Walmart Dedicated Finale Review

Finally as of April 1st, 2021 I’ve accomplished no incidents on my driving record. One year experience driving both day cabs and sleepers at U.S Xpress Walmart Dedicated.

This review is and will be my finale take on the account as I move from U.S Xpress to Estes LTL regional OTR xtraboard.

I truly believe Trucking truth is for the fellow driver. Sometimes I read articles from new truck drivers on this very forum and some of you not all..... on trucking truth can really give it raw to new drivers about what to expect from their first year.

Seriously, it’s no joke and I found out the hard way on Walmart dedicated that six days on 1 day off was a big mistake. I remember my instructors at CDS always said you have to find a balance in trucking. Between home time and being on the road. How right my instructors were about home time.

Walmart dedicated is something you will either love or hate with a passion. For me it was a mixed bag from the beginning. I knew I had $23,400 debt I needed to magically disappear and go away asap.

So starting the account was about learning how to back and drive solo. Money would have to come later. What really had me nervous about Walmart dedicated was the backing. There is a ton of backing you must perform daily. Most backs are extremely easy and even a newbie could do tons of Walmart stores, but

be warned there are stores like Walmart 5880 where you’ll have a heart attack the first time you go through to deliver. Backing was the reason I struggled at TMC when I first started. Of course, my second time around with U.S Xpress I definitely focused like a laser to get as good as I could at backing a trailer.

And I truly believe practicing in the yard everyday put me at a whole new level to handle the Walmarts I later visited that were troublesome.

You could easily spend hours practicing in the yard after a shift if you wanted. It’s a blessing for many because you learn quite a lot how a trailer swings and how to correct.

But what about the home time as mentioned above. Well, it’s only after about the second or third month when I started grossing $1400-1600 a week that I realized I had figured the account out enough to make bank.

So while I averaged a good deal more than most drivers there were even weeks I brought home $1200 or less gross. Because of loads being pre-planned by our planner who plays favorites with all the drivers. Will touch on this later. So prepare for Seniority as it’s a big deal at Gordonsville, Va. Mostly every week I maxed my 70 hour clock. Then I would have one 34 hour reset off. And believe me when I tell you it goes by fast!!! Most times I found myself sleeping the day away.

Also, Listen fellow truckers I do not recommend anyone to do what I did. Do not work 70 hour weeks plus 10+ hour commute added to work week to drive a hour each day back and fourth to work. You will become a living zombie.

Home time and rest is very important and only realizing this later did I stop and think wow..... why am I working so hard like this. I’ll tell this if it was not for my goal of being out of debt I would have stopped really early on working that hard.

I felt depression, sadness, regret, anger, like literally I felt all these emotions from working these hours every week and I did those mad hours all year while not turning down one load given to me. Two loads a day 10-13 hours each day!

Again, all the emotions I felt were a constant weekly roller coaster each week. Couple this with what I feel is the most stressful aspect of the account and that’s being unloaded by Walmart employee’s.

It gets so bad man let me tell you about these employee’s at Walmart who must unload your truck. Actually, before that the reason I chose Estes was because they offered me a line-haul position and I don’t have to deal with human beings unloading me.

I hate dealing with people. Receivers can bite it!!! Most weeks you will encounter a Walmart Employee who knows you should be unloaded in 45 minutes only to duck and dodge you once he heres your truck bang the dock.

You’ll ring the door bell for about 10-15 minutes and it will not be opened. Doesn’t matter if it’s raining or snowing or windy they’ll leave you out to dry, but it gets worse if you are new to the account. If you don’t know any better like I did when I first started you’ll be hanging out there ringing a door bell for two hours!!! And know one will open the door. This is after hours when stores are is closed.

Because there aren’t any notes outside informing you to come through the front door which most Walmarts leave unlocked. So literally you need to possess a handy dandy notebook to write down all Walmarts who don’t open doors because there are so many. If you have six stores in a day prepare to chase down about three employee’s to get unloaded slowing you down for the day and wait..... affecting your pay.

You see I chose Line-haul because it allows me to truly be performance based on how I run. When these Walmart Stores take long it not just affects you getting back late or being late to the next store. It also affects your pay!!!

Yup that’s right lets say your first load was a 130 mile two stop that takes 4 hours and 20 minutes to finish. Guess what Walmart employee’s ducking and dodging you have now made that easy gravy load into a 6 hour 40 minute load by moving slow. It happens far to often. And don’t get me started on falling over pallets. Can add another 30 minutes to your day.

