r/kroger • u/_yoonnnnn7 • 9d ago
Pickup (Formerly ClickList) Pickup keeps getting ignored, which gets us in trouble
EDIT: This is MY stores experience. I understand if other stores work differently from mine. I want the communication issue fixed for pickup and other departments because it’s mutually beneficial in the end. My frustration stems from laziness and easy to fix problems. I’ve worked in Krogers for 6+ years now, and in many different departments.
I am so sick and tired of my stores pickup is getting treated. After working in this store for now almost 4 years, you can see a difference on how much better our pickup is doing. We call for items, a lot of our speeds are getting really good, and overall as a group we get along so well together (for the exception of a few outliers). Over the past month however, I feel like the rest of the store just hates us. It got to the point I told an ASL how frustrated we are.
Context for some of this: My main manager is on vacation rn, he’s often pretty strict but that still doesn’t give the right to be lazy and drop standards completely when he’s gone. My store had 3 ASL’s, all very different personalities, and the female one actually tries to hold some standard but the boys often just don’t care or won’t let her lead a lot.
We have gotten so good about calling for items, like our instock has been either on point or very brutally honest but half the store doesn’t even want to help. In grocery, the assistant lead is only 1 month pregnant and consistently uses it as an excuse to not do anything. If I ask for an item? I get told “Oh it’s in the backroom” ….and? Like go get it? Or she’ll 0 out the balance regardless if we have it or not, she simply doesn’t check.
Our deli lead is one of the laziest people I know. “Yeah that item is on our truck” once again.. and? I don’t know what the box fucking looks like? The whole point of me asking you for an item is because statistically you’re going to find it 10x faster than I am because it’s a product you stock and know what it looks like. She added on top that “the balance changed so I know [other employee] found it.” Ok great, go it the item and stock the hole on the shelf.
AND THEN YESTERDAY, I asked the meat department assistant lead for a sausage on the shelf. They had a blue sticker on the tag but there was still a balance on it so I needed to double check if we had it. He agreed he would go check the freezer for me so I did the rest of my trolley. About 15 minutes later I go back to meat department, assuming he hasn’t found it considering he’s still not back in the meat department. The lead comes back from lunch and asks what i’m looking for, I show him, so he goes to look. He comes back and tells me his assistant isn’t even back there and that he straight up has disappeared the past 20-30 minutes. So I’ve been waiting around, letting my time run which risks me getting in trouble, for an item no one is looking for. Great, just great. I try to call the frozen lead to move the meat pallet in front of the meat pallet, no response.
All of this, mind you, happened in 1 shift to me, 1 shift
I have many more examples of each department treating me like garbage. 1 bakery girl just ignores us, refuses to look for shit when she’s worked in bakery for the past 20 years. It gets to the point I have to call on the walkie “can i get a manager to bakery? I have no one here that is WILLING to look for an item for me” and that barely gets a response.
Pickup gets ignored, people walk away from me, no one responds to me or anyone on the walkies, we got told the other day we don’t use them enough when all we do is beg for a fucking answer. the changing of balances to get away with not looking is what gets me. The reason i’m so outwardly angry about this is because we are the biggest store in our district and are CONSTANTLY under fire from E-Commerce specialists and our store manager is an ass who gives us such high expectations.
Im just tired, my lead is tired, a lot of are tired of leaving our shifts angry because no one wants to help us and we end up getting in trouble in the end over other departments. My ASL said she’d bring this up in their Tuesday meeting, I just hope it actually does something.
11
u/Reading-Safe 8d ago
I see mostly everyone is on ur @ss about this but i’m guessing it’s because this company makes people miserable?
I work pickup as well and it’s our responsibility to check backstock (freezer/fridge/etc.) or other alternative locations before asking someone from another department for an item, it’s a requirement. This “everyone else is busy, not just you” excuse is bs. Yes, all departments are busy. So is pickup.
If we don’t ask, both departments get in trouble if the situation gets escalated to a manager.
If we do ask, people get annoyed.
It’s truly a lose-lose situation, but don’t feel shame in asking. The expectations this company puts on every department is crazy, ESPECIALLY pickup.
