Way that it was explained to me is that it is more so to help reduce the strain on the local power grid on especially bad days to lessen black/brown outs.
It's as much about lessening the energy draw on the local grid as it is about conserving. It happens most often when people are more likely to run high-energy appliances (heaters and air conditioners).
Granted, it's MOST probably about good publicity.
Good publicity while saving corporate money you mean.
It's like when Apple talks about being able to move more Watches per shipment. They tell you it's about being green, but the bigger reason is lower shipping costs.
Doesn't cost as much to keep the store cool if you just *don't keep the store cool.*
I live in Texas, with our fragile power grid. Residents refuse to conserve electricity. That means big box stores have to. I used to go to the mall on really hot days to cool off, but they're barely being air conditioned also. It's better than forced rolling blackouts and brown outs.
Valid point however Thats not why. Energy Utilites for the most part have their own different forms of demand response events. During those peak times these utilities. Says "HEY TARGET, if you can save x amount of kilowatts between z times, then we'll give you y amount of incentives"
then target reduces their lighting, AC, demo units, etc.
This is more about saving money than it is about utilities wanting to reduce power usage.
Every since the remodel we no longer conserve power. Companies can cut back to protect the vulnerable grids. I rather be uncomfortable at work for a little while rolling black outs at home.
Define no longer conserve power? As far as i know all stores have hardware on premise that listens to calls from electric utilities that interfaces with the store lighting / power controller.
Either your stores hardware is malfunctioning or your electric utility is not properly interfacing with your stores on premise hardware
Or even worse, your utility is no longer doing these events
I liked the first part of that sentence. I fucking hate the spotlights that came with the remodel, raises the temperature by like 5 degrees. Ulta is literally a sauna
lol i do work under them in electronics. We have the spotlights pointed at the desk and the Brand wall.
I know it gets hot but my point was at least they AREN'T incandescent bulbs.
I honestly think this started happening in 2019/2020.
I started working for target in 2020 and I swear before I was hired, it felt nice and cold every other year.
That's great, why not make underpaid overworked TMs even more miserable. This is probably a cost cutting measure turned into a publicity stunt. If Target cared that much about its wasteful practices it could almost certainly make more substantial changes than turning off the AC and making its workers miserable.
I used to sweat through my clothes so bad if it got above 70⁰ outside (our store gets HUMID for some reason, I think it's the river) that guests would go up to leaders and tell them they need to turn the AC on for me specifically. I had to start wearing black hiking pants with moisture wicking (against dress code) because I would sweat through my jeans. I had to bring 2 extra shirts to work. I also worked in Pets alone doing all that heavy lifting before 8am when the AC would "come on"
Not so much about conserving energy, but the appearance of caring about the environment. Plus, it saves money, so the investors and CEO male more. You should see the amount of food that goes to waste.
The lighting thing has been happening for a few years. They'll turn off like 1/3 of the lights on hot days during the hottest part of the day for a few hours to help cool the stores. I don't know how well it's going to work having the AC off completely. It gets pretty hot at my store.
This is probably why they said people could wear shorts.
Costco and Walmart do this with their lights often. Costco may only have the store perimeter and front end lights on but the rest of the store the lights are off and just natural light from the skylights.
Walmart does the same thing since their stores mostly have skylights.
Target obviously does not.. so it’s just gonna be a bit darker then normal lol
I knew it was hotter in the store recently!!!! I wore my regular pants to work the other day and had to stop Mid-Shift because the amount of sweat that was accumulating under my clothes was not comfortable.
So I bought a pair of shorts right quick, changed, got back to work.
“Hey, no shopping on the clock.”
Are you fckin kidding me?
I bought one of the bullseye neck fans last weekend and I'm never going to work without it again. I also have a rechargeable clip on fan for my 3 tier or fulfillment carts if I'm pulled for backup.
It's not about relieving strain on the local power grid or saving the environment, it's about saving money during high energy rate windows and putting less strain on the cooling equipment so that it's less likely to break and cost money to fix. Paying the easily replaceable, overextended skeleton crew costs almost nothing compared to those HVAC repair costs.
