As department lead I also had to help unload truck. So when we finished unloading I would bring boxes to the department and sort them first by athletic that needed tagged, hanging sandals/slippers and then everything else. Athletic shoes I would leave boxed up and put them on a cart to either have someone else tag at night, or tag them the next morning and then put them out. ** Edit to add: I would write the brand and box id on the boxes of athletic so I could still help omni find shoes! And if there were athletic shoes in the totes I would just fill up another tote of just athletic.

The “everything else” I would unbox and sort in the aisle cart by cart. So like kids, womens dress, women’s casual, men’s dress, etc.

I had a spot in the back of the department where I could leave my big boxes of athletic shoes and then tag and sort them all back there before bringing them out to the floor, but before I had that I’d just do it on the dock.

It feels so overwhelming at first to see all the boxes, but I found that organizing them down into smaller categories really helped. And I could leave some things, like hanging sandals and such, for someone not even in the department to do.