The problem with last-minute truck changes

Why does it always feel like the worst shifts start with someone saying, “Oh by the way, the truck’s arriving early today”? That’s exactly what happened this morning. We were supposed to have a regular freight drop at noon, but it rolled in at 8AM.

Half the CAP2 team wasn’t even there yet. Only three of us were available to unload, and the pallets were stacked higher than usual because they doubled up the freight. No callouts from the DC. No heads-up from management. We’re just standing there trying to figure out how to move product faster than we physically can.

Every time this happens, the store falls apart. OGP gets backed up because there’s no floor space, customers start tripping over pallets, and the coaches just look at us like, “Why aren’t you done yet?” Maybe because we weren’t given a chance to plan for this?

We pushed as fast as we could, but we left pallets on the floor all day. There’s just no way around it when nobody tells you the truck schedule until it’s literally backing into the dock.