'Target CEO claims customers are saying ‘a big thank you’ for locking up merchandise'

[babs]

Was at Target this afternoon, store was packed, four staffed registers open, four self-service registers open. Massive lines, front end was way understaffed. I wish they would have moved all those self checkouts from the three closed Portland stores into their regular stores, it would have helped.

[bryceleinan]

Something interesting: Carson City store had a CVS truck backed into the dock… this isn’t a store with a CVS pharmacy though. Wonder how much merch Target outsourced to CVS now…

[storewanderer]

Was at Target this afternoon, store was packed, four staffed registers open, four self-service registers open. Massive lines, front end was way understaffed. I wish they would have moved all those self checkouts from the three closed Portland stores into their regular stores, it would have helped.

How many total self checkouts are present, are there just four self checkouts in the store total?

Cannot believe two days before Christmas they'd only have four staffed registers open in the afternoon (would expect that at 10 PM). This never would have happened a few years ago.

[storewanderer]

Something interesting: Carson City store had a CVS truck backed into the dock… this isn’t a store with a CVS pharmacy though. Wonder how much merch Target outsourced to CVS now…

I don't think they outsource any merchandise to CVS. My understanding is CVS operates pharmacy and that is it... so the only thing CVS would send receive is pharmacy merchandise... and I'm not even sure they receive it through Target's loading dock (I think it may go through the front door and directly to the pharmacy).

Could the store be adding a CVS?

[babs]

Was at Target this afternoon, store was packed, four staffed registers open, four self-service registers open. Massive lines, front end was way understaffed. I wish they would have moved all those self checkouts from the three closed Portland stores into their regular stores, it would have helped.

How many total self checkouts are present, are there just four self checkouts in the store total?

Cannot believe two days before Christmas they'd only have four staffed registers open in the afternoon (would expect that at 10 PM). This never would have happened a few years ago.

There were only four self checkout stands plus a clerk yelling at people that they could use the one in the food court, with most customers looking confused and skeptical about that option. When I worked there many years ago, we'd have all 16 checkstands running on this day. Times change.

I wish they would just do the obvious and reconfigure the checkout area by going to 8-12 self checkout stands and go down to 6 staffed checkstands. Take care of the customer and don't taunt them with empty checkstands you never plan to use.

[Super S]

Was at Target this afternoon, store was packed, four staffed registers open, four self-service registers open. Massive lines, front end was way understaffed. I wish they would have moved all those self checkouts from the three closed Portland stores into their regular stores, it would have helped.

How many total self checkouts are present, are there just four self checkouts in the store total?

Cannot believe two days before Christmas they'd only have four staffed registers open in the afternoon (would expect that at 10 PM). This never would have happened a few years ago.

There were only four self checkout stands plus a clerk yelling at people that they could use the one in the food court, with most customers looking confused and skeptical about that option. When I worked there many years ago, we'd have all 16 checkstands running on this day. Times change.

I wish they would just do the obvious and reconfigure the checkout area by going to 8-12 self checkout stands and go down to 6 staffed checkstands. Take care of the customer and don't taunt them with empty checkstands you never plan to use.

Times have definitely changed.

I worked two Christmas shopping seasons in the early 1990s at Target, and they hired a lot of temporary cashiers for the Christmas season. Black Friday and Christmas Eve were two days where they had all 14 checkstands open, and usually enough front end staff on hand without having to call for backup cashiers.

The rest of the year, it was more like 2-3 checkstands staffed with regular cashiers at any given time, with the expectation that the rest of the employees in the store would come running when they would call for backup cashiers every 15 minutes.

I do notice self checkouts at Target seem to get backed up quite often, and see the same issue with not having enough regular cashiers open. I get the impression that they have not been hiring as many people for the holidays as they have in years past.

[ClownLoach]

Something interesting: Carson City store had a CVS truck backed into the dock… this isn’t a store with a CVS pharmacy though. Wonder how much merch Target outsourced to CVS now…

Nothing is outsourced besides the pharmacy, and the relationship at the store level is very bad. CVS employees are not even allowed to enter a Target break room and when the transfer occurred all employees including the pharmacist lost all Target employee perks entirely, even customary ones it wouldn't have hurt to leave in place such as a store discount. CVS does not source or provide merchandise for Target, and there has been back and forth in regard to the "behind the counter" product that has to be sold by a pharmacist. In some states this is CVS brand product, in others it is Target brand. It's probably just an arrangement with the truck carrier vendor which is very common; the Walmart by my old house always had Albertsons trucks on their dock and there wasn't an Albertsons for 5+ miles... They had a deal for staging when there wasn't an available dock door at the DC up the road. These situations are very common actually.

[storewanderer]

Something interesting: Carson City store had a CVS truck backed into the dock… this isn’t a store with a CVS pharmacy though. Wonder how much merch Target outsourced to CVS now…

Nothing is outsourced besides the pharmacy, and the relationship between the companies is very bad. CVS employees are not even allowed to enter a Target break room and when the transfer occurred all employees including the pharmacist lost all Target employee perks entirely, even customary ones it wouldn't have hurt to leave in place such as a store discount. CVS does not source or provide merchandise for Target, and there has been back and forth in regard to the "behind the counter" product that has to be sold by a pharmacist. In some states this is CVS brand product, in others it is Target brand. It's probably just an arrangement with the truck carrier vendor which is very common; the Walmart by my old house always had Albertsons trucks on their dock and there wasn't an Albertsons for 5+ miles... They had a deal for staging when there wasn't an available dock door at the DC up the road. These situations are very common actually.

