With all of the extra crap like residual scanning and sorting off slow movers, mandatory daily back stock, and now the loss of a conditioner to make up the hours the crew lost when this system rolled out I am spending between 3-4 hours a day doing it. I work at a smaller store (300k/WK) which means I'm responsible for three aisles of this crap, including the totes and cookies. This leaves me with 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours of time just to stock. It takes about an hour and 30 minutes to condition all three aisles, sometime an hour and 45 if it's really wrecked. At least twice a week the entire truck will come as mixed pallets, meaning I will have to dig through them to find my stuff or make multiple trips back to stock stuff other people find on their pallets. Sometimes I end up having to refill sugar, which we aren't given time for, that can eat 40 minutes if its blown out.
So far, I am the only person except the grocery manager who actually follows the process. I frequently have to go through my back stock after my days off and scan and sort it. Management has been getting real anal about doing everything to the letter, and I have been told on multiple occasions that it must be done even if the truck is big. We must stay until the truck is done and we have to do the conditioning completelt before leaving. I frequently end up with 250-300 case loads between my aisles. Obviously, this results in me getting some overtime on a weekly basis. Last week, every truck was in excess of 300 cases for my aisles except the one night I run Peyton (which I left early on). In addition, we had yet another center store audit, and since I was on vacation the week before, my back stock had piled to the ceiling with slow movers and unworked product that people threw on there. I spent about 2 hours scanning, running, and sorting through that at the grocery managers request, on top of a big truck, resulting in me being stuck there 11 hours that day. Of course, I was the only one who sorted my own back stock. He did everyone else's. On top of that, management keeps rolling go back buggies to my aisles and expecting me to do them, and I've just been told I now have to condition all of the vendor's items in my aisles, even though they come in and do it later in the morning when they stock. I ended up getting 48 hours that week, one of the other crew members told me he got like 46. Usually I'm only 2-3 hours over.
Today, my grocery manager came up to me and asked me if I was doing okay, and showed me the stocking guide, pointing out there was only about 4hrs of stocking today, and that I'd been getting a lot of over time. I asked him if he still had the rest of the weeks stocking guides and last weeks, which of course he didn't, he doesn't even fill them out, he told me there was never a day with more than seven hours. To which I replied that a day with 7 hours of stocking meant over time if I had to condition, run back stock, and shoot residual/lows and holes. He also came off as if he expected me to get over time today, and i told him i wouldn't need to. What pissed me off is he knows the system is screwed up, and has commented on it several times. Apparently our operations manager asked him about it, which is what prompted the whole thing. After I finished, I spoke to the manager about it, and explained to him where the ot came from, which he understood, and told me he just needed to know what it was from so he could figure out a solution.
I feel like I can't win either way. I don't even want to be stuck there over. If ignore everything but stocking and conditioning on bigger trucks, I risk getting a write up for not following the process, if I do it the way it's supposed to be done regardless, I get chewed out for overtime and accused of stocking too slow. At this point, I feel like saying screw it, and becoming one of those people who just works 8 hours and leaves. Several other crew member's do the same thing, and the grocery manager just does whatever they don't finish, sorts their back stock, scans their lows and holes, yet I'm the one who gets chewed out.
The stocking guides should be on the Communication center clip board for the last week atleast.
Start counting your cases and keep track. The time on the stocking guide should only be the time you spent stocking. The time you spend conditioning, breaking down pallets, running backstock and scanning doesn't count on the stocking guide.
Yes, the guides are inaccurate. They actually give you more time than it is supposed to take to stock. The time is getting closer to normal.
We should have taken 37 hours to stock the trucks last night. The stocking guide gave us 59 hours....
With all of the extra crap like residual scanning and sorting off slow movers, mandatory daily back stock, and now the loss of a conditioner to make up the hours the crew lost when this system rolled out I am spending between 3-4 hours a day doing it. I work at a smaller store (300k/WK) which means I'm responsible for three aisles of this crap, including the totes and cookies. This leaves me with 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours of time just to stock. It takes about an hour and 30 minutes to condition all three aisles, sometime an hour and 45 if it's really wrecked. At least twice a week the entire truck will come as mixed pallets, meaning I will have to dig through them to find my stuff or make multiple trips back to stock stuff other people find on their pallets. Sometimes I end up having to refill sugar, which we aren't given time for, that can eat 40 minutes if its blown out.
