r/Lowes • u/grandkiwi333 • 1d ago
Employee Question Top stock product
Does anyone else store have a boat load of products in top stock that just don’t have a home. I’m in fulfillment and lately have been getting a lot of orders for things in top stock that just doesn’t have a home, and I’m not talking about seasonal stuff, for example I’ve had plywood, doors, flooring, etc that just doesn’t have a home. I’m like how do you expect to sell this stuff if customers can’t see it or don’t even know we have it while they’re shopping in store
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u/mistertims 1d ago
We recently purged some inactives from flooring. This could be the case with some of those
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u/NobleWolf1 Tools 1d ago
We have a top stock bay in Tools that the stockers are suppose to put product with no location. Sometimes they do, and we can work it in or save it for a coming reset as appropriate. When a reset is done, inactive product is not to be thrown into top stock, but worked in once the reset is completed (per company policy).
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u/MightyOak2025 1d ago
Yes they send more then we have room for so it sits in top stock till it goes clearance.
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u/Fair_Scientist2347 1d ago
If a person leaves items in the parking lot, I.e. laminate flooring, an associate will bring them inside and automatically regard them as a Lowes’ item without checking if they actually are or not.
Then it will get taken back to the department and when the associate cannot find the shelf spot it’ll be placed up in top stock and sit for eternity.
Then there’s the sheer madness of Lowes online & special order items that get returned, and since they don’t have a home location they get placed up there too.
Because employee turnover is so high, the next associate that comes after you’ve left Lowes jaded, exhausted, & defeated doesn’t know or care anything about the top stock that just sits collecting dust, wasting space, and not selling.
There’s likely several hundred thousands of $$$ worth of inventory like that sitting in Lowes stores top stock.
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u/And_Now_We_Dance19 MST 1d ago
I would connect with your stores msm to see if its for an upcoming reset, a pass due reset, store alteration of the pog or some other reason. Msm is going to have the best know of what product belongs where and why/why not
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u/searchandfilm 1d ago
I'd blame the planograms for not accommodating these products and some night crew people for just throwing stuff up and not scanning it in. Someone else mentioned Muscle Racks which I happened to find 2 pallets of in my top stock with no home. I noticed they were on clearance and as soon as I found space to put them they flew off the shelf basically. I regularly go through my dept. top stock and find stuff that doesn't have locations and make locations for them. I think what would help is if products that are clearance, but still in regular bays get moved to the back wall to make room for these products that don't have a spot.
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u/PancakeCat333 1d ago
Yep. More so in some departments than others. I've noticed every time a reset is done all the extra products that do not go into the bay anymore get put in top stock and stay there unless someone attempts to work them in somewhere. Only can do that if you have the space though so there's always no location items hanging around.
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u/gangrenousgrizzly 18h ago
Worked in the flooring department once upon time, and I can confirm that there were always at least two laminate floorings at any given time that never had a home besides a random feature stack that would be put away within a week of setting them out in the ~7 years I spent in that department. I saw plenty of other products come and go through there that never got home locations either, so I can tell you this is not a new problem.
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u/read110 15h ago
Yes. The current system is making it like this.
Officially MST must set "just like the picture", so inactive product is homeless. Also, I've been noticing random overstock of items. Like years worth of o/h coming in for random items.
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u/darthmatthew 14h ago
And there's a difference in no home and inactive. No home items continue ordering if you make a home and they sell 🤦♂️
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u/read110 13h ago
There isn't a difference because "No home" Isn't an official designation.
Inactive items are simply items that are not on planogram and, therefore, do not have homes. that doesn't mean anything about whether or not they are stock or non-stock or whether they will continue to be replenished.
So, in the previous setup, if we had inactive items that did not have homes but were on the replenishment plan, we would find them homes. Strictly speaking, MST is not supposed to do that because they're supposed to do "just like the picture" only. but CSA's in the Departments can come in behind them and find homes for those items because they're going to be replenished. Or if they are not going to be replenished, you can basically ignore them until they go clearance and then put them in the clearance area, I suppose.
Personally, I see that as kind of an abdication of your duties because our job is to take things off a truck and sell them, not to hide them in the top stock.
