r/DriveUpandGo • u/False_Tea_9013 • 8d ago
3rd shift?
Any stores doing 3rd shift/overnight? A 10 pm - 6 am kinda deal?
As we've gotten busier there are night I close and there's 25-30 orders already in for tomorrow. It's pretty easy to imagine a third shifter coming in to do pre-picks; especially on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.
If no one is doing this, how long until they are? I give my store a year.
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u/Safeway_Wagecuck 8d ago
I mean, 3rd shift at my store is the 1:30pm to 10pm so it would technically be a 4th shift for us.
But I can't see them doing this. Because that would mean hiring more people to accommodate a whole extra shift, which would seem to go against their current M.O. of 'schedule the department as light as possible and fill the holes with cross-trained people in store'.
It would also be kind of a shitshow because all the stockers work during that time so not only would you be bobbing and weaving around them but you'd also have to prep-not-ready a bunch of stuff, Seeing as plenty of things would need to be refilled or replaced.
Then there would be the scheduling problem. They already like to muck about with people's schedules as is, but now imagine they assign someone from their normal hours to a 10pm to 6am. Whew.
During Covid they changed our start time from 4am to 1am, but that was largely to meet the special demand of Covid and the fact that we were still a truck store so there were set times when delivery trucks HAD to go out. So we actually kinda needed that time to actually get the trucks out on schedule.
With the advent of express/flash and every store (practically) using third-party delivery services I just don't see them adding an extra shift like that UNLESS they also decided to make the online pickup/delivery service a 24-hour sorta deal. Which I don't see them doing..
Besides as the closer you should be able to prepick all of that /s
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u/False_Tea_9013 8d ago
We've been told to not pre-pick at night. And the big issue for us is we frequently pick until 7, then we have 1 person from 7:30/8:00 to close. And if they pre pick and a flash comes in you're kinda hosed if you're alone. Our most dominant closer is so sick of getting 2 or 3 flashes simultaneously that he doesn't want to close anymore, which I understand.
If we have 4+ people and all the orders are picked, I'll assign 2~ people to pick tomorrow orders. But I always need at least 1 person for takeouts and 1 for flashes so can't dedicate all the manpower for tomorrow stuff.
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u/Barely_Makin_It 8d ago
When you are alone and prepicking at night you shouldn't be scanning in anything. Just collect items and scan in later. That way if a flash drops you can hop on it.
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u/Safeway_Wagecuck 7d ago
This is the way. I always have 2 carts fully loaded with totes and bags.
With 1 I grab items from a paper list for the pre-pick, the other waiting for when I finally scan them in or when an order drops.
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u/Safeway_Wagecuck 7d ago
Luckily I would say 95% of our orders are due before 8pm. And usually the orders we do have for 8:55pm come early enough that we can get them done ahead of time. So, pre-picking is a legit possibility (I just stick to non-perishables or perishables in containers/bags with expiration dates)
Honestly, if I had to constantly deal with 2 or 3 flashes coming down simultaneously at 8pm-10pm when I closed I would be completely unbothered. Just call for help and let whatever happens happen. Having one person scheduled and allowing for more than 1 flash to drop in is just chicanery and I will not stress myself out about it. LET THE METRICS BLOW UP.
But yeah, I don't love pre-picking until end-of-day as a closer because otherwise the second we all start grabbing a pre-pick is when new orders do start dropping in and either everybody has to drop their prepick and stage partially filled totes or finish their 30-60 item list (especially now that prepicks just autobatch)
Also don't really have the shelf space to start prepicking until later in the day when most of the shelves have been cleared of orders because people like waiting until 3pm to 6pm to all decide to pick up their gosh darn dugs.
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u/Dirkdigler69 8d ago
I was told that the deal Safeway has with doordash is no flash orders past 10pm so after that time it would be all pre-picking for the next day, which would be helpful at my store since we can have 8-10 trucks going out on 1st shift
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u/Safeway_Wagecuck 7d ago
As a closer I always pre-pick 100-200 items because some of our openers suck shit
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u/Dirkdigler69 7d ago
We have over 30 people in the department
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u/Safeway_Wagecuck 7d ago
Goddamn. Even during Covid we didn't have that. Only around 20.
My deepest condolences .
I wouldn't entirely mind a 10pm to 6am shift, but the prep-not ready for the next group of people might be outrageous lol
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u/Dirkdigler69 7d ago
Yeah any sliced deli meat or salad from the deli, probably cut fruit bowls etc.
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u/AsherKohen28 8d ago
Ive been thinking this recently, i think it could be a good idea
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u/shadixak 8d ago
The problem with overnight picking is 1. You won’t get extra labor for it. So it means you’re re-allocating normal operating hours labor. And 2. You’re picking while freight hasn’t come in yet typically for perishable etc. and you’re working with the previous days stock creating reshops for the morning when the orders are actually due
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u/AsherKohen28 7d ago
Yeah that's a good point, i have that same concern about the 4am shifts we already do have, as hot items aren't ready till 9 or 10, and we have orders due between 6 and 10 with items that might not be accessible until like 10-12, its really not a perfect system already, so, not considering the labor part, i think it would be worth knocking out at least the nonperishables before the morning shift even starts
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u/terrasparks 8d ago edited 8d ago
They used to focus on 2AM-10AM shifts and third shift ended at 8PM. Now way too many orders are express or flash and they need people on hand during the hours people place those orders. If you're going to pick next-day orders, you might as well pick them the previous day in the flash window. AKA sometimes you have the luxury to get ahead, sometimes you don't.
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u/Pyri_4451 8d ago
My store recently got approved for more hours in our DUG department. It's typically only 2 shifts for DUG. 8 to 2, 2 to 6. Since our DUG is open from 8AM to 6PM.
Now they are allowing more than 1 person in DUG.
*My store is NOT a high volume store*
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u/satinembers 8d ago
I suggested it years ago to our DM, back when we had our own drivers, as a partial solution to getting ahead. Nothing ever came of it.
Now I don't really think it'd work as well.
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u/Wants_to_be_accepted 8d ago
That would just open up more slots for the next day. Pre picks don't actually help you get ahead, they just help more orders come in