Anyone here a Tesco dot com Picker?

[BigOnBooks]

I have an interview coming up for this role. I really need the job but haven't had an interview in many years.

Can anyone give any advice on what the interview could be like? Also what a job as a picker is actually like?

Well done on getting the job!!! How was the interview?

I'm interested to hear you have an hourly target because I go to Tesco to do my weekly shopping at about 8am and whilst there are A LOT of pickers around, so many of them stand around chatting! I suppose they must still be hitting their targets? 🤷🏻‍♀️
Also, I'm probably being thick but apart from being on your feet for hours, what makes it really physical?

Oh and do you do one person's shop at a time? My husband seems to think they're doing more than one order at a time. I'm so intrigued!!!

Oh and I once had a random substitution and the delivery guy said the funniest one he'd ever seen was someone ordered sanitary towels and they substituted them for razor blades! 🙈

Also, I'm probably being thick but apart from being on your feet for hours, what makes it really physical?

Bending down to get stuff, finding stuff in the stockroom if it's not on shelves, stretching up to get heavy stuff down etc. It's a surprisingly tough job on your body and supermarket floors are solid so it's really not great for your back.

Oh and do you do one person's shop at a time? My husband seems to think they're doing more than one order at a time. I'm so intrigued!!!

No, you do multiple jobs at the same time. When I was there, pickers would do one "section" of the supermarket at a time, but that was a long time ago so it may have changed!

rainbowstardrops A typical shift for many pickers is 4am-8am so I guess the pickers you see have probably just completed their tasks and are having a catch up before they go home. With a pick rate of 180 that means you get 20 seconds per item to locate it, check for damage and the date then pack it in the tote so that it doesn't get damaged, there isn't time to stop and chat whilst actually picking.
I worked for Sainsburys who use trolleys that take 8 totes at a time which means it can be 8 separate customers, I think its 6 at Tesco. That isn't a problem as the handset tells you one item at a time what to pick then which tote to place it in, scanning the item barcode then the tote barcode checks its been placed in the right place.
Different parts of each customer's order will be picked by someone different, chilled, frozen and ambient items are all picked separately as they need to be stored in a different area before delivery. The computer will also have calculated the size and weight of each item to ensure that it all fits in the tote without taking it overweight. The computer also needs to calculate that all the totes will fit on the van and not take that overweight. Even the van has to be packed correctly so that weight is always distributed evenly across the axles as deliveries are made.
Considering orders can be changed up until 11pm the night before and picking starts 4am it blows my mind that it all works as well as it does and customers generally get their deliveries within their one hour slots. If a few customers suddenly decide to add a number of heavy items the evening before that can change the need for one van to two.

Were you required to do a lot of overtime?

It was during the pandemic when I was picking so there was sometimes sudden staff shortages when the so called ping-demic happened, at one point we suddenly had a quarter of the department isolating at home as they had been near one driver who was positive, that was a tough week with loads of overtime. I'm not sure how things are now but I don't think there is too much.

Congratulations @BigOnBooks , very happy for you. What hours are you working and when do you start?

I remember my first shift, I was absolutely knackered, but you do get used to it in time. It is physical, sometimes your trolley is very heavy and unfortunately, the steering on them is not always brilliant. Making sure the customer has the best produce and date you can give them is important. Some of our younger members of staff seem to think speed is the most important thing, but really, customer satisfaction is.

You can override the substitution that the pickstick suggests if you want to. If it suggests something stupid, substitute for something sensible. There are some things that there is no real substitute for, if you are not sure, ask your team support at the end of the pick and let them make the decision. If you are not sure of something on the shop floor, ask your fellow pickers.

The pickrate is how many items you have to pick in an hour. That includes getting from your department to the shop floor and back again. You won't hit it to start, but it will come.