What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

All the Target threads reminded me of two recent things that happened to me at Target that made me wonder "HUH?"

1: They were out of a product I wanted, I go to the customer service counter to ask for a rain check. The first thing the clerk asks me is if I know the product number. I tell her no and I tell her what the name of the actual product is. She just rolls her eyes and begrudgingly picks up an ad.

2: Today I bought two four packs of the Archer Farms Sarsaparilla. When I get to the register I realize somebody else took a bottle out of the four pack and replaced it with a bottle of ginger beer. I point it out to the cashier and ask if somebody can get a new four pack for me. I figured it would be faster. A manager comes over, gets on his walkie talkie, reads JUST the product number to somebody on the other end and never tells them what the name of the product actually is. Clerk comes up...with entirely the wrong flavor (not sarsaparilla, not ginger beer, but the orange flavor.) This time I roll my eyes, and I just get it myself.

Which made me wonder...why can't Target seem to function using the NAMES of actual products? Suddenly it's just all these product/part numbers and when they expect customers to just rattle them off the top of their heads that just doesn't seem right. I realize they can probably look it up by a number faster in some data base, but still...who is the jackass who created that database?

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

I just took a quick break from watching DVD item 9973463 and saw this thread. You owe me a new 345235 for spitting 5365446 through my nose on my 423565 TV/monitor.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

as hard as you tried, this post just didn't make me laugh. I don't know what is wrong with me :shrug: cuz that is pretty damn funny:clap: the OP's thread was funny too

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

So, you we're watching Pat Benatar?
http://shop.lovefilm.com/lovefilm/9973463.product :)

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

Target is just producing comedy gold these days, I tell ya!

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

The rain check thing makes sense to me, since the lookup is based on the DCPI number from what I recall from working there and there isn't an easy way to enter anything in by title.

The other thing about grabbing another item for you just seems odd and out of the ordinairy.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

If that's how their system is set up, that's how their system is set up, but it's pretty asinine to ask the customer if they know the number off the top of their head. And then roll your eyes and act put out because you have to look it up yourself.

By the way, the bitch didn't even let me get the rain check. She said it wasn't a product she can give a rain check on. I said, "It's on sale, you are out of it, I would appreciate a rain check." She said the same thing again and turned the screen to me, as if I cared. I walked out, called the customer care line, got a coupon off my next purchase and the manager gave me the rain check when I went back.

And the customer care operator looked up the same item and said she should have given a rain check.

She was just a stupid, lazy bitch.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

It's actually a DPCI, standing for DePartment, Class, Item, with the number broke into 3 parts representing those three categories (for example DPCI 058-12-4523 would represent Item 4523 in Class 12 of Department 58).

There really was no other way to look up on item on the handhelds as the store. However, if you do know the DPCI, you can find all sorts of info on the item, like the exact shelf location, how many are in stock, if there's any in back, and where in back the items are.

At the store I worked at, the department managers would take a flyer for the next week around the store and write down all the DPCIs for the ad items, then make copies for customer service and the managers.

Also, you shouldn't have to go to customer service to get a rain check. Anyone with a handheld in the store should be able to set up a "raincheck ticket" for an out-of-stock item, after making sure it's OOS and not just out on the floor, which any cashier can then scan to print out a raincheck.

As for the soda item, it's possible that the DPCI for that is for all the flavors of that brand, like an "assorted" item. The guy grabbing it might not have noticed that.

I think you answered your own question there. It's not the system that pissed you off, it was the customer service rep, who was rude as wasn't following the system according to your account of other employees.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

She probably asked because generally they put out little raincheck request forms out on the floor when certain items run out of stock, that ask for those numbers (which are on every single yellow price tag on the shelf). Beyond those, they probably don't have expect a lot of folks asking for rain checks.