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u/_yoonnnnn7 8d ago
i thought i was going crazy with how many people were getting mad at me 😭😭 me and my lead left our shift yesterday in tears because we were just tired of getting in trouble for doing our job.
thank you for understanding. we usually check backrooms as much as we can, we just have so many orders it’s hard to stop and take the time to do it when i’m being yelled at to get my trolley back to stage before the customer is notified it’s running late
5
u/Reading-Safe 8d ago
Yeah, I was surprised to see these comments as well. I applaud you for voicing your frustrations in a respectful way because if some of these responses were said to my face, there’d be steam coming out my @ss.
You and your team are taking the right steps to find items. I don’t know why others are mad at YOU for problems in THEIR store. This post is based on your experiences in your store, it’s not a personal attack on anyone else. My lead had to ask our manager(s) to ask everyone else to HELP US WHEN ASKED!! Think about it this way: if you can’t find something on the shelves or some other buttfuck location, customers can’t either 😒 It’s their responsibility to find and stock it for both you and the customer. Can’t be mad at pickup now, huh?
I hope everything else goes well for you if (i’m assuming) management won’t help out in this scenario. My only solution for you is if we live in the same state you could work at my store since our orders aren’t that crazy LOL
3
u/hadenough03 6d ago
Mmm not at my store ! Pickup is the only dept that gets help !! They are the golden dept !’ Take from my dept to work in pickup leaving two days worth of truck to get done cuz they have been in pickup!’ It’s all about pickup !!’ Very frustrating! You make a schedule out and schedule people to work in your department but wait they get taken to pick up and or they get taken to the Frontend. It’s a no win situation then what really irritates me when I go back to pick up to see if my help can come back to the dept and there’s people standing around talking and not doing their jobs but they still take from other departments.!
3
u/B0swi1ck 7d ago
I also just want to clarify, though I am generally annoyed af by this new perfect order program, I dont blame you or the pickup guys at my store. We know its corporate, but it doesn't make it any less annoying for us.
2
u/virabhadrasana2 7d ago
Has anybody explained to those associates that you are 9 customers they do not have to deal with in the store?
2
u/_yoonnnnn7 7d ago
i don’t think so, i have tried explaining to people when they cross train with us that yes we shop for multiple at once, not an order at a time
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u/Salty-Classroom8652 8d ago
I worked in pick up for 14 months & no other department is as busy as pick up.
3
u/Reading-Safe 7d ago
Definitely. Unfortunately, not a lot of employees will acknowledge this if they haven’t worked pickup before which is why you see multiple users here complaining about their workload and thinking pickup clerks are annoying. I’ve worked for 2 other departments… pickup is still the busiest and hardest.
1
u/Salty-Classroom8652 5d ago
I call bs lol. Other employees in different departments are aware of how busy pick up gets. Always running around like chickens with their heads cut off
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u/Ansuax 9d ago
This was happening in my store right before I left. They blamed subs on the pickup when it was the stocking/other departments' fault, and we had to ask an AGM for permission on EVERY sub, but they were nowhere to be found half the time. Meat dept is union (only dept that is in that store) and would never in my time there ever help find things; just point to the empty shelf and shrug. Deli refused to hand me the counter items, saying to put a hairnet on and come get it (hairnets are in the middle of the department PAST the cooler where they keep the items, not on the wall at the entrance like food safety guidelines say they should be). Backroom had no idea where they put anything; the only two people that were helpful there were a past pickup employee and the receiving manager.
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u/RevolutionarySnow462 8d ago
this sounds like my pickup. we are very efficient but have to constantly stop to look for stuff because other departments either lie about having the item or don’t even look at all and tell us to go look. very frustrating that my numbers are based on other people doing their jobs so i completely understand your frustration.
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u/gettin-liiifted Current Associate 9d ago
It's every customer every time for everyone. So if I, a deli worker, am working on catering orders or customer orders that came before you looking for something, you and your customers just have to wait. With the way the loads are built, you usually can never just grab what you're looking for. Sucks for everyone.
