Walmart Private Fleet To Drop Dedicated Carriers

They said it wouldn't happen.

Walmart DC 7030 Pottsville, PA, G-Town's old haunt and once having a major dedicated presence is now going full Private Fleet in part of a nationwide effort to have greater control over quality and service to it's stores.

I noticed the gradual reduction in Swift trucks at the DC a year or two ago, and began warning other drivers of the upcoming change. Few listened.

My own DC at Johnstown, NY is dropping Swift accounts soon as well. Personally, I can't wait for this, so we can get our shop back. We currently have to take our trucks to our sister DC for service, and that's a pain.

I'm sure there will always be a need for outside carriers to fill workload gaps. But I think the days of on-site residency are gone, or at least numbered.

So if any of you dedicated or experienced drivers want to come over to our team, it's now easier than ever to get in. Just giving you the inside scoop. That is all.

Good news for WM drivers and stores.

That's interesting.

I know FedEx went in the opposite direction over the past few years for home deliveries. They are now letting everyday people use their personal vehicles to make deliveries. I've had a few deliveries come to my house that way. I look out in the driveway and see an old, beat-up car pull in and I get my package from someone who just signed up with FedEx to make some deliveries.

All companies make changes when the economy tanks. It's interesting to watch the different strategies play out.

Does that mean Walmart still requires 30 months of driving experience for new hires?

That's interesting.

I know FedEx went in the opposite direction over the past few years for home deliveries. They are now letting everyday people use their personal vehicles to make deliveries. I've had a few deliveries come to my house that way. I look out in the driveway and see an old, beat-up car pull in and I get my package from someone who just signed up with FedEx to make some deliveries.

All companies make changes when the economy tanks. It's interesting to watch the different strategies play out.

Sounds like a good way to get shot. Somebody said that the new most dangerous job is being a Jehovah’s Witness.

Does that mean Walmart still requires 30 months of driving experience for new hires?

Yes, that is still a requirement.

I think this strategy was planned out before the recent economic issues. Turtle spoke of it while I was still domiciled at Pottsville 3 years ago. It was inevitable.

Many of my friends that made up the core of drivers I worked with have either applied to WMPF, already been hired by Walmart, or moved on to other fleets like Wegmans or Sherwin Williams (to name a few). There are lots of trucking jobs in that region.

I’m glad Walmart is not relaxing standards. One of the things that infuriated me was when Swift dropped theirs. Although not as strict as WMPF; when I joined the 7039 fleet, minimum 3 months of safe driving. Then there was training on dry and reefer before going solo. Covid killed that and it was never reinstated. Newly hired DMs and planners knew nothing of the WM operation…doesn’t mix well with rookie drivers. Sad, because quality suffered.

New drivers fresh off their mentor truck had no business attempting Walmart. Although many did make it through their first 90 days, many did not. Very high rate if attrition.

Turtle will attest to this truth… it’s not for everyone.

However I thoroughly enjoyed my run at 7030, made lifelong friendships and performing on the account made me a better truck driver, faster than if I went true OTR. I’ll never forget it and will always remember it fondly.

Carry on.

That's interesting.

I know FedEx went in the opposite direction over the past few years for home deliveries. They are now letting everyday people use their personal vehicles to make deliveries. I've had a few deliveries come to my house that way. I look out in the driveway and see an old, beat-up car pull in and I get my package from someone who just signed up with FedEx to make some deliveries.

All companies make changes when the economy tanks. It's interesting to watch the different strategies play out.

FedEx ground used to be FedEx ground (for businesses) and FedEx home (for residentials). Today it's all FedEx ground. The one consistency has been that it's always been done by contractors, not FedEx employees. The company was originally Roadway package systems (RPS) and was purchased by FedEx to compete with UPS. RPS was a business that used the contractor model. FedEx purchased it that way and kept it that way.

FedEx express has always had FedEx employees as couriers. FedEx recently announced that they are merging FedEx express and FedEx ground into one FedEx. Instead of seeing a FedEx ground truck and a FedEx express truck in the same area, they're going to make it more efficient in what they're calling one truck, one area.

I don't know if they're leaning into the ground contractor model or the express employee model, but if I had to guess I'd say they're going to lean into the ground contractor model.

I’ve been seeing Walmart post on and off for city drivers and yard drivers in the Chicagoland area. Do you know how the local drivers operate Turtle? Same duties as otr drivers just home everyday?

We have local drivers at my DC that are home daily. They run day cabs and are typically on either a fixed route or in the same geographic area each day.

I don't know exact numbers, but the pay is probably significantly less than a regional driver such as myself. This is simply because the home daily drivers can't really push their clocks to the extremes, else they may run out of time before getting back to the yard.

I never looked into it much beyond that because I live a little too far away for a home daily gig to be feasible for me.