The New Walmart and what you can expect.

Discussion in 'Motor Carrier Questions - The Inside Scoop' started by 64_Max_Wedge, Mar 22, 2018.

  1. 64_Max_Wedge

    64_Max_Wedge Bobtail Member

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    Hello people, I'm a tenured driver with Walmart with just over 30 years with the company. I am not going to bash the company, but will give it to you straight, not soft ball it and try to help you make your own decisions on whether this is the job for you. For us old private fleet hands, most of these recent schedule changes are absolutely not what Sam Walton would've done if he were still alive. For many of you, these changes in our fleet operations might very well be just fine. I have done very well over the years with Walmart and used to recommend drivers who possessed the necessary skills, personality and work ethic to try and get on board here. Several personal friends hired on around the same as me and most have had rewarding careers over the years. A couple guys retired recently because of these big changes happening, 2 others are still here trying to hang on, one's on medical leave and sadly the other passed away. It was well known in the trucking industry this was a job you retired from, not out right quitting. Since these changes were announced on Oct. 1 2017, Walmart drivers have been quitting in droves. Some quit right away, some are trying to figure out how to deal with these changes and hang in there, and others getting ready to retire or quit before these schedule changes take effect. If any of you have doubt in my words, I encourage you to ask any Walmart driver the true skinny as to what's going on these days. About 5% of the drivers, most who've been hired in the last 5 years will tell you this job is the greatest ever. 95% of the tenured drivers who've been with Walmart over 5 years will most likely tell you to run and don't look back! Please, start asking before applying so you can make a very important and informed career decision. Let me give you a brief rundown of whats happening.

    A Walmart driver hired after 10/1/17 will be paid .38 cpm as opposed to the .54 cpm I make as a 30+ year driver. When I started, all drivers under 15 years tenure were paid the same mileage rate with those over 15 years receiving an extra .01 cpm. Activity pay was completely the same rate for all drivers and the layover pay also the same. New drivers activity pay is not quite as much as mine, but it's still pretty decent and layover pay for 10 hour sleeper is equal to mine. What's sad is the .38 cpm mileage may never go up for the new guys as Walmart's recruiting campaign only stresses activity pay. The more you drop & hook, the more multiple live load or unloads means the more big money you'll make. The drop & hooks are great but the reality of the live load or unloads can kill your day. I'm not going into specifics because the pay can get complicated here. You will earn money for arriving and if the load or partial is ready, your good to go. However in many cases, stuff isn't ready and you will wait. You must wait for 45 minutes before detention kicks in @ $14 per hour. If this happens, and it does, you're really not making what you should be making. A new driver's gross pay will look pretty good, but reality is a ton of hour will be put in to make that money.

    All Walmart offices begin the new schedule on March 24th. All offices have different schedules but for the most parts regular weekends off for everyone are gone. The new schedule also means no assigned tractors for everyone except those driving the blue 3 Million Mile tractors. Walmart wants the entire fleet to be a full slip-seat operation.

    The new schedules are as follows;
    5-2 for drivers driving 5 days per week for a senior guy like me who wants a somewhat normal schedule. In almost, not all of the entire fleet, 5-2 drivers will begin their shift on Sunday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday. At end of the week's shift I will have to clear everything out, including all bedding, food, drinks and all personal items. It will be mandatory to fuel, wash the truck, clean the interior, vacuum & deodorize if needed and clean all the windows. On my own time, not company time! A checklist confirming these duties must be turned into management before I leave out on first load and before I go home. These procedures will be performed by every driver in the fleet, regardless. The driver using my truck on my days off will need to repeat the same procedure before he moves over the a different truck. Unfortunately he's going to spend a lot of unpaid time moving and cleaning.

    5-2 and 5-3
    means 5 days on, 2 days off on week one. 5 Days on, 3 days off on week 2.

    6-3 means 6 days on, off 3 days.
    These 2 schedules mean you will begin the week's shift on a different day every week with a Saturday and Sunday off when rotation rolls around

    Extra means you'll work whenever needed and may end up driving whatever truck is available.

    Another new deal is our shops will not inspect any more trailers on the yard for lights, tires, brakes, dents & tears in the roof or sides. If you don't do a proper inspection and fail to notice defects, you will be held accountable. Same goes for the tractor, anything defective must be reported because if your load is ever late or get a ticket in a D.O.T. inspection for something you missed, the crap will hit the fan. More New Walmart.

    Walmart trucks used to handle store loads & back-hauls in their own distribution center's assigned area, but not any more. Just because your office is in southern Calif. for example doesn't mean you'll stay around that area. You may end up in Phoenix & run their loads all week, or Salt Lake City, or the San Francisco area before coming back home. Good luck finding a place to take a layover in an unfamiliar location when you're almost out of hours. Violate your logs, you get written up. Enough violation, you are gone, plain and simple. Again, ask any Walmart driver how stressed they get looking for a safe legal place for the 10 hour break every single day. We can layover at our stores, but more store every day forbid it due to local ordinance.

