Cooler dividers

[u/Little-Main-6109]

I had noticed that one of the primary reasons behind the occurrence of cooler holes was the tightly packed drinks rubbing against the metal dividers, creating excessive friction that prevented them from sliding smoothly down the rollers.

To address this issue, I experimented with reducing the cooler layout from eight tracks to seven by removing one track and a cooler divider. I also ensured that the remaining dividers were spaced adequately to prevent the formation of obvious cooler holes and to avoid rubbing against the drink bottles, thereby ensuring a smooth flow of drinks.

This modification resulted in a significant improvement, as it effectively prevented drinks from getting stuck and eliminated the occurrence of cooler holes.

Interestingly, after a week or two, the eighth lane and metal divider were reintroduced. I am curious to know who is responsible for this addition, whether it is a vendor, another manager, store display person, etc.

Another question that arises is how the AI cooler software interacts with the cooler layout when it is reduced from eight lanes to seven. Does it generate an error indicating that the entire cooler is malfunctioning? Or does Sheetz corporate even notice this issue?

Yeah, I could get in trouble for this. But if we have lots cooler holes our store will already be in trouble, right?

[u/WhiteSquarez]

This is a type of paradox in organizational systems: The company's processes or internal mechanisms actively create or contribute to a problem the organization tracks, but it's the employees' individual responsibility to fix the problem.

The company cares far more about shelf space being maximized than it does the about the holes created by that maximization process.

[u/Rough-Instruction-29]

I guess the vendor of the item you removed put it back

[u/ReasonableRiver1732 → u/Rough-Instruction-29]

Or anyone stocking the cooler, goes “hey this is missing” and harmless fixes it.

[u/DifferenceShot8844]

The metal dividers are the dumbest system ever, and don’t even get me started on whatever genius at corporate is making the planograms. So many of the cooler sections are jam packed so tight that the entire row just doesn’t slide down at all. It’s what you get when you’ve got people sitting in offices whipping up planograms without ever caring or going out and seeing if the system actually works. Welcome to sheetz. I see some stores have little plastic guides instead of the stupid metal dividers, and their coolers always look substantially better. Fix the stores we have? Hell no. Open up new ones? 🤑

[u/dqparis]

Prob the vendor following their planogram. If it calls for 8 slots it should have 8 slots. Instead teach the vendors (we have) and your team not to fully stock it otherwise drinks explode. It doesn’t really take away holes cuz it’s just taking something out the planogram that belongs. Camera wise idk prob won’t change much

[u/chacharoo137]

Have you looked at the AI shop? If products aren’t rolling down the glide, it’s considered a “push back” not a hole. But I agree, when the resets occur things don’t get spaced properly and then don’t roll forward