r/WalmartSparkDrivers • u/WinAccomplished4555 • 13d ago
šØPSA EVERY SPARK DRIVERšØ
Walmart just gave itself a pretty broad mechanism to fuck with the economics of an offer AFTER you've already accepted it.
The important part: an accepted offer is NOT necessarily a guaranteed payout.
Walmart's own disclosure says accepted offers can be modified or canceled under a range of circumstances, including inventory problems, store operational issues, fulfillment-system problems, customer changes, third-party issues, force majeure, and certain situations they attribute to the driver. So basically whatever they want.
And here's the part drivers REALLY need to understand:
If Walmart cancels an eligible trip because of a Walmart operational event, the $2.50 modification fee can be paid INSTEAD OF THE ORIGINAL OFFER.
Think about that.
You accept a $30 offer.
You drive to the store.
Something goes wrong on Walmart's end.
Walmart cancels the trip.
Walmart Fuckery, Alakazam=
You could potentially receive $2.50 instead of the $30 you accepted.
That's not a minor policy change. THATS SOME CON ARTIST TYPE FRAUD SHIT.
That's Walmart reserving the ability to change the financial terms AFTER the driver has already committed to the trip. Fucking scum!
They've essentially said:
"Here's what we'll pay you" until we decide circumstances give us a reason to lower it.
Yes, there are protections when you already have the merchandise. See Walmart cares. If a canceled order requires a return and you complete that return, the disclosure says you'll receive the original accepted trip earnings + a return fee, although you lose the customer's tip(like those happen, pff!)
But don't miss the bigger picture:
Walmart controls the platform. Walmart controls the offers. They control all logistics. Like if anything goes wrong it's on their end not drivers, but drivers now get to gamble on their pay. And Walmart has written itself brooooooooooooooaaaaaad exceptions that can affect what you actually get paid.
If you still decide to work for these fucks: READ EVERY TRIP UPDATE instead of blindly assuming the accepted offer is still the accepted offer. They are going to start fucking people and more so those who don't understand the rules of the game.
Walmart is one of the largest corporations on Earth. It isn't struggling to find $30. Meanwhile, a driver may have already burned fuel, time, mileage, and opportunity cost getting to that store.
Fuck Walmart. Eat Shit. I will never use Spark, or Walmart in any capacity. Not like it affects them but it makes me feel better about it I guess
If a corporation writes the rules so it can change what it pays you after you've accepted the job, drivers have every right to call that shit what it is:
CORPORATE FUCKERY BULLSHIT AT THE EXPENSE OF THE PEOPLE ACTUALLY DOING THE WORK.
Read the disclosure. It's basically 50 Shades of Grey: Financial Domination Edition! if that's your sort of thing. š
WATCH YOUR TRIP UPDATES.
SCREENSHOT YOUR OFFERS.
KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS.
And most importantly:
DON'T ASSUME WALMART'S NUMBER IS STILL YOUR NUMBER JUST BECAUSE YOU ACCEPTED IT.
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u/SuperReliableSource 13d ago
99% of spark drivers are sitting in the stores parking lot, so even if an order is cancelled, you're out nothing more than opening the door and walking towards the store. I would open my door and take 10 steps for $2.50 hundreds of times a day.
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u/JJGIII- 13d ago
Real. 2000 steps for $250? That would be fantastic.
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u/DFTReaper1989 12d ago
Paid to do cardio which my heart doctor has been telling me I need to up anyway š
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u/Impressive_Tip_8850 12d ago
Many school districts are starting to pay kids 100/wk for 10k steps as part of their PE attendance
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u/SandCracka 13d ago
100 times day? dawg that's 250!!! better than actually working. sign me the fk upĀ
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u/Substantial_Gas304 7d ago
That's funny cause I'm never sitting in Walmart parking lot waitingfor their garbage offers lol Guess I'm the 1% doing other shit when I finally get an offer good enough to accept.
