Lowes Out of Stock Scenario

I'd say that if Lowe's wants their employees to recommend their app to customers, then they have some major training to do.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

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Lowes associates are 0 for 19 in app recommendation, for me.
Pardon me for asking such an obvious question, but if it's such an important program to Lowe's that they are measuring it, wouldn't you think the message would have filtered down to the stores? I could be wrong, but I've heard that the bonuses of the store's management are partly based on the MS scores. if so, it's puzzling.

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
Maybe they want to measure the effectiveness of training employees, so they are acquiring a baseline BEFORE they do the training. Then they will do the training and have us all go back again. Stranger things have happened.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008
Never has the app been mentioned to me. Yes, you will get the shop, no bonus.

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Alesia
Shopping id MO
1 out of 25 for me

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008
I have never had any associate mention the app either. For the out of stock, I usually choose a seasonal item. Snow blower in the summer, patio furniture in the winter, for example.
Well since the point of the out of stock scenario is to have someone mention an app, I try to pick something that would be hard to find. I mean, ceiling fans are great and all but how could you not find them? There's a giant lit double aisle in the front of the store. I tend to go for tool kits or curtains, and there's a particular coffeepot that is never in stock.

App mentions for me, 0 for 19.
CoffeeQueen Wrote:
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> Well since the point of the out of stock scenario
> is to have someone mention an app, I try to pick
> something that would be hard to find. I mean,
> ceiling fans are great and all but how could you
> not find them? There's a giant lit double aisle in
> the front of the store. I tend to go for tool kits
> or curtains, and there's a particular coffeepot
> that is never in stock.
>
> App mentions for me, 0 for 19.


They don't stock all of the ceiling fan option in the aisle... It'd be impossible for them to do so. That's why they have catalogues at the front of the aisle, so that people can choose what they want and order it.

For example, they may have a certain model on display, in a color/blade size, but not the other colors/blade sizes which are also available for that model.

When I bought the ceiling fans for my home, I chose the model I wanted out of the displays, but chose a larger blade size, and natural wood blades. (The display model was white and only had 14" blades)

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Plan the work. Work the plan.
All true, but my instructions are to pretend to be lost and let someone assist me and walk me to the correct department. If I'm looking for an out of stock lightbulb it's pretty silly to be wandering in the paint aisle when the lighting one is so obvious. JMO. BTW, I'm new, nice to meet you. grinning smiley
Most of us determine our OOS item before going, and plant ourselves in that general area and look lost. Saves a bit of time.

Nice to meet you!!

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Plan the work. Work the plan.
i've gone so far as to say something like, "There should be an app for this kind of thing," while holding my smart phone...no luck, yet.
You are already supposed to be in the right department for the out of stock item. The app or their terminal tells them where each item is down to the row number and spot and also shows inventory in the store and when more stock is arriving. It is actually a very cool app. The aisle number and spot differ from one store to another for the exact same item. Almost all of them lead me to the empty spot even when inventory is showing 1. The 1 means that they have one unit set up on display but not for sale, that it an out of stock item. An item that needs to be ordered from a catalog is not an out of stock item, it is a catalog item, or maybe a special order item, but not an out of stock item.

Another one walked me to the empty spot on the shelf today. Never mentioned the app even after my phone happened to ring and I silenced it.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008
I did my first one of these today and just described the out of stock item by its name and not place the stock number or sku # in the report.

Am I going to get a rejected shop?

The first item I tried was in the bulb isle as suggested earlier in this thread. The helpfull employee pulled down a box and restocked it and handed me one. So I moved on to plumbing. Found an empty fitting box. I even looked above to see if there more with that number on them. Get the employee to help me find it and he starts digging around the boxes around it and finds the part discarded in the wrong box. It took me a third attempt in the paint department before I found something that was really out of stock. Then I went with a small touch up sized can of Minwax stain/wax and the employee offered to sell me the next size up can. I rejected that idea and appeared cheap. He then offered to check stock at another store for me.
Is it okay to give the initials of the company that does these shops? I live out in the country and Lowes has a store near me, so would like to do this one.
scanman - I like LARGE boxes like fans and chandeliers and stuff like that. It is hard for them to be misplaced, and the part numbers are printed in large numbers on each box. Bathroom medicine cabinets also work well in that regard, as do vanities.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008
I've never had the app mentioned at all. I've had associates use their handhelds to look up items or use the store computer, but never the app. I've looked up out of stock items on the computer only to find that they are not available in the store at all or they have been restocked. I generally walk through the back aisles, find an empty spot on a shelf, then find an associate and ask if they have XYZ in stock. They walk me to the spot in the store that it is supposed to be and I proceed from there. I agree, a shovel in Florida would get a shop rejected I think--and probably out you as a shopper since it's such an odd thing to ask for there. I have had good luck finding out of stock items in the bathroom supply department. Lightbulbs are another good thing to look for since you can observe empty spots as you walk into the store and not seem obvious about it. One time I was looking for a specific cooler I wanted to buy for real and it was out of stock so that was handy.
For the money that you get from these shops and the time it takes in the store, then filling out the report. I called the scheduler back and told them that I wouldn't do the other five shops that they had me set up for.
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