So far, I am the only person except the grocery manager who actually follows the process. I frequently have to go through my back stock after my days off and scan and sort it. Management has been getting real anal about doing everything to the letter, and I have been told on multiple occasions that it must be done even if the truck is big. We must stay until the truck is done and we have to do the conditioning completelt before leaving. I frequently end up with 250-300 case loads between my aisles. Obviously, this results in me getting some overtime on a weekly basis. Last week, every truck was in excess of 300 cases for my aisles except the one night I run Peyton (which I left early on). In addition, we had yet another center store audit, and since I was on vacation the week before, my back stock had piled to the ceiling with slow movers and unworked product that people threw on there. I spent about 2 hours scanning, running, and sorting through that at the grocery managers request, on top of a big truck, resulting in me being stuck there 11 hours that day. Of course, I was the only one who sorted my own back stock. He did everyone else's. On top of that, management keeps rolling go back buggies to my aisles and expecting me to do them, and I've just been told I now have to condition all of the vendor's items in my aisles, even though they come in and do it later in the morning when they stock. I ended up getting 48 hours that week, one of the other crew members told me he got like 46. Usually I'm only 2-3 hours over.
Today, my grocery manager came up to me and asked me if I was doing okay, and showed me the stocking guide, pointing out there was only about 4hrs of stocking today, and that I'd been getting a lot of over time. I asked him if he still had the rest of the weeks stocking guides and last weeks, which of course he didn't, he doesn't even fill them out, he told me there was never a day with more than seven hours. To which I replied that a day with 7 hours of stocking meant over time if I had to condition, run back stock, and shoot residual/lows and holes. He also came off as if he expected me to get over time today, and i told him i wouldn't need to. What pissed me off is he knows the system is screwed up, and has commented on it several times. Apparently our operations manager asked him about it, which is what prompted the whole thing. After I finished, I spoke to the manager about it, and explained to him where the ot came from, which he understood, and told me he just needed to know what it was from so he could figure out a solution.
I feel like I can't win either way. I don't even want to be stuck there over. If ignore everything but stocking and conditioning on bigger trucks, I risk getting a write up for not following the process, if I do it the way it's supposed to be done regardless, I get chewed out for overtime and accused of stocking too slow. At this point, I feel like saying screw it, and becoming one of those people who just works 8 hours and leaves. Several other crew member's do the same thing, and the grocery manager just does whatever they don't finish, sorts their back stock, scans their lows and holes, yet I'm the one who gets chewed out.
Okay this is great. Sounds like my store, only we do a million a week, can't ever get done on time unless the grocery manager cuts the load way down but then the very next load night the load is huge and you are right back to playing catch up. Plus add to that, our district manager doesn't want anybody but the grocery managers getting any overtime (one person can't do it all and they get tired and burned out). The grocery manager has to stock a "work area" because corporate wont allow our store manager to hire anybody, so we are understaffed badly, but they don't think so. ELMS says you can do the job in X number of hours which is bull****. Everybody hustling to their limits and still not enough. Corporate wants like 60% part timers in the store and will only pay them 7.35 an hour to start of which a few of those will be on the night stock crew. Turnover is incredible. Grocery managers are stressed out. Co-managers are stressed out. Store managers are stressed out. About the only people who are not stressed out in our store are the people that move like turtles who don't give a ****. There are a few of those on the day shift. The only thing the suits care about is dont get any overtime and the ****ing OSAT score. The bottom line is: Kroger wants excellent customer service and to never be out of stock, yet they don't want to staff their stores adequately enough to meet or exceed their incredibly high expectations. Far too many chiefs and not enough indians is what i say.
"Kroger wants excellent customer service and to never be out of stock, yet they don't want to staff their stores adequately enough to meet or exceed their incredibly high expectations. Far too many chiefs and not enough indians is what i say."
Amen amen amen I feel you!! There is no winning. I've been doing 12 hour days since this stuff started and I'm constantly bitched out for OT... 2 to 3 hours a DAY just to pick up the store... used to take an hour. We're lucky if we get all the aisles conditioned by 9 am anymore. honestly, kudos to you for your hard work through this stupid nonesense.
This backstock situation between order revolution/dense up and this productivity crap (and a new full store remodel and new grocery manager)has royally screwed me. I blew the **** up from 10 wheels of backstock fully worked 3 times a week to 24 wheels of backstock that are almost always full. There is never a day that all of the backstock is done. I'm lucky to EVER get to my slow movers. I'm sorry, but 1 wheel of slow movers?! Are y'all serious??? I have 6 that are PACKED almost ALL THE TIME.
What they said above is correct, though. Your stocking hours aren't even supposed to include picking up cardboard. Absolutely nothing else than the literal stocking of cases straight off of that night's truck. Also, if you decide to spot your cases into the aisle, don't include that time either. I was told night leaders should have none of their hours devoted to throwing up cases (adorable- I haven't had a full night crew in 4 years)
I break the whole truck out besides loose paper and 24 pk pop. I manually count all cases - don't trust that cheat sheet If you use it. Split your guys up into the aisles and write down the time they start. Don't include breaks in stocking time. Write down when they finish. Subtract any cases they were too lazy to stock. Include cardboard cleanup for that stupid poster, but don't include it in your stocking hours on the pass the baton sheet.
Our stocking time is generally half of what's expected and we still don't get done in time for no overtime.