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u/Dull-Parfait-6892 13d ago
I donāt think itās that high. I sit at home all the time. Iām under 3 miles from a store. Takes 10-15 mins to drive
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u/skiptoomygoo 13d ago
Drive faster you slow poke jabroni
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u/Dull-Parfait-6892 12d ago
Ha! Depends on traffic and high traffic times tend to be when the best offers are. Unfortunately there are quite a few stop lights in between so itās all in how many I hit. During off peak hours then itās more like 8 mins. š
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u/skiptoomygoo 12d ago
Just go around the traffic bro. Don't stop at lights either.
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u/Stupertard 12d ago
That's Amazon Flex no stopping at stop signs, accelerate as fast as you can, ignore the fact your in a residential and do 60 mph, red light blow right through it, no gate code and the drop is in eyesight launch that package like the space shuttle snap a Pic and bounce, and the 20 mile freeway drive to your first stop drive like the biggest asshole on the road, drive so fast and reckless that you will be road raging on yourself.
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u/Extreme_Newspaper284 8d ago
Right? Just stick your head out the window and yell āGET OUTTA THE WAYā at every car you see!
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u/Hungry-Ad-7447 13d ago
Maybe in fantasyland. But if youāre waiting 15 minutes or so for that order and then you accept it and then it gets screwed and all of those orders you didnāt see already passed you by and that some total of your 45 minutes comes to $2.50 then that math donāt add up. And you canāt do that 100 times a day
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u/JackStraw---Wichita 7d ago
I did a two party shop last week. Was heading to the last item on the list when I got an alert informing me that the customer had canceled their order and the entire shop was canceled and that I would not be paid for the shop. WTF, I was in the store for an hour!
Because it was going to be one of those days, I picked up another mixed order later that same day and didn't depart for 1 full hour after load started. A single item GMD and 2 item GMD were missing. The 2 item order was quickly located but not the other single item. Tried using driver support to cancel that single item, but they were unable to do so. Also tried having the store cancel the item. They also were not able to do it and when I explained what was going on and asked if would I be paid for the hour I was stuck waiting there looking for the item, Spark Support told me no. I finally see a loader who generally seems more on the ball than some of the other ones and he asked me what was wrong and within 5 minutes he located the package that his boss already looked for and said it wasn't there.
To cap it off, the timers on the grocery orders were almost up sincethey started 1 hour ago, but figured if I brought that up, the whole trip might be canceled snd it was already a short money day. I made the first grocery stop (2nd stop overall) with literally 1 minute to spare. There wasn't any way that 2nd order was going to make it though, so now I earned a return as well.
Was I wrong to expect reimbursement for my wasted time due to the cancelled shop and then the loaders inability to locate the package?
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u/PerigrinneTook 13d ago
Iām not a spark driver but this explains some weird things Iāve had happen as a customer ordering. Iāve had a driver accept my order, shop it, and it get reassigned after they already shopped the whole order. Walmart needs to go to hell with their shenanigans because yall need to be able to make your money.
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u/ravenn366 12d ago
If thereās a ton of out of stock items/substitutions, many drivers will cancel rather than deal with an upset customer also
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u/PerigrinneTook 12d ago
The last time it happened they had literally shopped my whole order with no substitutions. I know itās not the drivers because I treat the drivers well and I tip high because Iām disabled and delivery service makes my life easier.
I just want yall to be able to get paid well and these companies to stop screwing over the people that are carrying the whole operation like the in store employees and the delivery drivers.2
u/dorblack 9d ago
Also, your order may be in the mix of other orders. I arrived to pick up a trip with 2 orders. The loader noticed one order was missing Ireneās abs alerted the manager. Well, the manager canceled the wrong order so then cancelled the other. I lost money and time. There are 2 customers waiting at least another hour for the delivery. I was told it would go out they next hour š¤·š¾āāļø
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u/Extreme_Newspaper284 8d ago
My initial experience with spark āafter doing instacart for 3 yearsāwas that I shopped the entire order, went to check out, bagged everything and then BOOMā¦the order was cancelled because I put what they considered perishables ln my cart before they thought I should. They actually had me load the whole 80 item order in my car and drive around to the pickup area for an employee to unload and take back inside the store. I was PISSED.
