The New Walmart and what you can expect.

You're right. I truly wish you weren't.
That's one of the reasons we've stayed small. We're not perfect and we can screw up just like anybody but when the day comes when we can't look any of our employees right in the eye and tell them the truth it will be time to shut the doors.
WM, and a lot of other mega corporations have painted themselves into a corner where they have to lie and chisel just to stay in business.
Our little outfit will never make the front page of the Wall Street Journal but we can look at ourselves in the mirror and not feel ashamed.

 

Yes and no. There are ways to do it without demoralizing and causing a mass Exodus .

First don't send out a broadcast to the drivers saying we need to cut/control costs because the fleet costs too much . Tell us we need to be more flexible, give up a lot of our perks for the good of the company to be more competitive business wise.

Then announce record profits for online sales, record stock prices, great sales figures, oh but wait we're cutting more driver perks to the cost of $800k annually, funny roughly same amount the hatchet man got as a bonus?

Then announce new driver pay scale, expecting the same high quality of drivers for a discounted rate.

Lastly take away set runs, end some programs, do away with any last remaining perks possible and wonder why not only senior, but many would be lifers are leaving in masses.

Unfortunately their plan is working too well, too quickly.

 

Another sign of how bad it is is that they are advertising on Craigslist in OKC for driving positions. Who'd of thought you'd ever see that?

 

They're in those truckstop publications too..never thought I'd see that either..

 

There was a time when you needed 10 years of solid experience just get an interview. Then after that you had to really stand out to get the job. Now Craigslist and the truckstop rags. The writing is on the wall of r sure. And if you read other threads here, another great outfit (at one time anyway) is doing the same thing. Ashley Furniture.

 

On CL no way bro!!! WTF??????

 

They’re advertising is Redding on Craigslist for the past couple months now also

 

The number one reason our drivers leave is retirement - our turnover is one of the lowest in the industry!

 

Ok back in 2010 my cousin told me that WMT Was advertising in the trucker newspaper. I thought he was full of it. After I saw it my self I said something is going on there. Or either something is going to happen in the future.

I now have seen it all in the past 10 years. Big companies buying up the smaller good companies. Then shafting the workers like when Kennan buys someone out. I've seen multiple decent companies lower pay. I've seen companies start to skip over maintenance to save money. And then companies that never advertised there jobs in trucking magazines to the public. Start to put ads in what I call the trucking company liar books.

I've watched Roadway start to crumble and darn near go bankrupt. I've watched new century start to sink and go out of business. And now with the actions of WMT I just wonder how long will it continue like this?

 

I don't see it changing for the better any time soon. They haven't reached bottom yet.
A buddy of mine and I were talking the other day...he was one of the lucky ones that retired from WM before it started downhill...and we were remembering all the freight outfits that have disappeared in the last fifteen years or so. Just off the tops of our heads we came up with twenty five...and that's just on the west coast.
WM's private fleet is on its way out and lot of good drivers are having to take a few steps back career-wise.
One thing about it, the area near the DCs where most of the drivers live will have a lot of well qualified people competing for every decent driving job. I wonder what that will do to wages.