Walmart pilot tests employee home delivery

To further compete with Amazon.com on speed and convenience, Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart is testing a program in which associates can earn extra cash by delivering online orders to customers’ homes as they commute home from work. The voluntary program, which is being piloted in two stores in New Jersey and one in Arkansas, allows participating associates to select how many packages they can deliver, the size and weight limits of the packages and which days they can make deliveries after work.

“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,” said Walmart U.S. President and CEO Marc Lore in a blog post on the retailer’s corporate website.

“We already have trucks moving orders from fulfillment centers to stores for pickup,” Lore added. “Those same trucks could be used to bring ship-to-home containers to a store close to their final destination, where a participating associate can sign up to deliver them to the customer’s house. The best part is [that] this gives our own associates a way to earn extra income on their existing drive home.”

To learn more about this pilot program, read the article in Store Brands’ sister publication Progressive Grocer.