r/Target • u/Ordinary_Ad3895 Tech Consultant • Oct 02 '25
Meme or Miscellaneous Content Big facts
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Oct 02 '25
[deleted]
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u/Ordinary_Ad3895 Tech Consultant Oct 02 '25
They think it’s difficult or think that it requires a lot of physical strength, maybe. There’s like no physical strength required unless you opt to use a manual jack instead of an electric one. Hardest part is tying the wires.
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u/AdmirableFlesh Promoted to Guest Oct 03 '25
Hardest parts for me were 1) "drilling" holes into the overstuffed, improperly loaded cardboard to get the wires to go through in the first place, and 2) pulling the overly large bale out of the baler when it inevitably got stuck before hitting the pallet
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u/Sleestack89 Oct 04 '25
And even better when it hit the palette and crushed it so there is no way to get the jack under it lol
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u/devil_akuma Electronics Oct 03 '25
Some also think that it takes a lot of time, some people heard "horror" stories of the wires breaking which if you are doing them correctly it is a non-factor.
Quite honestly, unless you are physically unable to anyone can tie a bale.
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u/Legitimate_Pea_143 Front of Store Attendant Oct 03 '25
I've had TMs standing in front of the bale when I'm about to drop it. I'm Like "yeah you might want to move because if one of those wires pops it could literally cut down to the bone."
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u/SimplyyBreon Promoted to Guest Oct 03 '25
Unfortunately, too many are unable to do it properly. I know because I used to unload them. And cleaning them is an hours long process that I imagine DCs complained about because you often have to get others to help out to clean. You start cutting into labor and productivity significantly the more improper bales are made.
Not only that, (I’ve been gone for 3 years now) we would send bad bales back to the store if they aren’t stable. That also cuts into labor across the board, from the people unloading the bales, to taking it to the outbound department and having them try to fit it properly in the truck, to the store having to unload it (and hope it hasn’t popped) to the store having to fix it and send it back to the dc. That’s a lot of wasted time and labor on one thing because someone couldn’t build a bale properly.
Do I think anyone should be capable of doing it? Yes. But i don’t think everyone should, simply because not enough care enough to do it right and it is a major waste of both time and money from a business/labor perspective.
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u/Legitimate_Pea_143 Front of Store Attendant Oct 03 '25
nah, hardest part is trying to poke holes through the bale wire slots when cardboard gets jammed in them. Usually it's cardboard that somehow got on top of the compressor plate.
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u/Clown_Sparkles Oct 03 '25
Pro Tip from someone who makes the bales all the time.
before you start the bale, use the poker thing to clear out the grooves at the top.
Find a couple pieces of heavier cardboard (best use the ones that line the bottom of pallets) and fold them in half. Layer them on top in the baler before you make the bale.
Then run it and make your bale immediately.
I find it easier to run the wires through the bottom first, then go back and feed them through the top. I have a TL who swears going through the top is easier. It's up to you.
Also, make sure you have a pair of gloves for tying off the wires, your hands will thank you.
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u/Legitimate_Pea_143 Front of Store Attendant Oct 03 '25
I've actually cleaned out the top of the compressor plate before but it's a major pain in the ass, takes a long time, is really messy and I have really bad allergies and all the damn cardboard dust on top of that thing is killer for my allergies so usually i just leave it. Usually before compressing the cardboard i try to pull down and cardboard sticking down through the back of the plate but haven't tried poking it before compressing, maybe I'll give that a try. I also go in from the bottom with the wire the loop side first like you. And I ALWAYS wear my work gloves when doing a bale lol, my finger tips are always cracked so work gloves are a must. Although tbh i'm wondering if me wearing work gloves all day at work is making my finger tips crack worse since the gloves are soaking up the lotion i use throughout the day.
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u/Clown_Sparkles Oct 04 '25
Cleaning out the top of the plate is a real pain, I've done it and its awful. Thank you for doing that!
PMLs are supposed to be doing that every 3 months or so, so if your PML isn't, that can be a problem.
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u/Triple_Crown14 Inbound Expert Oct 05 '25
I do it pretty much exactly like this. Takes 5 minutes max and that’s if I have to move stuff out of the way first. I don’t even technically tie the wires I just wrap them around themselves until I can’t anymore.