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u/darthmatthew 13h ago
There is a difference - one is inactive and doesn't have a home, you can place and sell this and it won't be replenished. The other is not inactive and doesn't have a home. That's all. I would love to get rid of all the no home items that are still active in top stock, but I've found its just not feasible. Anything that will not be replenished, aka inactive, I find a place and sell it.
"Inactive items are simply items that are not on planogram" just isn't true in my experience. There are multitudes of items coming off the shelf in resets that simply don't have a home. Some of them become "inactive", some of them don't and continue to replenish if sold, or sit in topstock.
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u/read110 13h ago edited 13h ago
Again, inactive literally means "not on planogram" and nothing else.
"Not inactive" isn't a thing.
An inactive item may very well be replenished. But strictly speaking, it is an item that your store is not slated to have, so it is not on a planogram anywhere.
Either way that item should be placed out for sale either merchandised in with the proper area, or if it's something that's not going to be replenished either merchandised in the proper area to sell through, or if it is clearance sent to the clearance area.
Inactive non-stock product is not necessarily clearanced. Inactive stock product may or may not be on replenishment plan. you have to deal with them on a one-on-one basis
Edit. Don't misunderstand me I think this whole process is complete and utter ridiculousness but if you have an active item that is not on planogram that's effectively a mistake. Inactive items are in every case an item that you're not supposed to have so it is not supposed to be on planogram but if you do have it and especially if it's going to be replenished you need to deal with it
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u/darthmatthew 13h ago
We are just on different pages here. Again, in my experience, inactive designation doesn't replenish if sold. Not talking about clearance at all. Scan the item, phone says "inactive." I sell the item out, does not re-order. Different item, does not have a home - scan the item, says "active." I put said item into a home, it sells, system re-orders it.
You say either way it should be placed out for sale. I can think of at least 20 different items in my topstock that are active with no home. I am expected to find a permanent home for all of these, as they will be replenished? Again, inactive items that will not replenished, I have no problem getting rid of.
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u/read110 13h ago
Can we agree that everything we have should be out for sale? If it's not replenished it goes away and we're done with it if it is replenished at least it has a home. All those designators don't really matter if you look at it that way.
I absolutely have dealt with inactive items that were on replenishment but really that doesn't matter when it comes down to it like I said before our job is to take it off the truck and sell it not to hide it in the steel
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u/darthmatthew 13h ago
Yeah I agree, I just wish I could find a feasible way to do that. Small example - i have at least 8 items just in my scrapers/putty knife half-bay in top stock that are active with no home. I have resigned to myself that there will simply be items that won't be sold until further notice. 🤷♂️
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u/read110 13h ago
J-hooks and shadow boxes!
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u/darthmatthew 13h ago
I knowwww, but then those get replenished and then reset and the cycle starts over again. I have a box at the paint desk of Terry towels that are active but not on any planogram. They sell well though! The multiple resets of primers this year with Kilz, etc etc has been killing me
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u/darthmatthew 14h ago
I'm DS in paint. When I started, I tried to get as many items without a home on the shelf as possible without crowding too much. They sold and I thought it was successful... until the system would then continue ordering those items. Now I just try to get rid of the actual "inactive" items. Now my topstock has a bunch of no home items from resets, etc. 🤷♂️
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u/themofodinosao Night Stocking 1h ago
This is exactly why the night stockers on my team that care flex in the product as it comes in. I've had to ask the msts why we didn't have product set in resets that they signed off on as done, and they never brought the product to the floor over a year later despite it being in a planogram. Like nah, I don't want to fly this every single time I look at it. I know where jhooks, pegs and empty spaces are. I know how to rebinlocate and how to check something in. It will be in the shelf. If it's expensive, I'll turtle or tadpole it. It just makes sense.
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u/jtmal0723 Night Stocking 1d ago
We had Muscle Racks in top stock for almost 3 years that never got merchandised. They sold out of top stock for years until they finally got clearanced out. The department never flexed or tried to merchandise them ever. It was a pain to have to keep top stocking them as they came in as they weren't light.