    I'm tired and need to get some sleep so let me conclude. If you want a job that pays pretty good, provides security, insurance, uniforms, decent equipment and you don't mind being micro-managed, treated like a grade school student in every single aspect of your job, not getting Sat. & Sun off every week and being the unpaid maintenance man every time you slip-seat, you will be very happy here. I was, not so much now.

    Again please talk with any Walmart driver to confirm my words. Walmart's advertising campaign does not tell you all of what you need to know. We have seen many new drivers with high hopes to start out here and end up regretting coming here shortly thereafter.

    I will answer any questions here when I can respond, but please make it a reasonable question. I will not argue with someone just because they don't like what I say. Thanks for your time.
     
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  3. Cat sdp

    Cat sdp . .

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    Don’t believe the cleaning their truck on your time will hold up..... someday they will fire someone who will take that to a lawyer and the labor board.


    No TKS ......

    P.S. Walmart sucks anyways.... now their showing their true colors.
     
  4. Gunner75

    Gunner75 Road Train Member

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    Wow, that's really good write up. Guy I know back home drives for Wal-Mart out of Columbus Ohio, he's been with them for nearly 20years, used to swear by Wal-Mart. Makes me wander what he's got to say now.
     
  5. OLDSKOOLERnWV

    OLDSKOOLERnWV Captain Redbeard

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    Next they will want you to drive on your time too.
     
  6. haz-matguru

    haz-matguru Road Train Member

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    It amazed that WMT like other outfits came up with the on your time deal. Because in reading FMCSA Rules, it's clear that anytime spent working, waiting, or doing anything involved with the truck. Will be logged on line 4.

    Now if the FMCSA says that it work. And the dept of labor says that it's work. Then why would WMT not want to pay for it? And if memory serves correct a driver once sued WM after getting hurt while washing the truck. After he won, WM then went back and found he wasn't logged in. Well WM ended up getting the money back from the driver.

    Basically if it has to be logged on line 4. Then I need to be compensated! That's the problem in the trucking industry. There are too many outfits wanting drivers to conduct free labor!!!
     
  7. rbrtwbstr

    rbrtwbstr Road Train Member

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    Forgive me for asking this. But are you saying that because your shops inspected your trailers, WMT drivers didn't do a pretrip on trailers? Until now when these changes take place?

    Crazy to think the driver is responsible for a proper pretrip! WTH is the world coming to?
    (I personally pretrip my trailer every day, even though I pull the same one everyday. I feel safer knowing I have looked it over, and not trusted someone else to deem my trailer safe to use)

    Geez, sounds like any other trucking job. Finding parking is usually half the battle for a regional or OTR driver. Do they forbid you guys from parking in those things called truck stops? Or is that beneath Walmart drivers?


    Sounds like Walmart drivers get about the same treatment as Swift drivers nowadays. Which is sad, and I could understand the frustration o the OP has. Come to think about it, I see Swift pulling Walmart trailers all the time now. Maybe a merger or takeover in the works?



    Could this all be due to Walmart beginning to struggle a bit after Amazon really began doninating the online sales market? If there's a hint of struggle in the minds of WMT corporate, they're going to make changes. And, it could be argued that in the eyes of the corporate office, the drivers have been immune to any major changes or concessions for too long. And now they're making up for lost time.

    Either way, it's sad to see one of the premium driving jobs in the industry going down the tubes.
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2018
  8. boneebone

    boneebone Road Train Member

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    The bad news is nothing lasts forever,
    The good news is nothing lasts forever.
     
  9. REO6205

    REO6205 Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Good post. I have some friends driving for WM and they're all saying pretty much the same things you are.
    They got in when Porterville started up and transferred to Red Bluff when it opened. They're close to retirement and really glad about it.
     
  10. 64_Max_Wedge

    64_Max_Wedge Bobtail Member

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    Loveland, Colorado
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    As far as vehicle pre and post trip inspections go fellas, we are not complaining about doing what we are supposed to do, it's just the shop used to do what's called in-bounding on the yard to find stuff easily missed on a basic inspection. They used to look very carefully for seeping axle seals, missing plugs on brake cans and stress cracks on sliding tandems etc. One time some years back our shop was doing a brake job on a trailer and when they raised it off the ground, the trailer came off the ground and the tandems stayed on the ground. Turns out we ended up finding out we had over a couple hundred trailers fleet wide that had defective welds in the sliding tandem rails. This is one why our shops need to continue the inbound process. Not one Walmart driver is crying about doing what we're supposed to do, this is just an example of what the company is doing today to put more money in the golden parachute for the senior execs.
     
  11. 64_Max_Wedge

    64_Max_Wedge Bobtail Member

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    Mar 22, 2018
    Loveland, Colorado
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    rbrtwbstr All I'm saying here is the majority of common carrier companies treat there drivers like crap, and now Walmart who used to threat their drivers with decency and respect are treating us like crap also.

    Walmart is blaming us as a major part of the problem with Amazon taking over as the big dog on the block. Walmart is losing because they lost their focus on the customers and the stores. If they just concentrate on going back to basic customer service by making shopping at the store what it should be, Amazon would be a non issue.
     
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