Walmart is getting a lot of media play for announcing an increase in pay for its long-haul truck drivers:
The company, in a bid to keep its supply chain running smoothly, is setting starting salaries for its truck drivers between $95,000 and $110,000 a year, up from an average starting salary of $87,000, said a Walmart spokeswoman. The internal training program will offer workers in other Walmart roles a 12-week course to become certified truck drivers and join the company’s internal fleet, the company said.
This is suspicious wording. Why is the new pay given as a range while the old pay is given as an average? If, in practice, the increase is really from $87,000 to $95,000, that's a raise of 9%—which comes out to about 2% after inflation. In other words, nothing much at all.
On the other hand, if the new average is more like $100,000, then the increase is about 8% after inflation. That's a significant amount, which suggests there really is a shortage of truck drivers that has to be addressed with higher pay.
This is hardly the most important thing in the world, but you should always be a little suspicious when statistics are given in varying ways. In this case, I'd sure like to know either the old range or the new average.
Is walmart now paying them by salary instead of a set dollar per hour? Overtime is a big thing for drivers for Walmart. You can only drive so many hours per.
"14-hour shift limit
Drivers have a 14-hour window to drive a maximum of 11 hours and are required to take a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving time. The 14-hour driving limit restricts drivers from driving any longer than the fourteenth consecutive hour on duty, after 10 hours off duty.
As part of the Final Rule on HOS that went into effect on September 29, 2020, a driver cannot drive for more than 8 hours before being required to take a 30-minute break, but could have been on-duty for more than 8 hours. Drivers can satisfy the 30-minute break requirement with off-duty, sleeper berth, and/or on-duty not driving time.
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If WalMart expects ALL 14 hour days that $95K works out to $27/hr AT salary
OT makes the pay much more attractive
Truck drivers are exempt from time and a half overtime rules. Non-union drivers rarely get it.
I don’t think Walmart drivers are hourly at all. Like most over the road drivers I think they are mileage and stop based pay. But this is based on casual conversations with Walmart drivers around 4 years ago, so I might be mistaken.
The problem is that MOST WalMart drivers are not "over the road" they shuttle between distribution center to the stores and back.
They are more like FedEx and UPS
IIRC they are non-exempt, making them subject to overtime pay. A contract driver is another story altogether. But if you are driving a WalMart Trailer using a truck that is owned by WalMart you are probably a non-exempt WalMart driver.
Don't be so suspicious, Kevin. I'm sure the murky wording has nothing to do with any efforts to puff up the generosity of its employment offerings. If anything, I strongly suspect in many cases Walmart often goes far higher with starting trucker pay—likely well north of 125K. They just don't want to brag, as doing so is not in keeping with Walmart's small town values.
If that is a salary, rather than an increase in the per mile rate, then bully for them. I have a friend who was an OTR driver for one of the large trucking companies, and he made squat. The last time I helped him file his taxes, about 4 years ago, he made $48K. He was on the road all the time and only came back to town 3 or 4 times a year.
You know all those trucks you see on the road with the "we pay better, call 1-800-555-1212" painted on the back of their trailers? He drove one of those. It sucked, it was hard, the hours were long, the drive time requirements were tough to adhere to. It sucked. You wonder why it is hard, and has been hard for years, to find OTR drivers? Talk to one sometime.
Still, $100k a year for driving a truck? Pretty nice.
As of 12(?) years ago starting pay for the general manager of the 2 WalMart stores here in Wilmington NC was $124K per year. Both stores had been expanded into Super Centers that carried groceries. They worked like dogs putting in long hours especially during the holiday season. I hope that THEIR salaries for that position has gone up since then,
I have neighbors that currently work at WalMart. One is a 20 year employee and her husband has 17 years with the company. Both of THEM love their jobs and have turned down managerial opportunities within their respective locations, in their respective departments. They work over time although both of them work in the grocery section but limit the OT they work. They feel like WalMart gets a bad rap from the press for how they treat their employees. Their only complaint about WalMart is their disappointment in the company moving away from "buy American, sell American products". As they said, a LOT of their current supply chain issues for goods made overseas would have been eliminated.
THEY actually got me to start shopping there years ago, and I was very surprised at how much money I saved there. I am also glad that they are at least challenging Amazon in the online sector.
Their stores are big - too big for the Mrs and I. We go in with a list and stick to it fairly well. And we shop off hours to avoid crowds. It's not fun but I compare it to grocery shopping at our local Harris Teeter. Don't like it but need to do it.