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The Woolworths Thread (8 Viewers)

bouncingCats

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OKAY WOOLWORTHS EMPLOYEES it's time to pay me back for all the advice i've been passing on to you.

next week i'm working 3 supervision shifts at a BIG woolworths store (macquarie ryde) now i know how to supervise like on the registers, but our store doesnt have a service desk or anything, so i usually just hang around the front, and serve when it gets busy, do all the price checks myself and so on, but how does it work in a big store?

-Will i have another supervisor/CSM with me?
-How do i get a price checked?
-Will i be expected to serve?
-Should breaks be given exactly as they appear on the Gride Report (in our store we give breaks when it suits)?
-In general, what exactly will i do?

HALP

- You'll probably have another supervisor with you depending on what time it is

- With price checks, just call the service 40 for that dept

- I'm not quite sure about serving because mac ryde has about 12 s/s checkouts and they do cope (some days) but the express checkouts are attached to the service desk if you need to serve. IMO, try not to serve because its quite a big store and they would need a supervisor on the floor. At my store, supers are only expected to serve when an express alert is called or if there is no other operator available.

- With lunch breaks (where I work), I try to follow the report . It depends on how many staff you have to cover the breaks.

- In general, just take care of the service dept. Allocating breaks, counting draws (when necessary), making sure the service area is neat & tidy, make sure the stock is done, drinks are filled, etc... It also depends on what time your supervising. Most of what I've said is a night routine....

- With the morning routine (at my store), make sure you've done the change orders for the registers, check the scales on each register and s/s checkout, test the 'checkpoint' detection thingy and test if the scanners on the registers are working.

Good luck!
 

langlece

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OKAY WOOLWORTHS EMPLOYEES it's time to pay me back for all the advice i've been passing on to you.

next week i'm working 3 supervision shifts at a BIG woolworths store (macquarie ryde) now i know how to supervise like on the registers, but our store doesnt have a service desk or anything, so i usually just hang around the front, and serve when it gets busy, do all the price checks myself and so on, but how does it work in a big store?

-Will i have another supervisor/CSM with me?
-How do i get a price checked?
-Will i be expected to serve?
-Should breaks be given exactly as they appear on the Gride Report (in our store we give breaks when it suits)?
-In general, what exactly will i do?

HALP
Haha sweet!! I'm a supervisor at one of the biggest stores in Vic, so I should be able to help out :)

1. It really depends on how the store works and what hours you're working. Generally down in safers, the CSM will do 7-5, 2ic will do 9-6, the night supervisor will do 3-12 and possibly there is a backup 5-10 and 3ic 11-8. So you probably won't be doing it all by yourself. At my store, on sundays we have a grand total of 6 supervisors over the course of the day, and that's just officially supervising!!

2. Generally just a service 40 to the register. But if it's something close and you're not busy, you can just check it yourself. It's your discretion.

3. Again, this depends on who is there as backup. If it gets busy, then yes you will be expected to serve, unless it's just you supervising. Pretty much the hierachy is all cashiers on, then if it's still busy one supervisor jumps on, then if it gets insane, you get a manager to do smokeshop while you're on a register. It depends on the layout of the department though. But one of my key little suggestions. If it gets really busy and there's no one there to do smokeshop, what I do is jump on with one of the Cashiers, so get them to scan and I pack. This means if there is a service 10 or I need to do something, it's really easy to just jump off and fix it all up, without having to close off a register first. The advantage is they have a much higher scan rate, so get through more people. Just make sure you choose the Cashiers that you do it with. It also provides you with a good opportunity for training & development.

4. Breaks are a serving suggestion only. Obviously if it's busy, don't send them. But you need to stay fairly on top of it. In my experience, people get shitty if they go on break after 3 hours of a 5 hour shift. I normally give a cashier a list of breaks, so they go along and do all the breaks, ie take over for the cashier for their break, so I don't have to worry about them.

5. This depends on the time of day. I'm just going to presume you're doing day shifts and don't need to know night routine.
Day supervision is mainly just focused on the running of the department. ie allocating registers, keeping the express-big register-stock-etc balance working. A lot of the time it'll just be service 10s.
I'm sure you know how to deal with them, but here's some common problems:

- My Printer is broken, easy to fix. If not, just move registers
- I accidently pressed cash instead of credit, just do a tender swap under supervisor menu
- The receipt didn't print - reprint receipt or use Electronic Journal if you can't do that
- Processing cheques - make sure you get the store's authorisation number, usually the store number

Yeah that's pretty much it, but also change orders and pickups as required by the cash office. Also try and count off draws that aren't going to be used the rest of the day and count them off when people have finished with them. Pretty much what BouncyCats above me has said :)

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do just fine :)
Just don't get too stressed. If it's busy, just breathe, there's nothing you can do and it'll die down eventually. I spent 7 hours on register on Anzac Day... the store manager was doing smokeshop LOL
 
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lordtopcat

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I keep hearing everyone talk about Smoke Shop? Do you guys not have cigarette cases/displays on each register??
 

danberg

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I keep hearing everyone talk about Smoke Shop? Do you guys not have cigarette cases/displays on each register??
You have cigarettes at every register?!? WEIRD!