The rain check policy has always been weird, as I worked at Target about 6-7 years ago when I was in college. Technically you can punch in the code to print a rain check for anything, as it was just a certain code + the dpci number. But I recall being told different things, such as not to give out rain checks for certain sale items.

I think things have also changed lately as the rainchecks said that you could take the same percentage off a different item, and people were using those to get discounts and I think they did away with that.

Oops, typo.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

Wow, Jay G, you know your Target stuff. Think you could help with the Icee dilemma? :lol:

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

I wasn't going to be buying anything else though. It would have been pointless to stand in line at the register waiting for a cashier when I wasn't going to be buying anything else.

I can't say I've ever seen these request forms on anything in the store.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

I didn't say you couldn't still go to customer service, I just didn't know if you thought you had to. It's still probably best to flag someone down on the floor to scan the item and give you a request ticket, since often they'll scan the item and find that it's not out of stock, but in back. If not, you can then take the ticket to CS and save the lookup time there (although I'm not excusing the CS rep you encountered in any way).

Fixed. In your post, it looked like you were quoting me here as well.

However, I will say that when I worked there, every morning employees were supposed to go around the departments and scan all the ad items. If it was out on the floor, they'd request more from the back. If it was out completely, they were to set up a raincheck request ticket pad and set up a substitute item if possible (some items didn't have obvious substitutes, and other items like DVDs and CDs were not qualified to have substitutions made).

If you've never seen the raincheck request pads, either your store is really lackadaisical, or their not really OOS of the items in question, it's just out on the floor when you're looking.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

Sadly, I never worked in the Food Court.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

That's been my experience with the vast majority of Target employees.

The sending the guy to get the soda with just the sku is asinine. Of course he was going to come back with the wrong item.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

Requesting an item by DPCI probably works correctly 95% of the time, and is a lot faster than just giving a floor employee a product description. Looking up the DPCI will give you the exact aisle, which side, how far down that side, and which shelf.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

This must have been one of those 5% times. My point is, he obviously was in the right area. Had he been given the DPCI, and a description of what he was looking for, he probably would have come back with the right item. Going just by the DPCI assumes that the item is actually in the right place, which in Target, is not always the case.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

Well, when I worked there, I'd usually read back the description the handheld gave for the item just to make sure I entered the correct DPCI. Since the handheld also gives a description and price for a given DPCI, it's usually enough info to locate the proper item.

In this particular case, the employee got the correct item, but the wrong flavor. This could be because of several reasons. The most likely is that for that particular brand of soda, Target assigned one DPCI to all the flavors, and labeled the item as "assorted." The employee who went to grab the product off the floor didn't notice this and just grabbed the first item on the shelf that matched the description. It's a mistake, but not one that's condemning of the system as a whole.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

A database with a unique numeric primary key? That's INSANE!!!

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

Like I said before:

I'm not condemning the system as a whole, just the way that this particular Target, and others in my experience, is implementing it.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

I don't know...I got my start in the work force at a grocery store, and anybody who works at a grocery store and stocks the shelves gets to know the lay out of the store pretty fast, and knows in general where everything is.

When I worked at the grocery store, if a cashier asked me to run back and grab a 12 pack of regular A&W Root Beer, I would know EXACTLY what the customer wanted. If they sat around with some wireless device trying to figure out a product code and read that off to me, I would look at them like they were freaking crazy.

I understand the system works best for keeping track of inventory. It's a pretty nifty way to help me find out if something is in the back or not without having to rely on an employee who can't find the case of the product and just says they don't have it so they can stop looking. In fact, the other day, the product code thing worked out pretty well...they were out of something, I flagged down a manager and they scanned the tag on the shelf, the device they had said they had more in back, and they used their walkie talkie to get somebody in the back to get the product out to me.

But if you're just needing a clerk to run and get something quick off the shelf, I think sometimes this number thing just complicates the matter.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

Sorry...it's not the system that's flawed, it's the execution of it. Refer to my post directly above for a clearer explanation!