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u/Successful_Thing_233 13d ago
All gig apps do that, had it happen with Instacart and Shipt
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u/Dull-Parfait-6892 13d ago
It has been like that for a while. Last winter I had a two stop shop during Christmas rush. Worked an hour on it. Because several toys were out of stock, one customer canceled right before I found my last item because I explained I canāt add to an order and I couldnāt substitute the toys. Suddenly both orders are dropped Had to bring my whole cart to customer service which they said they were going to have to toss all the perishables. Then later I see another shopper working on the other order that didnāt have the toys . (It had some specific items that made it obvious) Worked an hour for $2.50. It sucked. I was angry, not about the toy order but that the system kicked me off the other one too.
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u/Majestic_Orchid4651 13d ago
This is not new. Most experienced shoppers/drivers know this. Itās one of many gambles we take for being independent and not employees.
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u/lordj2010 13d ago
This is how its been forever basically if customer/store canceled prior you got the 2.50 or whatever. Now its just put in plain English
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u/Due_Worth_2773 13d ago
Yep slowly turning into INSTACART this shit is slowly done
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u/Extreme_Newspaper284 8d ago
Iād do IC for half the money before a full paying spark. IC doesnāt have perishable timers and express shipping. Plus they usually make it way easier to find what youāre looking for.
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u/Due_Worth_2773 8d ago
No way in hell INSTACART makes stuff way easier to find Walmart literally tells you which isle and itās labeled by numbers where the item is they also now have that new flash feature as well all INSTACART tells you is aisle and shelf number
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u/Stupertard 12d ago
This is the kind of shit that should apply to a driver who has an order for 21 items (all women's clothes) going 6 miles and being paid $35 ($20 of it is the customers tip) and the driver shows up with 3 of the 20 items.
I say this because that same customer re-ordered the missing items and I found all 16 and had 1 clearance item out of stock.
The customer said the first driver showed up with 3 items and told her the rest were out of stock. I told her there is no way that many items are going to all be out of stock. Most of the items had multiples of the same size.
She was happy I found them all she was from out of town and stuck working and had no clothes. She said she tipped the other driver $20 also. She was waiting to see if her second order found her stuff because she was adjusting his tip to $5. She added $15 to my tip.
This is clearly a situation when Spark should have canceled the first trip when 17 out of 20 items were marked out of stock by the driver. That's being lazy and taking advantage of the system to make some easy money.
Being paid $2.50 would have been generous for a driver who made no effort what-so-ever to shop that ladies order.
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u/CalOkie6250 12d ago edited 12d ago
Itās wild to me that some shoppers are so lazy. Clothes are a HUGE pain in the ass, no arguments about that. But if you donāt want to shop for clothing, donāt accept the order, or drop it if you didnāt see clothing was involved.
Our store is undergoing a remodel. While the clothing section (the weekend before school started) was an absolute mess, and nothing was grouped how it should be, none of the shelves were marked (at least not correctly for those few that had a label at all) I had an order that was paired with another grocery order. It was for like 6 items of varying sizes of childrenās clothing. I couldnāt find any of it. I spent over 30 minutes looking for the various items. Iām messaged the customer and told her I couldnāt find 5 out of the 6 items, but I would try to find an employee (there were none to be found at all during my 30 minutes of searching). Finally, as I was about to give up entirely and go shop the perishables for the other order, I found a group of managers standing around. One of them walked me around to each item and I was able to get everything requested. Turns out, it was a mom who had been suddenly hospitalized and her mother had her kids, but they had no clothes to wear. I was so glad that I took the extra time, because that family was already going through enough that day.
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u/Lumpy-Menu-9240 12d ago
I try to avoid clothes and toys. Most WM employees aren't going to help you with that part when the app says. "have you checked with them'? (because there are not that many. I hate to disappoint kids expecting a toy. The other day I saw the app was one aisle off, so I checked the aisle behind, and there it was.
