Look, I'm the first person to admit that the retail side of walmart, and the corporate decisions for sourcing chinese garbage, have lowered the public opinion of Walmart as a whole. Furthermore, the caliber of clientele at most walmart stores has become a funny talking point, and point of overall ridicule, so I GET IT. We've all seen the documentary about how Walmart moves in to poor areas, forces out small businesses to monopolize the supply chain, etc. I'm not a fan of A LOT of what I see in the media OR in the stores.
However, as a 5 year truck driver who has experienced the ups and downs of small fleets, growing pains, uncertainty, IRS misclassification, unsafe equipment, unrealistic or illegal expectations, etc. I had to see what Walmart truck drivers REALLY experience. So I applied.
I was contacted within 30 days by a recruiter who carried out a phone interview to confirm my qualifications, get a feel for my demeanor/aptitude, and finalize my application process prior to scheduling my seat at an onboarding event.
After all the online forms were complete, I was scheduled for a a DOT physical and drug screen.
My background, and my 30 previous months of driving experience were closely reviewed and fully verified.
Once that was done, I was sent a flight itinerary with round trip airfare. I was scheduled to arrive in Bentonville on sunday.
I was greeted at the airport by uniformed Walmart truck drivers and shuttled to the Walmart property for intake.
I was given a badge, $100 prepaid debit card, and I signed a few more forms...
I was then shuttled to the hotel along with a dozen other candidates (very small group compared to the 75+ that usually make up a group)... We were each given a private suite which we would vacate on friday.
I won't go into much detail about the testing/evaluating of candidates but I will say that over the course of the next 4 days we weren't expected to know anything that a self respecting, competent truck driver shouldn't already know.
Attitude was very closely monitored and critiqued, just as carefully as the candidates skillset.
At the end of the onboarding event, I was left with a few decisions.
Will I be able to keep my phone from distracting me?
Will I be able to tolerate those dash cams?
Will I be able to consistently allow extra time for a thorough pretrip and post trip inspection so I can maintain integrity and a perfect safety record?
Will I be able to keep my opinions regarding Walmart's anti union ways to myself?
Will I be able to adapt to new expectations in order to keep one of the few trucking jobs in the industry that offers REAL retirement, advancement, and STABILITY?
It won't be easy... I'll certainly experience culture shock, and I'll feel guilty for working for the side of Walmart that gets taken care of the best, while my retail family struggles for hours and are often treated poorly as in-store associates.
All that aside, I'm a truck driver. I'll be getting paid VERY well to do a job safely and efficiently. I won't be asked to speed, cheat on my logs, drive through fatigue, or operate in unsafe conditions.
I'm willing to at least take this job for a test drive, and if it's all BS I'll be the first to call them out so other GOOD DRIVERS don't get hosed, but if it's real... I'm bringing every last good driver I can find along for the ride!
Just finished my week in Bentonville, AR
Discussion in 'Wal-Mart' started by AntiAverage, Sep 28, 2019.
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bbq247365, SeeJayneRun, Nervous Nelly and 12 others Thank this.
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Sounds like you are all ready drinking the blue koolaid
snowwy, Nervous Nelly, truckdriver31 and 1 other person Thank this. -
I hear you can't touch you phone. That normal today but you also have give them your phone to inspect if they want anytime they ask for it. Something about even with Bluetooth headset you cannot use the phone more then like 10 minutes a week or some low number.
They slip seat their trucks. Basically you have everything in duffel bag and a sleeping bag. You could have bed sheets stuff but you have to read to switch truck at anytime. Because they will not let a driver sit doing nothing. If your truck needs repairs, they will have you switch truck vs just sitting around doing nothing. If your at home and someone needs your truck because their need repairs they give them the truck and you get a different one when you return to work. That why they all have to be ready to switch trucks at anytime.
I believe they run you pretty hard 14 hour days and only 10 hour off. I did some Walmart DC to store delivery a long time ago and Walmart dispatch use I just work for a different trucking company. They would dispatch use to a store like 3 or 5 pm because every store got a truck at 4 or 6 or 8pm every day. We would drop trailer and get the empty one they just unload. So if you got the 8pm truck you go the 6pm truck empty trailer. Then they would send us to Sam's Club DC because those would load at like 11pm and we would get a Sam store delivery for like 4 am live unload. All the Sam's store did live unload early in the morning.
Then if you out of hour you would go to sleep and get 8 hour off( this was under old HOS) then you would go back to DC get back like 3 or 4 PM and do it all over again. The Walmart drivers had a shower room at the DC so that why you never see them at truck stop showers or at truck stop in general. They are always moving unless they are sleeping at the store or DC. Some time we got a back haul from local customer that had load of stuff to their DCTrucker61016 Thanks this. -
Please keep us updated. Once you get settled start agitating for Teamster representation.
truckdriver31 Thanks this. -
Sounds like a micro managing nightmare
laaylor and Trucker61016 Thank this. -
I worked inside a DC once, unloaded 8 trailers and reloaded 12 to stores in 4 hours.
Aint doing that again.asphaltreptile311 Thanks this. -
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Last edited: Sep 29, 2019
Nervous Nelly, Lonesome, braceface and 1 other person Thank this. -
mushroom1464 Thanks this.
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Congratulation, sounds like you landed your dream job. You already know what to expect and what is expected from you. If you can handle all this BS good for you. I know I can't.
HoneyBadger67, snowwy and truckdriver31 Thank this.
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