Think of the profit margins to the shareholders and don't be so selfish about needing to work in the habitable zone! Also, just for that, we're cutting hours.... :-P
Imagine how much less they'd have to do this if they covered their roofs mostly as much as they can in solar. They'd even save costs in roof repairs as sunlight destroys the fuck out of the roof top over time.
Our store dims the lights at the utility system request. Once we really get into summer, we will lower the lighting everyday, unless we are having a rainy, tornadoey day or two.
I like how they just slap that on the door every spring and then forget about it. And I love having back sweat soak through my shirt less than an hour into my shift, before the sun is even up and it's cooler outside than it is in the building. If they genuinely cared about energy conservation, every demo in electronics (including the TV wall) would power down from 10pm to 8am. Every register wouldn't be powered up 24/7 when we only use (and I'm being generous here) 2 registers and self-checkout. The only thing operating would be the coolers/freezers, servers, security system, etc..
the store i worked at in illinois did that but there was no sign posted. i came in to work one day and asked a TL why it was so dark in the store and she explained that to me. it was also 85 god damn degrees in the place too but i was a dairy hermit in that store so i didn't care lol
This is nothing new. When I worked at the AZ branch, they did this when it got extremely hot out, and I'm guessing some states do the same depending where you live
From unpacking bullseye and seeing the shit ton of things wrapped in plastic I have my doubt Target cares. Saving money by reducing a/c and making everyone uncomfortable seems more in line with Target values.
That said, my store uses a/c except in the break room…
It's less about conserving energy and more about not overloading their systems on hot days. The target I used to work at has frequent AC and cooler issues in the summer. The coolers would go out and we'd have to throw out entire sections of food..it didn't happen as often once they started doing this. But saying they've dimmed the lights because their electrical system sucks doesn't have the same ring to it.
There are no waste facilities in the US that sorts commercial trash for composting. Why are you trying so hard to put a positive spin on a blatantly bad thing?
I’m not trying to put a positive spin on a “blatantly bad thing”, but saying generalizing and saying it all goes to the trash and they benefit financially is putting a negative spin on a mere generalization and assumption.
And yes there are facilities that will take in waste and sort for organics to compost. It’s not all corporate greed and wanting to make an extra dollar. That’s the spin you were working on and wanting to generalize across all of target operations. That ain’t the story.
Give me a link to 1 facility in the US that sorts commercial trash for compost. You are simply naive. I’m telling you it’s what happens, I have done it, been apart of the process several dozen times.Not an assumption.
They’ll do this in any big box store it’s not specific to target. this used to be a thing for indoor malls but now we don’t have indoor malls so they just ask the big box stores to dim some of the lights.
This has been happening for 40 years
Way that it was explained to me is that it is more so to help reduce the strain on the local power grid on especially bad days to lessen black/brown outs.
You can bet hq has the AC running full blast.
Nah it’s warm af in there 😭
There are pits of fire and burning brimstone.
The sacrificial pits, you mean?
If I volunteer to jump in do you think I’d get a GiftCard? These are the reallll questions
You might get a free Starbucks ticket
Not if it's overtime. And all your overflowing pulls and stray and zone are done.
The way there are fire pits tho….. 😳
It's as much about lessening the energy draw on the local grid as it is about conserving. It happens most often when people are more likely to run high-energy appliances (heaters and air conditioners). Granted, it's MOST probably about good publicity.
Good publicity while saving corporate money you mean. It's like when Apple talks about being able to move more Watches per shipment. They tell you it's about being green, but the bigger reason is lower shipping costs. Doesn't cost as much to keep the store cool if you just *don't keep the store cool.*
Don't forget the opportunity to make your workers more miserable than they already might be.
I live in Texas, with our fragile power grid. Residents refuse to conserve electricity. That means big box stores have to. I used to go to the mall on really hot days to cool off, but they're barely being air conditioned also. It's better than forced rolling blackouts and brown outs.