So instead of you coming back and accepting a 279 mile three stop load. Prepare to come back and accept another low paying 130 mile or less load paying jack squat! Happens all the time and there is nothing you can do about it.

Is a job truly performance based if other employee’s can ruin my chances of max performance? That’s a question many truckers could debate about this account.

Damn I’m going in ok another part later. I’m gonna tear this account down and break it down so if a new driver wants to work on it they know exactly what they’re going into. I know it’s all negative but I will post some positive but I assure you there are way more negatives I just have to mention.

Actually, before that the reason I chose Estes was because they offered me a line-haul position and I don’t have to deal with human beings unloading me.

Unless Estes is living in the future you will still have to wait in human beings loading and unloading you trailer and someone else's.

Linehaul is a good gig, but like bobcat said I think you have some misconceptions here. There are a lot of days when you're sitting and waiting. You have to wait for another driver that has a trailer you need or wait for a single piece of freight that absolutely has to go out today... That means you're waiting for a driver to get there and dock workers to strip that trailer. I find that the piece of freight you need is always in the nose of a trailer with 20 bills and 25 handling units. Or there's freight sitting on a dock and you have to wait for it to get picked up by a dock worker. Then there are trailers constantly being overweight because dock workers just want to be done and they don't care about that.

I'm not trying to deter you, I'm actually happy for you and I hope it all works out the way you want it to. I just went you to have realistic expectations, rather than be surprised and experience the negative emotions you experienced on the Walmart account.

Hate dealing with people but in a profession that includes other people nearly every minute of the day.

Actually, before that the reason I chose Estes was because they offered me a line-haul position and I don’t have to deal with human beings unloading me.

Unless Estes is living in the future you will still have to wait in human beings loading and unloading you trailer and someone else's.

Correct me if I’m wrong but they load the trailers I don’t have to go and hunt them down to load it. As long as I can chill in the truck and sleep or whatever I’m cool with that then fine.

Also I’ll just have to bite it if it’s like the Walmarts since it pays .68 cents a mile. But I’ll be honest I want at least interaction with receivers and loaders as possible. Give me load and let me run and do bare interaction.

Correct me if I’m wrong but they load the trailers I don’t have to go and hunt them down to load it. As long as I can chill in the truck and sleep or whatever I’m cool with that then fine.

It depends. There were days where I wouldn't have to do anything other than wait and other days where I would just go in and do it myself because I wouldn't have the hours to make it back if I didn't. I'm not a fan of motels so I always did everything I could to avoid the layovers. Idk how estes works, but at FedEx there are linehaul runs that have dock work built into them.

I’ve been running Walmart Dedicated in the Northeast for 7 years and haven’t experience near the issues you have.

Cop an attitude with a planner, and they’ll pass you over.

Act miserable with a Walmart unloader or team lead expect them to move at a snails pace.

Top performing truck drivers understand the importance of relationships, especially with the people who can directly effect your income potential. LTL , TL, local... doesn’t matter the net result is going to be the same.

I’m a firm believer that you reap what you sow...

The one thing I do agree with you on is that Walmart is not for everyone... clearly you are in that camp.

Good luck.

Correct me if I’m wrong but they load the trailers I don’t have to go and hunt them down to load it. As long as I can chill in the truck and sleep or whatever I’m cool with that then fine.

It depends. There were days where I wouldn't have to do anything other than wait and other days where I would just go in and do it myself because I wouldn't have the hours to make it back if I didn't. I'm not a fan of motels so I always did everything I could to avoid the layovers. Idk how estes works, but at FedEx there are linehaul runs that have dock work built into them.

Ok so I misread on Line-Haul. I’m glad you guys informed me. I think Walmart Dedicated is definitely not for me and I’m fine with that. I would like to try Linehaul and drive longer routes. I’m hoping the big E is justice for me.

Also I’ll just have to bite it if it’s like the Walmarts since it pays .68 cents a mile.

I genuinely hope it works out the way you hope it will. Thats your attitude at this moment, but did you feel a similiar way when you started the Walmart dedicated? If I remember correctly you were making much more doing that than your prior job. Most people after they get the hang of things start to allow little things to get them worked up. We recently had a guy walk away from a 100k a year job to go pull construction equipment because he allowed small things to change his mentality of the gravy job we have. To be honest, at my current company I've dealt with far more cry babies that allow the small things to affect their entire day than I have at any other job I've had.

Did Estes give you any idea of how long it typically takes to get your own run? What kind of miles the xtra board is getting on a consistent basis? That 68 CPM doesn't mean anything if you don't have runs available for you.

Good luck.