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Wal-Mart will pay employees to deliver packages on their way home

bloomberg.com

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Re: Wal-Mart will pay employees to deliver packages on their way home

#181

Post by smileysteve »

ianai wrote: post #45
leggomylibro wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh. I think that this sort of attitude (which was my initial reaction too) is a big part of what's wrong with our current economy. If you take the concept at face value, this is Walmart offering to let their employees make some extra money in exchange for a bit of extra work, once they've clocked out. What a nice company. But realistically, this is Walmart shunting the costs of delivery onto their employees. Instead…

Yes, exactly. I could imagine an after-shift delivery taking up to an hour to complete. (I'm factoring-in "find the place" time and retracing their steps after delivery) They will probably only be paid a per Diem for the delivery - and it won't be near their hourly wage nor gas/wear & tear costs. It's a nice thought on the outside...but ultimately, deliveries are best done by actually specialized outfits. I can also…

> They will probably only be paid a per Diem for the delivery

This is a big assumption we'll have to find out. It's important to state that delivery competitors UberEats, Roadie, etc are also per diem. (and come with fewer benefits than a walmart employee would already have)

Re: Wal-Mart will pay employees to deliver packages on their way home

#182

Post by phamilton »

rbanffy wrote: post #139
choward wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before graduating college, the most money I made was working for Walmart at a distribution center. I made $19.20 an hour which was pretty good considering minimum wage was just over $5.

Can anyone actually live on $40 a day?

Certainly in a place like Boise, ID. That's $800/month, $704 after tax. Rent with roommates will run around $300/month. Food is $150/month ($5/day). That leaves $250/month for misc expenditures. It would absolutely be tight, but people can and do live on that much.

Re: Wal-Mart will pay employees to deliver packages on their way home

#183

Post by greglindahl »

gregw134 wrote: post #52
leggomylibro wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh. I think that this sort of attitude (which was my initial reaction too) is a big part of what's wrong with our current economy. If you take the concept at face value, this is Walmart offering to let their employees make some extra money in exchange for a bit of extra work, once they've clocked out. What a nice company. But realistically, this is Walmart shunting the costs of delivery onto their employees. Instead…

Walmart has less than 3% profit margin. It'd go bankrupt if it paid its employees $15/hour.

If you compare Costco to Sam's Club, you'll notice that it's not that simple.

Re: Wal-Mart will pay employees to deliver packages on their way home

#185

Post by eganist »

Interesting detail I haven't seen mentioned here:

There's not just added income per delivery (or whatever model Walmart chooses to employ here); there's also the tax write-offs employees can take on mileage driven between their Walmart location and the final delivery stop assuming that mileage hasn't been specifically covered by Walmart directly.

Can an accountant check me here? My thinking is this also helps with commuting costs for quite a number of low-wage employees.

Re: Wal-Mart will pay employees to deliver packages on their way home

#186

Post by EpicEng »

pyre wrote: post #14
mikeash wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, huge difference between "deliver this on your way home or your fired" and "if you want some extra money, deliver this on your way home." Not much difference between this and, say, LaserShip, aside from it being a small part of the overall job.

Well, where the rubber meets the road here is in whether or not there is an unspoken expectation that you need to do this, compensation or not. "Official" policy doesn't always reflect what gets implemented, and is sometimes just used as a way to legally CYA so that you can have your cake and eat it too.

When is that not true for any job ever? A lot of fear mongering before we even see how it works in practice.

Re: Wal-Mart will pay employees to deliver packages on their way home

#187

Post by Consultant32452 »

rbanffy wrote: post #139
choward wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before graduating college, the most money I made was working for Walmart at a distribution center. I made $19.20 an hour which was pretty good considering minimum wage was just over $5.

Can anyone actually live on $40 a day?

At least 80% of humans live on $10 per day or less.

http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-sta...

Re: Wal-Mart will pay employees to deliver packages on their way home

#188

Post by EpicEng »

dragonwriter wrote: post #48
celticninja wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Environmentally friendly too as the journey is being made anyway.

> Environmentally friendly too as the journey is being made anyway. It's a financial incentive for employees not to use transit but instead personal autos to and from work in order to be available for such deliveries, so it's actually environmentally hostile.

really, what proportion of workers do you think will ditch the bus in favor of driving a car to work? Absolutely tiny, if any at all. These people live in the burbs for the most part and everyone drives everywhere.

Re: Wal-Mart will pay employees to deliver packages on their way home

#189

Post by phamilton »

alistairSH wrote: post #173
potatoyogurt wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>In Medical Economics’ 2013 annual survey, 36% of family medicine/general practitioners and 35% of internists reported earning income from sources other than their primary practice/employer in 2012. That number was about the same for cardiologists (38%), but was higher for hospitalists (40%). Pediatricians and gastroenterologists were lower, at 25% and 27%, respectively. http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/med…

Unless I missed it, that report doesn't indicate the total hours worked, only rates at which doctors perform work outside their primary clinical job. There is also a massive difference between a doctor taking a side job because they enjoy it and a WalMart associate taking a delivery job because they have no choice.

> 35% of internists reported earning income from sources other than their primary practice

> There is also a massive difference between a doctor taking a side job because they enjoy it and a WalMart associate taking a delivery job because they have no choice.

I suggest you become more familiar with what medical interns get paid and their lifestyle. They are certainly moonlighting to pay the bills.

Re: Wal-Mart will pay employees to deliver packages on their way home

#190

Post by SilasX »

rectang wrote: post #180
SilasX wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Per the TechCrunch article, workers need to submit proof-of-insurance to participate. I assume that's because of "we only want people on this who are insurable drivers in good standing to begin with" and not because of "we expect your personal policy to cover this". >These additional costs make the deal worse for employees and better for Walmart in ways which are hard for the workers to understand. But I guarantee y…

> I assume that's because of "we only want people on this who are insurable drivers in good standing to begin with" and not because of "we expect your personal policy to cover this". The costs I enumerated accrue to the employee even if Walmart has insurance covering drivers while they are "online" and actively making deliveries. If that even got by you, what chance does the average worker have?

I get your general point (about non-obvious risks), but I addressed it with the point about compensated mileage, which is how these costs are paid for elsewhere. Edit: and it's not obvious at all that Walmart's policy won't cover any insurance missed by the personal policy, as is the case with Uber -- hence the comment!
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