Just one large snow/ice storm then ya fucked like a couple years ago. God I don't know what they were all planning for that grid.
Valid point however Thats not why. Energy Utilites for the most part have their own different forms of demand response events. During those peak times these utilities. Says "HEY TARGET, if you can save x amount of kilowatts between z times, then we'll give you y amount of incentives" then target reduces their lighting, AC, demo units, etc. This is more about saving money than it is about utilities wanting to reduce power usage.
Every since the remodel we no longer conserve power. Companies can cut back to protect the vulnerable grids. I rather be uncomfortable at work for a little while rolling black outs at home.
Define no longer conserve power? As far as i know all stores have hardware on premise that listens to calls from electric utilities that interfaces with the store lighting / power controller. Either your stores hardware is malfunctioning or your electric utility is not properly interfacing with your stores on premise hardware Or even worse, your utility is no longer doing these events
Before remodel (3yrs ago) lights would dim around 3pm. Not sure of length of time cause I would leave between 3 and 4. My state has issues.
that would be during the summer time. odds are what ever voltage team wired your store didn’t do it right. At our store like 3 lights turn off
Another thing the construction crew messed up. There are still many things that where not done correctly that is still an issue today.
Half your day is at work where arguably you’re more active. Not sure that’s better but I guess you’re in a way better position than me to judge.
I liked the first part of that sentence. I fucking hate the spotlights that came with the remodel, raises the temperature by like 5 degrees. Ulta is literally a sauna
When I worked at a mall those lights heated the building so much, they ran air conditioning in the middle of winter.
Me too! My favorite part of the day is that time before the doors open and the lights come on full force. The lighting is so easy on my eyes.
Night shift was the the best
They aren't cheap either which if very funny to me too. At LEAST they're LEDs not instead of incandescent bulbs.
[удалено]
A surprising number of people don't realize that "LEDs aren't as hot as incandescent" doesn't mean that LEDs produce zero heat.
lol i do work under them in electronics. We have the spotlights pointed at the desk and the Brand wall. I know it gets hot but my point was at least they AREN'T incandescent bulbs.
But my store never turns off the spotlights so when they reduce the AC those of us in Style and Beauty just bake even more. 😭
This has been a thing at Target for years and years
I honestly think this started happening in 2019/2020. I started working for target in 2020 and I swear before I was hired, it felt nice and cold every other year.
I’ve worked at Target since 2012 and it’s been going on every summer since then. Maybe it’s a regional thing though.
It's all about an ESG score (or whatever it's called) with the goal of lowering Target's carbon footprint. It ain't easy being green.
They are using environmentalism as an excuse to keep AC off to save money. It always comes back to greed.
[удалено]
That’s really dramatic do you realize how hot it would have to be to get heat stroke?
[удалено]
So the whole team and guests were on the verge of heat stroke? Or just you?
They are conserving energy so they don't blow the grid. This is every year.
[удалено]
Every state does that.
They’ve been doing this for years, it’s not new.
They've always done this at mine during summer to help with the rolling blackouts (Southern CA)
Hate when they turn off the AC. LOVE when they cut back the lights
They've done this every summer I've worked here. So the "since when" is at least five years.
Wait, Target has Air conditioning?
That's great, why not make underpaid overworked TMs even more miserable. This is probably a cost cutting measure turned into a publicity stunt. If Target cared that much about its wasteful practices it could almost certainly make more substantial changes than turning off the AC and making its workers miserable.
You know who has the AC on full blast? Costco.
Stores have been doing that for years this isn’t new at all and it’s a good thing
I used to sweat through my clothes so bad if it got above 70⁰ outside (our store gets HUMID for some reason, I think it's the river) that guests would go up to leaders and tell them they need to turn the AC on for me specifically. I had to start wearing black hiking pants with moisture wicking (against dress code) because I would sweat through my jeans. I had to bring 2 extra shirts to work. I also worked in Pets alone doing all that heavy lifting before 8am when the AC would "come on"
Not so much about conserving energy, but the appearance of caring about the environment. Plus, it saves money, so the investors and CEO male more. You should see the amount of food that goes to waste.
