First Solo Adventures Of A Schneider Dedicated Walmart Driver

My 70 ran out 1.25 hours from the DC. Yep, I spent a 34 at a Flying J just over an hour away from my car. Spent my home time at a truck stop. No extra pay either.

Couldn’t you use personal conveyance to get back to the DC since the trailer was empty?

My 70 ran out 1.25 hours from the DC. Yep, I spent a 34 at a Flying J just over an hour away from my car. Spent my home time at a truck stop. No extra pay either.

Couldn’t you use personal conveyance to get back to the DC since the trailer was empty?

That’s a great thought Dave.

PC is tricky when under dispatch. It can only be used to advance to a safe place to shut down. Which ge did. Dean will need to check with his driver leader to see how his employer handles this.

Unfortunately it comes down to him gaining experience in the account and setting realistic expectations when he is approaching his 70th hour of on-duty.

Thanks G! I’ll keep that in mind. My wife would flip if I was supposed to be home and couldnt make it under those circumstances.

Quick question. Could truck be left at truck stop and uber to DC, go home and then reverse process to get back to truck after reset?

Thanks G! I’ll keep that in mind. My wife would flip if I was supposed to be home and couldnt make it under those circumstances.

Quick question. Could truck be left at truck stop and uber to DC, go home and then reverse process to get back to truck after reset?

Yes. Or in the case of WM, Uber home from a store; best case for you would be Springfield PA. Huge, well lit and patrolled lot.

My 70 ran out 1.25 hours from the DC. Yep, I spent a 34 at a Flying J just over an hour away from my car. Spent my home time at a truck stop. No extra pay either.

Couldn’t you use personal conveyance to get back to the DC since the trailer was empty?

Unfortunately Schneider doesn’t allow PC.

Bumping this:

G-town replied you Dean...

Walmart is your customer Dean and you are paid for each stop. No one is robbing you. You are learning your account and have only seen the very tip of the Wally * World iceberg.

In my nearing 8 years running Walmart Dedicated, I’ve experienced all that you mentioned and a whole lot more. I’d like to make some suggestions on how to maximize your time and be more efficient... however if you revisit a reply I made to you weeks ago; everything written in the blog link included with that reply described most of the challenges you are facing and how I evolved to manage them. I look forward to exchanging thoughts and ideas on this with you.

That said, you must build relationships with the stores, know their back room culture, and note patterns in their operation, good and bad. Over time as you build a database of store and club info; this needs to be included in your daily trip planning. Each store has their own interpretation of policy and procedure, and unique culture. I deliver to rural stores in extreme South Jersey, coal miner country in north central PA and suburban NYC stores... huge difference in culture from one day to the next. I love this diversity, but you must adapt and adjust to them and respect that which you cannot change.

I have a list of about 20 stores that I don’t even bother with the doorbell, or calling... I just walk in and find the manager to assist or go right to the back room. I will also call ahead to stores that always have a congested warehouse, giving them time to clear a path. Many stores divert grocery receivers to the GM Side when a full Merchandise trailer is being unloaded and palletized for floor stocking. There are many stores that require entry on the GM side because no one is on the Grocery Side during a GM unload. For next day dry loads (remix), I will also advance the load to the point if shutting down at my first “next day” stop, if I have enough hours. Thus providing more clock next day.

The stores are all short staffed right now; and want their associates on the floor assisting customers. That is their priority. They also reorganized their management structure to a Team Lead Model... it’s a work in progress. In retail the customer is King. Delivering to Walmart requires creativity, knowledge of their challenges and like you said “patience“. Call your management if you believe you are being stonewalled. Communicate delays...

This is highly different than OTR. At the end of my 5 days I want no more than 6 hours remaining on my 70. Stay positive, and try to project that attitude all the time when conducting your store business. Again...they are your customer, treat them like gold. They will remember you... setting you apart from other drivers who feel the need to impart their bad attitude on store personnel. They remember that too and will treat that unprofessional driver “accordingly”.

Consumer retail is war right now... as a driver you gotta be aware of this and adjust.

I’m happy to help... Peace.

Bumping this:

G-town replied you Dean...

Walmart is your customer Dean and you are paid for each stop. No one is robbing you. You are learning your account and have only seen the very tip of the Wally * World iceberg.

