Thanks for this helpful video Don. I’m starting onboarding in two weeks in Dover DE then training out of Tobyhana PA. A bit nervous about the northeast winters so this type of content is super valuable. Safe travels 🎉🎉
@@margaretrefile8207 Right on that's awesome! That program is a pretty cool situation. Even if it didn't work out at Walmart later on down the road you end up getting your CDL and it's yours to keep forever as long as you keep it up. I'm sure you'll love it here and will probably stay until retirement like most of the guys.
@@20plustruckingI have my CDL but haven’t used it yet. I should be good with the Walmart A2D program, graduate and plan to retire with the company as well. Not super excited to start working in the Winters here in PA etc. but more excited to begin a new career with a great company
@@margaretrefile8207 I don't blame you winter can be tough. They give so much PTO here and nobody wants to take off in January so it's perfect for me to take winter off or at least a good portion of it.
I used you as my reference for a couple of my applications. I have a phone interview in Corinne UT but I was hoping for Centralia WA which is still on the job listing. A lot of Walmart guys tell me to bring it up in my phone interview, what do you think? Much love brother
Good to hear you are going on vacations. Most drivers dont go outside of country and see this beautiful planet we live in. I'm going to Bali, Indonesia, in February, and I am very excited. Be safe out there, driver!
@@danminer9234 they're very flexible on that. Although they might have an issue with you if you claim the roads unsave every single time there's chains required and the road is open. Especially since they pay you $60 to put them on. Although there has been a few times the road was open and it was chains required and I felt it was unsafe because there was too many vehicles on the road and weather was coming down hard. They've had no problem with that.
Yeah that's true but once we switched to different tractors that no longer worked as far as the length restriction goes. Now we have some 40-foot trailers but we don't use them as regular store load trailers mostly length restricted neighborhood markets.
I see you put my advice into reality with the referral stuff 👌. Be careful out there Don, it craziness as you know. I’ve been chaining up a lot up at the Donner Summit and tons of accidents up here too so I feel ya
I feel you, i only vacation the first week of December and January. I literally just got back from colombia yesterday and the wife bday is in December and mine is in January. I remember going to europe and got to see the Eiffel tower and the palace of Versailles with no crowd. Its colder but its worth it. And the wife bday is the first week of December and mine is the 19th of January and idc what company u go ull always get those days off because no one wants to vacation those weeks. Great advice!
@@20plustrucking i went to hawaii right before the pandemic December 6-10 and it was really cool and affordable. Then my sister just got married there last year, and we went back amd it was extremely expensive. We went to Honolulu, Waikiki. With inflation and the fact that they import everything was crazy expensive. Thanx for the happy bday, and i wanna wish u a happy birthday too for tomorrow. But don i kid you not, the best birthday gift i could have got was my invite to onboarding i received on the 19th. Ill be going to onboarding the 29th. I just found your videos and been watching all of them, even tho i have been watching you, rich, crespo, trainer james, drive4walmart, and many more i think what yall are doing is great and it really helps get the questions asked and also im sure the on the job curiosity. But keep the videos coming, walmart hired a lot of drivers and to help out on things that maybe the trainers/mentors forget to tell these videos come in handy.
Yes no doubt The last trip we made to Kauai was extremely expensive. Like most truck drivers I have an opinion about everything lol so I spend all my time at Walmart I might as well share my opinion with everyone lol seriously though it did take me a few years to lighten up and enjoy this job so if I can help others do that I feel like I'm really helping.
And as for now they have safety guys on donner pass to help Walmart drivers chain up . Back when I was there if you didn't know how to chain up you had no business in a Walmart truck
They're not safety guys they're just drivers that are called chain assist. The thing is I remember back in the old days there were tons of people that just flat out didn't put chains on and sat there for days on end. I'm sure you remember the whole situation down at the Roseville store that one year. Each day or two I would drive through and visit with everyone as they sat there all week. That was embarrassing to watch those people do that and I was glad that Bentonville put their foot down on that. It's funny I mention that to people nowadays and they act like that never happened lol
Issue with WalMart is, for me, I am 55 and have been driving for 40 years…… sorry I don’t have 90 years under my belt driving for WalMart, but, America is no longer about paying yer’ dues’ and working for the man…. Your money, that you make, is nothing at all even close to what a new WalMart hire will make.
