As we have seen a recent change to the APM role starting with adding Assistant Manager to the title and being a key holder I encourage folks to look at how the APM role has been transformed at Sam’s Club and find the similarities and possibly predict what is in-store for WM.
• They have open/closing duties
• They can operate registers
• Ran the technology (electronics) department over the holidays
• No longer report to the MAPM - now reporting to the Club Manager
• Title has completely changed to Grocery/Consumables Compliance Assistant Manager - AP is no longer in the title. Now they run grocery/consumables and compliance.
I cannot say that AP at SC and WM will mirror each other but one can assume that WM has started to do what Sam’s has done. Having worked at both Sam’s and WM, there are obvious differences in what AP related tasks are but at the end of the day, the goal of the roles are the same - reduce shrink and ensure environmental compliance laws are practiced in the facility.
My prediction is that the company will create a centralized CCTV team at HO (or oversees) and track people in the stores and then communicate with MODs/Local Law Enforcement after selection and concealment had occurred. Possibly, facial recognition will play a role as well since manage thieves travel from store to store. This may seem like an imaginative prediction but so are robotic unloaders (being tested now), Scan and Go (Sam’s payment app that allows members to skip register and pay on phone) and the new robot that scans outs.
I’m excited to see what the future holds.