Does Anyone Here Run Walmart Dedicated Out Of Moberly Missouri?

Well day 1 was a success. My load was ready about 2 pm. 3 stops in Springfield, Jacksonville, and Pittsfield, all in Illinois. 352 miles round trip.

The first stop, was pulling pallets straight off the back. 5 pallets in zone 3, then a slight fight with the bulkheads lol, and then 6 pallets from zone 2. Once I figured out how the bulkheads actually work with my own hands, if made much more sense.

Stop 2 was almost as easy. 3 pallets in zone 2, but 1 pallet had to be left in zone 2 for stop number 3, then 7 pallets from zone 1, leaving another 1 pallet for stop 3.

Stop 3 were the final 2 pallets, 1 each in zones 2 and 1. Very easy stop.

There was one thing that caught me a little off guard. The locations of the pallets didn't match the load map exactly. I had a few pallets that were marked on "curb side" but were actually on "driver side" and vice versa. There were also a few that were out of order. But I double checked stickers before pulling them, and marked everything that was coming off and was able to keep everything straight.

Headed back to the DC, and got here with 4 hours left on my clock. I don't know if I was given an easy route, or if that is just the standard pace around here. But all in all, it was a pretty good day. The worst thing that happened was having to replace a burnt out headlight bulb so I can definitely live with that lol.

Thanks again for the help guys! It absolutely came in handy today and I feel a whole lot better about how things function on these Walmart dedicated accounts now. Back at it tomorrow.....errr later today lol

Now you've made one trip, here the last bit of advice, I got from the experience:

Make sure nobody gets by you with a pallet. Look at each pallet tag for the destination. Once, an over zealous clerk pulled an extra one off and I missed checking it. The invoice was completely checked off, but the next store was missing a pallet on delivery.

Guess who had to go back, re-load the pallet then bring it back to the right store before I could complete my trip.

Awesome Chris.

Agree with Errol. Gotta watch what they do because some of the WM unloaders move really fast. When I first started I had to re-deliver a couple of times...kills the clock.

I have always liked this gig. If you have a chance check back in on your progress.

Good luck.

I am in Moberly and yes that’s easy route until you get a backhaul or 2 pallet delivery to small location.

Well day 1 was a success. My load was ready about 2 pm. 3 stops in Springfield, Jacksonville, and Pittsfield, all in Illinois. 352 miles round trip.

The first stop, was pulling pallets straight off the back. 5 pallets in zone 3, then a slight fight with the bulkheads lol, and then 6 pallets from zone 2. Once I figured out how the bulkheads actually work with my own hands, if made much more sense.

Stop 2 was almost as easy. 3 pallets in zone 2, but 1 pallet had to be left in zone 2 for stop number 3, then 7 pallets from zone 1, leaving another 1 pallet for stop 3.

Stop 3 were the final 2 pallets, 1 each in zones 2 and 1. Very easy stop.

There was one thing that caught me a little off guard. The locations of the pallets didn't match the load map exactly. I had a few pallets that were marked on "curb side" but were actually on "driver side" and vice versa. There were also a few that were out of order. But I double checked stickers before pulling them, and marked everything that was coming off and was able to keep everything straight.

Headed back to the DC, and got here with 4 hours left on my clock. I don't know if I was given an easy route, or if that is just the standard pace around here. But all in all, it was a pretty good day. The worst thing that happened was having to replace a burnt out headlight bulb so I can definitely live with that lol.

Thanks again for the help guys! It absolutely came in handy today and I feel a whole lot better about how things function on these Walmart dedicated accounts now. Back at it tomorrow.....errr later today lol

Day 3 is in the books. Yeah Errol I've definitely noticed you have to REALLY check those stickers before the pallets get pulled. All 3 days I've had pallets that were in a different order or on the opposite side of the trailer from what the load map shows.

Today I had a little predicament that turned out to not be a big deal. At my first stop, they were getting 11 pallets. They were all loaded right at the back, with 8 being DD (deli/dairy) and 3 being frozen. Well, I'm pulling stickers, and the guy is pulling pallets. Then suddenly, we get to the pallets that are for stop number 2, and I see that we've only pulled 10 pallets, because I only have 10 stickers pulled. So I have him move the pallets in the trailer, thinking that their last one must be behind these other 2 pallets, by mistake. But no. Just more pallets for stop number 2. So now I start thinking that I must have missed pulling a sticker off a pallet, but can't figure out how because I was following the same system I've used so far.

So we go into their freezer section where they've been placing the pallets, and thanks to one of the Walmart employees, we find what happened. One thing that I've seen on these loads, is that they seem to be piling boxes on, after the shrink wrapped pallet has been loaded onto the truck. In this instance, there was a box that had my missing sticker, that was placed on top of a pallet that I had already pulled the correct sticker from.

I double and triple checked every single pallet, and all I can assume is that they had a few boxes that instead of double stacking a pallet, they loose stacked those boxes on top of this pallet. So that should have been a double stack, with both numbers listed on one item line. It was confusing and it worried me.

But after delivering the next 3 stops, everything was in order so that's all I can come up with lol.

Today was 344 miles with 4 stops. I rolled back into the DC with 4 hours left on my 14. So far it's definitely a little slower paced than I expected.

