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Walmart expands in-house driver hiring, training program

Company to recruit eligible non-supply chain associates

Walmart expands in-house driver training program (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Walmart Inc. said it has expanded its in-house driver training program to include associates located within a 50-mile radius of an office where transport workers are hired.

The expanded initiative comes nine months after the retail behemoth (NYSE: WMT) launched a program allowing its supply chain employees to obtain their commercial driver’s licenses. Since the program began, 56 workers have been trained, obtained CDLs and are behind the wheel of Walmart trucks, the company said Wednesday.

Walmart said it will cover the cost of the expanded program, which runs for three months. It said it hopes to bring on 252 drivers during the year. Employees can apply at any of Walmart’s 23 fleet development training centers, the company said.

Walmart’s driving jobs are considered some of the most attractive in all of trucking. According to the company, drivers can earn up to $110,000 in their first year of driving. That figure is well above the industry average of about $71,000 quoted on Glassdoor. 


In addition, Walmart’s huge private fleet, which employs about 13,000 drivers, operates over regular, predictable routes between distribution centers and its stores. Drivers know their routes each day and are often home the same day or the next day.

In a blog post Wednesday, Fernando Cortes, Walmart’s vice president of transportation, said many employees have wanted to become drivers but were deterred by the time and expense of the training required.

Truckload driver wages vary widely depending on the company and the driver’s experience. Driver wages have risen steadily over the past few years as carriers have sought to attract and retain qualified workers.


2 Comments

  1. Rick k

    It’s not true. U hardly make 70000.00 including taxes. Which gives u Round 4400.00 every month after taxes. No everyday or next day go home. Got to go anywhere the dispatch send u. Lot of wait time at the Stores.

  2. Robert highsmith

    I’ve been here for over 7 years, where do I find the home everyday or every other day jobs driving. Please be honest with people no sense in lying to recruite drivers and start off in a negative lightm

Comments are closed.

Mark Solomon

Formerly the Executive Editor at DC Velocity, Mark Solomon joined FreightWaves as Managing Editor of Freight Markets. Solomon began his journalistic career in 1982 at Traffic World magazine, ran his own public relations firm (Media Based Solutions) from 1994 to 2008, and has been at DC Velocity since then. Over the course of his career, Solomon has covered nearly the whole gamut of the transportation and logistics industry, including trucking, railroads, maritime, 3PLs, and regulatory issues. Solomon witnessed and narrated the rise of Amazon and XPO Logistics and the shift of the U.S. Postal Service from a mail-focused service to parcel, as well as the exponential, e-commerce-driven growth of warehouse square footage and omnichannel fulfillment.