Joined: 21 Sep 2003
Posts: 589
| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:14 am Post subject: ad sets | |
| Now I KNOW Sears has hit the panic button.The sign count/ad set for Sunday is insane! It is like a post Black Friday ad.We have never had this big of an ad BEFORE Black Friday. Small appliances has over 1800 signs just in that one dept. Even the ad itself is really thick.Oh...and let's not forget we haven't been able to hire any help.I looked at the Nov. signing calendar and we have 2 Friday night ad sets in Nov.PLUS all areas are to start the Black Friday ad set at 3:00 that Weds.With the exception of the door busters customers will be able to get the Black Friday prices after 3:00 Weds.We also have door busters on the Sat. after T'day.On the good side....at least we won't have to be there until midnight or later Weds. night setting the thing like we have in years past.I don't know how they expect us to get these huge ad sets done when I have 50% (literally) of the help I had this time last year. | |
Joined: 19 Oct 2003
Posts: 2625
| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 3:51 pm Post subject: | |
But if I recall correctly thirdtime you are soon able to retire! Hang in there...Oh Maybe, After the market crash and the rip off of 401k accounts nation wide maybe not!  
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Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 1716
| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:51 pm Post subject: | |
1800 signs for one department?  I suppose they give you about 10 payroll hours to get this accomplished, so all you have to do is get a sign up every 4 seconds. 
This is getting really weird even for Sears. If they are going to put every item in the joint on sale why not just figure out how to make the leap to everyday low prices? |
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Joined: 22 Jul 2008
Posts: 204
Location: HELL
| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 6:52 pm Post subject: | |
 HEY!, these people went to college! They know what they are doing? 
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Joined: 14 Jul 2006
Posts: 332
| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 7:55 pm Post subject: | |
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With D08--yeah, it's about 1800 signs. A small part of that is D20 which the sales folks set...the rest is Divsion 8--small appliances and furniture!
I find that a good chunk of the signs are B1 stickers for the kitchen gadgets that go on sale. My work around? I have generic R4's that tell you the sale--"20% off all kitchen gadgets". Instead of cluttering up the aisle with all those tacky stickers, it's clean looking and makes sense. Why put up stickers saying that this tong is 40 cents off when you can just put up an R4? Saves time! Also, they should just stop printing out all those B1s for kitchen gadgets and also R2s for D08 and D96. There aren't very many things that take R2s and it's more cost efficient just to let the associates request the 10 to 20 R2s that you need instead of printing out a 100 to 200 per ad set. |
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Joined: 05 Dec 2007
Posts: 279
| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 10:01 pm Post subject: | |||
I hear you there in D14 there is 2 of the same signs some times three of R2's and then the R4 (which I only use about 4 of them) I end up throwing some many signs away I swear by the end of the year I have thrown enough paper away to fill a box of R2 and R4. Just think of the money that was wasted. |
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Joined: 09 Sep 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Oh
| Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:46 am Post subject: | |||
Our DM has a litter of kittens if each and every item does not have it's very own sticky.
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Joined: 21 Sep 2003
Posts: 589
| Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 9:27 am Post subject: ad sets | |
| Or...how about with the lawn mowers when they would print 4 signs for ONE mower? Like if it came with high wheel or low wheel.I'd get 1 sign with both style #'s on it,1 with just one of the styles,and 1 with just the other one.4 signs for every mower that had different versions? Same with the lawn tractors.I also have the same thing in sporting good when they put the weights on sale. I get R 6's AND B1's for every weight plate.Just for grins and giggles I asked the signing help desk once why this was and they told me that IF you were set to MSP/plannos then you should need the size signs they download. I the said "I don't believe the MSP OR the plannos call for 2 different sized signs for the weight plates?" "Oh" the person said "that is because we download the signs for ALL stores and we have no way of knowing what size each store uses." Didn't you just tell me if I was set correctly I should need what you download? I know I am in for a sea of B1's when they start putting trim and toys on sale.I have no "extra" help this year so guess what? Those 2 areas will be getting "created" signs that say "all trim/toys X% off".Everything is bin labeled so if you can't estimate what the sale price is that's not my problem.How many years did we slap generic % off signs on racks and never had an issue with it? It doesn't say much for the schools now a days when an associate can't even figure out what something would be with their discount without going through the register or using a calculator.I have to laugh at the powers that be sitting in Hoffman.Cut hours and seasonal help and then download all these unnecessary signs that get thrown out week after week.Oh...and speaking of cutting costs....I got told the other day that our supply guy can't order a toner cartridge or paper for 2 more weeks.If we weren't throwing out all these signs then maybe we wouldn't be going through paper/cartridges so fast? I just don't understand why these idiots can't see how much money would be saved if they would just come up with a better system or go back to reusable % off signs.Our supply guy told me once that the paper for B1's is the most expensive,yet they continue to print them for every dang gadget in HF,every grill accessory,and soon....every ornament and toy? I know the R2 paper has to be expensive too,and eventhough my endcaps and bulk stacks are set according to MSP I always get a slew of them for stuff that actually needs a 5 or 6. I know what you mean about HF and the R2's.....there are just so many endcaps up there and they get twice as many R'2s as they have endcaps or bulk stacks.While I am on a roll here.....what about when it prints 1 or 2 signs on a sheet and we have to throw the rest of the sheet out? Can't re use the paper once 1 or 2 signs have been torn off,and you only need just so much scratch paper.They have this big push on that we are going "green" and that's why we are soliciting email addresses but yet they continue to waste paper week after week after week with thrown out signs? DUH! | |
Joined: 09 Sep 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Oh
| Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject: Re: ad sets | |||
My favorite is getting R4s, R5s, R6s, AND B1s, for snow blowers. WTH?!  What makes it sadder is I then have to go in and request the R2s that I actually NEED for the snow blowers. 
