Walmart’s After-Work Delivery Idea Has Disaster Written All Over It

Walmart is putting its store associates to work in a whole new way. The world’s largest retailer is testing a home delivery program that has associates dropping off online orders to customers on their way home after work. The test is being conducted at a store in Arkansas and two others in New Jersey. Writing on the company’s blog, Marc Lore, president and CEO of Walmart U.S. e-commerce, characterized the test as “a win-win-win for customers, associates and the business.” Packages, he wrote, will get “to their destinations faster and more efficiently” while shipping costs will be cut and associates will pick up additional pay. “It just makes sense: We already have trucks moving orders from fulfillment centers to stores for pickup. Those same trucks could be used to bring ship-to-home orders to a store close to their final destination where a participating associate can sign up to deliver them to the customer’s house.” Participation in the home delivery program is voluntary. Walmart associates will use proprietary technology to set preferences for “how many packages they can deliver, the size and weight limits of those packages and which days they’re able to make deliveries after work.” The retailer assigns deliveries to associates in a way that minimizes the distance they collectively need to travel. Read more at Forbes.