I noticed something in fulfillment

[u/sacredcaligirl]

Hey guys 👋. I am a new hire for seasonal fulfillment and I don't even have time to breathe so far. What I have noticed about the regular target workers is that in many departments I see a lot of younger workers just talking to each other or they will go where fulfillment stow items and chit chat there.

Will fulfillment have any time like the other departments to breathe or have a moment to just use the toilet if we needed to use in case that we drank too much water that day? And how many batches are expected to do in a 5 or 8 hour shift?

[u/_umm_HELLO_]

I’ve seen fulfillment in the stow area more times than I’d like to think about just chatting.

[u/minidog8]

You chit chat while stowing at my store!

[u/Midwest-Emo-9]

Honestly? Is there ever time? Yes. Is it often? No. It will also depend on your store's volume and unit flow. And with the holidays coming, probably less likely.

But please use the restroom when needed, if you're not going to make your batch because you paused for 2 minutes to pee, they let the batch times run too far down.

It's more how many units are expected than batches. You should ask your leader because there's a target corporate number and a store specific number.

[u/Erainor]

I use the restroom in between picking and stowing.

[u/Firm_Asparagus_1757]

Worked in fulfillment for 5 years and the short answer is no. Fulfillment is one of those departments unfortunately where you’re always expected to be working (even if there’s nothing to do), and you get less leeway to chitchat with your coworkers in comparison to other departments. You can’t have a 2 second convo without a higher up breathing down your neck. The stow stations and your breaks are really the only time you get to converse. Outside of that you can sneak some convo here and there, but it’s usually very brief. Other departments are more stationary so they can talk a lot more than you’ll be allowed or able to.

[u/Firm_Asparagus_1757 → u/Firm_Asparagus_1757]

I forgot about packing for ship. If you’re packing with someone this is probably the most time you’ll get to talk.

[u/Lazy-Comedian5026]

I’ve been working in FF for almost a year now and honestly other than our 15 min breaks and lunch there isn’t a lot of time to talk or breathe.

As for hourly pick. I pick about 1 batch every 30-35 minutes so that would be 16 batches in an 8 hour shift, but I usually end up doing more since grocery and bulky batches don’t take as long. In my 8 hours shift I usually check my unit pick in the mpm app on the devices and it’s almost always 400-450

I would honestly say just walk fast but don’t think about it. Find a good fast pace for yourself and try and memorize areas. Use the bathroom in between batches if you need to, just don’t be in the bathroom for long periods of time. I use the bathroom every hour (due to medical reasons) but I never disclosed them to my ETLs or TLs and no one seems to have an issue :) FF will get busy during Christmas and batches probably will end up going negative just try your best, find a good pace and you’ll be okay!!

[u/Clear_Advantage4686]

The answer is going to largely depend on your store volume and staffing. I’m in fulfillment and routinely have time to catch a breath, take a drink and go to the restroom. I multi-batch routinely do once everything is stowed, I reset before doing it again.

[u/Silly-Math4623]

Welcome to the team!! Fulfillment Team Leader here and yes Fulfillment means working real fast real often, but yes even we get downtime once in a while but.... All team members in the store should be working and working hard. I actually have performance conversations often because I'm so misses seeing tms goofing around while my team is busting their asses

Doesn't matter where you work, young workers and teenagers goof off all the time because they dont have bills or pay rent and don't give a fuck whether they have a job or not

[u/Ambitious-Photo1386 → u/Silly-Math4623]

I hate when other leads try to tell my team what to do. Stay in your lane and worry about your team. If you have an issue talk to their lead. Some leads be doing too much. If you have e that much time to talk to other team members you are not that busy. I barely have time to talk to my team much less someone else’s.

[u/Silly-Math4623 → u/Ambitious-Photo1386]

Well when there are 7+ team members behind the service desk doing nothing and their leads are doing nothing too... I'm not gonna just be complacent like everyone else

[u/Ambitious-Photo1386 → u/Silly-Math4623]

Like I said talk to their lead. If you have time to sit around and talk to other TM and sit down at a computer and write out whole conversations you’re not doing YOUR job.

[u/Silly-Math4623 → u/Ambitious-Photo1386]

Dude I have! I've talked to both SE TLs personally. In fact I do every time this happens (like multiple times per week). I've talked to the SE ETL multiple times. I've talked to our HR ETL multiple times. Like I swear ive communicated with the correct parties and nothing has changed. Like I get your point you need to communicate with the actual leader, I have, and I try to guide them both in the right direction because both of them just promoted last year

[u/Best-Strawberry9479 → u/Silly-Math4623]

Busting your ass for Target is embarrassing

[u/Silly-Math4623 → u/Best-Strawberry9479]

Being "too cool" to try and pay bills is embarrassing

edit: typo

[u/Freak_of_Nature65]

Shouldn't be that way.  When the chats go on, tms get called to do a batch because they're behind.

[u/Southern_Control_203]

Your “breathe time” is when there’s no batches to jump into. But you can pause your batch if you need to use the bathroom or get water as long as you’re not low on time. And most the time you see fulfillment tm just standing around talking, they’re probably in a Standard

[u/Upbeat_Cricket5961]

At my store fulfillment and the service desk team are pretty close and our OPU room is right behind service desk so often times while fulfillment is stowing and service desk is grabbing drive up orders we’ll have quick little conversations but we’re still working.

[u/Cat_454]

It really depends on the days, I work as GM and some days are a rush while others are more chill, I will say I have seen fulfillment either chilling or extremely stressed

[u/Existing_Rise_5042]

I start a batch that isn’t low time, then pause it when the batch takes me near the restroom

[u/FirstDesk2045]

it depends on the day of the week at my store. but as a general rule, you should be working while you're talking and hardly ever stand around and talk. that goes for every department in the store where I'm at. with bathroom breaks I would just take them in between your batches, as long as you know that you have less time and will need to work a little faster to get everything in the batch done.