Last update October 2024 by Claire
The role of Reserve Manager is vital to the nursery’s entire greenstock handling system. The position requires constant attention and a sense of urgency at all times. Significant time can be saved by reducing the double handling that will occur if you are not on top of your work at all times. Your work significantly affects all greenstock handling.
Key responsibilities
Traffic control
Trucks
It is critical for safety reasons and also for the efficient flow of vehicle traffic that you control all vehicle traffic in this area. We cannot afford to have our trucks blocked when we have deliveries to do and suppliers cannot afford to have their trucks locked in. Direct all delivery traffic to park with their tail towards the reserve. When they have finished, they are to circle through the yard. Remember you are responsible for the direction of trucks, if the driveway becomes blocked, you are at fault not the drivers. Always advise truck drivers to NEVER REVERSE down the driveway. This is dangerous and causes major congestion in the driveway. Always police speeding in the driveway and alert suppliers and customers to our driveway speed limit 10km/hr and that the area is also a walkway used by children and the elderly.
Customers
Customers should not be allowed access through the plant reserve. Customers may take unpriced stock, customer orders, or simply take off up the drive with stock and not through the registers. It is not a retail area and is designated staff only. If a customer is obviously new to BAAG, tell them it is a staff only zone but guide them through into the nursery anyway. We do not want it used as a thoroughfare, but we do not want you to be abrupt or rude to a customer either. Make sure the gate and barn door are always closed, and the STAFF ONLY sign is always facing the right way. You may need to remind staff about shutting the gate and barn door when entering or exiting the reserve.
Before the weekend it is essential that no access can be permitted to the reserve by customers. A safety barrier is stored in the reserve to erect on a Friday afternoon before the weekend. If that’s not enough, empty plant trolleys can be used so no public can enter the reserve. This is generally done on a Friday afternoon, as stock movement in the reserve is sometimes required through the day on Friday.
Receiving stock
Ask the driver to back parallel to the pallet racks, and park as close as possible to them. Help the driver unload the stock onto trolleys. Call for assistance if required. Price stickers should be hanging on the wall in the barn. Plants should be priced as quickly as possible. Once a trolley is completely priced, a “Ready to go” sign should be placed on the trolley so it is clear to night crew which trolley they should take next.
Always plan ahead and do not allow stock to be put on the ground and block the efficient use of the reserve. If all receiving benches and trolleys are full, in times of urgency stock can be put onto pallets. Pallets can therefore be moved with the forklift if access is needed to areas that are otherwise blocked. Always consider access to products that are stored within the vicinity of the reserve and the barn.
Be familiar with Bulleen Art & Garden’s Environmental weed policy in the Policies section of the Job description folder. If you see any plants from this list come in to the nursery you should check with the person in charge of that section. Bonsai and tubes can sometimes have environmental weeds in their stock lists, but anyone could order a plant that they didn’t realise was a weed.
Checking deliveries
Check all stock as it comes off the trucks for quality and make sure the numbers of plants delivered are exactly what is written on the invoice. If unsatisfactory quality plants arrive, or the wrong plant variety is sent, firstly, try to send them back on the same truck, otherwise leave them on the bench with a clear note attached to who they must go back to, ensure this happens within the fortnight. Re-stockers have less vision at night so if poor quality / diseased stock is not sorted by you it will go into the nursery and possibly infect other stock.
The next step is to have the invoice adjusted, it’s your responsibility to make this happen.
Call the supplier and tell them. Write on the invoice the course of action the company will take like, ”New invoice being sent”. Add your initials so that the person paying the bills knows who to ask questions if they need. All invoices should be placed in the pink tray in the buyer’s office, once the plants have been priced.
When you sign each delivery docket you are signing to say we have accepted the right quantity of the right plants and that they are in good condition. Do not accept any plants without labels unless you know they are for a customer order. Some suppliers will say they’ll send them in the mail, or bring them on next week’s spec. In this case, hand write a label, and let the plant buyer/manager know to look out for them and ensure they get put onto the stock within the week.
Invoices
Invoices should go into the green tray in the buyer’s office so that they can be processed. If stickers have already been printed for that invoice, then it can go into the pink tray – also in the buyer’s office. Any discrepancies in the invoice and stock arrived need to be sorted as mentioned above.
Sorting stock
Also its important to place taller stock on the upper shelves and shorter stock below. Never force a tall plant under a shelf, just to fit the native/exotic category. Instead put it where is best for the plant, and ensure it goes into the nursery at it’s prime. Don’t jam more plants onto the shelves either, they just end up bouncing out on their way into the nursery.
Pricing Stock
Each plant must be priced. Plants that are not priced normally are tubes and seedlings. Sometimes tubes are priced. Please check with the tube buyer if you are unsure. Eg. bulbs from Smith’s cottage, and natives from Narkabundah.
When pricing Bonsai also write the price on the bottom of the ceramic pots with a pencil. This way if the price stickers fade or fall off staff can still check the price. Price stickers for plant tiles should be stuck to an upright tag and placed in the side of the tile. Put two stickers on pots larger than 30cm so that they can be read from both sides. If the pot is going to be in a ceramic pot, then a swing tag should also have a price ad placed in the branches of the plant for easy access.
Trolleys
Empty and arrange the trolleys first thing when you arrive at work so they can be used for what they are designed for, distributing plants efficiently. This area will not work if it becomes too cluttered. There are signs for the trolleys in the reserve labelled with small shrubs, grasses etc. These are only used for NPW deliveries now as all price stickers contain information as to where that plant should be put in the nursery. Tubes should always be put on the yellow and silver three tiered trollies first.
Keep the trolleys left by suppliers empty (ie Scotsburn and NPW), so they can be swapped with ease.
