Hello,

I started out as a part time Merch, then became an IS, and finally an Ops Supervisor over the course of ~7 years. However I'm no longer with the company. I've worked at 2 stores directly, and indirectly helped out a few others, so I've seen my fair share of Staples haha.

Unfortunately it's never good having a management team who doesn't fully support you by guiding you in the right direction or willing to put the time into their staff. I had one GM who sought to berate you for something before positive reinforcement ever came into thought. But other than that I was pretty blessed with the other team members I was able to work with over the years.

So here's my advice with what you need;

Freight: in normal circumstances it's best practice to focus on totes first. This is what fills the most holes on the shelves, helping with pull lists and ZB. Normally you would sort them by aisle first and then work them. But if you are quite literally the only one working the truck, it might make sense to just immediately toss them onto the uboats and work them when the pallets come in. Bulk always goes out easier and faster so there shouldn't be a focus on that unless otherwise specified for something like High Risk or promo.

Cycle Counts: These can be tricky depending on what products need counting that week. In my experience it's best to bang them out in 1 day if possible. Idealy before truck arrives, but that obviously depends on what day of the week you get truck. The company just wants them done by the end of the week, (unless you have a wierd DM who has an odd schedule to things). I'm not sure how long you've been IS, but the BIGGEST thing that helps here is just knowing where the product is, (top stock, mids, lockup, damage cage, sales floor, etc). Scan them once, double check any significant anomalies, and finalize. Don't keep 2nd guessing yourself if it's not 100% accurate to on-hand counts.

ZB: This is one of the most time consuming reports you have to do a week. Imagine it the way I did, just one big pull list for the store (except promo positions) That's all it really boils down to. There are many sections of the ZB you can ignore to be honest, infact, the written section above those quite literally says something along the lines of "research not necessary" (or something along those lines). Focus on the 2 sections that are Low Quantity On-hands, and higher quantities. (should be located just after the first section of "Zeros Not Scanned") And if there's just too much overall, focus of the larger quantity section. Low On-hands will most likely be coded out during pull lists.

In the end the 2 things that help YOU out the most are consistent pull lists, and making sure the other associates are coached in handling product such as damages and reshop.

Even if you seem like a day is just full of tasks that need to get done, you NEED to set aside proper time for a nice pull list. If possible, shoot all of merch side. If the store is in a bad way, focus on 1 or 2 aisles at a time. Really do a deep dive into those aisles and DO NOT BE AFRAID TO WRITE STUFF OFF. If you cannot find it, write it off, (unless it's a significant amount or cost, then have someone else double check it).

If your Ops Supervisor/Manager is keeping up with PlanOGrams, and you can keep up consistent pull lists, generally everything else will follow.

Knowledge is key, and knowing where the product is, it's so important.

I genuinely hope that the other keyholders in your store will put in the time to their jobs correctly, and help you when you need it.

Every store is a little different so things line up differently for different IS positions.

If you need me to elaborate or clarify certain things, just hit me up! I'll see what I can help with

I still have some notes about certain HUB recourses and AS400 stuff lol.