We have the older fluro-ish green format, and "smokeshop" is just part of express, and also one big register on the side. We don't have anyone allocated to smokeshop, they just serve on express and go to the front when needed.

All the new 2010C stores seem to have smokeshop as completely seperate from express, so i guess someone has to always be allocated to smokeshop. But it means customers cant get cigarettes as they go through express- surely less sales??

Speaking of project galaxy, hope the end result is more professional that its handling by Woolworths so far
 
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I keep hearing everyone talk about Smoke Shop? Do you guys not have cigarette cases/displays on each register??
In my store, we are ONLY allowed to serve cigarettes from the smokeshop. Saved transactions are only allowed for eftpos transactions, although this isn't strictly followed.
This is due to specific state government regulations though.
 

langlece

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Cigarettes at every register is really weird!!

At our store, before the refurb smokeshop was behind the service desk, but service was connected to express, which was a single line format.
After the refurb about 2 years ago now, we changed it so that left to right was 8 express registers in a multi-lane format, 4 self serve, 2 smokeshop registers, 14 big registers and 3 liquor ones.

Smokeshop is connected to the back of the service desk, but we can sell cigarettes anywhere. We used to have a designated smokeshop person, but it got too expensive, so we cut those shifts (and night backup supervision shifts!!) so it's the supervisor's responsibility to do it. It makes it a real pain in the ass when it gets busy... Though we do often put self-serve people through the front
 

Tahnford

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Cigarettes at every register is really weird!!

At our store, before the refurb smokeshop was behind the service desk, but service was connected to express, which was a single line format.
That is similar to my store (no refurb yet), and we've never used a smokeshop operator (except just before and after Christmas). We have 2 smokeshop registers, though they are never used. Whoever is on express just serves smokeshop customers when they get a slow customer who takes too long to put change away, or fusses with their bags. There are always a few people on express to process refunds as well. If a long lane requires smokes, whoever has a spare moment runs them out.
 

townie

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okay, feeling more confident with the supervision now. I know i'll be absolutely fine with the actual supervision tasks (e.g. refunds, returns, handing customers etc.) it was just the whole 'service desk' concept that is new to me.

Going from 2 express/3 full service to like 22 registers should be interesting
 

lordtopcat

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..I've srs never heard of this before. o_O
Odd, maybe it's just a New Zealand thing Lol. At each register there is a cigarette carousel and express has a large one. Although if you're under 18 you have to get permission from a supervisor to sell them.

Although the government is looking at banning the displays so that all cigarettes have to be out of view.
 

wixxy2348

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Odd, maybe it's just a New Zealand thing Lol. At each register there is a cigarette carousel and express has a large one. Although if you're under 18 you have to get permission from a supervisor to sell them.

Although the government is looking at banning the displays so that all cigarettes have to be out of view.
Fair enough.
 

Peartie

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Townie:

I used to work at that store! It got shithouse on Saturdays! so warning for then if you're there on Saturday - usually EVERY register was open, sometimes 5 or 6 people deep - i remember one day, before refurb, the line for express checkouts went out the dairy aisle right up to the back of the store!!!

Be warned...it gets hectic in there!

mr giri recently did area manager relief in 81 so suck up! just relax and enjoy it i guess.
Did he really? wow...
 

Mark-AJ

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Just on the Cigarettes...

The Cigarrette carousel thing mentioned is common out in the country... Um. Can't remember the name of the town that I annually see it in... it's out Coonabarabran way...

AND this is going to be a bitch considering most stores have already gone through refurb (my store, Westfield Burwood just started a week or two ago), but ALL cigarettes will have to be kept out of sight once some legislation is passed soon, I can't recall if its NSW or Nation-wide... it was mentioned on The Gruen Transfer on Wednesday, but I'd heard bout it before that too...
 

T 360

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On The Cigarettes, Our Store has Smokeshop on the front(closest to main shopping center)side of The Service Desk. We Have a Supervisor/Over 18 checkout operator working there almost all the time. They Use ONE of the Two registers. The Other one is used by all supervisors, when It gets Busy & they need to help out.
 

Harry778

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Before my store was refurbed we had to sides of express each with 4 register, so 8 express all together, and the smoke shop was behind the service desk, facing out to the centre. After it we still have 8 express and 6 s/s smoke shop away from express now lol. We always had two people serving on smoke shop cos it was always busy, one serving while the other mostly serving. Thats still how it is, if any one saw the footage of my store on 4 corners you would have seen how big it is!

I'm kind of like the smoke shop 2IC, not that there is really but our service 3IC is like the boss and whenever she's not working or supervising i'm on it. Usually 6-3 with the other smoke shop starting at 8 finish at 6.

interesting how differnt stores are!
 
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^^
At 15 you probably won't be able to do nightfill - most NF staff are over 18.

AND this is going to be a bitch considering most stores have already gone through refurb (my store, Westfield Burwood just started a week or two ago), but ALL cigarettes will have to be kept out of sight once some legislation is passed soon, I can't recall if its NSW or Nation-wide... it was mentioned on The Gruen Transfer on Wednesday, but I'd heard bout it before that too...
This is whats happened with us - it was state legislation that came into effect September 06, meaning that all but 1 square metre of cigarettes had to be covered.
 

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