pallet up and down the aisle with a bascart for cardboard. Sometimes I would leave one cart in the middle of the aisle and another at the far end of the aisle. Drop cardboard in them when I got close to them. I used a black plastic step stool so I could keep it in the cart or on the pallet. I would run the middle to top shelves first and spot the lower 3 shelves after removing the plastic. After everything was run off of pallets, I would start conditioning and run the lower shelf items that I had spotted earlier. I would condition the top shelves 4 foot to 12 foot sections and then go backwards running and conditioning lower shelf stock. I would usually do the soup section last. Sometimes I would run the 01 and 69 truck and then go back and condition. Other times, I would run the 01 truck, condition and then run the 69 truck. I would have been overwhelmed if I had tried running all 4 back stock uboats each night on double truck nights. I would have to work ot to run the backstock. That takes a while to get good at cleaning up random cans in the soup section.
Try different methods of doing things and figure out what works well for you. Not everyone works the same. For instance, I cut plastic off of cases down the center of the top of case, slash side a little and then pull plastic off. For the short 12 pack soup can or small veggie can type cases, I would slice around the sides and remove plastic then. Sometimes, I would cut plastic off several cases first and then run them. I would fill atleast 4 carts solid with broken down boxes. I would fill three to four bags with plastic every night. I broke 3 cutters in 8 months. I don't think I broke any during my first 7 years.
There is too much to try and teach you at once. Try to find the techniques that work well for you and always try your best.
I am working in Kentucky, in a city, so it probably is high volume.
I was hired from the hiring night, and was started with the can aisle, with the first day being one I shared with one of my supervisors. The second day I managed to keep up because Peyton doesn't come on Thursdays for us. Last night, as I said, I was far too slow, even with me working relatively fast. And here I am spending my spare time (when I am not sleeping) trying to fix what is wrong, and a lot of the advice I see is suck it up, stop being fat and lazy. I don't think it's a problem with my weight, as some implied, as a good number of people working are more out of shape than I am.
I am trying to stock based on location on aisle, as opposed to walking back and forth, but I need to memorize where stuff is (until they decide to move stuff again). Also distinguishing all those soups with almost the exact same label, and the 50,000 different types of chicken noodle is challenging.
One of the problems I had was the aisle was just rearranged, so a lot of stuff was misplaced. I assume I am working cans not because I pissed someone off, but more because they hired a lot of people recently, so they were able to fill some of the holes in their scheduling (it seems night stocking is always understaffed everywhere). My coworkers all finish at about 7 if they begin at 11, and they leave, so they can't really help, and all of the senior workers there are working multiple aisles, so they aren't really too free either. I am supposed to scan backstock and lows/holes to keep the aisle up, so I don't know if that is what you mean by me being in charge of ordering (probably not).
Any advice to not killing your knees trying to get to the bottom shelf? Or stacking things without knocking stuff over? Also, should I stock one side of the aisle, then the other, or should I try to stock both sides at the same time as I walk down the aisle? I appreciate all the help, even to those insulting me.
Also, not in a bragging fashion, but I have been told I condition surprisingly well by all my supervisors, as well as a couple senior members, so I am trying my best.
Don't they make kneepads if you're going to be stocking on the bottom shelf all the time, i think kroger can provide them. sorry i'm not much help though, i've never worked grocery.
-- Edited by 4hourrush on Saturday 20th of August 2016 10:45:09 PM
Any advice to not killing your knees trying to get to the bottom shelf? Or stacking things without knocking stuff over? Also, should I stock one side of the aisle, then the other, or should I try to stock both sides at the same time as I walk down the aisle? I appreciate all the help, even to those insulting me.
I was kidding about pissing the manager off. Just the luck of the draw that you got put in that aisle.
That is good that your manager is already training you on scanning residual back stock. Lows and holes is a different function but is also a good idea. At our store, someone on days scans lows and holes before 8am. Some stores order before 3 am, some later. Not sure when your store orders close.
Some stores have knee pads but I don't like the style. For temp use, try kneeling on 2 layers of cardboard. Ask your manager if they have any or see if they can order you a set with the supplies. They are the hard plastic type with some padding. I was constantly having to pull them up back into place during the night. That is why conditioned and ran bottom shelves last. So I could go without knee pads until I got to that point. I did go to Lowes and picked up a set. They usually wear out after 3 months if on the reddish concrete floor. They last longer if you have waxed vinyl tile floors. The Velcro or clip ones are better. That way you don't have to slip them over your feet.
I don't like switching sides but if it makes the time go by faster for you then try it. I do wear a cordless Itone and listen to Pandora most of the night I like to start at one end, go to the other, then switch sides and back to the other end. I decided to run that aisle with a newbie tonight. I am out of shape! If anything, condition sets of commodities together. 12' section is Idaho potatoes to Kroger scalloped potatoes. 12' is rice to bagged dry veggies. 4' is pizza center. 16' is mac and cheese to knorr pasta sides. 12' is ramen noodles, powdered soup and liquid stock. 4' is broth. 20' is soup half in cages, half hand stacked. Poor newbie didn't know I was on the easy side. It took us about 2.5 hours each to run just a peyton truck that was spotted. I was cleaning up a lot of sloppy work. Ok, fine, I am out of shape. We spent 5 people hours in the aisle. Everything needs to be double block faced at our store. Easily 2 hours to condition. So that left 3 hours to run stock. I don't think there were more than 120 cases in the aisle. So running (only) 40 cases an hour is not bad for an old fart and a newbie. I forgot to mention in previous post. 01 expectation is 60 cases an hour. 69 expectation is 45 cases an hour.