At this point CVS should just operate like a tenant. Similar to how the haircut place, Subway, etc. operate as a tenant in Wal Mart.

Target provides cash management services to CVS and not much more. They use a Target cash register to ring up the CVS sales in Target. This is another source of problems. Customer service would dictate if I am picking up a prescription from CVS inside Target, and I also want to buy a vitamin or some OTC item from the aisle right there I can pay for it at the pharmacy. However this is another point of tension with CVS and Target- some CVS have been given the impression they cannot handle or touch or ring up Target merchandise. I have also heard stories of CVS employees being disallowed from working inside Target (this supposedly by Target- like Target takes away that individual's ability to operate the Target cash register) due to doing a price override on a Target product (due to scanning error) but they are not authorized to change the price on a Target product so that employee would not be allowed to work at a Target CVS anymore and would have to be transferred to a freestanding CVS.

I feel like the arrangement may not be as bad as your post or my last paragraph make it out to be though, because when new Target Stores open, they often still include a CVS. If it were really that bad I think more of the new stores would be opening without CVS inside. But notice there is basically no marketing for CVS inside Target, etc. Target completely downplays the presence of a pharmacy inside their store. I do wonder if this hurts Target.

I also wonder how similar the Ulta arrangement is...

[ClownLoach]

Something interesting: Carson City store had a CVS truck backed into the dock… this isn’t a store with a CVS pharmacy though. Wonder how much merch Target outsourced to CVS now…

Nothing is outsourced besides the pharmacy, and the relationship between the companies is very bad. CVS employees are not even allowed to enter a Target break room and when the transfer occurred all employees including the pharmacist lost all Target employee perks entirely, even customary ones it wouldn't have hurt to leave in place such as a store discount. CVS does not source or provide merchandise for Target, and there has been back and forth in regard to the "behind the counter" product that has to be sold by a pharmacist. In some states this is CVS brand product, in others it is Target brand. It's probably just an arrangement with the truck carrier vendor which is very common; the Walmart by my old house always had Albertsons trucks on their dock and there wasn't an Albertsons for 5+ miles... They had a deal for staging when there wasn't an available dock door at the DC up the road. These situations are very common actually.

At this point CVS should just operate like a tenant. Similar to how the haircut place, Subway, etc. operate as a tenant in Wal Mart.

Target provides cash management services to CVS and not much more. They use a Target cash register to ring up the CVS sales in Target. This is another source of problems. Customer service would dictate if I am picking up a prescription from CVS inside Target, and I also want to buy a vitamin or some OTC item from the aisle right there I can pay for it at the pharmacy. However this is another point of tension with CVS and Target- some CVS have been given the impression they cannot handle or touch or ring up Target merchandise. I have also heard stories of CVS employees being disallowed from working inside Target (this supposedly by Target- like Target takes away that individual's ability to operate the Target cash register) due to doing a price override on a Target product (due to scanning error) but they are not authorized to change the price on a Target product so that employee would not be allowed to work at a Target CVS anymore and would have to be transferred to a freestanding CVS.

I feel like the arrangement may not be as bad as your post or my last paragraph make it out to be though, because when new Target Stores open, they often still include a CVS. If it were really that bad I think more of the new stores would be opening without CVS inside. But notice there is basically no marketing for CVS inside Target, etc. Target completely downplays the presence of a pharmacy inside their store. I do wonder if this hurts Target.

I also wonder how similar the Ulta arrangement is...

There is hostility in the store between the management and CVS for some of the reasons you discussed (cash management issues, entry to unauthorized spaces, anti-poaching non compete policy etc.). The pharmacy doesn't have room for a break room, so really they should be able to use the Target break room. I do not see why they shouldn't get a discount at Target as discussed too, it isn't going to break the company... AND they're held accountable to Target policies as discussed, so if for example they were to put merchandise from the store on hold during their break Target could effectively "ban" the employee by removing their register access. Some employees were happy at Target and got a position as a low level pharmacy tech (the lowest level position that is basically a glorified cashier); they were allowed to work shifts in pharmacy and elsewhere in the store and could get full time hours but they were permanently transferred to CVS and are now ineligible to work for Target due to the non-complete, only getting a handful of hours. They should have been given a choice to transfer to another department and only the Pharmacist should have been "acquired" but not the non-professional staff.

For the relationship issue I should have clarified this to be at the store level only.

The Ulta arrangement seems to be 100% run by Target employees who just take online learning courses to learn about the product. All Target price tags. I have not seen any brand vendors in store yet. Most Target stores are already cordoning off the department with ropes and using a mobile checkout app to force purchasing in the department and limiting access to one customer at a time. I think Target's shrink concerns are going to kill this joint venture.

[Alpha8472]

Target needs to realize that it should not be treating CVS employees as enemies. A pharmacist is constantly asked for recommendations throughout the day by customers.

A pharmacist can either recommend over the counter medications from Target or tell the customer that prescription medication is better.

Target could lose out on thousands of dollars a day. Vitamins, cough syrups, cold remedies, nasal rinses, nasal sprays, etc. We all know that if the pharmacist encourages these sales, Target would make more money. If the pharmacist hates Target, the pharmacist can tell the truth and say none of these over the counter remedies will work. You need prescription antibiotics, prescription sleep medication, or prescription cholesterol medication.

It was a mistake to introduce CVS inside of Target where the employees compete with each other for the customer's money. The pharmacist would push for prescription medication and vaccines sold by CVS instead of recommending something sold by Target.