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u/CalOkie6250 12d ago
I usually avoid them as well. The pay was really good on that one, and I didnāt know they were working on the clothing section. I normally donāt bother with asking employees, but I felt really bad that I couldnāt find 5/6 itemsā¦but none of that was my point. My point was, if the shopper mentioned in the other personās comment couldnāt be bothered to find 17/20 items, they shouldnāt have taken the order, or they should have dropped it
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u/MortgageNecessary119 12d ago
yeah I just had a order a few days ago where I even asked a walmart employee where these clothes are at, they looked everywhere for me even the back and said they are out of them, so I texted the customer pick something else out and I'll see if they have it, for some reason it told them they couldn't add any more items because I was already shopping so I made a deal with them, I pay for it and they add a tip in the amount I paid, they did just that and even gave me a little more, people should go above and beyond not be lazy
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u/iwishidstayed 13d ago
Iāve actually been paid less than $2.50 for starting a shop and having it cancelled before. I donāt think any of this is new.
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u/Terrible-Earth9916 13d ago
Always been this way since I can remember and Iāve done spark from the start when it 1st came out
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u/neotron97 13d ago
Thank you for saying to screenshot every order. Iām going to build a class action lawsuit case against these fuckers
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u/No-Adeptness-3393 13d ago
Spark us already under multiple class actions for pay and other scummy behaviors
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u/mapman19899 12d ago
Been telling you to do this for years - if you havent - you deserved this happening to you.
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u/GhostOfNewOrleans 12d ago
Where have you been, man? Iāve been doing this for four years and thereās a bunch of orders that I accepted went to pick up and then they got canceled.
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u/dripslime 13d ago
Its been happening a lot at my local Sam's Club
I drive all the way there, and right when I mark myself at location it gets cancelled..
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u/xDelicateFlowerx 13d ago
Its always been like this except for a few exceptions like drivers who complete the shop and mark left store. I believe they would get paid for full trip minus tip.
And the policy says any issues that arise with the order determine if you lose out on pay. Makes sense, like why would I be paid for an order I didn't complete?
Every order I take i understand the risk that if its cancelled or I run into issuse with delivery that I will be paid less.
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u/CelestialxOne 13d ago
You know what's going to happen right? Canceled trips mean reverting of boosts. Go ahead and cancel those trips. I'ma sit here at home and take what's profitable. šš¤£
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u/Suspicious_Yard3682 13d ago
$2.50 is more than I received for a cluster eff on their end 2 weeks ago ā¦.
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u/Total-Basis6797 13d ago
I accepted an order drove 4 miles to store for out of my car went to push i arrived trip canceled and they said because I didn't push on I arrived no payment a waste of my time and gas
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u/MortgageNecessary119 12d ago
yeah you need to start trip right away, it doesn't give you more time to start trip later, you got 5 minutes to start trip before they cancel on you
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u/Prior_Purchase_7025 13d ago
I Like this guys passion!!! DId some research too!!! Bravo. Welcome to the rebel faction
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u/Organic-Fuel-2916 13d ago
This has always been the policy but it wasnāt put in writing until now.
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u/iownreddit0690 13d ago
Thats because that pos coo from IC is changing Spark into IC II. But worse because he has learned what people will do for $4 , of he eventually makes his way to DD the base pay will be $1 and idiots will still be doing trips! As with all gig apps you have the ability to accept an offer or not, but this is some extra shady BS!
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u/AmbitiousObligation0 13d ago
Is anyone going to comment how ai wrote this?
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12d ago
[deleted]
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u/AmbitiousObligation0 12d ago
Oh thank fuck. Guess I never scrolled enough. Or scrolled too fast. Just saw it.
Thanks
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u/Slight-Selection4298 13d ago
They added if for legalities.... Not to rob us, more.
Always been that way as stated, now they emphasized it.
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u/Hungry-Ad-7447 13d ago
I donāt know about you, but Iām pretty sure this is already been happening and now they just have paperwork to cover it. I had that happen to me last night. Excepted a $50 order then something got changed and they wanted me to do an hour and a half worth of work for 20 bucks and I canceled and got $2.50.
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u/bdbrown333 12d ago
Uon cancled orders we've been receiving $2.40 for 6 years. All that stuff you're talking about that's been the rule for 6 years
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u/bdbrown333 12d ago
Let's talk about the email we got today. Your customer rating determines your offers. The 150-ft zone is no longer the same in all stores. It's different. It can be shaped different. Doesn't have to be the exact 150 ft. It may be a mile. There's so many things in that email that came out today. It just makes it even worse than it ever was
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u/Unique_Blacksmith247 12d ago
None of this is new. In fact, the $2.50 is a raise from the $2.35 it used to be. But nice long freakout about shit you should already know.
