Walmart offers $110,000 to new drivers amid shortage

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

I think a lot of you are clueless about how many trades-based jobs are paying over $100k today.

Keep telling your kids to go to college "so they get a good job". The tradespeople need all those college graduates to keep paying someone to build and repair things for $100k/year

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

I was going to say….


Sedentary job, more so than most desk jobs.
If you have to stay away from home overnight, is that compensated, is that part of the $110k? Maybe that’s ok for some twenty something but not if you want a family.

Then you’re pretty tied to eating out most meals, no? Does Walmart provide a meals compensation on top of the $110k? Two to three meals out most days adds up.

I get it that not all jobs are long haul overnight work, but it’s still sedentary.

Hardly anyone is driving a truck from coast to coast 6-10+ nights away from home anymore. It doesn't work that way anymore. At most, most independent drivers or drivers who work for smaller companies are staying away from home 1-3 nights a week/6-10 nights a month. Most truck drivers doing long haul don't eat out. They have meals more or less prepared and take with them. I see a lot of cube farmers eating out almost every meal more than truck drivers.

As far as sedentary, please explain what this is:

Wake up, shower, dress, take blood pressure meds, get in small car, drive to Startbucks, get large cup of caffeine. Continue driving in small car for 30-50 minutes to office building. Get to cubicle in building, then refill cup with more caffeine, grab donut or such, sit down at cubicle, star at 2-3 computer monitors when not slunched over looking at phone. Text on phone screen for 20 minutes out of 60, type on keyboard 10 minutes out of 60, move mouse 25 minutes out 60. Repeat for 2-3 hours. Get up, go to bathroom, stop by caffeine machine again, chit-chat with other drones, go back to desk and repeat the above. Lunchtime. Order something to be delivered to your office door. Eat that over the next 90 minutes while sitting, staring at screens, typing on phone. Continue the above for 4 hours.

Get back in car, maybe grab a Monster/Red Bull/etc on the way home or to the brewery. Sit at bar stool while sipping on the new cool IPA while scrolling on phone. See that it's 8:00 pm, leave, grab some food at a drive-through on the way home.

 

[JHZR2]

Hardly anyone is driving a truck from coast to coast 6-10+ nights away from home anymore. It doesn't work that way anymore. At most, most independent drivers or drivers who work for smaller companies are staying away from home 1-3 nights a week/6-10 nights a month. Most truck drivers doing long haul don't eat out. They have meals more or less prepared and take with them. I see a lot of cube farmers eating out almost every meal more than truck drivers.

As far as sedentary, please explain what this is:

Wake up, shower, dress, take blood pressure meds, get in small car, drive to Startbucks, get large cup of caffeine. Continue driving in small car for 30-50 minutes to office building. Get to cubicle in building, then refill cup with more caffeine, grab donut or such, sit down at cubicle, star at 2-3 computer monitors when not slunched over looking at phone. Text on phone screen for 20 minutes out of 60, type on keyboard 10 minutes out of 60, move mouse 25 minutes out 60. Repeat for 2-3 hours. Get up, go to bathroom, stop by caffeine machine again, chit-chat with other drones, go back to desk and repeat the above. Lunchtime. Order something to be delivered to your office door. Eat that over the next 90 minutes while sitting, staring at screens, typing on phone. Continue the above for 4 hours.

Get back in car, maybe grab a Monster/Red Bull/etc on the way home or to the brewery. Sit at bar stool while sipping on the new cool IPA while scrolling on phone. See that it's 8:00 pm, leave, grab some food at a drive-through on the way home.

No doubt other jobs have issues. Did you look at the question marks I put in there? The questions? Did you see how I was responding to how the other person said that the truck work sucks???

Lots of jobs are sedentary. What I see around here when driving I-95/85/80 late are full truck stops and rest areas where trucks are overflowing out onto the interstate shoulder to stop for the evening. And that’s in an environment with supply chain issues, and inability to find workers. It’s great if you have data that drivers are only away x nights per week. I see lots of trucks out at night.

That’s not to disagree that there are lots of fat desk jockeys. That’s the case. But the concept that if you’re not burning you’re not earning, means time in the seat. Which means sedentary. Not sure why you would disagree or take issue. I do appreciate the info you provided, as bad a set of assumptions that you might have on other folks/jobs.

 

[K-Man]

TForce drivers servicing my company still claim they have less freight and drivers are being told to stay home on some days. Big contrast with Walmart and the general claims of a driver shortage. TForce used to be UPS Freight.

 

[IndyIan]

I think a lot of you are clueless about how many trades-based jobs are paying over $100k today.

Keep telling your kids to go to college "so they get a good job". The tradespeople need all those college graduates to keep paying someone to build and repair things for $100k/year

It works really well for those who transfer to less labor intensive positions as they age too. If you're book smart enough for college, you can get a paperwork job later hopefully before anything major has worn out in your body.
Also you have to get into a skilled trade with a good company and crew. My one buddy got a framing job which he liked doing, but it took him a while to find a professional crew that was good to work with.