Just have to try to figure out why you are knocking everything over and avoid that. If it is a new store, the shelves are new and crap slips off the shelf like a greased pig. Use extra caution around glass. Semi caution around cans. Boxes can fall and not see much damage. If you mean stacking cans on each other. That is practice and technique. Some people keep the shelf packed so the cans cant fall easily. Try to stack squarely one can on the other. Try not to shove cans back once they are stacked. I will align the edges of top can and lower can with my fingers.
you just started... none of us are really that great at first. the more you do this same task day in and day out, the faster you'll get. you'll know where everything goes and just be more accurate. I'll give it about a month and a half before you get more faster than what you are
Do you have to run water back stock, we sell a lot of water so ever night I have to run the water which can take anywhere for 1 to 2 hrs.Replace any people that call in if needed for the morning shift unload trucks, either dairy, meat, Keebler. Nabisco fresh fruit sometimes bread and perishables .Have to pick up the messes that day crew leave. Peyton is being cherry picked so its everywhere and pallets are usually falling over by the time we get in that morning. The new warehouse that is changing over to is not set up completely so we have truck coming from two different warehouses and the stock coming from the new one is very un-isle friendly. We have maybe 5 on grocer night to do anywhere from 1400 to 2200 case truck. 4 a night to do Peyton which I have to do the order for grocery. Needless to say we are behind because of a call in that puts us behind all week. Do you get any help with trucks form day crew?
Do you have to run water back stock, we sell a lot of water so ever night I have to run the water which can take anywhere for 1 to 2 hrs.Replace any people that call in if needed for the morning shift unload trucks, either dairy, meat, Keebler. Nabisco fresh fruit sometimes bread and perishables .Have to pick up the messes that day crew leave. Peyton is being cherry picked so its everywhere and pallets are usually falling over by the time we get in that morning. The new warehouse that is changing over to is not set up completely so we have truck coming from two different warehouses and the stock coming from the new one is very un-isle friendly. We have maybe 5 on grocer night to do anywhere from 1400 to 2200 case truck. 4 a night to do Peyton which I have to do the order for grocery. Needless to say we are behind because of a call in that puts us behind all week. Do you get any help with trucks form day crew?
Sounds exactly like my store. Except the trucks are normally under 1800. I can't wait until all the order moves to one warehouse. These pallets are ridiculous. The guys doing the picking can't control it because the filler cases they need to make it neat are coming from the other warehouse. And, I think all the employees at the new warehouse are new. The thing I like about the new warehouse is the labels. It is easier to find mispicks which we are getting a lot of.
We have a new co manager that makes the daycrew fill back stock water so that saves me 2 hours.
Our daycrew tries to help but they do a crappy job(new employees with no training) and cherry pick the easy stuff.
i watch the day crew and they have a lot of time to chat and drink coffee ... very little help with the trucks
I know there are people on the day crew that do work hard ... but some that could work on the grocery truck including the day grocery manager would rather not help... hes telling me that he doesnt have time but nobody can say what he does do. I know that he lets the Peyton order...order itself, so we always have a lot of back stock. He doesnt set the alloc and mins when a reset are done so we end up fixing them.
Hey guys. I've worked twice since last post, once in cans again, still being slow, the other in pet food (goddamn that aisle is easy) which I finished super fast and then did some other stuff. The fact that I got the pet aisle done so fast is nice, but I know the aisle is easy, and the person who ran the cans was faster than I was. I just hope I don't get cut from the crew when they decide who sticks around, as one of the managers said that they would eventually.
And no, morning crew doesn't seem to do much, but I don't really know. I haven't bothered sticking around to watch them.
I just hope I don't get cut from the crew when they decide who sticks around, as one of the managers said that they would eventually.
Once you figure out how to move fast in cans, you will be able to run any aisle with speed. It can be a harsh aisle(boot camp of Kroger). You have to look at it daily and decide it is possible to get it done.
Did you spin the cat food cans so all the labels face a certain way?
I do not know how your manager decides so I don't want to give misinformation. If your manager has a problem, he should have a discussion with you to explain what you need to improve on before your probation is over.
The good thing I see in you is a since of urgency. You want to get done as quick as possible so you can do something else. That is a plus in my book. I am sure your manager appreciates it. You will pick up speed as you get more experience. I believe efficiency, accuracy and quality will follow.
I have 6 new employees. 3 have a since of urgency. 1 needs a little improvement on neatness. I have 2 others that could care a less if they get a lot done. The last one is not going to physically be able to keep with the expected tasks. I need to improve all their organization skills.
Yeah I spun the cans (mostly the front-most ones, as the store is relatively high volume, so we need to go kinda fast), and I've been asking questions to make sure I am not doing anything wrong, and he seems to like that too.
If what you say about my sense of urgency is true, that does make me feel a little better, and a senior worker had said that I was not at fault for being slow at cans, so that is also relieving.
Anonymous wrote: If what you say about my sense of urgency is true, that does make me feel a little better, and a senior worker had said that I was not at fault for being slow at cans, so that is also relieving.
Thanks for correcting since to sense. It didn't look right when I read it but it didn't click in my mind.
