As Walmart keeps trying to compete with Amazon, its latest solution for deliveries of online orders is to enlist its own store workers.
In a bid to cut costs on deliveries, Walmart wants its own store employees to deliver packages to customers' homes. Walmart store workers would have to do this on their way home from work, using their own personal vehicles.
Walmart Associate Delivery
The company calls this "Associate Delivery" and it already started testing this concept with some orders. While having employees work some more after they leave work doesn't sound too good, Walmart is pitching this as an opportunity rather than an extra task. Store workers can opt in or out as they please, and those who agree to deliver packages on their way home from work will get extra pay.
"Not only can this cut shipping costs and get packages to their final destinations faster and more efficiently, it creates a special win-win-win for customers, associates and the business," says Walmart.
Why It Makes Sense
The company explains that this move simply makes sense. Walmart already has tricks transporting orders from fulfillment centers to retail shops for pickup. The new scheme would use those trucks to transport home-delivery packages to a retail store near the final destination. An associate from that store could then deliver the package to the customer, without straying too much from their own drive home.
Walmart emphasizes that its employees are in full control and it's their decision whether they want to participate or not. Those who decide to opt in will be able to set preferences, such as the number of packages they want to deliver, the weight and size limits of the packages, the days they could make deliveries, and so on. Associates can change those preferences anytime.
"We also allocate packages based on minimizing the collective distance they need to travel off of their commute to make a delivery," the company further explains.
With 4,700 stores across the United States and more than a million employees, Walmart has it covered. The company says that its stores are located so that 90 percent of the U.S. population are within 10-mile range, so this associate delivery test could turn out to be the best idea.
Pilot Program
Walmart is starting to test this new associate delivery system with just three stores at first. One of them is in northwest Arkansas, while the other two are in New Jersey. The company says that so far the response from both customers and associates has been positive. Many orders reach their destination the next day, which makes the customers happy, and associates have the chance to earn some extra cash while driving down the streets that were already part of their commute. Walmart also adds that the GPS integrated into its proprietary app also helps employees find faster routes.
Considering that it's all opt-in, customers get their packages faster, and Walmart store workers can earn some extra money if they choose to participate, this sounds like a great idea and could prove to be a game changer for the company.