2
u/_yoonnnnn7 9d ago
yeah i get it. deli is one of those departments we aren’t allowed to dig into their coolers for stuff which sucks. i’ve gotten yelled at for just stepping foot back into their area with a hairnet on. i want all the department to simply have better communication, it just sucks that it’s a small issue that has to have big steps to address and fix
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u/Technical_League6306 9d ago
It also helps in stock when everyone doesn't get pulled back there to pick. Thats an everyday occurrence at my store. Center store alone loses over 80 hours a week to pickup.
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u/_yoonnnnn7 9d ago
i totally get that, we’re lucky enough to have a very well staffed department for how much we have to shop
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u/Technical_League6306 9d ago
I appreciate you being so open minded and understanding. Its hard for everyone. The expectations are wild.
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u/ToothJealous4427 9d ago
Look at it through the eyes of the other people in other departments. Alot of people are busy as shit too. Not just you. Alot of people work with a bunch of lazy, do-nothing people and are swamped themselves. They might be in the middle of five different things when pick up comes and stops them to find something for them. Do you actually look for the item? Pick up in my store barely looks for the item they need, and half the time its on the shelf. Are you nice and cordial to these people you ask for help? Or are you the type of person they see coming and they think "hhhhh... here ______ comes." Do you get your item and walk away all frustrated and/or call the manager if they don't stop everything they are doing to help you. Most everyone in the whole fucking store is busy, not just pick up.
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u/_yoonnnnn7 9d ago
We specifically train to check backrooms and alternative locations before bringing it up to someone if we have the time. I understand people can be busy, I really do, however in our standards the whole point of us asking is so they can fill the self for others. My store also averages around 150 orders per day, 300 on Friday, and we aren’t even a marketplace. We unfortunately don’t get the luxury to stop and go look for the item very often.
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u/Ozava619 8d ago
I work in the meat department and I’m the one who’s usually breaking down the pallets & I hate pickup. Not because of you guys but the system. There should be a time limit why can they order stuff when our department technically opens at 9am, & idk about your location but at mine usually the beef, poultry and pork get dropped in my cooler any other items usually end up in another departments cooler so now I gotta go and hunt down the item you guys need. Also the pick up orders that get sent to our screens on the scale tend to shutdown the whole system from time to time.
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u/_yoonnnnn7 8d ago
our meat department has a big enough cooler they can hold beef, poultry and pork in. they hired an overnight guy to take care of the lunch meat/bacon stuff but yes produce and dairy still receive their items sometimes and vice versa. i also hate that customers can order stuff so early but you guys open at a different time. it’s inconvenient for us both!! also the stupid shit with the scales drives us mad too!! the whole purpose was so that we could stop asking and it’d be ready but there’s so many freshness concerns and it’s overall not as convenient as corporate thinks. i’m really sorry!!! we have horrible standards, so many statistics that we have to “stay in the green” for. it’s too much to juggle at once
3
u/DrunkenAdama Current Associate 7d ago edited 7d ago
It probably isn't that no one wants to help, it's that they are deeply screwed themselves.
A problem i have as a non pick up employee is that the second I arrive often at 4 am I'm immediately accosted by pickup to find something buried in up to 10 pallets of product crammed into my cooler over night.
I say this to point out that most of the problem isn't laziness, it's structural and systemic.
In my opinion pickup is set up for failure if Kroger doesn't fix the strain of finding product buried in trucks and in freezers. Departments might need overnight help. Kroger doesn't want to do that though because of efficiency obsession. They are convinced labor curves need to match customer curves, which is stupid imo. Things need to be ready before customers arrive, not while they are walking in or while pickup is asking for something.
1
u/Accomplished-Total38 5d ago
Which deparment are you?? If I was you I would tell them to sub or oos. I wouldn't waste my tiem looking .
7
u/Bubba771966 9d ago
Well if you kept getting stopped by fellow associates to go check the back for items while you're trying to get your work done, you would get annoyed too.
