US Xpress's Walmart Home Daily Account

So I'm going to orientation in springfield ohio this next week and will be on the home daily walmart account running out of Gas City Indiana and just wondered if anybody has had experience on that account and can give a little insight

Hey Mike, I am a Walmart Dedicated driver for Swift, going on 3 years and still happy with it. The DC I am assigned to in Northern PA is exclusively perishables and dry grocery servicing over 100 Walmart Stores and Sam's Club in Eastern PA, NJ, Southern NY, North Eastern MD and DE. I believe the Gas City DC is grocery because they are on the performance board at the front of the warehouse entrance.

There is a ton of information I can share...what specifically would you like to know?

Basically I'd like to know anything about it lol

Hey Mike, I am a Walmart Dedicated driver for Swift, going on 3 years and still happy with it. The DC I am assigned to in Northern PA is exclusively perishables and dry grocery servicing over 100 Walmart Stores and Sam's Club in Eastern PA, NJ, Southern NY, North Eastern MD and DE. I believe the Gas City DC is grocery because they are on the performance board at the front of the warehouse entrance.

There is a ton of information I can share...what specifically would you like to know?

Which DC do you work out of exactly?

Basically I'd like to know anything about it lol

First of all if you haven't already, search on Walmart DC 7055 and/or Walmart DC Gas City IN. You will get quite a few hits and some general information. I will come back in a bit with more.

Hey Mike, I am a Walmart Dedicated driver for Swift, going on 3 years and still happy with it. The DC I am assigned to in Northern PA is exclusively perishables and dry grocery servicing over 100 Walmart Stores and Sam's Club in Eastern PA, NJ, Southern NY, North Eastern MD and DE. I believe the Gas City DC is grocery because they are on the performance board at the front of the warehouse entrance.

There is a ton of information I can share...what specifically would you like to know?

Which DC do you work out of exactly?

Sorry Daniel, I didn't see this. DC7030. Pottsville PA mailing address, in the town of Gordon PA, I-81 exit 119. Have you been there?

Mike, I will write a detailed response for you first thing tomorrow morning. In the mean time type in the word Walmart in the search bar (upper left hand corner of this page) and press the enter key. It will return numerous threads on Walmart.

Awesome thank you! I'm also gonna have to get used to having a 53' behind me again lol

I'll write some now and the rest in the AM. The thing you will want to do is get familiar with the DC, how it's organized, where to get your loads, drop your empties, backhauls and out of service trailers. Reefers and dry vans are typically segregated in two seperate areas. There will be a bay for fueling reefers. Have someone show you how this is done because Walmart reefers have fuel tank sensors around the fill neck that transmit data to their fleet management system which then enables the pump. If the sensors are not working, the driver must manually enter the data (trailer number and reefer hours) into a keypad on the pump.

Learn where the scale is and the procedure for dealing with an overweight load or unscalable load. Yard rules; 15mph max, lights on, 4 ways on, jockeys have the right of way and at night dim your lights when approaching a truck backing up.

While on the subject of backing, get very comfortable with it because you will average 5 to 7 backs per shift, many in tight unforgiving store docks. That works out to at least 1500 backs per year.

Learn the stores, they are all different. I keep a note book of stores that are exceptional; difficult to enter, tight setup area, offset dock, hostile neighborhood, slow, etc. Over time you will remember the difficult stores. Store personnel is responsible for unloading and sometimes reloading (more on that later) your freight. All loads are palletized, wrapped and clearly marked with store number. In the case of a live unload at a store, the driver is responsible for keeping track of what comes off and with reefers, what goes back on. Mis-deliveries do happen.

When you are dispatched your paperwork includes a trip plan with specific information about each stop (with specific directions on entering and exiting the store), a seal card, scale card, load map for your trailer and a printed invoice for each store stop. You will also have a set of seals, 1-6 depending on number of store stops, with one spare. Trailers must be locked whether loaded or empty.

More tomorrow.

WM Pt. II

A grocery DC has basically two types of loads for store delivery; perishable and dry. Perishable loads are split into two categories; freezer/dairy/deli (FDD) & meat/produce (MP). Usually FDD moves during the day and MP moves during the night.

