The Walmart skinny

Just my opinion but they should do what they used to do and do the testing at the DC the driver applied to. That way he/she can take a day off work and not have to hand they're notice in until they are hired. Then if the company wants to send them to Bville for indoctrination, oops, i mean orientation then fine they've already got the job.

 

thats the way it went for me.

 

I can understand the thought on not wanting to quit your current job, in the hopes of landing another job. IMO, WMT covers a good deal of that apprehension by paying for your round trip flight, your hotel in Bentonville, all your meals, and they pay you for your time as well. The guy that was supposed to work out of my area made nearly as much from his failed Walmart experiment, than he would of made working a week at his previous job. (luckily for him, his previous job took him right back after WMT rejected him) Again, I get it...it's a huge leap to leave a job before you are guaranteed a new job.

 

I was told I would be testing in an automatic since all the trucks out of the Sacramento transportation hub are autos... is that true? I told the recruiter I was nervous because I hadn't driven a manual in years but he said I wouldn't have to.

 

I'm driving out of Sacramento, and I tested in Bentonville (as everyone did) in a 10 speed. And my 1st truck they gave me out of Sac was a 10 speed (although I have an automatic now).

 

Uh oh, now I'm nervous! Why would he lie to me? Anyway thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. Can you describe what happens during the trip to Bentonville? I read that it's three days of pretrip, backing, and driving and then a couple days of orientation-type stuff. I get nervous when I don't know what to expect!

 

You'll fly (or drive if you want) into Bentonville on the day before on-boarding. You'll be met by a few Walmart drivers at the airport who will take you and all the other gaggle of people over to the on-boarding site to check in. You'll get your $100 gift card (to pay for your evening meals while there. Breakfast is at the hotel, and lunch is at the on-boarding location), then they'll take you to your hotel for the night. Monday-Wednesday are generally the same. Depending on group size, you'll be split into 2 groups. 1 group sits in classes the 1st half of the day watching videos, hearing presentations, etc. The other group will do their pre-trip, backing, and driving evaluations. After lunch (which Walmart provides), both groups swap and complete the classroom or skills evaluations. The skill evaluations on Monday are a "show us what you know" type...meaning the evaluators say go, and then you do. At the end of the day on Monday, the evaluators (CDT's) will show you exactly how Walmart wants the pre-trip and backing done. That's the time to really pay attention (taking notes is advised)..to what they're showing you. On Tuesday is a repeat. You'll again pre-trip, back up, and road test. On Wednesday, that's the "test" day. You'll again do all 3 skills tests, and if you pass..great! If you don't pass any one of the 3, well then you get to do all 3 again on Thursday. Thursday the group is again split. All who passed on Wednesday sit in the classroom for presentations and hoopla events for most of the day, while those who are retaking the skills are out doing that. On Friday, everyone heads for home. Those that passed the on-boarding will usually report to their new DC the following Monday for orientation. Those that didn't pass can reapply in 6 months.

All of this info will be given to you by email once you're accepted to attend on-boarding.

 

We recieved regular vouchers for 15% off walmart in one company we ran for. I don't know where their ties with WM was to have those but IF you did not use the 15% till the holidays then you could stack em off retail. It was a valuable way of the bosses showing appreciating for what we do with them.

However, My ex worked for Walmart for a time and some of the things that they did per policy was byzantine for us. Calling out sick became a ordeal, we simply did not show. (They can fire us if they pleased, we are just too old to be playing phone tag with WM's computers and two bosses to get a day off to have sniffles...) They did not fire us but awarded her Gold Star in a summer time for the work she did.

Ultimately due to the situation not necessarily involving walmart in the night shift we decided that it was not worth it to continue.

God only knows how many loads Ive taken into Walmart over the years and a number of those were physically unloaded by me or paid by comcheck 60 to 90 dollars range depending on what was in the trailer which sometimes came out of my check because the company did not approve it. Until I finally learned to run with a company that has a strict account with WM to drop and hook trailers. That really cleared it up for me back then. Although I could do without the teasing and trash talking aimed at me when I pull past 200 truckers in the bush at Waco DC, drive the trailer off into a spot, hook a empty and check out with guard in 20 minutes. Boy did those truckers pluck my feathers on air. And enjoyed it too. I can sympathize with them.

Finally but not least, it was important to find a company and type of freight that has nothing to do with Walmart. For me that was McKesson Medicines. Narcotics, kits and various other medical stuff that is really nice for sick people to have and get healthy where possible. Motivating for us. We would do that for free. (Don't tell anyone that.. he he..)

 

the stores are totally different from the transportation office. theres corporate and then drivers. the rest are under that. cullman al has a driver that is the very first driver hired by sam walton. he's 82 years old and wheres a tshirt and overalls. still drives

 

Pretty said walmart literally had to put in a mini truck driving school to find decent drivers. Such a sad excuse for drivers coming up the pipe line. Still some good ones tho. Few and far between. Love to see they % that flunk and go home. Ah well stay safe