My Old TNG Retail Merchandising Task Notes (2020)

I apologize this project took longer than usual. There were still 4 boxes on the cart filled with books I already worked with my store manager during training two and three weeks ago. Plus, I was unable to work the books last week when I visited because the drug gm manager was absent and had not checked them. So there were 5 full boxes of books shipped this week and 3 full boxes that had still not been worked from last week. Sorting these boxes by date and working double the usual load resulted in more hours of work. On top of that, the SRS website was operating extremely slow at this time of day so it took longer than usual to navigate it and access the pull lists & DND lists, and I received some errors trying to log in to fieldlink. I also had to take a break to use the restroom during my shift and I had to move some magazines left by customers in the books section to the checkout area. I also did not work the boxes from RandomHouse and PenguinYoung because they are not boxes marked with red stripes from Readerlink so I don’t know if I should unbox them and set up the displays. I also noticed a box from several weeks ago with books about food/cooking and a display to build in a PennyPress box and a box from UPS shipped this week containing Penguin Random House product, but I don’t know what to do with them. But I after replacing the older books with the new shipments, I made sure to organize and pack the boxes according to category (children’s, paperbacks, and hardcovers/trade books). I could not put the cart back in the usual spot because shipments are scattered everywhere because of the store reset.

When I first started this task, I asked a couple of employees if they knew where the $5 and below display was, after I checked the notes in this task to see what it looks like. I walked around the store and did not locate it. However, there is a Valentine’s display with items on sale in the main aisle where I believe the bin used to be. Anyway, since there was no one in the back room (including the receiver or drug gm manager), I did not locate any backstock there, especially since it’s a mess because of the store reset. But I noticed there are some spaces around the pharmacy that contain marked down products. There is a table located between the pharmacy and aisles with these items. And for now at least, there are four impulse bins located in the corner of the store by the pharmacy. I decided those are probably the best alternative to the $5 display so I tidied them up and took photos of them. I also noted there is a lot of empty space between the store front and pharmacy during this reset, so maybe the $5 display will make a reappearance there soon. Anyway, this was all I could really do for now. Additionally, I did not replenish any of the product in the bins because most of them were pretty full and the tables and bins between the pharmacy and the shelves in the pharmacy also contain a variety of marked down items, and the items are miscellaneous for the most part.

Before I drove to the store, I texted the drug gm manager to ensure the books had been checked in before I arrived. At first, she did not reply. So I waited patiently since I was going to work the magazines first anyway. After about an hour, she replied and I asked her if I could read the invoices myself since it looked like none of the packages of books had yet been opened. After opening the four boxes of readerlink books, I could not find any invoice (only papers indicating bestseller titles). I also did not find one in the folder on the cart labeled “readerlink invoices.” I tried calling the drug gm manager, but she did not answer. I then tried calling my store manager, but she didn’t answer either. I initially worked the box from Simon Spotlight with the clip strip, but I decided to put it back in the box along with the all the other books, when I realized they all share the same invoice number. Since I couldn’t locate an invoice, I figured I could try getting in touch with the Kroger store manager on site. After speaking with him and asking him if he could run the invoice number on all these five packages (#6706444), he told me that Ms. D. (the store receiver) and Begita (the drug gm manager) work together to “close” invoices so people like me have the metaphorical green light to work the product. Hearing this from him, I discovered he could not check if the invoice was open or closed and that I will unfortunately not be able to work the books until the next time I visit this store, after Begita has checked them. I still need to scan this store this week, so maybe I can work them this weekend because I really do not want to work double the amount of books next week (because I’ve done that and more before, and it’s awful). Although, in order to complete this task before next week when I visit again for weekly continuity, I will need my store manager (or another authorized employee) to reassign me the task. Because, as I said before, I really do not want to do double the work in one visit, especially since I recently agreed to pick up two more stores as my own after the resignation of another representative. Hopefully by the time I return to this store to scan tomorrow or Sunday, the receiver and drug gm have already run the invoice and contacted me about it. I still tidied up the main line though, but u didn’t even attempt to call Ms. D. because it was nearly 8:00 PM and I didn’t want to bother her on a Friday evening.