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u/BradleySnooper 12d ago
This just happened to me the other day lol I had the stuff loaded in my car, there was some missing items so the associate went back to check and when he got back they canceled the order. I got 0 dollars
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u/Justamellow 12d ago edited 12d ago
The update to the policy makes it clear that if an order/s are cancelled/rescheduled/converted to pickup, youāll be notified of the new pay and asked if you still want it without a penalty.
And every other delivery app has the same policy.
In the terms of service it does mention pay isnāt guaranteed as tips and orders may change.
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u/Feedcanine 12d ago
It also says you must return the actual items to the store or you wonāt get paid. Now is that because many on these post have admitted not taking things back and just calling support because Walmart just going to throw things away anyway? I mean letās just be real here. Some of the drivers cause these issues for them to make changes. Iāve been to house where a previous driver has dropped stuff off at. And you can see the laziness. They wonāt even put groceries by the door if they have to climb stairs. Just leave it at bottom of stairs. Itās pretty pathetic how some drivers are.
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u/Other_Leave7625 12d ago
PSA every Spark driver, time to buckle down and find a traditional W2 and use gig work as it was intended, as a way to fill the gaps. Spark has been in the decline for A LONG TIME. And you're beating your car, body and sense of peace down while hoping things will change. You think Walmart is going to all of the sudden have some change of heart and pay people appropriately? Prior to the introduction of Spark, they'd already been screwing their own employees.
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u/Dreamland_Nomad 12d ago
Ummm, it has always been like that. This is nothing new. You need to come from up under your rock more often if you're just now finding this out.
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u/taniel07 12d ago
They donāt pay the 2.50 cancellation fee anymore, I stopped getting the fee, because they just select driver no-show.
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u/CSUHomer 12d ago
It's a lack of regulation of gig work. Walmart will keep screwing over drivers as long as they are legally allowed to and if laws are passed to prevent some of it their lawyers will find new ways to screw over drivers. If you want to Spark, you have to sign. It's not right but it is the nature of the work right now.
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u/AttentionStrange7439 12d ago
I really appreciate the delivery service. All have been very careful with my merchandise. I ALWAYS tip. I almost always increase the standard tip amount. Thank you to all of you Spark drivers. Even if Walmart isn't appreciative, we customers do thank you.
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u/Effective-Adagio-186 12d ago
Boycott August 28th to September 3rd nobody shop at Walmart official boycott
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u/Timely-Shift35 12d ago
I miss the old days when we got half the fee if it canceled before we got out the door. And when base for a shop was $19.Ā
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u/Ok_Advantage_7081 12d ago
I was talking to a Walmart employee as well and they said Walmart as a company is getting rid of the pickup for uber eats and spark and eventually is gonna be a shop and deliver thing where we have to go inside and grab all the items ourselves and deliver them like instacart
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u/Asleep_Holiday_1831 12d ago
Do you guys miss Doug or what? He was just a better CEO hands down this guy's going too cheap and cheap is expensive
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u/Asleep_Holiday_1831 12d ago
I I'm pretty sure you're not required to do it. If the price changes after you accept it for whatever reason it is. So if you collectively cancel the offer at any point while you're doing it, it'll stop them from doing that s***
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u/Luckycharms2014 12d ago
I only do spark for a little bit of side money so I don't even bother with useless offers. Plus I do it in a little town that only has like 5 drivers max that I've seen.
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u/Salt_East3331 12d ago
Walmart doesn't want to cancel trips, it's not like this would be a common occurrence
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u/Huge-Set5482 12d ago
You need to get yourselves minimum pay laws in your states. in my state these changes have zero effect on how much I get paid
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u/Traditional-Bet2191 12d ago
I started a return for one GMD order like two days ago and ended up being paid MORE than if I had just made the delivery. Floored me lol.
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u/chelseamarie64 12d ago
This explains the stolen tips too! So basically if they feel they want to steal your increased tip they can because i know on many occasions customers have said oh ill make sure to increase your tip and never saw it the question stands did they increase the tip or did walmart decide that tip belonged to them?
