A day in the life of a plant receiving team member

We wouldn't have an amazing plant display if it wasn't for our incredible team. We're walking you through a day in the life of a plant receiving team member with Mckinnley and Emily. Join us for the conversation! 

https://youtu.be/bQCObBXCRW4https://yardstopgardencenter.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to the Yard Stop Podcast. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Emily and today our guest speaker is McKinley. McKinley works on the plant receiving team here at the Yard Stop, and today that is what we're going to be talking about. Welcome to the podcast again.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

I've been looking forward to this. Yeah, it's your time to shine.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

It is.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

So I feel like the plant receiving team here at the Yard Stop is like a crucial role, but not many people know what more goes into it. It's it's more than just taking plants and putting them on display. So would you be able to walk us through like what a start-to-finish day looks like as a plant receiving team member?

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Sure. Let's do it. Let's go. So usually Mondays and Tuesdays are pretty slow. So on the slower days, we like to, and just in terms of receiving new shipments, the busiest days are Wednesday through Friday. So usually Mondays and Tuesdays, we like to just go uh take take a drive around the yard, just figure out like what has blown over, what needs to be um fixed in terms of bad plants. We pull bad plants that we see, we get a lot of weeding done. Um we rearrange plants, like if you know, usually on Saturdays, those are the busiest days, as you know. So people come through, they buy a lot of plants, and then we come, you know, usually on Monday and Tuesday, we're rearranging things to make the showcase look nice and presentable and space things out. Um and so yeah, I mean it those are like the majority of the the slower days, but um we also just got a huge shipment of pottery in.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Yeah, you know you do you do pottery as well in plants, so not just plants.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Um we just uh got through two shipments of pottery.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

That's a lot of pottery, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

It was a lot of pottery. Um basically just offloading it from the truck, and uh we have the um the pots and the pots and plants have to go and get into the sis input into the system first before we can label them and then put them out on the showcase. So yeah, I mean, once the the pottery was unloaded and we got all the labels, then we we labeled all the pots, but then we had to separate them and we color code pots on the showcase. So it's like if you walk out there, it's like you have your blues, you have your greens.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

It's very nice, it's very organized.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Well, we try, yeah. Um, so hopefully we didn't just wreck that.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Well, actually, that kind of answers the next question, which was gonna be what are some of the main responsibilities that you guys do um on a day-to-day? And then also I was gonna have you run me through what a extra busy day kind of looks like when you guys get a plant chuck-in. So we can go with one of those if you want to.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Yeah, sure. So I'll just answer both. So day-to-day is I mean, we're we're always trying to clean and make sure the showcase looks well presentable, shoppable, and like taking bad plants off is like a big thing that we've been focusing on recently. Like I said, weeding, cleaning. Um, but but also like the majority of the week we are getting plant shipments, and those are busy days. Whether it's one truck a day, whether it's three, four trucks a day, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Um, because you get that many trucks in one day.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

We've got especially like after the freeze up until now, like we were getting, I mean, anywhere from like four to ten trucks a week, just depending.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

So that's crazy. When we get when we get days when there's multiple trucks coming in of plants, like our entire focus is getting the plants offloaded, counting them, and then making sure we give that count back to the driver and to the office. Um so that we're not getting charged for plants that didn't come in.

unknown 4:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Like if we ordered 50 plants, but then we only got 49, right? We're we have to count that so that we're not getting charged.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Okay. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

For example.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah. Okay. So then that's definitely part of that's definitely part of the busyness of days when plant trucks come in. So from a start to finish, on an extra busy day when plant trucks come in, yeah. Um, what does the process look like for you guys? So far, it's like taking count of everything and making sure that we're not charged for plants that we didn't get.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Um on an extra busy day, it's the sole focus is plants, making sure that everything is accounted for from the shipments that we took in, and then making sure they're all properly labeled, watered, fertilized. And then once all that has happened, then we can go put it out on the showcase to be shopped, to be sold.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

How many plants do we get in on one truck like per day?

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Or just like on a busy day, it can be I mean, it truly can be a couple hundred.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

On one truck.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

So you can unload like a max of like 800 to 1,000 plants a day.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

We've done it. That's crazy. We've done it.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

I don't know that part of yard stop.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Like I'm always here in the marketing office, so nobody will see it unless they drive back there. Oh, but I mean, sometimes we get like 18 wheeler trucks, and yeah, 50 to 75 percent of the truck is ours.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

So we gotta unload it. Whether it's 30 gallons, 15 gallons, seven gallon, three gallon, one gallon.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

How long does it take to unload, let's say, a truck like 200 plants?

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Not very long, especially when we have a full crew on for our team. I mean, under an hour. Right. But I would say it usually is somewhere between like 30 minutes to three hours. Uh not like three hours, maybe like 30 minutes to like two hours.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Yeah.

unknown 6:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

But but usually if we have like big trucks, we pull people from the from like the tree line. We pull like people from other stations to come over and help us. That's one thing is everyone here at Yard Stop is very willing to help, and that makes my job a lot easier. So very thankful for that.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Yeah, yeah. Everyone does work really well together. Yeah, we really team effort is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

It's great chemistry here.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Great people.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

That's awesome. Yeah. Um, so how do you are so you're in charge of making sure all the plants come, getting an inventory list of those, making sure you were not charged for what we didn't get. And then how do you handle um plants that are damaged or um are kind of like, I think they call it what do they call it? Like a transport stress. Yeah. Is that a thing? What is that?