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

It sounds like the system is predicated on stuff being where it is supposed to be and every different item having its own number. In a perfect world, the system would work flawlessly, save for a less than perfect employee. But in the real world, where stuff does get misplaced, or as you saw, more than one item having the same number, the system fails at times.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

You know what system would work just about every time? Knowledgeable employees who know what the names of the products are. I don't even understand what your defense is of this. Did you program it or something?

Which is easier (for everybody involved...the cashier, the manager, the clerk, and the customer)---

1) Customer needs new product. Cashier calls somebody over, asks for an employee to grab another product by the NAME of the product. "Archer Farms Sarsaparilla soda." Employee goes to the pop aisle, locates product, brings it to the register. Easy.

2) Customer needs new product. They call a manager over with some hand held device. Manager takes the product, scans the bar code with the device, gets on his walkie talkie, calls an employee (when other employees are walking by, not to mention would it kill the manager to walk his ass to the pop aisle and grab the product?) on the walkie talkie, reads the product number a couple times before the employee has it. Then the wait begins...a few minutes passes by, customer sees the employee scampering up to the register with the wrong product. Then either the customer can wait for the employees to figure out which number goes with which product on the shelf or they can scamper out there and get it themselves. Which I opted for the latter, but still....this is the system you're defending?

I am not exactly Einstein here, but even my dog can figure out that scenario #1 involves less people, less difficulty, and gets the task done much more quickly.

Sounds like a great system for inventory control/tracking. Fabulous. But it gets in the way of day to day customer service.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

Well A&W Root Beer gets its own DPCI, and the vendor stocks it.

Aside from that, there's maybe one or two people who would know the layout of their department that well, while everyone else relies on the handhelds. One reason is that Target likes messing with the aisles so often; once you memorized one layout, it would be time for it to change.

There's also the possibility of end cap displays and such that run for limited times, sometimes only for the week of a sale, and the handhelds would lead an employee to those locations if the main one was out of stock.

The handhelds also allow new employees, or even just an employee out of their regular department, to locate an item easily. You're assuming the employee on the other end is someone who regularly works in the department, instead of one covering a break, a sick employee, or someone already helping a customer.

They could've easily cut a few steps out of that. Each cashier has a phone. They could've overheaded a floor employee in that department to call, then read the DPCI off the register screen. There's also a walkie extension on the phone.

The other employees could be on break or helping other customers. Don't presume you know that they were free to help you, but just weren't. Also, the person on the walkie is likely already in the correct area, saving time.

I will say that as I walked past the registers while getting off break, I'd sometimes offer to go grab an item if I overheard someone trying to get someone on the walkie talkie. Sometimes though by the time I got to the register aisle to offer help, someone on the walkie would already have the item in hand and be heading towards the register.

As for the register managers, somebody would kill them if they walked away to go grab an item off the floor for someone, probably another customer. Register managers are in high demand and low supply at a store, and usually are managing Customer Service as well. Customers do not like waiting in line.

That could've happened in scenario #1 as well. Maybe the employee misheard the product description. Maybe they heard the product correctly, but someone omitted the size, shape, etc. Maybe it takes them 3 times as long, because they're new and not familiar with the store layout, or the layout just recently changed.

No system is perfect. You had a bad encounter with the current system, or at least the way that store implemented it. It's understandable you're upset. However, it doesn't mean that the DPCI method isn't usually faster and more efficient than giving an employee just a product description.

Re: What is with Target and their product numbers?
 

JayG, no offense, but you really lost my attention to your post after you mentioned some asinine point about A&W that really, really had nothing to do with my point. Pop is down in the pop aisle. If even a new employee can't figure that out, there are plenty of other people out there who need jobs.

I just scanned your post briefly to see if I would care to read it after that, and you wrote something about me being upset. No, I am not upset. Your insistence that I was doesn't make it true, either.

So, based on those two things, why would I give the rest of your post the time of day?