Mass deliveries
For mass deliveries such as citrus or deciduous trees use pallets against the pallet racking on the river side of the drive. If possible price the stock as it comes off the truck and sort into alphabetical order. Always think of how to minimise double handling and allow for fast and efficient distribution into stock.
Use a white marker pen to write names on the pots of all large stock that may have a slow turnover or is quite expensive. This way they can be identified if the label was to fall off. Examples include deciduous trees, advanced specimens such as grafted gums and large indoor palms etc.
Stock distribution
As soon as a stock trolley is full, place a “Ready to go” sign on that trolley and tell night crew that as soon as plants have been dropped onto the ground, to bring the empty trolley back asap, ready to be used in the reserve again. In busy times, this is extremely important for efficient plant controlling.
Try and keep the flat bed trolleys free for bloomers and colourful endcap stock as these can be quickly pushed up and loaded into stock. Always keep in mind how quickly a trolley can be unloaded and returned to the plant reserve. Plants that are in flower sell quickly for a short period so they must be put into stock as soon as possible.
If time is limited, or you are falling behind, you can call on nursery staff or re-stockers (not the N1) to assist in the reserve. You must inform re-stockers how urgently you need the trolleys back. It will also save time if you let re-stockers know if more plants are expected to arrive for a certain section. Your priority on Wednesday and Thursday mornings is to have enough stock priced and ready to go so the restock crew can get moving as soon as they arrive at 12.20pm.
½ Price Special Plants
After restocking is completed poor quality stock from the benches is returned to the plant reserve for processing. Special price stickers are in a blue box either in the plastic tub in the barn or in the information stand.
These plants will be processed by re-stockers weekly and will only need your input if they become untidy or start overflowing onto the ground and other trolleys. If this happens, mention it to the re-stocking manager and they can resolve the issue.
Equipment maintenance
Trolleys
Check the tyre pressures on all pneumatic tyres and grease regularly.
During winter all racks must be maintained, wheels removed and greased.
Other Tools
Tools are kept on the barn wall. Other tools like a pencil, swing tags, black permanent marker, price stickers, stapler, staples and scissors are kept in the plastic box on the table in the barn, on the wall in the barn or on the shelves near the barn wall.
Customer orders
At the start of your day in the reserve, the nursery buyer should have put the customer orders print out and a roll of customer order stickers in the folder. Have a read over these so you get an idea of what is coming and when a delivery of plants arrives, check the stickers to see if any of the plants from that supplier are a customer order. If they are, place the sticker on the plant and once priced, put into its appropriate place in the customer order section. This is arranged in alphabetical order. Place under the surname if both names are present, or just under the first name if that is all that is supplied. If you do not put them aside they will go into the nursery and possibly sell. Obviously this would cause problems when the original customer comes to collect. Also tick the arrived box on the customer order print out, and mark down the price per plant. If you think it needs any notes, go ahead and write these down too. E.g. plants are small, plants didn’t arrive, only two pots, not three etc. This means the person calling the customer is able to inform them of any information that might be an issue when they come to collect.
Customer service
Your first priority is always the delivery area. Help nearby customers as much as you can. If you find customer service is interfering too much with your progress, speak to the yard manager.
Keep the reserve and barn clean
Now that the building next door is no longer there, we get more dust into the reserve and barn. It is a constant battle to keep the ground clear. If you have spare time between deliveries, please sweep the ground, and the tables.
Packing up
At the end of the week’s processing, the delivery reserve must be packed up and tidied to allow easy access to staff on weekends for watering and order collections. This also allows a fresh start when stock starts arriving the following week. The main path must remain clear for access and watering purposes and staff should have uncluttered access to the customer order/plant delivery sections. Sweep down benches and trolleys. It is your job to clean up the surfaces from leaves, dirt etc. As well as making sure weeds aren’t coming over the fence and getting out of control, inform the nursery manager if these need to be removed/sprayed outside of delivery days. Rather than sweeping each time, ask the yard manager if you can use the leaf blower for a much faster and effective job. Also if staff are dumping things that aren’t meant to be down there, it’s up to you to control and manage this.
NB. It is understood that the reserve manager often leaves before the night crew finishes but any head start is helpful.
Safety at BAAG is more important than customer service!
This plant delivery area can be a real safety hazard if aisles are not left clear. This area is your responsibility.
Lifting and bending
Be sensible with your lifting and bending, you will be doing lots of both, so talk to senior nursery staff for techniques for lifting and to minimise bending. Straighten your back regularly and spend the time to get in the best position. Use your free arm to support your body when reaching. Never lift anything that you find too heavy and do not hesitate to ask for assistance. A heavy trolley should always be pushed by two people, it is too heavy for one person to push.
Ask a licensed fork lift driver to lift pallets as much as possible to minimise back stress. Often pallets can be positioned at the rear or even within a truck to minimise handling.
Personal safety
Be aware of and reduce or communicate (with signs if appropriate) hazards to you and customers associated with handling plants, eg. climbers and other staked plants and deciduous trees in winter- historically every few years someone in industry loses an eye.
Tools and safety
Put your tools away and always roll up your hoses. We have a lot of elderly customers but anyone can break a limb tripping over a hose or rake left carelessly lying around.
Your responsibility and duty
As in all sections of the nursery safety comes first. If you see a hazard it is more important than anything else, including customers, and you must do something about it straight away. The new laws now make you individually responsible and it is surprising how easy it is for a serious accident or a death to occur in the workplace. You must all contribute actively and positively to the health and safety of other staff and our customers.
Materials Handling
If anything in this job description is unclear, appears outdated or requires some training for you to perform, please let your manager or supervisor know.
As you become familiar with this job it is your responsibility to suggest ways that we can make it safer, more efficient and better able to work in with other people’s tasks. Please communicate any suggestions to managers or put them in the staff suggestions on our internal website.