Oh and also, I've now delivered to 2 of those small stores that don't have a dock. Pittsfield, IL and Macon, MO. Had to turn around in the parking lot and back in next to the store, where they brought out a pallet jack and forklift. Both times have only been 2 pallets so at least its not a major ordeal. I didn't know Walmarts existed that were that small haha

Chris is half right:

there was a box that had my missing sticker, that was placed on top of a pallet that I had already pulled the correct sticker from.

Yeah, I forgot about the "half pallets". I forgot how it works, but there should be a way half pallets are marked on the packing list. Ask about it when you pick up your bills.

Chris is half right:

there was a box that had my missing sticker, that was placed on top of a pallet that I had already pulled the correct sticker from.

Yeah, I forgot about the "half pallets". I forgot how it works, but there should be a way half pallets are marked on the packing list. Ask about it when you pick up your bills.

Yeah that's what I mean. It wasnt marked as a double stack on the paperwork. The ones that are, have one number as the main line item, and then underneath that number there is a dash and then the second number, which indicates that there are 2 orders on that one stack. But in this instance, they were marked as separate line items, but were actually a double stack. It was definitely confusing. There were others that were marked correctly as a double stack, but this one was done differently.

Chris wrote:

So we go into their freezer section where they've been placing the pallets, and thanks to one of the Walmart employees, we find what happened. One thing that I've seen on these loads, is that they seem to be piling boxes on, after the shrink wrapped pallet has been loaded onto the truck. In this instance, there was a box that had my missing sticker, that was placed on top of a pallet that I had already pulled the correct sticker from.

The "piling-on" happens frequently and abundantly during the busier seasons when they attempt to use every cubic foot of space and the just-in-time concept maximizes the cross-dock distribution. Can make for a real mess when trying to pull a pallet like this out of the trailer. On short (height) pallets, many times the tag will be on the top instead of the sides. You got a strange one here though...

Chris tries to rationalize human error:

It wasn't marked as a double stack on the paperwork. The ones that are, have one number as the main line item, and then underneath that number there is a dash and then the second number, which indicates that there are 2 orders on that one stack. But in this instance, they were marked as separate line items, but were actually a double stack. It was definitely confusing. There were others that were marked correctly as a double stack, but this one was done differently.

It's inconsistent. Usually double and triple stacked pallets are obvious, but "hit-or-miss" if marked as such on the load map. It's the single pallets with 3 and 4 stickers on them that have me wondering; "why"? I think the issue you were dealing with is the weekend crew. They tend to be less efficient when it comes to building the load. If you end up working on this account through Thanksgiving, wait until you are dealing with Black Friday Weekend. The day after a major holiday is always problematic and tends to push night drivers to day and day drivers to night.

Life of a Walmart driver:

Oh and also, I've now delivered to 2 of those small stores that don't have a dock. Pittsfield, IL and Macon, MO. Had to turn around in the parking lot and back in next to the store, where they brought out a pallet jack and forklift. Both times have only been 2 pallets so at least its not a major ordeal. I didn't know Walmarts existed that were that small

The older stores tend to be smaller, less dock doors and congested. Especially true in urban areas. Many of the stores in the suburbs encircling Philadelphia and NYC were built in the 70s and early 80s. 53' trailers didn't exist yet; low-cube (96" wide x 102" height), 45 footers were the norm. The setup areas, dock height and dock width were designed and built for the equipment that existed during that era. With the advent of high-cube 53' length trailers (102" wide x 110" height), nothing has changed at these older stores, at times requiring creativity like dumping the tractor airbags and placing the tandems in the one hole (to better align with dock height) and a higher level of precision while setting up.

Sounds like you are quickly adjusting though. Very cool, good for you. Do you like it? Or is it; "too soon to tell?"

I do feel like I'm adjusting to it and it's definitely not a bad gig. To be honest, I'm not sure it's for me at this point iny career. Don't get me wrong, the way things run and the work itself is not an issue. But I am finding myself missing "the open road" already. I enjoy being able to just get on the road and drive for 5-6 hours at a time, the trip planning, figuring out where to stop and when, getting to see different areas of the country and talk to different people in those areas.

The coming back to the same place every night, without that place being home, is not my favorite thing.

And again, I wanna be clear, that's nothing against the Walmart dedicated account itself. I'm extremely happy I've gotten to experience it and now I'll have better information for myself when I decide on the next stage of my career, whenever that may be. I'm just thinking that at this point in my own personal life it's not really what I'm looking for.

I will tell anyone here, the Moberly DC is great. The people have all been extremely nice and helpful. I actually had a shop worker apologize to me yesterday for me having to wait a few minutes to get DEF lol. Virgil in the Swift office sat me down and went over every detail in the paperwork, explained to me how he did things when he was a driver on this account, and had a legitimate answer for every question I had. I'm very thankful for that.

So to anyone here, if you get the chance to run this account, I would 100% tell you to go for it. It may be exactly what you're looking for. I haven't ran into any "terminal rats" here. All of the drivers here seem happy with the operation.

I'll probably be heading back towards Atlanta this week. I've gotta have my 60 day review, with a new driver manager since they've restructured and my previous DM is owner-op only now. Plus I've gotta do winter simulator training. But if I run into anything else that's abnormal on this account before I leave I will definitely share!