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Walmart Is Turning Its Employees Into Delivery Drivers To Compete With Amazon (qz.com)
Walmart, which is aggressively investing in e-commerce to better compete with Amazon, is unveiling a new strategy: turning its army of 1.5 million US employees into delivery drivers. From a report: The tactic is being tested at three stores in New Jersey and Arkansas, and designed to shave costs out of the "last mile" of distribution, the most expensive part of getting goods to customers. Under the initiative, store employees will be given the option to deliver packages on their way home after work, in exchange for extra pay. They'll be given an app that allows them to input their routes, and an algorithm will plot the most efficient path. To take part, the employees will have to pass a background and vehicle check.
Even though it didn't come out quite the way the book had it, at long last we will have - the deliverator .
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Maybe things are different in the rest of the country but.... a background and vehicle check? Most of the employees at Walmart I've met couldn't pass a sanity check...
Wal-Mart could just hire a miniumum-wage delivery driver for each store and have deliveries all day long. If every pizza and Chinese restaurant can do it, so can Wal-Mart.
Curious if the employee has the flexibility to sign up for (or to reject) deliveries after each shift, and how much flexibility they have in time and direction.
When I am not going home after the shift, I shouldn't have to go out of my to deliver a package to my neighbor.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
I ordered six small boxes of granola bars from Walmart a few months ago. Since it got shipped by FedEx, I had the box diverted to a FedEx Store. The store clerk brought out a 24" x 24" x 6" box. Packing paper took up most of the space inside. All six boxes fit inside my backpack. I told the store clerk to recycle the box and packing paper for another customer.
Yeah I've seen a lot of people dismissing this but I think it's generally a pretty good idea. There are obvious issues with pay and insurance but i suspect many walmart employees will be happy to make their commute home be payable. Walmart will have to suitably figure out insurance because personal injury lawyers will jump at the chance to list them as a defendant when traffic incidents happen, they've got much more incentive to get that right than the local pizza franchise.
Their real strength in ecommerce should be that they have a massive presence in nearly every locality in the country, yet you can order something off their website and it'll ship with UPS 2-day from the other side of the country (despite sitting on a shelf 3 miles away from me). Their giant store footprint is really their singular advantage over Amazon, of course they should play to it.
other than their route home, what else will that app monitor about the employee. "Mr Smith we notice that you did not leave the bar until 23.30 last night ... please report to room 101 for an alcohol test"
Just ask Dominoes - you can put a company uniform on any 17 year old kid and have them deliver from store to home in "30 minutes or less," all profit, no headaches.
The Walmart employees, of course. They have to pay for the damaged goods.
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And a chance for the employees to deduct some part of their vehicle-related costs on their tax report?
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If Uber drivers aren't covered by their automotive insurance while they're driving for Uber, then nor are these Wal-Mart employees going to be covered while they're driving for Wal-Mart. Any of them who elect to carry a package for Wal-Mart will have no insurance at least between the time when they leave work, and the time when they deliver the last package they're carrying.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I also think it would be easier for the employee to live at the Wal-mart. They can sleep in the mattress department, show in the water aisle. Hell, why not just turn it into a company store?
I guess you've not ordered from Amazon very much, because they have the exact same issue - small items in absurdly large boxes.
In fact, YOU at least got padding as I've also had items loose in a large box that arrived kind of messed up.
The last straw for me was a one-day order I placed for something I needed for a trip. It arrived two days late, long after I had gone... I am pretty much done ordering from Amazon and going to order directly now from most vendors like NewEgg or BHPhoto. At least they take urgent shipping requests seriously.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
is this an April Fools Joke? There's so much wrong with this I don't know where to begin? What about insurance? What if they hit somebody? What about mileage? There's no way Walmart will pay enough to account for that.
And what happens if they don't get enough "volunteers"? After all, the Walmart employees with Cars are the better off ones. I'm guessing pressure, hours cut, etc, etc.
Dear lord the working class is pooched. I mean, if it's come to this what next? I don't even have the words... We're no longer racing to the bottom, we've drilled through, struck oil and it's leaking into our ground water.
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Any of them who elect to carry a package for Wal-Mart will have no insurance at least between the time when they leave work, and the time when they deliver the last package they're carrying.
I double checked for a /sarcasm tag but nope.
Of course w-mart will get an umbrella policy that covers it's drivers while they're on the clock delivering packages. It's stupid to think they wouldn't for many reasons. Just like they will be covered by the various insurances covering on-the-job injuries etc. These people are actively working while making a delivery (even if it's conveniently routed so it's on their way home) so all the normal work protections apply. When you but an insurance policy for (if this takes off) 10s to 100's of thousands of part time drivers/delivery people you get some pretty nice rates.
TBH the hourly rate will be more than it probably costs for the delivery in some cases, but this isn't about w-mart saving on shipping. It's about them one-upping prime-now which has much more limited availability than w-mart would if they leverage this in most of their stores.
It will be interesting to see how they handle the hourly pay though. They can't pay less than minimum wage and they also have to reimburse for mileage. I wonder if instead they try to go around that and offer a fixed fee or something.
