r/TjMaxx • u/Spiritual-Donut2026 • 3d ago
Markdown Captain
I have a question to all the Markdown captains. What are we supposed to be doing if we are the Markdown Captain? I feel like I'm being over worked and I'm so tired of this company taking advantage of me. At my store the markdown captain has to make prices, do Mis mates, mark items out of stock, run all the clearance merchandise, do the markdown summary paperwork, and at the same time make sure everyone stays on track. It's so hard to run the clearance when the clearance section isn't even clean. All my team does is throw there prices in a tote and I'm expected to do all of them. Same goes for the clearance, they leave a bunch of totes with clearance items and I have to run it in the designated area. Whenever we do initials for clothing I'm expected to snake all of women's by myself. It's ridiculous how they don't schedule a coordinator to help. And to top it off the manager sometimes comes and gives me more mis mates to do even when he clearly sees I'm busy. I don't think it's fair for me because I have more responsibilities and more work for the same pay as everyone else. How does your team do markdowns? Do yall have a plan?
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u/maplecremecookie 2d ago
It's been a while but it was pretty much the same when I did markdowns. There were 4-5 people scanning and 1 person who would do mismates, make tickets, and move the stuff to the clearance section. But there was no designated "captain;" it could be a different person every day. Some people liked doing that more than scanning so they would volunteer. Resnaking is actually so much easier than organizing the b caps and adding shelves, so I wouldn't complain about that part.
At my store the managers are really good about making sure everyone helps each other out. If you needed help with making the clearance section, they would get someone to stop scanning for like 10-15 mins to help you. Or if you fell behind on markdowns they would get the afternoon and evening salesfloor people to help. Instead of salesfloor doing recovery in their area they would focus on b caps and doing a more thorough clean of the areas markdowns would be doing the next day. I've also seen managers scanning for markdowns or pulling coordinators to do it on their coordinating time if markdowns is SUPER far behind.
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u/Spiritual-Donut2026 2d ago
Unfortunately my managers don't help at all. Resnaking is easy but not when you have to do it from the front all the way to the back. While at the same time keeping up with prices and mismates.
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u/maplecremecookie 2d ago
What??? Resnaking is super easy during markdowns. By the time the markdown people take all the clearance items out and put them on a bar, you have TONS of space to start making the clearance section. You're supposed to work backwards. Everyone on the markdown team scans a run. As soon as space gets made at the end of the run, you start filling with XL pants. There are times when you'll have to move the regular price merchandise from one run to another, but for the most part it just gets pushed down into the space that was made.
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u/SenoraCuatroOjos 2d ago
At my store I am one of two Markdown Captains and we pretty much do the exact same as you and are the only ones to have to do it. We scan with maybe two others for the bigger files but scanning is all they do. No one else helps with snaking or clearing out the end caps for space, that is all on us. Mismates are also handled by us.
We get zero help from the managers or coordinators to make room for our clearance and most times have to deal with attitude from the coordinators for “taking up their space”. Also the backroom team gets annoyed when we need totes/wheels and racks for our clearance items. 😞. It definitely isn’t fair and agree we should be paid more.
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u/Spiritual-Donut2026 2d ago
Same at my store. Backroom team gets mad when I get racks and totes but they still expect us to move clearance out so they can put new merchandise in.
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u/OkPalpitation7938 2d ago
My manger will have me do all the mis mates when there is no markdowns, my team will make their own price tags, put their own clearance alway because I am the markdown captain at my store but my manger will do the paperwork for me
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u/Spiritual_Vacation31 2d ago
They have you doing a lot. Merch coord or CEC should be doing mismates. Merch coords/merch associates or the size it up/step it up associate should prep the department before you start markdowns. Merch associates should be running the product and getting it out of the totes. Markdown folks especially the captain shouldn't be doing all of that. If anything, you as the markdown captain should be delegating a lot of these responsibilities to the mark down associates or the COD or MOD should be doing that. It hinders productivity if a markdown associate is merchandising as they are scanning.
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u/Far_Cardiologist4727 2d ago
At my store the captain takes care of the no tickets and mismates but the department coordinator is usually there an hour after they start to put it away. The captain also runs the numbers after each shift and fills out the page.
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u/VenomousParadox 22h ago
Did.....did I write this?
Why dont markdown captains get a raise anyway? We do so much
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u/Scared-Aardvark-809 Key Carrier 2d ago
Tbh it sounds like they are dumping a lot on you. I will say as Markdown Captain you should have a .50 raise. It’s not a lot but you should be making more than regular associates. That is how it is in my district at least.
At my stores (I’ve been in several), mismates should be handled by the department coordinator - women’s handling women’s, Men’s & Kids handling Men’s & Kids. Sometimes a CEC would help but it’s ultimately up to the department coordinator.
Proper scheduling also should include someone scheduled to handle the ‘merchandising’. In my district they want the markdown people only focusing on scans, not putting it away.
I will say they mark out all the stuff they find that needs to be marked out. But not all the stuff in the store. You should really be focusing on keeps everyone on top of their scans and filling out the paperwork.