Specialty Departments: Receiving

'Tis Better to Receive
Susan Johnson, receiving manager
Rochester, Minnesota 

Susan Johnson, receiving manager at the Rochester, MN, store has witnessed the evolution of our receiving processes thanks to more than three decades of experience with the company.

The 34-year veteran of the bookselling business joined the company in 1975 as a Christmas season cashier at her local B. Dalton store.  She never anticipated she would stay for long, but quickly fell in love with the books and people. 

Susan worked that cashier job for three months, and then became the sole receiver for five years.  Fast forward to 2001, when the B. Dalton store closed to make way for her current store, where her role quickly evolved into her current position as receiving manager.  Describing the “early days,” Susan says she doesn’t miss looking up titles or authors on microfiche or the bundles of weekly documents that came with receiving books from publishers.  “There was no Distribution Center — it was a much slower time,” she explains.

That's not the case today — Susan and her team receive approximately 37,000 boxes annually.  Like most receiving areas, space is tight.  But the receiving team builds flexibility into their backroom space through their zone maintenance schedule — they make room to cycle product from incoming shipments and overstock out to the book floor by pulling publisher returns.  During the holidays, they shrink their return bays from four to one at the beginning of November to make room for extra quantity overstock.

“Our crew has built-in flexibility, too,” says Susan.  “Receivers, shelvers and zoners are all cross-trained in each other’s areas so we have ready backup if the emphasis needs to be on receiving, returns, alphabetizing or rebalancing a section that has been well-shopped.”
 
Susan’s receiving team boasts a combined 80-plus years with Barnes & Noble between them, some with experience as department managers and leads in most areas of the store. “Everyone understands how and why the processes work, knows the priorities and makes decisions based on them.  I am lucky to have such a great team,” she adds.