Comments By Turtle

Something new that started this year is the Associate to Driver program, in which a member of the supply chain (DC warehouse associate) can be fast-tracked to a driver position through a targeted CDL and driver training program.

I know very few specifics on this program other than it being a roughly 12 week period from start to finish. A forum member is actually starting this program today, and I am very curious to learn more about it.

I see this being a huge opportunity for someone to bypass the stringent eligibility standards set by Walmart for it's drivers. Hopefully the lengthy training period will produce safe drivers. It remains to be seen whether or not the company's safety rating will take a hit (pun intended).

when Walmart brings on a new driver, what is their training program before the driver goes out solo?

It's changed a little since I went through onboarding at the Walmart mothership in Bentonville Arkansas only 4 years ago. There were over 100 people from all over the country in my class.

Nowadays, classes are much smaller, and are held at a central DC in your region. The onboarding process is still roughly the same, however.

You spend a week at the DC while they give their speeches, show you videos, and assess your skills. Daily study, training, assessment of your pre-trip, backing, and driving skills will be performed. If by the end of that first week you haven't shown you have what it takes to be a Walmart driver, you won't move on to the next phase.

Next up is orientation at the local home DC you'll be working out of. You'll spend a few days there touring the facility and maybe a couple stores or vendors in your area. You'll also watch a lot more computer-based learning modules/videos. Final background checks and employment references will be performed during this time. Once cleared, you move to phase 3, mentorship.

You'll be paired with a driver mentor at your DC, and spend two weeks on the truck with him/her. You'll be out every day making actual store deliveries, along with some backhauls. You'll learn how each type of store delivery is conducted, such as reefer, dry, or GM. You'll learn the tablet and procedures therein needed to log your day. Additionally, your mentor and driver coordinators will work together to expose you to the variety of nuances that are specific to your region. By the end of week two you'll be a finally tuned delivering machine. You are then cleared to fly solo. I've mentored 4 drivers thus far, and each has been ready by the end of week one. Week two just reinforced it.

Private hotel rooms are provided free of charge for all phases of training, and you will be paid also. I don't remember the amount of pay, but I know it's quite fair.

are all Walmart drivers regional?

Not all, but the vast majority are. I don't know the specifics on runs that don't pertain to me. But I know for example we have a couple of team trucks that run back and forth to Texas. We also have "set run" drivers that go to a specific store or area and back every day. Those runs are scarfed up by the most senior drivers, as they are usually the most lucrative. In my particular area we also have Long Island drivers who volunteer to go to the island every day for a small bonus (not worth the aggravation imo). Beyond that, most drivers run regionally.

Any preventable accident in the last 3 years will disqualify you from being eligible at Walmart.

1- They will ask you that question point blank before even speaking with your current company. You have to answer it honestly because...

2- They will then ask your company the same question, and your answers better line up.

There's no harm in applying, but don't get your hopes up. It's probably not going to happen. You're only chance is if your company didn't put the accident on your record. But then, you still have to answer honestly, so...

First you made it all about how some jackwagon assumed you, a female, needed help with your landing gear (that is the title of your post, you know), and how upset you were that he, a male, put his hands on your truck. Then, when it was correctly pointed out that some people just like to help with no underlying motive, you made it about the fact that he recognized you in some perceived creepy way. Big deal.

Well, which is it?

If you have a problem with men, or with men helping you, that's your business and totally acceptable. But human nature should be to help each other out, and I'm not going to stop doing that, even if it offends some people.

Meanwhile, on the subject of social media combined with the book, 1984:

...What Orwell failed to predict was that we'd buy the cameras ourselves, and that our biggest fear would be that nobody was watching.

🤔

That's powerful.

Yo T-11, what's up man! It's been a minute! Great to hear from you. You still skateboarding?

Our collective lack of care of your opinion doesn't change either.

Ryan tries to nitpick:

But, this doesn't mean that a driver shouldn't have an idea as to how far in the direction of one's destination a driver can go

I never said that, or anything like it. You should pay closer attention to the context in which I spoke.

I don't disagree with you, but I do think that you are not being intellectually honest in responding to the idea of planning a place to park at the beginning of one's trip.

That's because I wasn't responding to that at all. I was however responding to the notion that anyone who doesn't plan a place to park is a failure.

Try to keep up.

I agreed with everything you said.....until this:

To me the thought of starting a shift without knowing where and when I'm going to stop and how far I'm going to drive is a failure.

In my very successful OTR career, I almost never knew where I was going to park at the end of the day, or how far I would drive. There were far too many variables in my day for me to plan 14 hours ahead. Locking myself into a predetermined parking spot could cost me miles and productivity.

Rather, I'd do the best I could until just a couple hours before my shift ended. Then I would look ahead and map out a plan for where to park the truck. And I never had to park on a ramp.

The only exception is when I knew I'd make it to a customer's location for the night. Then it would just make more sense to stay there. Otherwise, I'm grabbing all the miles I can until it's time to start thinking of where to park.

Empty trailers were the product...does that count?