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

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221–230 of 398 posts

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

#221
post #131

As a professional delivery worker and an employee of the everyone-hates retailer i have this view: This is an experiment. Only. Lore has said that 75% of delivery cost is labor related. Wal-Mart is insane about not working off the clock. They won't force associates to do this. From the delivery aspect: When we get a new delivery person they suck for months. There are so many variables that make failure probable: unma…

Interesting view. You mention many problems. Most of them can be solved with data gathering - what's this unmarked address, which is the relevant unit, what the right access path, which workers do and don't give a shit, etc. and with the right app, and so many employees, you can gather all that data relatively fast, assuming some repeat orders. Heck, maybe do that with augmented reality via phone, to make it dead sim…

Turn by turn directions are used sundays for Amazon. Gps in the scanner screams at the deliverer if the address is "far away" (eg 2.5 miles from location) like instead of 25 Hickory trail they are at 25 hickory lane or 25 highland st.

And still carriers get it wrong. Every Sunday.

Remote help from another employee? First, if that other employee is off the clock they cant help.

Repeat knowledge of family/address makes success.

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

#222
post #204
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And your assumption that employee is even allowed a cost/benefit option is based on... ? All of this hypothetical except for the fact that Wal-Mart is known for a) ruthless schedule management like keeping workers locked in warehouses b) a known price-cutter both on vendors and employees to the point their employees often qualify for state aid for under-employed / under-paid (i.e., welfare benefits). Given that, it'd…

> And your assumption that employee is even allowed a cost/benefit option is based on... ? I'm not assuming anything, I'm giving Walmart the benefit of the doubt. As you said, "we'll see", no need to shit on them providing their employees with an additional revenue stream before the program is even implemented.

Giving Wal-Mart the benefit of the doubt flies in the face of historical facts/data. Feel free to argue otherwise.

Let's keep it civil.

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

#223
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

shrug the natural instinct seems to be to skewer WalMart for oppressing their employees but this seems like a good idea to me. > Workers can opt in to earn extra money by making deliveries using their own cars. They’re assigned packages based on where they live so the route aligns with their commute home, the company said Thursday in a blog post. Wal-Mart didn’t specify how the employees will be compensated. It's not…

"Wal-Mart didn’t specify how the employees will be compensated." They can be compensated by a coffee voucher. Or compensated by the joy and feelings of accomplishment they'll derive from their new work tasks. Just saying. Seriously tho, if they get into an accident delivering the packages is that something that'll get covered by Walmart? How about the wear and tear on the vehicle? It really seems like it's a better d…

Of course it's a better deal for Walmart. This is Walmarts thing to do or not do. They're the biggest party in the negotiation. They will always dictate terms that benefit them at their workers expense. It's negotiation 101.

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

#224
post #125

Questions I haven't seen answered yet: * Employee gets a destination with no parking available, who gets dinged for non-delivery? * Employee gets a destination with no parking available, but is told to double-park by local manager. Gets ticketed. Who gets dinged? * Does this constitute a non-CDL delivery service, or courier service? Will Wal-Mart handle licensing and insurance coverage of personal employee vehicles?…

This is the comment I was hoping to see. Real scenarios and issues that the hand-wavy policy doesn't make clear, and that delivery operations deal with all the time.

Fortunately Walmart's law firm has answers to all of those questions. And every one of them favors Walmart, because that's their job.

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

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right that I don't know all the details, but I know how Walmart tends to behave with regards to their workers, and I know that the system their proposing looks unusually ripe for abuse, to the point where it seems like it must have been intentional. I'm tired of people wrapping shit in a pretty bow and trying to pass it off as a gift. It keeps happening, and people keep going along with it. Maybe this time we'…

What do you propose? I'm against exploitation of workers, too, but at the end of the day there is only so much you can do with jobs that require relatively unskilled labor. If a 15 year old can do your job as well as you can after a few months of training, it's not a safe job that you can expect anything out of. It's gonna get automated away anyway. But here Walmart (whatever their other faults), offers a way for wor…

> If a 15 year old can do your job as well as you can after a few months of training, it's not a safe job that you can expect anything out of

Yet there is a world of a difference between Walmart jobs and Costco jobs. Unemployment in the US is lower than some countries with better worker's rights.

> If people's regular jobs paid a "living wage", people wouldn't have to Uber, but it's how the world works

No, not the world, mostly just the US. For the rest of the world, the line between employment and unemployment is not so bad that you have people with full-time jobs and still need food stamps. I feel that setup is a covert government subsidy to corporates. But hey, we shouldn't mess with the "job-creaters", right? Or else.

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

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Doctors can choose to moonlight and get paid extra, and I don't think anyone is complaining about that. Doctors have that choice, and yet they don't do that. I wonder why?

Beyond Doctors, a lot of software engineers are highly paid and moonlight as well. Or startup founders driving for uber.

> Or startup founders driving for uber.

So it really happens? I though it was joke in "Silicon Valley" TV series S04E01.

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

#227
post #166
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now, if only there was some sort of way to force Wal-mart to answer these kinds of questions. Maybe... A union of employees, who want to understand their relationship with their employer better, and to push back on unfair parts of said relationship.

If you don't understand why businesses don't like unions, you've never owned a business. Also, historically, unions in the USA for whatever reason a lot of times end up becoming mafioso (not sure if it's the same in other countries).

I don't think anyone lacks understanding as to why businesses dislike unions.

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

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What if you have a family?

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

#229
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent meant in the area where Walmart etc are paying that wage .

Okay, then since the Walmart employees are still alive, the answer is yes. They can live on $40/day. As an added bonus, they have a higher standard of living than the vast majority of humans on the planet.

Well, no. If they could, they wouldn't be receiving assistance.

Walmart has turned, e.g., food assistance programs into a subsidy for themselves.

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

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's something especially slimy about the #1 company in the Fortune 500 consciously doing it. And by it, I mean pay its employees so little they need to go on welfare, and then directing them to the welfare office. > so why isn't the government changing minimum wage laws from $7.25/hr and $2.35/hr Because it's been captured by people who like to pay their employees as little as possible.

Slimy about consciously, doing what? Paying a minimum of 122% of what they are legally required to? Paying an average of 191% of what they're legally required to? [If nearly doubling "expectations" is slimy, what does it take to exceed expectations]

You're confusing legality with ethics and morality. You can behave can quite unethically and immorally while still meeting or exceeding legal requirements.
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