Sometimes I wish I was a new driver then I wouldn't have to go through all the years I paid my dues lol just kidding I'm glad I paid my dues over 22 years it's made me who I am today.
Dear Sir, sorry for this comment in advance, but I would like to raise a debate if possible. I am a newbie by American standards cause my license is just more than a year old. My other license is 17 years old, so one would say quite an experience in trucking.... Nevertheless, wouldn't it be common sense for the industry to expect, promote, and motivate drivers of your knowledge and experience to take the most of winter driving while newbies like me shouldn't even be driving ( like mandatory not driving) during winter, or at least most risky parts. Would like feedback on this thought 👍🏻
If you want great drivers for the future then the way I did it is probably the best and that is I've drove every winter in the worst for 22 years from the very beginning. In short I paid my dues. I suppose from a company's perspective they just want to get the freight there. So I figure after that many years it's time for me to take a break on winter considering I've made it this far with no tickets or accidents throughout my whole career (22 years).
February is the fiscal year and you can only carry so many over past that time. It depends on what schedule you're on. You don't want them to cash out because they will tax you to death versus just taking the day off. February is an option for me because I'm week on week off so I only need 5 days of pto to get 15 days off of in February
Thanks for this helpful video Don. I’m starting onboarding in two weeks in Dover DE then training out of Tobyhana PA. A bit nervous about the northeast winters so this type of content is super valuable. Safe travels 🎉🎉
@@henryreyes3505 I'm sure it'll be great. Slow and steady or just shut it down if it gets too bad. Good luck let me know how it all turns out.
You the best Walmart video out there thank you
Appreciate that
Awe man if all goes well I graduate the A2D program in January then start working here in PA.
@@margaretrefile8207 Right on that's awesome! That program is a pretty cool situation. Even if it didn't work out at Walmart later on down the road you end up getting your CDL and it's yours to keep forever as long as you keep it up. I'm sure you'll love it here and will probably stay until retirement like most of the guys.
@@20plustruckingI have my CDL but haven’t used it yet. I should be good with the Walmart A2D program, graduate and plan to retire with the company as well. Not super excited to start working in the Winters here in PA etc. but more excited to begin a new career with a great company
@@margaretrefile8207 I don't blame you winter can be tough. They give so much PTO here and nobody wants to take off in January so it's perfect for me to take winter off or at least a good portion of it.
@@20plustruckingI’ll be taking off winters once I get experience & pto
@@margaretrefile8207 lol Right on I like doing it.
I used you as my reference for a couple of my applications. I have a phone interview in Corinne UT but I was hoping for Centralia WA which is still on the job listing. A lot of Walmart guys tell me to bring it up in my phone interview, what do you think? Much love brother
I agree you should definitely bring it up. You never know they might possibly switch it around in the end for you.
Good to hear you are going on vacations. Most drivers dont go outside of country and see this beautiful planet we live in. I'm going to Bali, Indonesia, in February, and I am very excited. Be safe out there, driver!
I wouldn't mind going outside of the country but I really don't want to take my family outside of the country. The world's too crazy nowadays.
How flexible is Walmart about shutting it down if the driver feels the road is unsafe?
@@danminer9234 they're very flexible on that. Although they might have an issue with you if you claim the roads unsave every single time there's chains required and the road is open. Especially since they pay you $60 to put them on. Although there has been a few times the road was open and it was chains required and I felt it was unsafe because there was too many vehicles on the road and weather was coming down hard. They've had no problem with that.
Once The Rock system came in and Bentenville took over dispatching to me it went down from there.
It's true it got very impersonal for quite some time and not as effective but they're doing a lot better nowadays.
Back when I drove for Walmart we just went Hwy 36 out of Red Bluff to Reno. But that is when it was a good company
Yes I remember going over 36 constantly all winter long and occasionally the 70. I do miss those days for sure.
Ya we only used 48 foot trailers to go 36 through susanville because of length restrictions.
Yeah that's true but once we switched to different tractors that no longer worked as far as the length restriction goes. Now we have some 40-foot trailers but we don't use them as regular store load trailers mostly length restricted neighborhood markets.
Yup
I see you put my advice into reality with the referral stuff 👌. Be careful out there Don, it craziness as you know. I’ve been chaining up a lot up at the Donner Summit and tons of accidents up here too so I feel ya
I appreciate the advice. No doubt there's lots of winners still going on and I'm looking forward to summer lol
Snow chains period
I feel you, i only vacation the first week of December and January. I literally just got back from colombia yesterday and the wife bday is in December and mine is in January. I remember going to europe and got to see the Eiffel tower and the palace of Versailles with no crowd. Its colder but its worth it. And the wife bday is the first week of December and mine is the 19th of January and idc what company u go ull always get those days off because no one wants to vacation those weeks. Great advice!
