merchandising execution team

I would like to find out why the met team is allowed to come in a store and do a part of their work load and everyone else who works at thd is responsible for what they don't complete.

Our team very rarely does not complete a project, if they run out of time then they are out of time, but they will communicate what needs to be done to get it finished. Just like anyone working in the store they can't get overtime either, unfortunately unlike you or I they aren't usually at your store the next day to finish their project. If this is a common occurrence then it is a problem of time management and someone on your salaried management team needs to address it with their manager.

I imagine if you really thought about it, most every department at the depot have associates leaving "projects" for the next shift coming in, like packdown, aisles maintenance, cleaning, etc.

bull shit met never complete any project
when they work in my dept we always have to finsh thery shit u have 10 to 20 person and can not get on aisel done

Listen I am a salary member and they dont do anything. They stare at pieces of paper(planograms) and bitch when I have to fix them. They leave crap(clearance) in carts all over the place, because its not to "planogram" and scream when I work it into the run,and note it on the f#@#$%$% planogram this is a company wide problem, they need to go away.

emeril wrote:

Our team very rarely does not complete a project, if they run out of time then they are out of time, but they will communicate what needs to be done to get it finished. Just like anyone working in the store they can't get overtime either, unfortunately unlike you or I they aren't usually at your store the next day to finish their project. If this is a common occurrence then it is a problem of time management and someone on your salaried management team needs to address it with their manager.
I imagine if you really thought about it, most every department at the depot have associates leaving "projects" for the next shift coming in, like packdown, aisles maintenance, cleaning, etc.

MET sit at the milwork desk, take it over when there there, eat there micky d's on the floor, make it a mess, use up all the paper in the printer never finish a project don't order or fill any of the brochers there suppost to, sleep in the breakroom and nobody does anything about it...they are a WASTE and a DISCRACE!!!! to HD

Like in all stores you have people who work and people who dont. if your met is not doing there job report it to your store mgmt, they have direct contact with the merm who will fix the issue (there job depends on the met working, so vendors dont come back in as a replacement). There are vendors pushing Atl to cut back on met and allow vendors back in. Met is a profit center, 5% of all sales are rebated back to pay for the program, do the math. 17.8 billion for 2008.

If your not part of the fix you are part of the problem.

I told the asm, store manger. My store mng said on town hall meating " there is nothing she coud do"

the sad truth is that the met team will replace a good number of the regular store associates i know this to be a fact. in the not so distant future HD stores across the country will start firing 10 to 13 associates per store and making up for the work load by using ......you guessed it the met jerks. this is suppose to save the company money but since 95% of all the met members i have talked to don't know shit when it comes to building stuff its gonna bite them in the ass and it kinda already is just check the stock price

the met program is a joke full of a bunch of jokers milking the system this fact is known all the way up the chain. they started the program to save money by eliminating the contract merchandising company's and instead switched to in house associates, incidentally there is no set pay range or guide lines for pay for said MET associates. the way they work makes no sense they are suppose to set bays to the plangram with no regard to the map system so when they leave the store associates say fuck the planograms and fuck the met jerks and they do what they are told which is to go off the map. so then when the met team comes back all the work they did is undone but guess what, the supervisors and even DM's do give a shit they actually prefer it that way because it provides what they refer to as "job security" and besides what do they care the vendors are the ones footing the bill. so HD looks good because they are supposedly creating all these jobs but there really just taking the jobs of the contractors or in may cases just hiring their employees for less pay and putting those company out of business which supposedly saves the vendors money which lets them keep their price from going up any more than they already have this in turn is suppose to keep the company stock price competitive but as we can all see its not working very well and some might even say its counter productive well

except of course for those of you who trade on margins wink wink. I'm going to let u in on a secret that no one is suppose to know the truth that my old DM told me along with all the district 220 MET members apparently HD is going to start firing a lot of regular in sore associates because they figure why pay regular in store associates when we can call it the "merchandising execution teams" and get the vendors to pay them. coincidentally store managers are not doing there associate any favors by using the met team as store coverage which is an extremely common practice in D 220 and I'm sure this is something happening all over the country. by now you may have figured that yes i am a former MET member. so really what the vendors should do and a lot of them are starting to do as they figure out the kinda bull shit HD is trying to pull is tell them to go fuck them selves and that if they what to sell there product than they need to use the merchandisers directly employed by the vendors them selves

