> Walmart’s associate delivery pilot program [...] started with store managers pitching employees an unusual new way to boost pay. Those who passed background checks could moonlight as drivers for the Walmart.com delivery service, they said.
> Fourteen of the sixteen Walmart employees told Reuters that they were put off by the program’s poor compensation. And all of them expressed concern over who would be responsible if they got into an accident or if merchandise was lost.
Well there is a time element of how long one deals with the unknowns, but this is Walmart. A fortune 500 (100? 50?) company has the resources to skip most of the bootstrapping shortcuts and make a serious go at it to do a good eval.
They also gained access to the employee's vehicle. But, yes, shifting pay from hourly to $2/package shifts a lot of the unpredictable elements of delivery to the employee.
I can't imagine they'd get away with it in the end, with all the "Uber drivers are employees" rulings. And it does seem like version 2 of the program is hourly, without overtime.
> Walmart’s associate delivery pilot program [...] started with store managers pitching employees an unusual new way to boost pay. Those who passed background checks could moonlight as drivers for the Walmart.com delivery service, they said.
> Fourteen of the sixteen Walmart employees told Reuters that they were put off by the program’s poor compensation. And all of them expressed concern over who would be responsible if they got into an accident or if merchandise was lost.