You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
I thought about it also. The local Govs will like it. As local sales tax will be collected. Also most WalMarts will have groceries.
Walmart does this, and they get vilified. some hip Silicon Valley app producing, VC milking shit show does it and they are avant garde.
So wait, does this mean they don't have to pass a background check to work at the store in the first place? And what constitutes "passing?"
Simply, no. They aren't idiots. This is clearly designed for the suburbs. The same can be said of rural locations where people might live 50 km from their nearest store. It's not as if they're trying to convert *all* deliveries to this service, merely supplement their existing system, which seems like an inventive idea. And it's only a trial, which is good. We'll see how it does.
There are some WalMarts in larger cities where the majority of employees go to work by mass transit. Do they really expect to get them to carry customers' packages home on the bus or train? And when you're commuting by mass transit, another additional mile or so in each direction can quickly make your commute a lot longer in time.
"To take part, the employees will have to pass a background and vehicle check."
Derp. The program will not be offered at stores that can't properly staff it.
I double checked for a /sarcasm tag but nope.
Of course w-mart will get an umbrella policy that covers it's drivers while they're on the clock delivering packages.
Of course Uber has a policy that covers its drivers while they're transporting a fare. But they wind up without coverage when they're on their way to pick up a fare. At best, Wal-Mart employees will wind up without coverage on their way home from delivering their last package.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Given Walmart's legendary addiction to corporate welfare, you can bet this program won't be genuinely voluntary for long. Ways will be found to "encourage" employees to participate that have nothing to do with the few bucks they'll throw at them for using their personal vehicle for commercial purposes.
And given what I've seen of Walmart employees who are virtually out on their feet by the end of a shift, it would probably be safer to hold a "Drunk Drivers 6000" through residential neighbourhoods than to have them looking for some random house after working a 12-hour split shift broken up over 18 hours.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
I think the part that would concern me most would be Walmart employees coming to where I live -- where I lived in my twenties, I'd fear for their safety. Now, I'd expect them to be scoping out my place for reverse shopping trip
It's about them one-upping prime-now which has much more limited availability than w-mart would if they leverage this in most of their stores.
Have to remember that Amazon doesn't do delivery (for the most part), they do warehouses. They leave the delivery up to companies that know what they are doing like UPS, Fedex, OnTrac, etc.
Not sure why Walmart thinks they are going to compete with the likes of UPS with a bunch on inexperienced, low-paid, tired at the end of their shift drivers. Regardless, how is it going to work? Oh you want this package rush? Maybe, if you happen to live along the route of an employee and that employee happens to be getting off work when you need the package, and if that employee signs up to do the delivery. Package delivery can't be "best effort".
* yes I realize Amazon has these Prime vans around now but still the vast majority of their packages are delivered via big carriers.
it's just that if you turn it down you'll find your hours cut to 10 a month.
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Is this before or after it punishes them for taking sick days (just 2 articles above on /.). It must be beat up wally world day.
Hidden cost: wear and tear on their vehicles. Mtnce. costs are very high in my area with car dealers charging USD $150 per hour and private shops a little less.
Typically if you are on the clock while driving, then the employer is liable for any damages not covered by your insurance. It varies by state, but in most cases that's how it works.
If you're an independent contractor, (i.e. Uber) then you alone are liable.
at least that's what the article says. If Walmart wanted delivery drivers they've got 'em already. They're planning on doing an Uber style gig economy thing where you punch out at Walmart and then you're no longer a Walmart employee, you're an independent contractor. That's the only way this kind of thing can work and be any different than hiring a run of the mill delivery driver. And that way all of the risk gets pushed onto the employee, who's probably desperate enough to take that risk...
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In addition, workman's compnshoukd cover the employee as well.
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I think you're right. Every insurance policy that covers employees traveling from work to home or visa-versa covers a direct route home, therefore they will only be covered from their last delivery to home. There is also the issue of third parties injured and whose insurance is liable.
I'm certain Walmart will do all they can to offset the costs of this liability onto its employees - it's what they do.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
I'm glad for you if you have the luxury of choosing a more lucrative career, but for many people Walmart is the only option. That doesn't mean they are imbeciles.
And while the pay is low (which is part of the business model), there are things at Walmart that are better than other employers at a same pay scale. For instance, Walmart employees are less exposed to violent crime than employees of fast food chains or gas stations, and for anyone with real ambition and skills there's an actual path to better positions unlike exciting careers in sanitation or convenience store customer service. A vast majority of Walmart middle management comes from the ranks.
lucm, indeed.
so there's fewer injuries, which is where most of the cost is. After that then if all else fails the poor sod spends the rest of their life paying $100+/mo to the law firm that sues them on behalf of the guy they hit. Sucks for everyone involved except maybe the Lawyer (and Walmart of course).
Still it's a time bomb waiting to go off. There's limits to those car's safety and sooner or later somebody is gonna get really hurt.
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So, if that Walmart employee runs over a girl scout troop on the way delivering a package?
WalMart will be buying a lot of cookies...
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