Walmart has a new idea for beating the high cost of shipping e-commerce packages – paying store employees to deliver them on their way home.
The program aims at using one of Walmart's biggest assets – more than a million U.S. store employees – to help close its big e-commerce sales gap with Amazon. Walmart has more than 4,700 stores, putting potential delivery nodes within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population.
In a test that launched a month ago in two stores in New Jersey and one in Northwest Arkansas, employees can opt in to deliver packages on their way home for extra pay. They use an app that offers opportunities to deliver up to 10 packages per commute.
In a news conference in Bentonville on Thursday, spokesman Ravi Jariwala said the program is entirely voluntary. He declined to specify the pay, but said finding the right compensation is part of the test. And he said the retailer will comply with all applicable state and federal labor laws, such as those covering overtime.
"It just makes sense," said Walmart E-Commerce chief Marc Lore in a blog post. "We already have trucks moving orders from fulfillment centers to to stores for pickup. Those same trucks could be used to bring ship-to-home orders to a store close to their final destination, where a participating employee can sign up to deliver them to the customer's house."
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8 comments:
WOW they are idiots to put their employees in harms way.
Also heres a tidbit for you.
An employee using their vehicle for work is a problem with their insurance and if they get in an accident it is on Walmart.
Hell of a thing. Clock out and then use your personal vehicle to deliver a package before going home. Your vehicle, your gas, and your expense!
Doesn't sound like a very deal for the employee! Based on my customer service experience there, I am sure the item will not be handled with care and might even be smashed or thrown out the driver window to the address requested!
I use the ship to store feature. I do not need people I do not know coming to my home.
Just saying.
My question is, can a Walmart employee refuse? And if they do, will they get fired for not choosing to do so? Could be liability and insurance issues with using your personal vehicle. How will insurance companies handle this? Will your auto insurance rates go up? If so, will Walmart compensate for the increased costs to the employee? They already make poverty wages. I certainly would not want the extra wear and tear on my car for the minimum wage!
@2:47 no different than what you get from postal service. Check out some of the horror stories they have on video
Sounds like a good idea to me. As far as wear and tear on your car. No big deal its on your way home and still Walmart is going to pay you extra to do it. If we were back in the fifties or sixties people would drop something off to a customer on their way home just as a courtesy. Mainly they did this just to help the person out. No extra pay just a good deed for a friend. Just like in Mayberry.
The majority of walmart employees i've seen working there would get stopped by our local police simply for driving through our community.
They can't even get the employees, who are working in the store, to open enough checkout lines to efficiently get people out of the store in a timely manner. If they can't even handle THAT issue, I don't see how they are going to manage deliveries. EVERY time I go to a Walmart, there are NEVER enough registers open.
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