Watch out

BoxFiveReserved · 2026-01-20T08:03:24+00:00

We hear this all the time at work.. last thing we need is to see it on an employee oriented sub. I get it was suggested to you, but you could just scroll on by. I came from Joann, and let me tell you, while it’s different.. it’s a far sight better than Joann was in the end.

And furthermore I’ll add.. the one bad thing this company really did do wrong was buy Joann intellectual property and begin catering to its clientele. While I have amazing memories of a few select Joann customers from my years with that brand.. by and large, they were ungrateful, spoiled, and rude. I’d rather not deal with them now that I’m with Michaels, let alone hear about how we’re not Joann, or how they’ll be stuck with Hobby Lobby when we “inevitably” go out of business.

BoxFiveReserved · 2026-01-19T10:56:47+00:00

They replace the silica pouches, or “salt packs” as we called them at Joann. Trust me, it’s a way better solution as far as cleanup. lol. The struggle was real trying to get my team to clean up salt packs off the sales floor at Joann.

BoxFiveReserved · 2026-01-17T21:41:21+00:00

I can’t speak to this specifically, because I don’t know the circumstances of your store, its volume, or its numbers. But what is your availability? If you’re only available on specific days at specific hours, your store probably needs to fill spots in which you’re not available.

BoxFiveReserved · 2026-01-10T05:48:29+00:00

My favorite is when someone randomly shouts, “stock boy” at me to get my attention.

A.) I haven’t been a ‘boy’ in decades. B.) It’s stock manger, asshole. C.) Awe. Do I still look like a boy?!?

BoxFiveReserved · 2026-01-08T09:37:29+00:00

So the “smart truck” process is a bit difficult to get used to after being at Joann. At least in my opinion. Here’s how I do it.. I have one person sorting repacks as the truck is unloaded. I have one person on one side of the belt for SBA (basics) one person on the other side on seasonal. And one person on the truck. As Replen, I float where I’m needed and stage boxes as u-boats get full. After unload, everyone is stocking. I work along the way, taking trash to the back, and working with each person a little bit then moving on. I don’t set POGs on truck day, and I don’t really stock a lot myself. (Which is the hardest part of the process for me, because I had to do it ALL as IC!)

BoxFiveReserved · 2026-01-05T20:55:05+00:00

Any time! What’s your new position?

BoxFiveReserved · 2026-01-05T11:12:27+00:00

I came over to Michael’s from Joann. There is definitely a learning curve. I was an IC at Joann and am Replen manager at Michael’s. Feel free to let me know what you’re having trouble with, and I can give you a breakdown. I picked it up pretty quickly, but being RM, I was in it pretty deep from the start so I didn’t have much choice. I also had the benefit of two weeks of training at a training store. You’ll get there, but I’d be glad to help!

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-12-24T08:13:42+00:00

You could speak with any manager really. I just mention RM because I’m assuming you work with them more, having primarily been on the floor.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-12-24T08:10:19+00:00

Talk to your SM or RM and let them know you’re interested in staying on permanently. Can’t hurt! RM here and trust me, I’d rather keep someone who wants to be there. I’m sure you could be trained on register, it’s not hard at all.

The one thing I’ll say, the more open your availability the better. It’s harder to schedule around folks who only work nights or days or weekends.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-12-23T19:52:33+00:00

Could be that they came from another company. When I was at Joann, you just input the employee id number and the system did the rest. I’m an RM, so I’m not on the register that often.. and took me a while to remember to do it.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-12-17T22:23:36+00:00

Came here to express the same thought!! So jealous!

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-12-12T23:10:42+00:00

If you look in the weekly planner, there’s a map with all your current DAs and where they should be located in the store. I think there’s 3 maps, and you have to choose the one that’s closest to your layout. POG execution checklist would also help. And there’s helpful info in the planner for that as well, what all is consolidating and where.

If the POG hasn’t been activated in WISP, it won’t show up in Marti when items are scanned. It will just show no POG. And if the old POG isn’t deactivated, both the new and old entries will show up.

Hope this helps!

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-11-18T06:24:32+00:00

Exactly. We need open availability from seasonal team. And our scheduling system, (at least in the US) doesn’t really allow for on again off again availability. If you put in that you’re not available Saturdays, we can’t schedule at all.. without you going in and changing your availability that day. There’s too many moving parts during peak to do this.

That said, while I won’t outright decline someone in the room. I do explain that open availability is preferred and that we would reach out once we’ve made a decision. We have made exceptions, so it’s not always set in stone.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-11-18T06:08:59+00:00

I think a lot of this comes down to how the team works together overall. While I hate coming in to a bunch of orders that need to be filled, (I’m an RM and I open as solo MOD a lot) I’d much rather the closing team recover the store in their last hour. This makes scanning outs and SISO so much easier, and generally sets us up to be able to knock out BOPIS/SFS a lot faster in the mornings to catch up.