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Well, thank goodness I haven't experienced too much of that. But the rare times that it does happen, depending on the stress level of these plants in transport. I mean, there was actually, I remember it's probably like a month ago, we had to send, you know, like anywhere from 20 to 30 plants back because they were just so oh wow, it I mean You can't sell them. You can't sell them.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

So, and that's what Pablo said. He was just like, if there's any plants that like if you wouldn't buy them, yeah, then don't take them off the truck because we can't sell it.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

So I mean, I but like I said, I don't run into that too often. But when we do, we just let the company know, like, hey, yeah, you can't take these, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Yeah, you can't.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

They don't look good.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Rightly so.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah. And then there's some, sorry, but there's there's like one time where we could accept some plants, but um, they had it was I had like a fungus, but it was still good enough quality-wise, but the fungus was there, so we accepted them, but we just got rid of the fungus, like sprayed it and what's our process for that?

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Like, if we get a truckload where the plants, the plants are sellable or keepable, if you will, um, what's our process for making sure that the fungus or whatever it is doesn't harm the other plants? And do we put it we put it in a rehab, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Yeah, we have a dedicated rehab section, which is completely separate from anywhere else. So any plants in rehab, uh they're just they're good enough to be put on the showcase eventually, but we have to get them back looking proper.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Um, like right now I have some Tibicina plants back there that need to they're going through a couple rounds of treatment um to get rid of some fungus, but right in like probably like two weeks, they'll be good enough to be put back out.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Okay. Does that set us back at all? Yeah. Or like, okay, I wouldn't.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

I don't think so. I think nothing stops us here. No, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Yeah, even with the freeze, the freeze was like crazy. But I feel like it made everyone want to get out in their yards and redo it. So come spring, it was just like extra, extra busy, more than what it normally is.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

So that was more of like a high demand. And that was maybe a little hard to keep up with, but I mean there were some weeks where it was probably brutal for you guys.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Like, yeah, we did have a lot of help, but I mean, we're just getting so many extra truckloads of plants that yeah, there are just times we're like, oh man, like is this gonna stop? But it's like as soon as we get them off and get them out on the showcase, they're gone. Like people are coming in and buying them. Yeah, it was insane to see. Like the blue days. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Yeah, those are very, very popular. A lot of commercial landscape landscapers use those. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Those were the landscape jobs, yeah, on top of people buying them.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Yeah. So we've done like a typical day in the life of receiving um the truckloads, and then what happens after the truckloads? Do you are you all responsible for getting the plants like on the shelves? And what does that process look like?

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Yeah, so once the plants are offloaded and counted, then we just have to wait for them all to be input into our system. Then we can get labels. So then we'll label all the plants, right? We'll fertilize and water them, and then at that point they're ready to be put out on display and ready to be bought.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Is that all happening one day? Like the labeling, the fertilizing, the it does. Okay, yeah. That's that's efficient.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

It does, yeah. It it can be when we get trucks around like 12, you we can be pushing it a little bit. Yeah. That's why the early morning trucks are the best, because you can get them in, get them out. But we we get everything out the same day.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Wow, it's a big job. We wouldn't have any plants to display if we didn't have a receiving team.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

So yes. Well, the good thing is is that if they were ever to not be put out the same day, they're still getting water because they're back in our holding area, we still it's all watered and fertilized and looked after. So it's not like if we don't get them out, they're gonna die. But it's just saying like once a truck comes in that same day, they're gonna be able to be bought.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

In a few, I mean, hopefully like one, two, three hours.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Max.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

That's the turnaround. That's actually a good point. The turnaround's probably like from when a truck comes in to when the plant gets out is right. Probably like three to anywhere from one to three hours, depending on the truck size.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah. Um, you've worked a slower season here at the yard stop, right? Like you start slowing down towards the fall. How many trucks do we typically get during the slow season versus the busier season?

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Uh slow season, I mean, it's gotta be like anywhere from you know one to five a week.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

One to seven a week max.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

But busy season, I mean, it's like I mean what we just went through.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

I mean, shh that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Like a minimum of five trucks a week.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

So when it comes to display of putting the plants out, it's not just take all the plants and like shove them on the shelf. Like, there's actually what's the process like?

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Well, when I got here, I just started getting used to where all the plants were.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

But by now, it's like I know where everything is, more or less. So we pretty much just have the yard stop sectioned off by types of plants.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

And then depending on you know what we get on a ship in a shipment, you know, it's like I know exactly where all that goes. So we just put it all out together. And the goal is like as long as we keep everything together, then that makes for a much more efficient and likable shopping experience for the customer.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

I had somebody recently say they felt like they were shopping at like a spin, like a not spin-off, but like a it felt like Disney to them being here.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Oh, okay. That's a huge compliment.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

That's a huge compliment.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

That's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Disney's doing it right, so yeah. If yard stop is compared to Disney, then we'll take it.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

There you go. That's a big compliment. What did you do prior to coming here to the yard stop?

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Yeah, I I worked in the retail car industry for what four years?

SPEAKER_01 14:42

What made you uh want to switch? Like how did you come here?

SPEAKER_00 14:47

I just realized that um that was not an industry that I wanted to stay in. It just wasn't working well for my soul. And uh yeah. Yeah, so I needed to in a sense connect with nature a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

It's more therapeutic. Very right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

That's it's not therapeutic going into a car dealership six days a week for 12 hours a day. No joke.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

I don't know what that's like, but I'll take your word for it. Different face.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Yeah, I don't think it you would like it either. Probably not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

So that's it for now, guys. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. We hope you enjoyed the conversation. If you liked our podcast and want to hear more, we post a new episode every Tuesday. You can find it on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Also, follow our Facebook and Instagram for our events that we do and weekly posts. And don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us out. Thank you guys so much. We'll see you in the next episode. Bye.