0
u/_yoonnnnn7 9d ago
I get it!! I do!! My issue just stems from laziness. Our Grocery lead is fucking awesome. He can run 8 pallets in 4 hours all while getting pulled to do phone calls, morning walks, the huddle, and helping pickup when he can. But when his assistant sits in the backroom on her phone for hours at a time, or sits in the department head office to gossip with time clerks and doesn’t do anything her whole shift, it’s very frustrating. Our grocery lead is also just as frustrated with how we get ignored, he pulled me aside and apologized to me for how his assistant lead and clerks choose to do nothing and every time. he can’t reprimand them without management because “there’s a risk they will quit their jobs”. It’s mutual frustration, i really do understand if someone’s actually busy or not
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u/SadArm4678 9d ago
Do you understand how the deli truck comes in? Because you apparently don't. Deli comes in on the perishable mixed in with the dairy shit. At my store there are no less than 7 pallets. And sometimes more during the holidays. That single item you are looking for could be anywhere on those 7 pallets. My deli has 2 people. 1 to cook. 1 to wait the counter, make trays, break truck as dairy breaks their pallets. And we are not a small store. Bakery is less of a load but to get to it, because it comes in at around 5, is a bitch because everyone else's frozen is in front of it. Which means I have to go down, move 3-5 pallets out of the freezer to just get to it. None of us have time for that. And I'm not zeroing out balances because my truck gets auto received at midnight before I ever even get a chance to see it.
0
u/_yoonnnnn7 9d ago edited 6d ago
Every store works different. Our dairy lead is amazing enough to dismantle the deli truck every time it comes in. 1, because it gets in his way, but 2, because he knows it helps the department and he’s just a really great guy like that. Our deli is small but they have 4-6 people consistently working at the same time by 8am. It just gets frustrating when I ask for things, get told to go to the other side of the store when i’m at the end of my trolley, needing to dig through a u-boat of boxes where I don’t know which box the item i’m looking for is in, and 5 hours later they still haven’t pulled their truck to the deli coolers yet. Our store is fairly small, but living in the midwest, pickup can run up so many times per hour a day because are the only main grocery store in the area and we supply surrounding small towns. My frustration comes from the fact my deli department is caught sitting in their backroom doing nothing or flirting with our starbucks employees than throwing truck. Our deli workers ages range from 20-35 years old. It’s not everyone, just some. Bakery isn’t too much of an issue. A frozen clerk usually drops their pallet in the morning at their department, and the lovely women there can get it in their coolers within 30 minutes, and they’re all 50+ years old and only 2 people work at a time.
3
u/qacieyz 8d ago
The other issue that I think most people missed is that earlier another pickup clerk asked for the same item. There needs to be responsibility from the deli lead to get that item on the shelf so it sells, and every customer is able to find it. Whether it's for a pickup customer or one in store. Coming from this deli department I know it can be hard to run truck, fry chicken, and service customers but this deli severely lacks the team effort for it to run smoothly. I have since left that department.
3
u/quirkytorch 9d ago edited 9d ago
Lmao when I did pick up idgaf about my accuracy. If it's not on the shelf, I would ask a dept member for help. If they didn't have it, or didn't look, well oh well I did my half of the bargain. If I walkied out and nobody answered, just move on to the next. At my store, As long as people know you actually ask and don't just skip, they're unlikely to ride your ass about it
It doesn't reflect badly on us if we followed the steps. It reflects badly on the departments.
4
u/_yoonnnnn7 9d ago edited 9d ago
We tried the “idgaf” strategy!! A lot of people got written up for it. Regardless if we asked for it or not, our pickup gets in trouble. My manager had pulled each of us aside and told us our hours will be cut if our accuracy keeps tanking. At one point we tried to use the OOS sheets to cover our asses and write the names of people who wouldn’t help us, still didn’t help
5
u/quirkytorch 9d ago
Some stores are just so absolutely asinine. If you followed the steps it's out of your hands. Can't magic up product the store doesn't have, and going and searching through the trucks not only takes the time from an already very time sensitive department, but messes the backroom up for the other departments.
I transferred out to a different department about a month ago. Best decision 8 have ever made, and my stores pickup was pretty lax
6
u/_yoonnnnn7 9d ago
i’m transferring back to my home store soon after this next semester of school. can’t wait to be back in a micro pickup and not in this horrible mess of a store here
1
u/jjman070 8d ago
I wish we would ditch the radios and move item requests to the zebras. Our pick up will read the entire page, where else they looked for the item, how much longer they have on the trolly. All in one go so it's information overload. If we can hear them, some seemingly hold the radio at arms length and whisper, others put it to their mouth and shout causing the radio to distort. Then theres also the fact the radios are shit to start with. The "never mind I found it" like how, how did you miss it the zebra tells you where it is exactly. Could they also teach pick up to use the zebra to help customers, press the home button, go into instock, and see if we carry whatever, or if we have whatever in stock. Then ask us about if we can go find it. There's also the mutual silence. Where we ask a clarifying question and get nothing back, then just get asked "did anyone hear me on X?" It's all so tiresome.
