Walmart Raises Driver Pay Again

Wouldn't need to do any of this if they didn't piss of the current quality drivers they used to have. Seems every "Supply Chain Specialists" they had in last 4 years has done nothing but dumb down the talent pool, force out senior drivers, and basically ditch old hiring process that worked well over past 45 years in weeding out mindless steering wheel holders.

 

WalMart 12-week program in Sanger, Texas and in Dover, Delaware for CDL

 

I was listening to an interview at mats. They were interviewing some Walmart drivers and it was laughable. They were totally brain washed. “I’m so proud to be a part of the Walmart family” “this white shirt is earned not given” “when I got hired on it was the proudest day of my life” “I always dreamed of being a Walmart driver”. So on and so forth. Those guys don’t want a raise, they will do it for the glory.

 

Walmart says it is raising truckers’ pay and starting a training program ...

 

Well from the sounds of it I could darn near double my annual income going to drive for Walmart. And probably quite a few other companies with over three years driving experience and a perfect record. But I just personally clash with a company that would micromanage me like a robot. I’m sure the workload at Walmart is probably far less than the company I work for now. But the company I work for now leaves me the hell alone. Lol
I can be just a bit of a rebel out here (not crazy, but you get the idea) and they don’t mind. maybe I would like the Walmart set up. When you start talking about doubling your income from one year to the next, it does make one listen a bit.
i’ve chatted with quite a few Walmart drivers over the last year and most of them do seem pretty happy. Some of them laugh at how easy the job is in their home two full days every single week. A guy I met about a month ago came out of retirement, works five days one week and four days the next, I was literally laughing that he made over $100,000 last year. And this guy was retired!

For those of us out there still driving hard, putting up with the BS of the midsize companies, for about half of that kind of money? It might honestly be time to open our eyes and look and see what’s out there. Money talks once it gets to a point.

 

I really wonder why Walmart is always needing so many new drivers.
If they pay so great and it is such a good place to work for, and there are not all that many new stores being opened up, why always the push for new drivers?

It would seem their turnover rate is just as bad as anyone's.

 

Historically speaking truck drivers have a bit of rebel blood in them. Doesn’t mean we’re all crazy or wild, we just are typically people wired to do things a little differently in this life. Walmart is a micromanage company. They manage every single detail of everything you can possibly think of and more. How about getting fired or written up for leaving an empty bag of chips on the floor? They lack the “spirit of truck driving“. Yes the benefits are great, the pay is great, the days off are great, but you’re gonna have some 12-year-old, with his shirt buttoned up to the top button telling you that the 12 minutes extra you stayed in the sleeper needs to be filed away in section 3Q with an explanation. You get the idea. Lol most people who are truck drivers can’t stand that. No amount of money makes it worth it to them. I don’t know if I fit into that category or not because I’ve never worked for an outfit like Walmart.

 

I haven’t a clue as to what their turn over rate is. I heard from a Walmart driver that they would like to eliminate all the outside carriers that have dedicated runs out of their DC’s, they would much prefer those to be Walmart trucks.

 

It's all about cost imho.
Cheaper to pay a full time driver than an outside contractor.
You have better control of customer service, image, line management and other operating costs. Also helps the supply chain efficiency.
We own and maintain the units and utilize them for minimum downtime for 24/7/365 operation just like WM.
Although we have experimented w outside maintenance it hasn't fared well.
We also have bean counters looking to save pennies at the expense of driver satisfaction.
I think WM has learned in the last several yrs how not to treat their drivers and is trying to get back to what they previously had in regards to satisfaction in a job.
I work for a private carrier also and average $600 a day wage plus benefits, but we pay our contractors $1500 a day to do the same work.
We advertise $110K wage with 3 weeks vacation to start and still can't find qualified people.
Money will put people in seats it's just a matter of how much it will take to put up w corporate bs.