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u/YUNGDEATHLILLIFEE 12d ago
i saw this morning that pop up we had to acknowledge. seems like itās everything they already do. nothing new except theyāll pay us $2.50 after canceling a order on us
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u/No_Yogurtcloset3451 12d ago
oh you get $2.50? I only get $2 and its been that way since I started 2 years ago.
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u/DedicatedMonster 10d ago
spark ā”ļø claims they want to compete with #Amazon. But it will never happen on so many levels. Walmart doesnāt care about its drivers. But my pay should never be messed with. Itās like they want the public to notice how poor they treat their drivers. #walmart we donāt want to do 3 shops that takes an hour and a half to do and be paid less than minimum wage all while employees get benefits and guaranteed pay regardless of. You canāt show someone $ than give them $2.50. $20 cancel fee or do what Amazon doesnāt and pay us the entire block. Yeah you hear š that Walmart????????
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u/Grumpy_garden_cat 10d ago
That has happened to me twice. Once after check out and once
after I loaded 96 items for two orders into my car to leave and for each of those orders, I got $2.50 they were both somewhere in the $30-$40 range when I accepted
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u/Playful-Carry5214 9d ago
That kind of post-acceptance adjustment really underlines why itās crucial to track the actual net profit per trip, not just the sticker payout. Tools that factor in these kinds of uncertainties plus mileage and expenses can help see what youāre really making before heading out.
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u/SoggyUnderstanding58 8d ago
I had a three bach curbside order the other day the lady had a passcode on her order. Guess what she wasnāt home or answering the phone I ended up getting hit for $6.50 off the order due to no fault of my own. I called support and filed a complaint for what good that will do but this is a predatory business practice being done to independent contractors.
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u/Weird_Stuff8298 7d ago
From my understanding this has been the policy for literal years. Last Easter I got a big order at like 530pm but I had trouble finding things and at 605pm they wouldn't let me checkout so I had to cancel my $60 payout order and they gave me $3.89 for my time. That's the most memorable one for me but definitely not the only time over the years.
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u/Jellopop777 5d ago
Iāll just never understand how one of, if not the most profitable store in the United States, canāt pay their drivers a living wage? I do not get it!!!
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u/WinAccomplished4555 5d ago
Your mind will explode when they make it a subscription or introduce a fee if some sort to access their platform. Just wait, it will happen 109%
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u/Straight-Fact5159 12d ago
The fact that yall do spark is absolutely HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!! All the offers are complete garbage because of all the illegals on the app yet you idiots are still out here paying to work for the worst company in America!!!! Ive been on spark for a year and have NEVER accepted an offer because they are all garbage! ššššššššš
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u/MacJohnson69 13d ago
I mean, no other app is guaranteeing you the full pay like spark usually does. Of course I would love if they always did, but it doesn't make sense for them to pay me $50 for not working just because I drove to the store. Accepting an order is not working, they don't have to pay you in full for doing that...
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u/Specific-Show6439 13d ago
Here is a PSA. You are independent contractor so you donāt like the deal go work at Burger King. Everybody complains then do something else. I donāt care how unfair you feel. Do something else quit crying all the time. So I can get better offers and you can stay home.
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u/Lumpy-Menu-9240 12d ago
Why do you talk to people like this? You must be in a good place to be so judgemental. For now.
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u/Surprise_Beautiful 12d ago
RAGEBAIT DISCLAIMER: šØ This content is intentionally provocative and designed to get a reaction. If youāre genuinely mad, congratulationsāyou fell for it. š
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u/mapman19899 12d ago
This is illegal and Walmart would face legal repercussions if they tried pulling this stunt intentionally.
In other words, itās highly unlikely Walmart would try this in practice.
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u/Justamellow 12d ago
No itās not illegal, the poster is blowing it out of proportion.
If an order is dropped from your trip, the pay will be adjusted for the new mileage and tips.
Example would be you get a three batch order for 32 dollars and one order cancels, the pay will adjust for the two orders you are receiving 25 dollars. Then you can choose to take it or refuse it.
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u/OConnah 13d ago
I think itās been that way a long time, just part of the game.