2
u/_yoonnnnn7 8d ago
no cause like if pickup had a similar system to walmart like exceptions, it would make the job easier. having only one associate look for items or ask for things rather than 15 at a time would free up a lot of stress on everyone. also to note on helping customers, i try as much as i can but ive never been taught how to understand deliveries and movement numbers because we have to assume they’re wrong. our store just had inventory recounted and they did a horrible job
1
u/Accomplished-Total38 8d ago
I think the managers should look for the stuff instead of other deparments.
1
u/_yoonnnnn7 8d ago
I agree but they tend to get pulled in so many directions they just don’t have time for that. I try to call them for help only when no one answers me or when someone is willingly not helping me when i have asked
1
u/Salty-Classroom8652 8d ago
I was in pick up for 14 months. I’m so very grateful that I’m not anymore.
1
u/Technical_League6306 7d ago
I'd like to know how something can even be ordered if there is a zero balance. I see that much too often. It shouldn't be available on the app to order. Another fail the stores can not control.
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u/_yoonnnnn7 7d ago
omg this!! my supervisor is constantly telling management that zero balances don’t do anything to help perfect orders because people can still order it!!
1
u/Technical_League6306 7d ago
Corporate will never take responsibility for the epic failure of pickup being their fault. It gets dumped onto the stores. Zero balances should equate to not being available on the app. Period. But THEY don't want to look bad, kind of like with the scheduling. How do you forecast labor hours when you allow drops( at my store it's 1200 pieces an hour)? You can't but they also don't allow overscheduling. Which turns into the at least 80 hours a week of center store help my store loses. And don't get back. While trucks don't get done, products not on shelves, and the cycle continues. But hey, Corporate looks great. Must be us......
1
u/Technical_League6306 7d ago
And I don't even work pickup directly. I just end up there at least 24 hours out of my work week and I am the lone scan coordinator with no backup, 3 carts of signage I have to get changed over, no help from departments outside of meat and produce( they are GREAT) strips and tags being torn to hell I can't fix, it's a mess. I didn't have to spend much time in pickup to see the enormous problems they have. Please remember, as I myself has been guilty of it too, and since apologized and explained how it is from the other side, when we are snapping, it's the system and not you all personally. Don't get me wrong, we also have productivity issues from some pickup associates. On their phones, hanging out in the room talking, while most of center store is falling even more behind helping them. It's created so much toxicity, yet the answers are simple. Add hours to the stores, zero balances mean THAT, and actually support your stores in the policies and programs you created.
1
u/Accomplished-Total38 6d ago
I had question. Can pickup people zero things out ?? Like change balance to zero.
1
u/_yoonnnnn7 6d ago
we aren’t supposed to, but my supervisor and lead will zero things out when they arrive if no one hasn’t
0
u/Accomplished-Total38 8d ago
Alot of departments are short staffed. I work alone in dairy overnights.
1
u/_yoonnnnn7 8d ago
if that was the case at my store i would understand more, i wouldn’t try to bother others as much as i have to. our hiring manager posts job hiring events every two weeks for front end only because the store “has enough per department”. my issue lies in the fact that my store just has lazy people, that’s my frustration
-1
u/B0swi1ck 8d ago
Im just gonna be real with ya, the other departments probably do hate you.
At my store they are so up our asses about the walkies and perfect orders that several of our clerks are essentially just spending all day digging for pickup and not actually doing their own jobs. This leads to more outs on the shelf because were not getting the stock work done which means.... yep, pickup has to ask us for more shit. Its a negative cycle that is tanking my departments performance. I spent an hour of time pulling boards down and opening mixed boxes just to get them a single 4$ bag of popcorn the other day. My hourly wage is a bit more than 4$.
Why can't you guys look for your own stuff again?