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Joined: 14 Jul 2006
Posts: 332
| Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:26 am Post subject: | |
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Snow blowers...you know, I wanted to slap whoever sent in a snow blower store sign to a Florida store. Hm, yeah...like we Floridians need a giant sign that advertises snow blowers.
Yeah, TTB, I hate how, if you are using R6's, and need a few signs from different divisions, you waste R6's because it likes to print each division on its own damn piece of paper. I always generic sign toys when I set hardware. Never had the time to individually sign that crap. Besides, half the time the stickers get ripped off by grubby little kid hands. AND, also, did anyone set kids today? What a damn mess! None of the signs were right! UGH. Thank god I spent most of the time in HF and I didn't get that done to my satisifaction...too many customers needed my help because the HF cac person has no idea what they are doing 9 times outta 10. Today's ad set just sucked. |
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Joined: 13 Jul 2003
Posts: 266
| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 1:54 am Post subject: | |
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I think there were about 10,000 signs Sunday, for the whole store. We knew it would be a pain in the ass, and of course, it was. I can't believe the mistakes that are made on signs! One had a $60 article of clothing, that was listed as on sale for $19, and then in large numbers it showed 25% off. Come on...who are these idiots?? The menus are wrong way too often. But...hey...it's fourth quarter, and we'll all survive it, just like other years. I heard that the snics will be straightened out next year!! Yeah....like I believe that
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Joined: 23 May 2008
Posts: 150
| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:42 am Post subject: | |
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One of the main reasons this company is failing financially is the signing is a huge waste of money.
This company never learns. |
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Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 4996
| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:57 am Post subject: proof read | |
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I could see somebody mistaking a 2 for a 7 but 19$ or 41$ off of 60$ is about 60% off,not 75%/25% off.Throw 10-15K sign on big promotions-what else is new? NOBODY at the higher level ever wants to make waves or nobody wants to hear it:we're killing too many trees,the printer will only do this,don't have hours etc .
Just remember;if you voluntarily jump 3 ft this time,next time they will force you to jump 4 ft. Do what you can do with the hours,bodies and equipment you actually have.If you only complete 60% you put 60%,do not fudge.BUT everyone in the country must do that and it will never happen.Too many are chasing the cheese like a mouse in a maze. |
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Joined: 21 Sep 2003
Posts: 589
| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:27 am Post subject: ad sets | |
| What a waste of paper in D6 and D71 with the first sale on game room and trees. We got 1's,4's,5's,6's and 10's for every game table and tree.Mind you...the new display menu stands that show all the things(that stand in the aisle) came from corporate with sign holder's attatched(or spaces for a certain size holder).The game room one takes 6's and the tree/outdoor decoration one takes 5's.The display trees take 4's and the display game tables take 5's.That's TWO sizes we needed for each NOT FIVE! Why on earth would anyone need 1's or 10's? I can just imagine when they put trim or ALL toys on sale.Are we going to get 5 sizes for them too? Even if they just downloaded one sized sign for something it would help.Then,if you needed another size for a bulk stack/end cap/gift bar etc. then you could request it.But no...they insist on downloading every possible sized sign anyone nation wide could possibly need.I am guessing that the plannogram people have no interaction with the signing people? I remember last year they would print 5's and 2's for tree ornaments.There is NO reason we would EVER need a 5 or a 2 for an ornament! One of these days I am going to get a run down of what each type of signing paper costs from the supply guy and estimate how many dollars I threw in the trash,and then when they tell me thay have to cut my hours tell them that I just threw the equivalent of someone's productive hours in the trash.They are going to cut way back on print ads(or so I heard)but they are going to continue wasting card stock which is more expensive then plain "paper"? In my store,we are also wasting payroll because our sign writer is not in the HUB it is in our room so WE have to print and sort the signs.When we take 4-5 hours(or longer) to print and sort 5,000 signs(or more) when we only need maybe half of them,then that is not only wasting paper,it is wasting precious payroll hours.Oh well.....what do I know? | |
Joined: 23 May 2008
Posts: 150
| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 5:25 pm Post subject: | |
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Do you really think that the people in charge of these things have any reading or math skills?
The management and leads in my store are high school drop outs who got promoted to management because they are on welfare/food stamps and don't want to do any physical labor. I would imagine the people in charge at the home office who design the signing are the same idiot types who run the stores. |
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Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 92
| Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 1:51 am Post subject: | |
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[quote="LuisLuis"]Do you really think that the people in charge of these things have any reading or math skills?
quote] People in charge actually having reading and math skills?? Most of them don't even have people skills let alone reading and math skills!! 
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Joined: 21 Sep 2003
Posts: 589
| Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:19 am Post subject: ad sets | |
| Funny someone should mention adding or spelling.....can't tell you how many signs I get that are mis-spelled.Most of the time I catch it but who has time to,or why should WE have to, proof read signs? | |