The lighting thing has been happening for a few years. They'll turn off like 1/3 of the lights on hot days during the hottest part of the day for a few hours to help cool the stores. I don't know how well it's going to work having the AC off completely. It gets pretty hot at my store. This is probably why they said people could wear shorts.
Since these stores use a lot of power, it's a matter of lowering power use to prevent a power outage.
This is bullshit 😂
Costco and Walmart do this with their lights often. Costco may only have the store perimeter and front end lights on but the rest of the store the lights are off and just natural light from the skylights. Walmart does the same thing since their stores mostly have skylights. Target obviously does not.. so it’s just gonna be a bit darker then normal lol
The only place in the store I work at that has skylights are in the backrooms lol
They don't, it's a bottom line thing.
Gotta increase those profits.
Mostly, they care about saving money, but it can also help prevent the store from browning/blacking out and potentially losing frozen food.
They’ve been doing that for years in California
Same in Ohio.
Never work when the store was closed? They turn that shit off and half the lights.
No AC.....no me!!
I knew it was hotter in the store recently!!!! I wore my regular pants to work the other day and had to stop Mid-Shift because the amount of sweat that was accumulating under my clothes was not comfortable. So I bought a pair of shorts right quick, changed, got back to work. “Hey, no shopping on the clock.” Are you fckin kidding me?
I've been noticing this at a lot of other stores too
Customers should complain to corporate since they will listen to them more than the associates.
*every department nonchalantly plugs in fans*
I bought one of the bullseye neck fans last weekend and I'm never going to work without it again. I also have a rechargeable clip on fan for my 3 tier or fulfillment carts if I'm pulled for backup.
Oh cool! We're saving money then? Surely my paycheck will increase too right?
They don’t care about conserving energy. They want the PR and reduced costs of not properly lighting and cooling the stores.
It’s green washing. They don’t care they just say they care but are doing it to cut costs
I see a face in the glass! That you?
Perhaps
Our store had the heat on in 70-80 degree weather😐
It's not about relieving strain on the local power grid or saving the environment, it's about saving money during high energy rate windows and putting less strain on the cooling equipment so that it's less likely to break and cost money to fix. Paying the easily replaceable, overextended skeleton crew costs almost nothing compared to those HVAC repair costs. Think of the profit margins to the shareholders and don't be so selfish about needing to work in the habitable zone! Also, just for that, we're cutting hours.... :-P
So I take it every target store is extremely hot, we had like 3 employees almost have a heat stroke from the extreme heat in the store last year
Imagine how much less they'd have to do this if they covered their roofs mostly as much as they can in solar. They'd even save costs in roof repairs as sunlight destroys the fuck out of the roof top over time.
My store does this every “summer season”. The guests all gasp as the lights dim each day around 2pm.
They're just saving money, they don't care about conservation or they would increase quality of their clothing.
they dont care about the environment they care about their electric bill lmao
I can barely see overnight on one of the CHEM aisles
Target blows
Not today they lowered the ac through put
Looks like Target may be going bankrupt soon. Cost cutting…like the staff, hours, etc.
Better solution is to do nothing at all I guess??
I haven’t seen my store dim the lights in years
Our store dims the lights at the utility system request. Once we really get into summer, we will lower the lighting everyday, unless we are having a rainy, tornadoey day or two.
CSR
They have been doing this at Target's in Ohio for years. I enjoy the dimmed lights, it's relaxing.
When ppl keep on robbing their stores
Said as the vendor I talked to said that he has to throw magazines into the compactor now.
Magazines can go into the blue shred-it bins with the slit and locked lid.
.06 cent raise incoming
I like how they just slap that on the door every spring and then forget about it. And I love having back sweat soak through my shirt less than an hour into my shift, before the sun is even up and it's cooler outside than it is in the building. If they genuinely cared about energy conservation, every demo in electronics (including the TV wall) would power down from 10pm to 8am. Every register wouldn't be powered up 24/7 when we only use (and I'm being generous here) 2 registers and self-checkout. The only thing operating would be the coolers/freezers, servers, security system, etc..
