#work van insurance Alpharetta

[businessinsurancealpharetta]

Why Do You Need Business Insurance in Alpharetta?

Business insurance is quite an important term that has been going around and if you are not familiar with it, then after this you will be and you might be convinced that you need it for your business. First off, it is not easy to run a business. There are a lot of challenges that one faces while running a business and one has to be extremely careful every step of the way. Because making a mistake in operating your business is just not affordable at all. So to begin with, business insurance is defined as the financial coverage for your business from any losses or harms. Looking at the market conditions, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that getting business insurance in Alpharetta is a need of time and of course, for your business too.

Getting business insurance in Alpharetta is not an easy task because you cannot just pick and piece the plans you like. One has to carefully scrutinize what their business is actually about and what plan suits it the best. This is determined by the scale of your business; if it is at a small scale, you don’t really need extensive plans but if it is at a large scale, you definitely need to do a lot of work before you finally select a plan. So described below are the areas covered by your business insurance:

1.       Professional Liability Insurance

This is the area which will provide you coverage if there are any operational issues in the course of your business. It will cover the mistakes that are made on the operational level.

2.       Property Insurance

The place where you conduct your business is of high importance, of course. If something happens to your workplace, this area of insurance will cover your property loss.

3.       Home-Based Businesses

The businesses that are carried out at homes and are at small scale, they also come under business insurance. This area will cover the equipment and everything else.

4.       Product Liability Insurance

The products that are manufactured through your business and are up for sale will be covered in this area of insurance because they form the basis of your profitable earning.

5.       Vehicle Insurance

The commercial vehicles that you use for your business come under this area of insurance. Any accident or problem will be covered in this area of insurance.

If you are someone who is looking for a licensed company to provide you with trustworthy and proficient business insurance in Alpharetta, then you should get Tramites Express Insurance on board. They are known for providing high quality and reliable services to their many clients. And not just business-related, they provide insurances for many other areas as well. You can always trust them for getting the right insurance plan for your business. They have a lot of happy clients and this is the prime reason why you can trust them.

[workvaninsurancealpharetta]

Insured your Work Vans with Work Van Insurance Alpharetta

Work vans, this name is enough to define that this is for commercial purpose and the commercial vehicles need insurance because of they have to serve the public and fulfill their needs if you don’t take insurance for your vehicles which seems like you don’t care about yourself and you're the company then how can you be responsible for other’s belongings. Usually, vans are used to carry or shift the goods when someone has to shift from one place to another. As insurance is a requirement of every vehicle so that in case of any incident where you cannot afford many expenses than having insurance can prove fruitful to you. To be the responsible citizen and also a responsible person of an agency you need to have Work Van Insurance Alpharetta as it is known by everyone that Alpharetta is a populous city and accidents happens at daily basis. Further explanation is below.

When you have opened an agency and you decided to serve for humanity or for the general public to make them meet with their needs easily you have to create a friendly and safe environment because if you are not secure then how can you secure the products or goods of the others? As because due to the accidents and the populous city there is always a risk of accident or damage of cars that is sometimes it can be crucial and sometimes it can be minor but in both the state you have to pay for its mending and the car repairing system is so costly that not everyone can afford it. As you are using the vehicle for commercial purposes so you need to be perfect and punctual that are also included in the ethics of the market. There should be a Work Van Insurance Alpharetta for all vans and transports using for the commercial purposes.

When someone hires a transport for shipping their goods that means they are trusting you and this is your responsibility to fulfill their trust and to prove yourself a responsible company. That is a time of honor for an agency when it is praised by their customers in good memory and words that is what we call the real achievement. As you are already handling the agency and all the costs of systems that is laptops or computers, the other appliances, bills of electricity, water, and other taxes than in case of the accident how can you handle that expense? There are already so many expenses and the car repairing expense is like one on one so should avoid it. If you have insurance than in case of any mishap you can get full payment of its repairing in fact in good workshops.

If you want that your vehicles get fully paid repairing in a good workshop than you should have Work Van Insurance Alpharetta and for this, you can contact with Tramites Express Insurance. they are professional and are known as the best company for insurances.

