Associate Guide: How to Work Your Assigned Queue

The used-car manager dropped eight stock numbers on your desk and said, "Get these up." You are a new associate. You can see the lot. You can see other reps posting trucks you would rather work. The temptation is to skip the beige sedan, grab a nicer SUV from shared inventory, and call it initiative. That is how junior people create duplicate listings, leave aged units invisible, and spend their first month being "helpful" in the wrong direction.

An assigned queue exists so you do not have to make inventory decisions. Your job is execution: work the list you were given, inspect each unit, post it cleanly, and tell a manager when something is wrong. This associate guide is how to work your assigned queue as a daily craft, not as a scavenger hunt.

Associates do not add vehicles to their own queue from inventory. Managers assign. Sales reps self-queue. If those roles are still fuzzy, read admin, manager, sales rep and associate roles explained once, then come back to the steps below.

What an Assigned Queue Is For (and What It Is Not)

An assigned queue is a work order. It is not a suggestion, a ranking of cars you like, or a license to browse.

What you own

• The units currently in your queue.
• The quality of the listing you send: title, description, photos, price as shown.
• Immediate sold-unit hygiene on those units if you learn a car went pending.
• Asking for help when a unit is incomplete, already live, or not actually on the lot.

What you do not own

• Choosing extra vehicles from shared inventory.
• Reassigning another person's claim.
• Changing account settings, team members, or billing.
• Deciding store-wide posting cadence.

If a unit should not be in your queue, remove it from your own queue and tell the manager. Do not quietly substitute a different car. Substitution is how aged inventory dies in the dark.

Why managers assign instead of letting you pick

Managers see recon status, aged units, twins, and which VINs are already posted. You see the cars that look easy. The assignment model exists because those two views disagree. The manager process for assigning vehicles to associate queues is their half. This article is yours.

How to Work Your Assigned Queue at the Start of the Day

Do not start by opening Facebook. Start by reading the queue as if it were a dispatch sheet.

Morning pass (before the first post)

1. Count the units. If the list is longer than you can finish at a human pace, say so before 9 a.m. Do not silently plan to dump the rest after close.
2. Walk or locate each vehicle if the store expects you to. Confirm it is on the lot, not in body shop, not wholesale-bound.
3. Check inventory status: draft, posting, posted, sold, failed. A unit already posted or sold does not get a second listing from you.
4. Note anything with missing photos, a blank price, or a VIN you cannot match to the windshield.
5. Work top to bottom unless the manager told you a specific order. Do not reorder for preference.

If the queue is empty, you are not "off the hook." You wait for assignment or you ask. Filling the idle time by self-queuing is not an associate move.

When a unit should come out of your queue

Remove a unit from your own queue when:

• It sold or went on hold.
• It is not on the lot and nobody can produce it.
• It is already posted by someone else.
• The data is so incomplete you cannot build an honest listing, and the manager has not given you a fix.

Then tell the manager. Silence turns a data problem into a missing car.

Inspect, Edit, Post: The Unit Routine

Every vehicle in an assigned queue gets the same inspection. Speed comes from repeating the routine, not from skipping steps on "easy" cars.

Copy and facts

AI-generated titles and descriptions come from the vehicle's specs. You can edit them before posting. Your edit should catch:

• Year, make, model, and trim that match the window and the photos.
• Mileage and price that match what the desk will honor.
• Sentences that sound like they belong to this unit, not to every silver Camry on the row.
• No bait language, no "call for price," no extra zeros.

If you do not know a fact, leave it out. Guessing options is how listings get reported.

Photos

Use the Facebook photo picker. Lead with a clean exterior shot. Include interior and odometer when you have them. Do not use a photo of a different vehicle, a stock image, or a dark crop of a bumper. If the photo set is unusable, stop and tell the manager instead of posting a listing that will be ignored.

Posting with the extension

Sign in to the Chrome extension with your own email. No API keys, and no borrowing a manager's session. The extension posts one vehicle at a time with human-like delays. Server-enforced daily post limits and delays apply whether you are in a hurry or not.

A conservative operating standard: do not try to beat the pacing. If you still have units at the limit, they wait. Bursting leftover work late at night is a common way accounts look automated.

PostToMarket is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meta. Working the queue correctly reduces operational mistakes. It does not guarantee reach, leads, or that Facebook will approve or distribute every listing.

After each post

• Confirm the status moved to posted (or failed).
• If it failed, do not hammer it. Check the obvious fields and report the failure.
• If a buyer messages, follow the store's response rules. Speed matters more than perfect scripts.

Problems You Should Escalate Instead of Solving Alone

Associates get in trouble by being too independent. The assigned queue only works if exceptions go back to the manager quickly.

Escalate immediately

• Duplicate VIN: the same vehicle appears to be live already.
• Mismatch: photos do not match the car in front of you.
• Title or price the desk says is wrong.
• A claim that is blocking a unit you were told to post (that is a team queue view problem for a manager).
• A sold unit still showing as available.

Do not escalate as a delay tactic

• "I don't like this car" is not an exception.
• "The photos aren't glamorous" is not an exception if they are accurate and usable.
• "Another rep wanted this one" is not your reassignment to make.

Keep a simple personal log

A notebook or a note on your phone is enough:

You will need this when someone asks why a unit is still unposted. Memory is not a log.

How PostToMarket Automates This

Working an assigned queue falls apart when the associate can wander through the whole lot, share a login, or post in a burst because the list looks long. The product holds the rails so the associate can focus on inspection and posting.

• Manager assignment of vehicles to associate queues. You work what you are given.
• You can remove a unit from your own queue when it should not be there; you cannot restock yourself from shared inventory.
• Inventory statuses (draft, posting, posted, sold, failed) so you see the same state the rest of the store sees.
• AI titles and descriptions you edit before posting, and the Facebook photo picker.
• Chrome extension posting one vehicle at a time, human-like delays, server-enforced daily limits, email sign-in.
• Mark as sold and archive from inventory or the queue when a unit you are touching goes pending.
• Team queue view for managers to see and release claims if a unit is stuck.
• Mobile dashboard to reorder your queue between customers if the manager has you working a longer list across the day.

The related playbook for designing the store-side process is building a posting queue workflow for junior sales associates. This guide is the associate-facing version of that same discipline.

Put Junior Posting on Rails, Not on Guesswork

If your newest associate is still shopping the lot for cars they like, you do not have an assigned queue. You have a scavenger hunt with extra steps. Give them a list, a routine, and a login that is theirs.

PostToMarket is built for that split: managers assign, associates execute, sales reps self-queue, and everyone sees the same statuses. Unlimited vehicles in inventory on every plan. Starter is $59 per month for a solo seller with one login. Dealership is $299 per month for a floor of up to 13 logins, including managers who can assign and release work.

Start your 10-day free trial with secure Stripe checkout. Assign a short queue on day one, watch an associate finish it cleanly, and cancel anytime if the process does not stick.