In my nearing 8 years running Walmart Dedicated, I’ve experienced all that you mentioned and a whole lot more. I’d like to make some suggestions on how to maximize your time and be more efficient... however if you revisit a reply I made to you weeks ago; everything written in the blog link included with that reply described most of the challenges you are facing and how I evolved to manage them. I look forward to exchanging thoughts and ideas on this with you.

That said, you must build relationships with the stores, know their back room culture, and note patterns in their operation, good and bad. Over time as you build a database of store and club info; this needs to be included in your daily trip planning. Each store has their own interpretation of policy and procedure, and unique culture. I deliver to rural stores in extreme South Jersey, coal miner country in north central PA and suburban NYC stores... huge difference in culture from one day to the next. I love this diversity, but you must adapt and adjust to them and respect that which you cannot change.

I have a list of about 20 stores that I don’t even bother with the doorbell, or calling... I just walk in and find the manager to assist or go right to the back room. I will also call ahead to stores that always have a congested warehouse, giving them time to clear a path. Many stores divert grocery receivers to the GM Side when a full Merchandise trailer is being unloaded and palletized for floor stocking. There are many stores that require entry on the GM side because no one is on the Grocery Side during a GM unload. For next day dry loads (remix), I will also advance the load to the point if shutting down at my first “next day” stop, if I have enough hours. Thus providing more clock next day.

The stores are all short staffed right now; and want their associates on the floor assisting customers. That is their priority. They also reorganized their management structure to a Team Lead Model... it’s a work in progress. In retail the customer is King. Delivering to Walmart requires creativity, knowledge of their challenges and like you said “patience“. Call your management if you believe you are being stonewalled. Communicate delays...

This is highly different than OTR. At the end of my 5 days I want no more than 6 hours remaining on my 70. Stay positive, and try to project that attitude all the time when conducting your store business. Again...they are your customer, treat them like gold. They will remember you... setting you apart from other drivers who feel the need to impart their bad attitude on store personnel. They remember that too and will treat that unprofessional driver “accordingly”.

Consumer retail is war right now... as a driver you gotta be aware of this and adjust.

I’m happy to help... Peace.

Thank you G-Town. I very much appreciate your advice and experience. That first week was an eye opener. The second week was much smoother.

True that all stores are different. I've had overhead doors open as soon as I bump the dock. They even opened the side door before I got to it. And other times it's a struggle getting someone on the phone and I had to walk around to the front of the store and let myself in. I even got chewed out once for going in the front door by an associate that didn't think that was proper for me to do so. That was cleared-up by management who also apologized for me being called-out in public that way. I even grabbed a pallet jack once to help, only to be told that I wasn't trained on it so I should not help. That's okay from their safety standpoint. I did call my management once after waiting for 30 minutes. No one answered for them either so I walked around.

I still need to work on time management. I once dropped my trailer back at the OC with 4 minutes left. I put myself on "Off Duty" and let the tractor use "creep mode" all the way back to the parking area. That took almost 10 minutes. A yard dog noticed and said I was doing the "crawl of shame"for not managing my clock. We laughed about it though.

I already have a store that is happy to see me. I park square against the dock and have my paperwork and keys at the ready. I color code the paperwork so all I have to tell them is to sign on the blue lines and take the manifest hi-lighted in blue, for example. I even help take tags off of the pallets to track the products. I also hi-light the pallet numbers in different colors for different stores to make counting and reading the load maps easier. The gate staff also like their info color-coded to make finding trailer #'s, temp settings, etc., easier for them to find.

More to learn...

You’re more than welcome Dean.

From the text you have shared; sounds like you are doing great. Perhaps too soon to tell... but do you like it?

Safe travels! And watch that wagon!

Could you go off duty for the stores that you have to walk around front for? Then go back on duty for the unload? That might save ya a couple hours.

You’re more than welcome Dean.

From the text you have shared; sounds like you are doing great. Perhaps too soon to tell... but do you like it?

Safe travels! And watch that wagon!

I always "watch my wagon." That's some of the best advice out there! If I didn't, I would have been in deep doo doo my first day solo. I was moving between a pile of snow and some yellow poles. Just as I was about to gain momentum forward, I noticed the trailer skirt getting within inches of a yellow pole. If I would have continued, I would have broken the trailer skirt and either lost my job or been sent back to a Schneider OC for retraining.

Folks - watch your wagon!