To all the concerned people. Since when does the values of company on the wagon wheel disapear just because we dont like a program or understand the ins and outs of it. As well when does it make it ok to bash your peers and employer. At the End of the day the idea of MET is smart buisness. It controls payroll, customer service, ordering, presentation and keeps any instore issues "IN-HOUSE" meaning keeps problems from leeking to our shareholders!. There fore we bonus better, store enviroment is improved and we higher at higher wages. Over all we are a buisness not Project hospitality. We are in it for the profit. Unfortunetly we are quick to judge and complain or use fowl language to our peers because we had a bad experiance with MET. Example- You had a bad slice of pizza yesterday at a terrible place just because it was terrible doesnt mean chances are it sucks else where and you wont eat it ever agian. It is the same thing with MET. Communicate professionaly work together. Dont come with only complaints. I mean come on we work for a fortune 500 company, so act like it and work effectively to adress concerns professionally. We fix problems everyday for our customers why cant we do it with our peers. Just like any new program there is goin to be querks to work out. For store managers who dont understand planograms this is ashame. Planograms help overall presentation, customer service, help you under stand local demographics, culture and helps department heads who have the toughest job in the buisness run there departments and have them grand opening ready at most times. If an item doesnt sell and is in a planogram it can be turned off. If there is no planogram than you use the VCS report. Which is the stores bible of sku's and onhands. What makes sence in Atlanta may not make sence in Metro or surburben Stores. Its called communication there is no problem in working something into or out of your set as long as it is approved. Just as you have to have it approved by your DM or Merchant to roll something out in your stores, so do we. It troubles me as an employee of the best company around period!!! to see so much animosity because of a single experiance, word of mouth and etc. Any one on my team is held to the company and my standards as a leader, carts left is unexceptable and any leader who cant conduct the 10/80/10 RULE or use the "Carrot Principle" to execute gameplans, projects and succeed shouldnt be in leadership. As for not completeing tasks it is frowned apon just like in a store. However it may take place because we are payed by the vendor not Depot. Yes we recieve a check but it is a vendor funded program. Hours are held and allocated much stricter than a store. However a gameplan to finish the following day or week needs to be signed off by the MET Regional HD Manager in conjuction with the MEM and Store Manager. If this doesn't take place In your District then I trully wish the best of leadership and luck possible for you as an associate, vendor, management team and ultimetly our life blood "THE CUSTOMER".

MET is not there to replace aprons, it is there in order for the company to afford MORE aprons on the floor.

met member wrote:

the sad truth is that the met team will replace a good number of the regular store associates i know this to be a fact. in the not so distant future HD stores across the country will start firing 10 to 13 associates per store and making up for the work load by using ......you guessed it the met jerks. this is suppose to save the company money but since 95% of all the met members i have talked to don't know shit when it comes to building stuff its gonna bite them in the ass and it kinda already is just check the stock price

MET team is a great concept but desperately needs improvement. When there are an equal amount of people in a building at the same time as the store has for the whole day, makes it easy for people to disappear and makes performance accountability almost impossible. Why do 60 of them have to be in any one spot at the same time, if it truly is about helping the customers then spread the wealth.

I have never had any problem with the MET team. I am a Dept. Sup and I welcome their help when they come in. I get with the other supervisors over my depts and use them to help me reset bays and do specific tasks. I use them as extra aprons. Stop complaining...the Met teams are just like any other sales associate on the floor. If they have no directions then they do nothing. If you have problems with specific MET associates get with thier supervisor or manager. Easy...

The MET team is a great idea. It is unfortunate that they have hired all of their people from stealing them from our stores. Not one of them, in my store, was hired outside the company, taking valuable employees out and off the floors. Money we have invested in them, training to be sales people on the floor. The planograms are not specific enough for stores and the MET people often have 10 bay sets that have to go into 6 bays? The buyers are detached from the stores, not knowing what is selling where, just send 10 to every store, ok?

manny m wrote:

I told the asm, store manger. My store mng said on town hall meating " there is nothing she coud do"

Atleast the vendors took pride in their product. Met dont give a hoot about it. I also agree they leave way to much crap on the floor. You walk in and find carts full of merchandise. As for planograms- they need to learn how to read them. Half the time its the wrong one and we are the ones who have to fix their mistakes.

How many MET associates does it take to ACTUALLY finish a job?

a. 10
b. 20
c. 30
d. unknown because they've never finished anything!!!

That would be a big ol' D in my store too! I can't tell you all how many times I've given these nimrods my IMS cart and come back after lunch to find they either hadn't done a damn thing, OR (and this is the one that REALLY chaps my hide!) they've priced the bay WRONG!!! OR, even more fun, when you discover that they've only moved the facing products around and six inches back you find what used to be in the home, still sitting there!!! I especially like that they get to spend their first couple of hours every morning gossiping or making up new rap songs. It's almost as if they're Teamsters...you know where one person kinda works and the other nine are on their "break". Hey wait, I wanna be a Teamster too! No fair!!!.....grumble grumble grumble

Why are Met team allowed to destroy a display that has been designed to sell our market demands, and replace it with an unsafe display that confuses the customer with the big sellers being removed and hidden in the overheads. This is the future of HD?

Jessica wrote:

MET is not there to replace aprons, it is there in order for the company to afford MORE aprons on the floor.
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More aprons on the floor, MY ASS. that's a big ass lie. one associate to cover three department some days! tell the lazy asm's and manager to get their aprons on the floor!