How Retail Associates can Increase Clothing Department Recovery Speed

**Note: the following advice, tips and suggestions come from the writer's 6 year experience in the clothing retail industry. - If you work in part-time clothing retail then you undoubtedly are aware of the heightened levels of stress that often accompany such a job. Rude customers, long hours on your feet, loud and uncontrollable children and endless leagues of clothing strewn about can make for a hectic day at work. Oftentimes, it is the task of the closing associates to perform what has become known as "department recovery" - a massive cleaning and organization operation which involves refolding, re-hanging, resizing, re-colorizing and re-ticketing hundreds upon thousands of individual articles of clothing throughout an entire department and/or the store itself. These are the items that have been unfolded, dropped, knocked over and in every other way destroyed by customers. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to speed up the recovery process and, perhaps, have the store clean and organized ahead of schedule. And after all, who doesn't like getting off work a little early after closing hours? Here are a few tips gleaned from personal experience:

1. Use the "Flip 'n Stack" Method for Stacks of Pants

When recovering a folded stack of pants, denim in particular, it is usually unnecessary to refold every individual pair (only the ones that are completely unfolded). Instead, you should flip the entire stack upside-down, removing each pair from the bottom to the top and stretching it thin before placing back on the shelf. Bear in mind that this will take little to no time when the stack is already sized. Once the stack is flipped upside-down, the largest sizes should be on what is now "the top" of the stack.

Be sure to maintain evenness between each pair of pants. Your sizes should run smallest (on top) to largest (at the bottom of the stack). It's all about making the stack less uneven and more visually appealing. With a little practice, the Flip 'n Stack method can be used to recover several stacks of pants at lightning speed!

2. Practice the "Pat Down" Method for Rack Recovery until it Becomes Second Nature

As far as hanging merchandise is concerned, recovery can be accomplished all the more rapidly. After all, hanging clothes do not require detailed folding. Instead, they are often only in need of being "patted down"-a process whereby any out-of-place hangars are "patted down," back into the rows to which they belong. This is simply a matter of sweeping over each arm on a rack, for less than five seconds per arm, and using your hands to quickly straighten the hangars on each arm. In fact, this is one of the quickest ways to recover a rack of hanging merchandise, particularly when everything on the rack belongs on that rack.

3. Don't get Bogged Down in the Details

Oftentimes it is the habit of longtime associates to concentrate on too many details of recovery during the final hours of store operation. If you are working a short 5pm-10pm shift, you will likely be tasked with recovering one or more departments on your own. For this reason, you often cannot afford to get caught up in larger projects such as sizing or colorizing entire departments, unless otherwise instructed by your manager. Restack folded pants and shirts and pat down racks at a quick, steady pace.

4. Tie a Trash Bag to your Folding Table or other Department Fixture

As tedious and downright annoying as it may be, trash pickup is a normal part of retail department recovery. You might be surprised to know what retail associates come across during the recovery process. From soda bottles, soft drink cups and fast food wrappers to unwanted receipts, old chewing gum and even children's toys, there seems to be no end to what customers are rude enough to leave behind. And, as is the case in most clothing retail stores, trashcans are only positioned at cash registers and in the restrooms.

Associates who are recovering departments in the back of the store or those farther from the register lanes are therefore forced to walk to and from these trashcans to dispose of each individual piece of trash they come across. Unfortunately, particularly in large department stores, this takes up a great deal of time.

To avoid this, remember to grab a large trash bag from your stockroom upon arriving at work. Before starting your regular recovery routine, tie the bag to your folding table or another fixture in your department. Pick a spot that is easy for you to remember. This way trash disposal will be quick, simple and very close by. Remember that speed and proficiency are the primary elements of clothing retail department recovery. Managers want associates who are capable of combining their speed with effective recovery skills. Bear in mind the aforementioned tips and suggestions when recovering your department. I guarantee you will exhibit both speed and efficiency.