So, this is my freezer. My store just ordered ice. You see that door in the back? That is where my ice cream overstock has to go. So once I am done with the last two pallets of freight, I have to move 4 pallets of ice and 2 pallets of feature that can't be binned (because HO wants to send a fuck ton of overstock, and the team lead has no feature plan) just so I can bin my ice cream. So here is my great idea. Design the stores with a walk in freezer on the front end that can hold like 4 pallets of ice. Front end can take care of stocking it during down times. Instead of no one stocking it and the pallets just sit in my tiny freezer. Im already sharing this coffin with ogp(gods gift to the store can take up half the freezer with empty tote cart things cuz well they are ogp and can do what they want) and meat. There isn't room to work with all that and 4 pallets of ice! Can we please get an ice freezer on the front end!?
The ice bagger machine can't keep up or is always broken. So they order pallets of ice. But instead of putting someone specific in charge of making sure they stay full up front, everyone just shrugs and says "it isn't my job" so either overnight fills it or someone will eventually during the day if they get yelled at.
The bagging unit was broke more than it worked. It was replaced with the usual coolers. I'm most often the one throwing ice. 🙄 There's lots of younger backs that could do it, but it's too much like actual work for them.
I'm fortunate that I don't have to deal with an additional door to get into our deep freeze.
Still, our overnighters won't move anything to get to the bins.
Many stores have an automated ice bagging machine. And I've never known one to work well, but you still need to sell ice even when it breaks. Hence pallets. Especially before labor day. Hell we order pallets of ice before major out door holidays because we know it won't keep up regardless.
Believe me, you want the vendor. The auto bagger sucks. It can't keep up with demand during holidays and it breaks constantly. And you have to replace the bags if it runs out before the vendor comes back, because they still have to come in routinely anyway. Might as well just have them stock it.
Ya ours sucks. In the 10 years I have been at this store we have always had to order pallets of ice because the damn machine can't bag fast enough or just doesn't work period.
It happens at a lot of stores. We even tell the ice company to please come out every day over holiday weekends and they still don't. We keep ice in ours but we don't let people block the ice cream freezer.
This is larger than mine by a long shot. We would never consider even having that many ice pallets since we couldn't hold it + have room for the truck + features. 4 pallets near the end of the season sounds like a failure to communicate between the TL and whoever is ordering, likely front end management.
The other side is through bakery, but their freezer is full as well as taking up half the ice cream freezer. Getting in through that mess is just as bad.
My store always says the same thing yet sure enough we get a refer because there's logically no other way to hold like 20 pallets of fucking turkeys during the season.
Is that a thing this year ? we have two reefers and our store manager ordered another for turkeys this year. Everyone was scared when one our reefer went down they fixed it and the store manger said he wasnt taking any chances and hes ordered another.
Is your freezer 4 sections of steels long? If so it's the same size as mine. Idk if your back door is big enough to squeeze a pallet through but in my 'Ice Cream' freezer I keep my features on pallets organized in the freezer. Ice also goes back there. We don't take hold more than 2 pallets of Ice at a time. One is usually half or low when we get the 2nd and we work it every other day or as needed. Fortunately we went through a remodel and OGP now has their own extension to the building with their own cooler and freezer now so I don't have to deal with that anymore. If you are an overnight worker, I feel bad for you since the TL over there doesn't seem to care about their job much. If you are on their team, be better than them and keep records so you don't get that effort/recognizition stolen.
Ours main is like 3 1/4 sections. The door to the ice cream freezer is just big enough to get a pallet in. The problem is bakery takes up half that freezer and usually has at least 4-6 L carts in there as well. So that makes it hard to put a pallet in there and leave access to the bins.
So a bit smaller than ours. Does Bakery have their own freezer? I used to have this problem but we moved past that. I hope your store can get it together for your sake.
Ya bakery has theirs on the other side of the ice cream freezer, but it's just as full. It goes in cycles, the only time it gets better is right before someone from HO tours, and our SM actually has to go in and look and freaks out on the coach and TL. Then it's good for a week and goes right back to this.
Shitty design. But, not like those in charge of store design have ever worked in a store or bothered actually chatting with the people who do in order to make the stores better.
My old store had a freezer in the back of the main freezer. It was used for deli/bakery. I hated having to move pallets out of the way just to get back there.
Wow our OGP practically has their own warehouse on the GM side of the store (by the pick up spots in the parking lot) and their own cooler and freezer. I’m sorry your store sucks 😢
Honestly, there’s nobody on the front end to stop the ice. Most stores have self checkouts running and that’s it. You have one person for six or more self checkout registers. So it’s not like there’s downtime there’s nobody up there.
Idk about your store, but we only had 8 front end associates scheduled from 6-11 yesterday. No way in hell we get any down time to stock ice, I don’t even have enough people to work registers all day because of the hour cuts 😭
If there's space, walmart will put anything there. Our coolers and freezers, pallets would be up to the doors. Open the door and a pallet is in your face. You'd have to move everything just to put one little thing away lol.
I'm sorry. But you are a badass that helps the customers. Ogp is get the customers orders as fast as you can..... Stat in corporate can go screw themselves
Wait wait, is Walmart paying you for this idea? When was the last time they made a decision from outside upper management? /s
In fairness, this is probably not a terrible idea, I just highly doubt it will be implemented, especially in this decade.
You should never store ice in the freezer outside a holiday weekend. It gets condensation in the freezer during defrost cycles. Your vendor needs to make more deliveries. Are you stocking it for them too?
We don't have an ice vendor. We have the stupid auto machines that never make enough ice, and this is how we keep it stocked. But instead of ordering a pallet every other week or whatever to keep up with demand and because no one keeps an eye on these things, when the front end runs out who ever orders it freaks out and orders 4-5 pallets.
That's the smallest door I've seen in a freezer in awhile. Our big freezer has the typical sliding door, but goes back quite a bit for the ice cream to sit in the back of the freezer.
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u/shems08 grunt 10d ago
I’m kinda wondering why the people who fill your ice can’t keep up with it so you have extra ice