Happy birthday mine is January 22nd. I like to vacation in places like Hawaii so it doesn't matter what time of year it is lol
@@20plustrucking i went to hawaii right before the pandemic December 6-10 and it was really cool and affordable. Then my sister just got married there last year, and we went back amd it was extremely expensive. We went to Honolulu, Waikiki. With inflation and the fact that they import everything was crazy expensive. Thanx for the happy bday, and i wanna wish u a happy birthday too for tomorrow. But don i kid you not, the best birthday gift i could have got was my invite to onboarding i received on the 19th. Ill be going to onboarding the 29th. I just found your videos and been watching all of them, even tho i have been watching you, rich, crespo, trainer james, drive4walmart, and many more i think what yall are doing is great and it really helps get the questions asked and also im sure the on the job curiosity. But keep the videos coming, walmart hired a lot of drivers and to help out on things that maybe the trainers/mentors forget to tell these videos come in handy.
Yes no doubt The last trip we made to Kauai was extremely expensive. Like most truck drivers I have an opinion about everything lol so I spend all my time at Walmart I might as well share my opinion with everyone lol seriously though it did take me a few years to lighten up and enjoy this job so if I can help others do that I feel like I'm really helping.
And as for now they have safety guys on donner pass to help Walmart drivers chain up . Back when I was there if you didn't know how to chain up you had no business in a Walmart truck
They're not safety guys they're just drivers that are called chain assist. The thing is I remember back in the old days there were tons of people that just flat out didn't put chains on and sat there for days on end. I'm sure you remember the whole situation down at the Roseville store that one year. Each day or two I would drive through and visit with everyone as they sat there all week. That was embarrassing to watch those people do that and I was glad that Bentonville put their foot down on that. It's funny I mention that to people nowadays and they act like that never happened lol
Don't drive a truck fast in winter
I agree now if we could just convince everyone else of that.
Issue with WalMart is, for me, I am 55 and have been driving for 40 years…… sorry I don’t have 90 years under my belt driving for WalMart, but, America is no longer about paying yer’ dues’ and working for the man…. Your money, that you make, is nothing at all even close to what a new WalMart hire will make.
Sometimes I wish I was a new driver then I wouldn't have to go through all the years I paid my dues lol just kidding I'm glad I paid my dues over 22 years it's made me who I am today.
I always save my pto to take jan & feb off. I don't like winter.
Amen! Basically winter is just a big hassle that pays less money.
Now Walmart hires anybody . It used to be like getting into Harvard to get hired at Walmart
But still these drivers can't qualify to get in which is amazing to me. I believe over half of them don't pass the onboarding.
Dear Sir, sorry for this comment in advance, but I would like to raise a debate if possible. I am a newbie by American standards cause my license is just more than a year old. My other license is 17 years old, so one would say quite an experience in trucking.... Nevertheless, wouldn't it be common sense for the industry to expect, promote, and motivate drivers of your knowledge and experience to take the most of winter driving while newbies like me shouldn't even be driving ( like mandatory not driving) during winter, or at least most risky parts. Would like feedback on this thought 👍🏻
If you want great drivers for the future then the way I did it is probably the best and that is I've drove every winter in the worst for 22 years from the very beginning. In short I paid my dues. I suppose from a company's perspective they just want to get the freight there. So I figure after that many years it's time for me to take a break on winter considering I've made it this far with no tickets or accidents throughout my whole career (22 years).
Good advice going to stay saving my PTO days for next winter.
It's always worked for me. Fortunately for me I work five on five off so my PTO days are very effective for taking lots of time off.
You can carry over all that PTO time into the next year to get jan/feb off?
February is the fiscal year and you can only carry so many over past that time. It depends on what schedule you're on. You don't want them to cash out because they will tax you to death versus just taking the day off. February is an option for me because I'm week on week off so I only need 5 days of pto to get 15 days off of in February
🙄
😂
Ill use you as a referral, got a link to the Walmart application?
Awesome! Thank you. Yes just go to drive4walmart.com And everything you need to know is there plus the application. Good luck!