More Dimwits in Distribution

[XCashier]

I've got to wonder about our distribution center. First this incident, now today's problem.

Each store in our company has a three- to four-digit number identifying them. Let's say our store number is 1234 (it isn't IRL). They print the store number in very large letters on the labels they stick on the boxes they ship to us.

Well, someone at the distribution center wasn't paying attention. Along with our own 1234 shipment, they also sent us store 1324's shipment! And that store is located several states away!

So, we had to sort all of the boxes, put 1324's by the loading bay door, and ours in the back. Now we have to wait for a truck to pick up 1324's shipment and send it to the right store.

Not to mention, we have a metric shit-ton (I think that's the scientific measurement) of seasonal merchandise, decorative crap for spring and summer, most of which is bulky (things like lanterns, baskets, etc.) and there's only room on the shelf for one or two of the item. Apparently they think our store is twice as large as it actually is. (It does have a very high ceiling; they could've made it into a two-story store if they'd wanted to.) So now our back room is so crowded everyone has to walk sideways to get through it, and we're going to be rearranging the heck out of the shelves to try to get at least some of this stuff out front.

Sheesh!

[notalwaysright]

This doesn't surprise me... Whenever a manager at my store tries to do an order for store supplies it gets routed to a different store. It might be fixed now, but it went on for a while. For a long time (when New Manager was in charge) our stock room was like a bad game of Tetris. Squeezing through was the norm. This week we got our basic freight out in the 24 hour window, yay!

[EricKei]

a metric shit-ton (I think that's the scientific measurement)

Sounds about right to me....And if it isn't official, it should be!

[XCashier]

This week we got our basic freight out in the 24 hour window, yay!

Usually, we do get our basic freight out in a day, two at the most. But most of the stuff we got is the Spring Inspirations junk, which hasn't really been selling, we got at least a hundred cases of it and we just don't have room to put any more out.

We were able to condense Spring and Easter down and POG four more Summer Inspiration sections.

Oh, and another thing? SM showed us new training videos (complete with bad, bad acting) about upselling the Item Of The Month. Not only do they want us to push the IOTM on every customer, they want us to introduce ourselves to every one of the customers and ask their names in return as part of the spiel!!!

As an introvert, I just have to say: no. No, no, no, no, no. Hell no! Not only is it creepy as hell, it's going to bog down the lines something fierce, and the customers don't like having their time wasted.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Oh, and another thing? SM showed us new training videos (complete with bad, bad acting) about upselling the Item Of The Month. Not only do they want us to push the IOTM on every customer, they want us to introduce ourselves to the customers and ask their names in return as part of the spiel!!!

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I AGREE

[greek_jester]

So now our back room is so crowded everyone has to walk sideways to get through it, and we're going to be rearranging the heck out of the shelves to try to get at least some of this stuff out front.

Surely that's a fire regulations violation? If any of that stock caught fire anyone in there or trying to use it as an escape route would die.

[Sparklyturtle]

We had the same issue with distribution when I worked for a convenience store. We were always being lectured about how the delivery drivers had schedules and we had to leave plenty of space for the freight, plus a long list of things we weren't allowed to do while the delivery drivers were in our store. Oh, and someone had to be there to let the delivery driver into the store, so if your store opened at 6 a.m. but the delivery driver was supposed to be there at 4 a.m. someone had to come in early. And they didn't always tell anyone, and it was bad on the store manager if the store wasn't a 24-hour one and no one was there to let the driver in. And don't even think about asking for a second shipment; your crystal ball should have showed you how much to order and when the driver would be there. Groan.

[Aria]

Actually, I don't think a shit-ton is a real measurement. But a butt-load is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butt_(unit)

[Becks]

introduce ourselves to the customers and ask their names in return as part of the spiel!!!

At both jobs, I'm required to wear a name tag, so no need to introduce myself, as such.
Sometimes I find it unfortunate that is has to be my *real* name, but at the day job I can always make a temporary one and put anything I want on it. People seldom notice.
Since I work a lot and most of the time when I'm not working, I'm sleeping I don't get out much, so I'm wondering...how many places ask for customers' names. I know {day job} does, for handing out orders. Starbucks, too.
But others?
And in most retail situations, I don't know why anyone needs to know a customer's name, unless they're regulars.

(My sleep schedule's off, so I don't know if I'm making any kind of sense right now. Sorry.)

[prjkt]

I take customers names for any camera hardware sale for warranty purposes, easy to find a receipt in the system that way, and photo printing customers enter their details on the kiosk so we can sort/find orders

[EricKei]

Surely that's a fire regulations violation?

Probably. I am envisioning Manglement's response to a complain about it now...

M> "Well, that's not my problem! Just get that stock out on the floor!"

XC> "Sir, we don't have ROOM for it on the floor because so much excess was ordered; we've already filled up the tops of the racks..."

M> "Just Figure it out!"

XC>

[Crai]

In my sordid History of jobs at one point I was a Warehouse Manager for a box company. We sold boxes, and yes they are delivered in boxes sometimes.

One day I am in the warehouse running the forklift trying to fit an oval shaped box into the square shaped hole on the shelf. My Boss starts yelling for me and I yell back, that i'm in the back. He walks up and says...

Boss: What are you doing.
Me: Spatial Physics!
Boss: What the hell does that mean
Me: I'm putting the round peg in the square hole.

Boss: .... OOOOk i'm out of here.

and yes i got it to fit.

[Dreamstalker]

Becks, my name tag has had foil alien stickers on it for just over a year (started as an experiment to see if Shithead would notice; nobody ever has and customers have encouraged me to keep it). It does seem to discourage SCs from trying to butter me up (I just have to do something about the asswipes who learned my name before I made the switch).

Our previous POS--before we went to touchscreen--showed the customer's name. Not sure what the point of that was.

[Becks]

Yesterday I left the important parts of my work uniform at home. (I was running errands 30 miles away starting 5 hours before I had to go to the day job...)
Since the DM was there, when I made my temporary nametag, I had to put my real name on it. However, I did sneak a "training" sticker on it. She never noticed.

[EricKei]

My brother went for ages back at the BoutiqueGrocery wearing nametags that said things like "Dancing Bear" -- Either nobody of note ever noticed it, or they didn't care.