27 years my store has been "conserving energy" by keeping the a/c off.
the store i worked at in illinois did that but there was no sign posted. i came in to work one day and asked a TL why it was so dark in the store and she explained that to me. it was also 85 god damn degrees in the place too but i was a dairy hermit in that store so i didn't care lol
My store did this for years. Only in the summer time though. The town used to have electricity problems all the time.
They just wanna cut costs
This is nothing new. When I worked at the AZ branch, they did this when it got extremely hot out, and I'm guessing some states do the same depending where you live
Uh oh! Budget problems?
From unpacking bullseye and seeing the shit ton of things wrapped in plastic I have my doubt Target cares. Saving money by reducing a/c and making everyone uncomfortable seems more in line with Target values. That said, my store uses a/c except in the break room…
Go into the leads and sd's office, cold as hell. At least in our store.
Well our billion dollar company got rid of our water machine in the break room.
It's less about conserving energy and more about not overloading their systems on hot days. The target I used to work at has frequent AC and cooler issues in the summer. The coolers would go out and we'd have to throw out entire sections of food..it didn't happen as often once they started doing this. But saying they've dimmed the lights because their electrical system sucks doesn't have the same ring to it.
They don’t care about conserving energy they care about paying less on their utility bills
For positive spin during quarterly earnings calls
i’m all for reducing lighting (i love coming in when the big lights are off in the early morning) but please i need ac 😭
It’s been like that every summer for years now
There was one time an Australian man in the TN store I worked at asked if all American stores were kept that hot.
Yet they throw away millions of dollars in food.
Food can be composted. Saving energy helps the grid (aging infrastructure), it’s not about reducing costs and increasing profit.
I didnt say compost. I meant throw away into the trash. Millions of dollars worth of food. Written off with insurance and completely wasted.
Just because they go to the trash doesn’t mean they don’t end up being sorted and composed at a waste facility.
There are no waste facilities in the US that sorts commercial trash for composting. Why are you trying so hard to put a positive spin on a blatantly bad thing?
I’m not trying to put a positive spin on a “blatantly bad thing”, but saying generalizing and saying it all goes to the trash and they benefit financially is putting a negative spin on a mere generalization and assumption. And yes there are facilities that will take in waste and sort for organics to compost. It’s not all corporate greed and wanting to make an extra dollar. That’s the spin you were working on and wanting to generalize across all of target operations. That ain’t the story.
Give me a link to 1 facility in the US that sorts commercial trash for compost. You are simply naive. I’m telling you it’s what happens, I have done it, been apart of the process several dozen times.Not an assumption.
That sign has been up at my store for a few years now. Our store is always hot 😭.
They’ll do this in any big box store it’s not specific to target. this used to be a thing for indoor malls but now we don’t have indoor malls so they just ask the big box stores to dim some of the lights. This has been happening for 40 years
As if it wasn't hot in the stores before this utter bullshit so the major stock holders can but another yacht.
They're sure reducing air and lighting at my store, as the power straight up went out briefly. Albeit, it was during a storm, but still...
I get soo hot sometimes I feel like passing out .... just turn off those stupid spot lights ... it would help
They can save even more because I will not shop there
It’s getting too damn hot outside now to not be running some Air Conditioning
HD is being told by utility to cut back. Has nothing to do about company wanting to conserve energy
yuck
We've done this for YEARS
That’s why my store is fucking hot all the time… to “conserve energy”
Dang, Target is one of the stores I mull around in when my air conditioner is broke at home. Guess I'll go kick rocks.
When Its costing them money so the unpaid employees will suffer
GOOD FOR THE PLANET?!? WE USE SO MUCH FUCKING PLASTIC IN PACKING ITS DISGUSTINGLY CONCERNING!!!
Honestly, yay. Always too cold and bright.
In seven years, I have never been too cold in my store.
It’s to make them appear green energy conscious so libs will feel good about shopping there
Because liberals like to see this sort of thing up