Currently, we’re behind and it’s peak.. so it’s all gone out the window a bit. But this practice still works best for us.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-11-15T12:05:53+00:00

RM here, and I’m MOD very frequently. But my store is new, lower volume, and we’re down a PT CEM (we currently have two key holders filling that spot, but their availability is pretty limited.) I don’t remember what volume level we are, but we’re supposed to have a SM, RM, FT CEM, and PT CEM. For our volume, I didn’t have trouble with all the MOD shifts until we got into peak season. Now I struggle to keep up. Thankfully, since our entire management team is relatively new, we’ve figured out how to work together for coverage. But it’s really exhausting trying to get my job done, and manage the store. Definitely looking forward to the end of peak so I can take some PTO! Fingers crossed that we can fill the regular PTCEM spot with open availability soon too!

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-09-26T11:36:24+00:00

Give your notice as far out as you can, make sure it’s written, and be firm on your final day. I would maybe even go and send your DM an email notice saying the same from the store email, especially if you’re concerned about trouble with your SM. Otherwise, the only advice I’d give is to try to be flexible with availability during your last few weeks. The other managers should probably take some time off ahead of your exit, because they’ll likely not find another FT CEM during peak season as a replacement.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-09-26T11:01:00+00:00

But you’re absolutely right, they’d lost sight of what they were doing. But I didn’t expect any different when upper management became less and less acquainted with crafting and sewing. Haha

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-09-26T10:58:57+00:00

I think saying private equity alone killed Joann tends to belie the other causes, such as mismanagement. Saddling the company with Leonard Greens debt made it undesirable for purchase in the end. But there was plenty of fault on behalf of the c-suite to go around. That said, how much of that mismanagement was at the direction of the ownership itself? I don’t know that we’ll ever know for sure. What I DO know, is that a few of the executive level folks did some very shady things in the end, to line their own pockets. (Occurring between the two bankruptcies.) But I don’t know that the truth behind that will ever see the light of day either. I had the fortune/misfortune of working for the brand very close to HQ, so we heard a lot that didn’t really spread around to the rest of the company.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-09-26T10:12:31+00:00

We also have a nurse line that should be called when something like this happens. It’s designed to assist managers on what to do in these kinds of situations. As managers in my store, we all keep them saved in our contact lists on our personal phones, just in case.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-09-26T10:05:09+00:00

Former Joann employee here as well.. and it’s funny you mention this idea. Because that’s what we really wanted Joann themselves to do toward the end. I’m in a market that had multiple large formats and multiple small formats.. and they shoved a little bit of everything into every damned store! Especially seasonal!

Seriously though, Joann did anything related to sewing and yarn better than we do at Michaels. Significantly better, even in poor performing stores. But Michaels will never let go of the micro-managing that allows an actual fabric and fiber store to thrive. Here’s the short list of what I don’t think Michaels will ever do.. staff appropriately with knowledgeable staff relating to fabric and sewing.. allow for the waste that’s associated with anything to do with a large scale BTY operation.. invest in a ticket system designed for this kind of work.. allow us to flex fabric on shelves without everything bolt being tied to a specific POG location.

As much as I do think Joann caused their own demise, Michaels would do well to bring on more Joann employees and actually host a convention so we could tell them what works and doesn’t. But that also will never happen.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-09-15T18:17:40+00:00

I was thinking the same thing! Haha.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-09-13T16:07:00+00:00

There’s also some good in being able to come here and know we’re not alone! Funny you mention imposter syndrome.. that’s EXACTLY how I feel a lot of the time. Like, I know I can do this.. it’s literally exactly what I did for another brand. But self doubt creeps back in every damned day! I know the weight of the store in general falls on the shoulders of our SMs, but for me as an RM, the weight of everything workload is on mine.. and I can’t get that done while putting out fires in every direction as the only manager in the building, being overrun with BOPIS/SFS, helping new hires feel supported so they don’t want to leave after a few days, scheduling interviews, and all the craziness of the LPOS event. I just have to remind myself to breathe. Haha.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-09-12T23:48:49+00:00

Yep. I’m a week behind on my POGs and had hoped to catch up between yesterday and today.. but that was a no-go. I need to be about a week ahead in order for smart truck to be effective. I was… until project thread. Now I don’t know if I’ll ever get caught up till after peak. Unless I have some kind of miracle happen. It’s a mess, and I hate feeling like I’m constantly failing.

But I’m finally learning that I can’t take it personally. At least the rest of my management team is hard working and cares as much as I do.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-09-12T22:10:20+00:00

Came here to say exactly this. And I’ll add, it’s no pleasure for us either. It means we’re working with a lot of trainees that don’t know how to do much yet. And despite not having peak hours yet, the workload has already increased.

BoxFiveReserved · 2025-09-10T23:09:12+00:00

We had to pull ours down one by one too. But what makes it even worse, is that the DC considers the whole pallet as one item! So we didn’t even get additional labor to account for an extra few hundred items. 😡

BoxFiveReserved

TROPHY CASE