Walmart Journey, Take 2

Thanks so much Anne! We are both really excited about this new chapter! Can’t wait to go out on that truck with him 😁

Finished orientation, heading out with a mentor on Saturday! Excited and ready to get started.

OMIGAWSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know, I'm such a 'trucker's wife hick' deep down, can't help it!

SO. DANG. HAPPY. FOR. YOU.

Best going forward, good sir. No emojis/emoticons on here would show my happiness for you & the missus, enough!

Super psyched for you'sn's!

~ Anne (& Tom!) ~

This is so excited babe!!! I will be here cheering you on each and every day! Love you!

Finished orientation, heading out with a mentor on Saturday! Excited and ready to get started.

Just thought I’d update. Things are going well with the mentor, I have a real good one. That was one of my biggest worries but I got a good trainer. He’s also going to be training me for pulling doubles to go into Washington DC. There’s three stores there and two of them have to have the pup trailers. I already have the endorsement so I might as well. Loving the job so far. One more week of training to go.

Hope things are still going well for you, Brandon. Here's a chance for you to actually help me. You see, I've been asked to become a mentor for onboarding new drivers into johnstown.

Having been a trainer at my last company, I know that I don't necessarily want to get back into this. However, I thought I'd give mentorship a try since they we're pretty clear about wanting someone like me to do it. So I'll try it this one time, and go from there. Starting Monday. I'll spend two weeks with the new guy.

Mentorship has changed since I went through onboarding. It only lasted a week for me, but I understand it's now two weeks. I'm just curious how it goes, so I know what to expect. During the brief explanation, I was told I'd probably drive the full first week, and the other guy would drive the second week. We'll stay at a hotel each night, and my duties will primarily be teaching him company procedures, the computer system, and such. I will also act as a contact point for him for a source of help once he goes on his own.

I expect the process will be pretty much as I described, but if there are any differences, I'd appreciate the advance info. There's a brief class Monday morning I have to go through, so I imagine most of the info will be explained there. I know you briefly touched on this in your diary, but I'm just sitting here pondering this, so I thought I'd ask you how it's going.

Hello Turtle, happy to help. Things are going well. Tomorrow is my last day with my mentor. I start on Wednesday on my own. I’m still not on a program yet however. I’ll tell you how my mentor has been doing it with me these past two weeks. Yes, it’s supposed to be one week riding, one week driving. However the approved me to drive on day three. On day one I just rode along and watched. He briefly showed me the system and how to log in, but was patient and knew it would take more than a day to understand it. The second day he drove but said I will be doing everything else. I would hook up the trailers, handle the paperwork and computer. Interact with the people at the stores. He was right there to answer questions and I had plenty. On day three I drove and did the work with his guidance. It may be sooner or later depending on the guy you are training. By the end of the week I had the computer pretty much down and he said if it wasn’t for the second week requirement I would be released to work. The second week he pretty much watched me. I had the loads coming to my driver number and was doing everything. Except for one hazmat load I don’t have a license for yet. Also he would get on the phone at night and book our rooms whenever he could figure how far we would get when we shut down. I hope some of this helps. If I think of anything else I forgot I’ll let you know.

Let me know how it goes. Hope everything goes well.

Hope things are still going well for you, Brandon. Here's a chance for you to actually help me. You see, I've been asked to become a mentor for onboarding new drivers into johnstown.

Having been a trainer at my last company, I know that I don't necessarily want to get back into this. However, I thought I'd give mentorship a try since they we're pretty clear about wanting someone like me to do it. So I'll try it this one time, and go from there. Starting Monday. I'll spend two weeks with the new guy.

Mentorship has changed since I went through onboarding. It only lasted a week for me, but I understand it's now two weeks. I'm just curious how it goes, so I know what to expect. During the brief explanation, I was told I'd probably drive the full first week, and the other guy would drive the second week. We'll stay at a hotel each night, and my duties will primarily be teaching him company procedures, the computer system, and such. I will also act as a contact point for him for a source of help once he goes on his own.

I expect the process will be pretty much as I described, but if there are any differences, I'd appreciate the advance info. There's a brief class Monday morning I have to go through, so I imagine most of the info will be explained there. I know you briefly touched on this in your diary, but I'm just sitting here pondering this, so I thought I'd ask you how it's going.

Hey Turtle, ever get to cranberry Pa? I went to that Walmart today out of Woodland PA. Thought it might be near your neck of the woods.

I've made it down to Woodland a dozen times or so, and Cranberry once I believe.

I seem to be in this rut over the last several months of making the loop between Long Island and Connecticut stores, with occasional jaunts out west towards Buffalo. It isn't often I get down to PA much anymore. Hopefully that'll change soon, and I'll get back to the more normal routine of going in all directions.

Does Wal-Mart hire newbies right out of CDL school? I've worked for them for 12 years and don't really want to lose all that time with the company.

Does Wal-Mart hire newbies right out of CDL school? I've worked for them for 12 years and don't really want to lose all that time with the company.

No, they require a minimum of 30 months of tractor/trailer experience within the previous 48 months.

They have started something like a "dock to driver" program in select areas, where they take WM associates from the supply chain (warehouse/DC) and train them in an in-house setting for their CDL. Outside schools won't be accepted. I hear it's a very selective process, and haven't heard anything new on this program in months.

Does Wal-Mart hire newbies right out of CDL school? I've worked for them for 12 years and don't really want to lose all that time with the company.

No, they require a minimum of 30 months of tractor/trailer experience within the previous 48 months.

They have started something like a "dock to driver" program in select areas, where they take WM associates from the supply chain (warehouse/DC) and train them in an in-house setting for their CDL. Outside schools won't be accepted. I hear it's a very selective process, and haven't heard anything new on this program in months.

Is that generally the same with UPS, USPS, FedEx? You have to work from the dock first?