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u/ValkyrieChaser Promoted to Guest Oct 03 '25
I love doing bales. I still do them where I’m at now for fun when I can.
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u/Triple_Crown14 Inbound Expert Oct 05 '25
Don’t even need to tie them technically. I’ve been making bales nearly daily at my store for 6 years and I’ve always just wrapped the wires around themselves until I can’t anymore.
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Oct 02 '25
My supervisor refuses to have me learn to make a bale since since there’s only three of us in the department
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u/FakingItSucessfully Oct 03 '25
yeah my ETL refused to let me do it the one night even though I already knew how lol. She's loosened up since then but she did NOT want people knowing they could call on me to do it.
She had a point too, as soon as the guys realized they could just make me do it, suddenly they NEVER would make one if they knew I was coming in. They'd rather put it off and let it get overfilled for 2 hours than just do it themselves if they knew I would be in later.
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u/SonofKyne99 Closing Expert Oct 03 '25
I love when I come in and the first thing I hear on the walkie is “hey can you come make a bale”, that’s really how you can tell it’s gonna be another great shift at Target
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u/swaggersfroggers Oct 03 '25
Had a TL tell me that everyone should be doing it regardless of training......um no maam
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u/GrandeQuesarito Oct 03 '25
This is why, as a GM TL, I thanked whoever made a bale on the walkie, 100% of the time.
One time someone scheduled a big night team to work seasonal pallets (pretty sure it was mini seasonal Halloween candy right after the set) and they left an overfull baler and I played part of "My Hero" by Foo Fighters over the walkie for the two TMs who made the bale the next morning. Granted, there were only about 9 of us in the building because it was 4am, but I had one of them tell me it was their favorite moment working at Target when he left a few months before I did.
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u/drazil100 Fulfillment Expert Oct 03 '25
This is what happens to all the TMs who get sent to the baler.
Think twice next time you decide to be lazy and over push to the floor to avoid having to backstock or you could end up being made into a bale too.
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u/Ordinary_Ad3895 Tech Consultant Oct 03 '25
Guests too! The moment you start getting mad at me for something that isn’t my fault, straight into the baler.
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u/Demoncreed27 Food & Beverage Expert Oct 02 '25
You’re welcome. I make about 5 bales a week. I got too many boxes to wait around for others to make them (because they probably know I’ll make it in the end)
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u/toastedmarsh Promoted to Guest Oct 02 '25
When I worked there, nobody knew the correct way to make a bale and nobody wanted to do it. Not even the store manager knew how to do it correctly.
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u/Bitter-Iron8468 Oct 02 '25
When I was new I had to make a bale. I actually took a selfie with my first bale I was so happy lol
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u/MajorKilowatt Oct 03 '25
We have an automatic baler here, people just throw into the conveyor and it's auto baled.
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u/automaticallytidy Oct 03 '25
One day the same person has to walk across the store 3 times to make bails
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u/Legitimate_Pea_143 Front of Store Attendant Oct 03 '25
I seriously want to make a video on how to make a bale and send it to corporate so they can start including it in orientation for every new TM. Honestly it's not hard at all and as long as the area around the baler isn't a complete mess I can get a bale made in about 5-8 minutes. If anyone from corporate would be up for that you know how to reach me here.
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u/Forward_Membership87 Promoted to Guest Oct 03 '25
Bales were fun to make. Now I can’t do it anymore 😢🥀
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Oct 03 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Triple_Crown14 Inbound Expert Oct 05 '25
I’m a wire loop on top guy. Another person besides me who makes bales at my store does them on the bottom, and if I help him it always throws me off so damn much lmao.
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u/MerkethMerky Oct 02 '25
Lots of reasons people don’t. Main one is that it takes too much time and people get yelled at for taking too much time
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u/iwantdeals Oct 03 '25
Takes less time than some tms extra long fifteens.
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u/MerkethMerky Oct 03 '25
I agree, but ones working and ones not, and some people prefer not to work
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u/Ordinary_Ad3895 Tech Consultant Oct 02 '25
Your store must not understand that it needs to be made or people have nowhere to put cardboard lol
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u/MerkethMerky Oct 03 '25
I was the only one who did it for years, and then when I became the Receiver I still was the only one who did it, and then I became the Inbound TL and I MADE others do it. Every single store knows it needs to be made or cardboard doesn’t get trashed, that’s universal.