Hardly anyone is driving a truck from coast to coast 6-10+ nights away from home anymore. It doesn't work that way anymore. At most, most independent drivers or drivers who work for smaller companies are staying away from home 1-3 nights a week/6-10 nights a month. Most truck drivers doing long haul don't eat out. They have meals more or less prepared and take with them. I see a lot of cube farmers eating out almost every meal more than truck drivers.

As far as sedentary, please explain what this is:

Wake up, shower, dress, take blood pressure meds, get in small car, drive to Startbucks, get large cup of caffeine. Continue driving in small car for 30-50 minutes to office building. Get to cubicle in building, then refill cup with more caffeine, grab donut or such, sit down at cubicle, star at 2-3 computer monitors when not slunched over looking at phone. Text on phone screen for 20 minutes out of 60, type on keyboard 10 minutes out of 60, move mouse 25 minutes out 60. Repeat for 2-3 hours. Get up, go to bathroom, stop by caffeine machine again, chit-chat with other drones, go back to desk and repeat the above. Lunchtime. Order something to be delivered to your office door. Eat that over the next 90 minutes while sitting, staring at screens, typing on phone. Continue the above for 4 hours.

Get back in car, maybe grab a Monster/Red Bull/etc on the way home or to the brewery. Sit at bar stool while sipping on the new cool IPA while scrolling on phone. See that it's 8:00 pm, leave, grab some food at a drive-through on the way home.

I guess now, for lots of people, the office is at home 3 days a week, or has a gym, they have a stand up desk, etc. I find I don't sit down for even an hour straight unless I've got serious thinking to do. Also most people have flexible hours, or if the kid get sick at school you're not 200 miles away.
I've seriously thought about trucking though, as I like to drive and it sort of pays well. But after talking with a few, its not for me at the moment. The one making 100k is doing 60hrs+ in the truck a week, and having to do stuff like going overtime to get home, if a pickup or drop off gets delayed, etc.

 

[Wolf359]

As far as sedentary, please explain what this is:

Wake up, shower, dress, take blood pressure meds, get in small car, drive to Startbucks, get large cup of caffeine. Continue driving in small car for 30-50 minutes to office building. Get to cubicle in building, then refill cup with more caffeine, grab donut or such, sit down at cubicle, star at 2-3 computer monitors when not slunched over looking at phone. Text on phone screen for 20 minutes out of 60, type on keyboard 10 minutes out of 60, move mouse 25 minutes out 60. Repeat for 2-3 hours. Get up, go to bathroom, stop by caffeine machine again, chit-chat with other drones, go back to desk and repeat the above. Lunchtime. Order something to be delivered to your office door. Eat that over the next 90 minutes while sitting, staring at screens, typing on phone. Continue the above for 4 hours.

Get back in car, maybe grab a Monster/Red Bull/etc on the way home or to the brewery. Sit at bar stool while sipping on the new cool IPA while scrolling on phone. See that it's 8:00 pm, leave, grab some food at a drive-through on the way home.

The problem is that there's still a decent percentage of people who throw in a gym membership and work out either in the morning, evening or even during lunch at work. Kinda hard to drive a semi to the local gym and they don't get paid enough to get a hotel room that might have a gym. The key difference is that with an office job, you can be sedentary if you want to be, but the truck driving lifestyle kinda forces you into it.

 

[Dave Hess]

If all truckers in the USA stopped driving for 5 days this country would turn into a real life Mad Max Thunder Dome movie once people across the nation start to get hungry and panic.

Trust me on this, I was unloading Publix Supermarket trucks at 4 AM and 14 pallets of produce daily gets bought by shoppers very quickly.

 

[dareo]

Wal-mart is probably the highest standard for trucking. They have always paid more and skimmed the cream off the trucker pool. To all of you wishing you could roll into a $110k trucking job without experience and a flawless record it wont happen. At least walmart is treating some of their workforce well.

 

[JHZR2]

The problem is that there's still a decent percentage of people who throw in a gym membership and work out either in the morning, evening or even during lunch at work. Kinda hard to drive a semi to the local gym and they don't get paid enough to get a hotel room that might have a gym. The key difference is that with an office job, you can be sedentary if you want to be, but the truck driving lifestyle kinda forces you into it.

Exactly. Very few people drink the amount of caffeine, then alcohol, then junk food, as was portrayed.

Plenty of people have vices and health issues.

I work in engineering, and it’s rare if I’m sitting at my desk for more than 30 minutes without some activity, even if it’s walking meeting to meeting. Do any sort of R&D, manufacturing, etc., and it’s more on your feet time in labs or on the floor.

In a truck, if you’re going 60 miles at 60mph, you’re sitting for an hour straight. I’d suspect many go much further than that to get things where it needs to go. That’s not belittling them at all, just the reality that burning and moving requires a true sedentary condition. More so compared to the flexibility that many other “desk” jobs offer.

Not poking anything, just the observation.

 

[skyactiv]

TForce drivers servicing my company still claim they have less freight and drivers are being told to stay home on some days. Big contrast with Walmart and the general claims of a driver shortage. TForce used to be UPS Freight.

It was Overnite transportation before UPS. The LTL segment has always been very cutthroat.