A reefer will typically have 24 total pallets, from an average of 2 to up to 5 store stops. The reefers Walmart has in their fleet are 53' Great Danes and some Utility, roll-up door, 99% ThermoKing Whisper-Cool with 3 temperature zones separated and sealed by movable bulk heads on a track and pulley system for raising and lowering. Number series 301000-308999, 308 series being the newest units. Number series 305-308 have no conspicuous, billboard Walmart markings. On occasion a driver is dispatched with a rental unit, typically occurring during the peak of Thanksgiving & Christmas season. The load configuration is organized and consolidated in such a way that you can have pallets in 3 different zones for the same store (yes, really). Many times requiring pallets for a future stop to be moved out of the way or if necessary taken out of the reefer and set aside for reloading. The load map I mentioned in the previous post, diagrams how the pallets are placed in the trailer, all differentiated by store number. I use highlighters to group same store numbers on the load map by color. This helps prevent mis-delivering a pallet and identification of a single pallet hiding in the nose behind 3 others (it happens). The driver is actively involved with the unloading and reloading process, responsible for what comes off and what gets reloaded into the correct zones. As a pallet comes off, the driver removes a small adhesive backed tag from the pallet ticket (sometimes multiple tickets are on one pallet) and adheres it to the back of the load map. Usually dairy/deli is in zone 3 set at 33'F, on the tail, freezer in zone 2 set at -20'F, and finally zone 1 in the nose is dairy/deli for the last couple of stops set at 34-35'F. Meat & produce is similar; produce typically sits in zones 1 & 3 set at 40'F, meat in zone 2 set at 34-36'F. Driver leaves the specific invoice with the store and is required to get signatures on both the seal card and load map before departure. The only variable from store delivery is Sam's Clubs; they only accept loads after 2100 and usually are the last stop for a FDD load and many times the only stops for MP or interspersed with store stops.

Perishable backhauls occur frequently and usually are drop and hook , most vendors have empties. In the event of a live load, the wait time is usually less than 60 minutes. Keep in mind that a backhaul is usually a single temp and the driver has to prepare the reefer before departing the last stop by resetting the temps and stowing the bulkheads into the ceiling. If it's drop and hook, the temp is reset and the unit is shut down to conserve fuel. If a live load, the vendor usually wants the reefer unit running to either pre-cool or in some cases warm the interior of the reefer.

Dry loads are less complicated, typically move during daylight hours and cube out at 30 pallets (42-45k lbs). Dry loads are unloaded sequentially, typically 2-3 stops on a trailer. The last store stop can be a drop & hook if an empty is available. During a live unload the driver is responsible for what comes off the trailer. Same as reefer, dry runs will many times have backhauls, varies from drop and hook to live load. Dry vans are 95% 53', a few 48's. Number series is all over the map, lower numbers designate older trailers. It ranges from 50000-138999. The 50000, 60000 and 70000 series are old (I pulled a trailer late last year with a build date of 1996) and require a bit more care when pre-tripping. Same departure/signature process for dries as with reefer.

I don't know how USX pays their Walmart drivers. We are on CPM (25%-30% higher than OTR CPM cause the overall mileage is lower), stop pay after 1st, and flat dispatch pay. If I take out a second load during my shift, I get additional dispatch pay. There is detention pay if your wait is over two hours. I only had to request this once in three years. Make sure you clearly understand how you are paid so you can maximize your earning potential. A really good week (6 days) is 2100-2200 miles, total of 26-30 stops. On weeks like that my 70 hour clock has been within one hour of available time when I shut down for the 34 hour reset.

During the first few weeks of starting on the Walmart account I would expect (hope) they dispatch you on dry loads, easier to handle. Ask a lot of questions and take notes so you can easily refer to them. I kept a notebook from day 1. Once you get your "sea legs" expect to receive reefer loads with 4-6 stops. To be successful on the Walmart account requires a driver to diligently manage the 14 hour on-duty clock and try to spend as little time as possible at each store. You need to hustle; quickly and efficiently getting your load and unloading in as little time as possible. Your patience and interpersonal skills will be tested at times. Like I said, get to know the stores and conduct yourself professionally at all times. Walmart is the customer and they will remember a driver with a bad attitude and also a good one. Give it time. If you stick with it, you can make very good money and never sit for long waiting for a load.

Let me know if you have questions. Good luck.