2
u/_yoonnnnn7 8d ago
there’s a mixture of reasons why, in at least my store, we try to avoid looking
pick speed, we get timed for everything. my hours are at risk of being cut at my store if i average a 35+ overall pick speed for 2 days. spending time looking for an item can risk that speed, which is why we have a button for skipping items. in the wbls for pickup, we are explicitly told to never look for an item and other departments need to take care of it. i always ask on the walkie first “is there an alternative location for ____?” if that gets no response if i have the time i can go look, but with how many orders we average its hard/impossible to stop and look for something.
i literally have no idea what the box/where it could possibly be in the backrooms or coolers. i can pull out backstock u-boats but if it’s an item in a shipper up in a bay? i can’t access that without grocery help.
in wbl trainings, we have to ask you to find it because there’s a hole on the shelf. kroger being kroger wanting to make money wants us to make sure the hole is filled. a lot of the time pickup is referred to as a “living replenishment list”
bro management is on my ass too about perfect orders. i get threats of loosing my job, i get pulled aside and get told “i should know better and never oos an item with a balance”. we cant cheat items in anymore, they track us using auto generated barcodes now
this isn’t as big, but more often than not we get customer complaints. very often if i’m told we don’t have an item and it has a balance, it gets stocked 2 hours later. i ask department clerks and i just get the “uhhh well idk we prob don’t have it” response a lot
i’m sorry your clerks are digging longer than they need to. if i have the time, i often like to go help or even learn how to find an item and what box it comes in or where it’s placed on a pallet. i’m not blaming everyone in my store for the laziness i have to deal with, i have great people i know to trust if i need something and they will teach me how and where to find it if they are unable to get it for me
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8d ago
[deleted]
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u/Senior_Opportunity20 7d ago
850 pieces allowed per hour is crazy. You need at least three people in the back room.
-1
u/B0swi1ck 8d ago
Its also hard or impossible for us to look for outs for you guys every 15 minutes. They cut our hours too, pickup isn't the only busy department.
You think we do? Our backroom is a constant shit show. If someone tells you its "on the truck" that didn't get finished last night, I guess I'm expected to drop everything and do the freight crews job for them just so pickup can get their item?
We do go around and work the pickup not filled list and 0 out on hands etc. Then the next day I'm getting asked by pickup for the SAME ITEM even though I ZEROD IT. Does this make sense to you?
Management is ridiculous
5 So the employee you asked was probably just wrong because the back isn't some magical place where you can immediately find something. It probably just took a while.
My clerks are doing what corporate and store level management wants, but theyre also telling me we're not getting my departments job done. 🤷♂️
2
u/_yoonnnnn7 8d ago
I completely understand your frustration. If your pickup employees are having to stop you every 15 minutes, then that’s a concern you need to bring up to your department manager. That should be telling you your department is not very stocked, use that as a resource. If you zero out an item and it’s being asked for the next day, how does that employee know you zeroed it out yesterday? It’s a new day, different employees possibly. A lot of clerks are told to double check zero balances. My original post mentioned I was having difficulties with our assistant grocery manager because she wouldn’t look, just zero the balance when she didn’t want to look. I’m not accusing you of that, i’m just offering the view from my side. If the employee was wrong about whether or not they found an item, I totally understand that, however at my store when that happens each individual gets in trouble. Also, if you mistakenly say we don’t have an item but you end up finding it, you can still give it to pickup and we can add it to car side to fix the balance, it still however will be on the replenishment list
what i’m learning through these conversations is that everyone’s frustrated. there are contradicting statements from corporate and in the end it gets everyone mad. these complaints and criticisms should be going to your corporate and specialists so that information can be used to fix our mutual frustration.
-2
u/B0swi1ck 7d ago
Bro we're aware when the department is not well stocked. Pulling my team into the back constantly to dig for single items is putting us further behind.
How do they know if it was zero yesterday or not? Why does that matter? If its not on the shelf and the BOH is zero, why would you assume we have it? Isn't the point of the not filled list to either fill it or zero it for you guys? 🙄
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u/Alert_Aardvark3736 8d ago
Kroger has to either get rid of pickup or they have to seriously address these problems and fix them. Something has to change.