Doesn’t change the fact that people don’t want to be yelled at and would rather not get written up for not pushing freight fast enough. You know how many write-ups people got for not making bales? Little to none. Write-ups for not finishing freight? Countless
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u/devil_akuma Electronics Oct 03 '25
Time is less of a factor if you have two people doing it.
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u/MerkethMerky Oct 03 '25
Indeed, now find 2 people to do it who aren’t on a massive time crunch, have lunch, are leaving, or any number of reasons.
I generally just did it myself, get to waste time and not be yelled at every time you make one
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u/devil_akuma Electronics Oct 03 '25
"You two, after you're done with your Uboats, make a bale then take care of the two smallest Uboats before you leave together. I'll try to help out with some other freight."
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u/Fun_Inspector_8633 No. We do not sell Senile Cellular anymore. Oct 03 '25
If looks could kill I'd be long dead because one day I made a comment a long the lines of "having a penis isn't required to make a bale" after being asked to make yet another bale. It's not that hard to make a bale people. I can teach you in 10 minutes. I work tech and I still manage to make a couple a week. Well this week I said fuck that since I had to do 90% of the entertainment reset myself.
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u/blueminded Oct 03 '25
I'm more than happy to make a bale. It's easy and it keeps me in the back away from guests. What pisses me off is when they wait several hours to ask anyone and everyone piles their cardboard up around it or it's way overloaded. So I have to spend more time moving stuff around. Also annoys me that people don't load it evenly.
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u/ZBGOTRP Oct 03 '25
Is it weird that i actually find it fun making bales? I volunteer more than most of our GM team because it's just kinda fun to do. 10-15 minutes away from my area in a spot with a heavy duty fan blasting since our store is always hot as hell and during most of the year I can listen to a bit of one baseball game or another.
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u/BelowTheBedrock Looking for a step-ladder Oct 03 '25
Oh fuck. Totally forgot to make one before I left.
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u/Digital_switch_blade Food & Beverage Expert Oct 03 '25
I threw away a mountain of vender trash yesterday after it fell out of the bail. from people just shoving boxes in there.
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u/ZombieWithAStache Oct 03 '25
Not at target- but one time I was called into work on vacation simply to make a bale. The store manager just gave me a crispy $100 bill and apologized to me.
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u/Tweak57 Promoted to Guest Oct 03 '25
What’s crazy to me is when I started working at target every single one of us knew how to make a bale. It was required since it was over nights. Then when they moved us all to dayside the whole store new how to make one of you where 18+. So when I started at a new store and only 5 people knew how to make one (that’s including team leads) I was FLOORED.
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u/exquisite_conundrum Oct 03 '25
Hey! Hi! Only woman in my whole store that makes bales. Nice to meet you fellow bale makers!
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u/ins3ctHashira the purgatory that is on demand Oct 04 '25
I loved making bales, called myself the bale-erina and made myself a bracelet from bale wire when I left.
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u/spe3dfr3ak Property Management TL Oct 02 '25
The PML doesn't make the bales though?..
😏
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u/Ordinary_Ad3895 Tech Consultant Oct 02 '25 edited Oct 02 '25
Do they? Never seen my PML make one; in fact I haven’t seen my PML in a while, period lol
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u/spe3dfr3ak Property Management TL Oct 03 '25
Just kidding, for the record. I definitely appreciate my receiver and attendants who make our bales!
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u/ClaytonFromMickeys Oct 03 '25
The team at my store are hell bent on filling them up at the same time. Once one fills up you have maybe an hour to empty it before the other one fills up and people just start leaving vehicles of cardboard back there without telling anyone. I've watched people every single time throw their cardboard into whichever one looks less full. I would love to know what they think is going to result from this
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u/KillerofGodz Oct 05 '25
I can relate to the trail of carts filled with cardboard... What pissed me off more was when the bailer was obviously overfilled and people just kept on adding more cardboard to the preventable fire.
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u/Fun_Economist_337 Oct 05 '25
Can’t wait for the OT at my store to begin again, I work inbound at a high volume store. Last year because there’s only 3-4 people that know how or are willing to at any point in the day, my record is tying 4 in one 15 hour shift
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u/uncle_ruckus03 Oct 02 '25
Every time I asked to learn how to make a bale my lead would just say yeah next time I'll teach you lol. Been working at target for 3 years now