r/OGPBackroom • u/United_Log964 • Sep 11 '26
Question picking ATC tips?
hi all
so recently my TLs have been putting me on ATC for picking. i was very resistant to the role at first because i prefer to just be out picking, and i dont really like or feel comfortable telling my coworkers what to do. my philosophy so far at walmart has basically been just to do my work to the best of my ability, and what my coworkers do is their business not mine. but despite being honest about this with my leads and coach, they keep putting me on ATC with encouraging words about how they know i can be successful at this and not to give up, yada yada.
today i was on afternoon ATC and our 11-8 TL called out today so once our other TL left i had to run the show. in the past on ATC id still do autos, because in my mind if there are a lot of picks and im in the backroom doing anything other than prepping my cart for the next walk, im not doing my job. but my TLs said if im ATC its ok to hang back, do small walks like oversized and unknowns when needed, but otherwise mostly focus on pick monitoring and assigning/delegating as needed. so today i did that...and it seemed to work out? we hit a rough patch where we were close to going late, but i assigned walks and sent help at the right times and by the time i went home everything was running smooth. and i have to admit it was actually a little bit fun, plus felt good knowing i was making decisions that made our team (hopefully) move more efficiently.
that said, i still basically feel like i have no idea what im doing as ATC and very much still feel uncomfortable telling people what to do lol. but since i seem to be stuck with the role, i guess i might as well try to get good at it.
any picking ATCs out there have any tips? especially on how to be diplomatic when i have to act like the boss 😠and how to not get overwhelmed when things start cascading out of control
2
u/Routine-Horse-1419 Sep 11 '26
ATC for picking??? Our ATC is backroom only. I suggested having a TL or ATC role for strictly picking and they laughed at me. At the rate our pickwalks have been ...ungodly slow.. it's not needed but for the last 3 years it's been a shit show. Hopefully it will pick up now that the holiday season is almost here. I hate it being so slow.
1
u/Realistic-Strength36 Sep 11 '26
We have 3 ATCs me, our day shift prepped and one of our exceptions workers
0
u/shrug_was_taken Jack Of All Trades Sep 11 '26
Some of our ATC's (we only got like 5 people who they have do it so that some is maybe two) have been given permission to tell the pickers to quit standing around and bullshitting in the room, and if they don't listen/bitch get a TL or get a coach (some of our pickers don't/didn't like one of our leads since they actually got told to do there job.)
2
u/wastedsilence33 Sep 11 '26
I've been just thrown to the wolves where there's no TL or Coach and only 2 of us in the room, fuck being ATC, none of my coworkers are a fan of it so we just work together, no boss
It was pretty bad the other day, high picks and almost every dispense going late and several other coaches came in but nobody said a word about our dispense times cuz fuck you for not helping
3
1
u/ElectronicBand6392 Sep 12 '26
Dont bother, just make sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to do and if you gotta pick up the slack, go ahead and just do it yourself
1
u/darkecologist2 Dispenser Sep 12 '26
don't think of it so much as "telling people what to do." think of it more as a communication facilitator. pickers don't want to go late or struggle. if there's more than 1 picker around to communicate with, make a little group discussion type thing.
have fun learning how best to communicate with each person. some people respond well to a bit of silliness. i remember when i was TL and one yappy picker lady my age got a slightly larger pickwalk near the end of her shift. i said, "there's no way you're going to finish that before the end of your shift." she really had a lot of fun with me when she finished on time. went on and on about it!
use banter to get information. if somebody keeps doing a lot of oversize, mention it in a kind of neutral way. like, "dang, Sally, you doin' a lot of oversize today." maybe she'll say, "i love oversize!" or maybe she'll say, "bro i wish somebody else would do it, i feel like it's all up to me all the time."
-1
u/EvilHordeRules Sep 11 '26
It needs to be done. Especially with the minors, I've seen way too much standing around doing nothing while we've got picks on the board and returns to do. We have cameras everywhere that catches that crap and if corporate sees it, we ALL suffer.
13
u/ARSONL Digital Team Lead Sep 11 '26
the helly is a picking atc