[commercialautoinsurancelilburn]

Get Commercial Auto Insurance Lilburn to Legitimize your Business

If you run a business, you probably know that insurance is important for its smooth running. If your business incorporates the use of commercial vehicles for different purposes, then you need to get another type of insurance for it, called commercial auto insurance. It is important for you to protect your business and your employees from any possible lawsuit. To carry out everything legally, get Commercial Auto Insurance in Lilburn. Traveling from state to state will get easier for you and your insurance coverage will protect you if you get into an accident.

If you are operating a business that has its own transportation for business purposes, obviously, then you need to get commercial auto insurance. There are many benefits of getting progressive Commercial Auto Insurance Lilburn:

When running a business, you cannot be everywhere, you obviously have hired people in different departments. So just like that, you must have hired drivers for fulfilling your business’ transportation needs. No matter how experienced your drivers are and how careful they are while driving, you still cannot leave them on the mercy of luck. Your right auto insurance will protect them in case of any incident.

The liability will be fully covered by your auto insurance for commercial purpose in case of any lawsuit.

Using vehicles for your business are extremely expensive. For example, if you transport your cargo from one state to another, you will have to buy a truck. When you have commercial auto insurance, not only it will protect your employee but your property as well. The entire staff that will be present inside your vehicle will be under coverage while being on the road.

You can also get coverage for the maintenance of your vehicle in case of any damage to it due to the accident.

You should get such an insurance policy that covers everything. Your employees are your responsibility so, in case of any lawsuit, they will be protected as stated in your policy.

If you have taken out your commercial vehicles on lease from the bank, your insurance will also cover the financial loss. This means that while the payment is still due, coverage will be provided to protect you from any further loss.

Getting commercial auto insurance will give you the peace of mind that your business is carried in a legal manner and that you will be covered in case of any lawsuit.

There are times when you are being dragged into a lawsuit even when you are not on a fault so you will be protected by your policy in those times.

 Tramites Express Insurance is the perfect insurance company where you will find all types of coverage suiting to you according to your needs. They have the right gears and means perfect for you to get the right Commercial Auto Insurance in Lilburn that you need. They have the complete understanding of commercial auto insurance and will be able to cater all your insurance needs in the area.

[autoinsurancemarietta]

Auto Insurance and Why We Need It:

Car insurance is mandatory almost everywhere in the world. Benjamin Franklin gave the basic concept of any type of insurance (insurance for fire-related incidents). I’m sure he wasn’t thinking about the cars at the time but the idea remained the same; to ease the financial burdens in case of an accident.

Why Auto Insurance was invented:

The first car was invented in 1886 and first auto insurance was sold (by Travelers Insurance) in 1898. The question is why we felt there was a need for auto insurance and if there was a need, how did we survive without it twelve years. The answer is simple, in earlier days there were fewer (and slower) cars and so were car accidents. But as cars become more and more affordable the number of automobiles on roads increased significantly and in turn the number of accidents. This led to the creation of a policy to share the financial burden that these accidents caused.

Modern Auto Insurance:

There are 276.1 million registered vehicles in the United States and 44% of those vehicles are cars. Almost 6 million car accidents happen in the United States alone and 3 million people are injured in those accidents. 6% of these accidents are fatal, 27% cause injury and 72% cause property damage. That is why modern-day car insurance is mandatory. If you don’t want to get comprehensive coverage, getting minimum liability coverage is necessary to drive on the road.

Liability Coverage: it covers the bodily injury or property damage that your vehicle causes to someone else. Without having this minimum insurance, you won’t be allowed to be on the road. And if you get caught driving without insurance there can be severe consequences.

Full Coverage:

Full auto insurance coverage has two parts:

Collision coverage

Comprehensive coverage

Collision coverage comprises of payment for damages of the vehicles involved. It is mainly for the damage happened because of automobile collisions or accidents.

Comprehensive coverage, covers the damages that happen as a result of all other accidents (no collisions) e.g. fire, theft, animals or natural calamities.

How to Select an Auto Insurance in Marietta:

Marietta is in GA; a state that lays heavy emphasis on auto insurance and if you drive without one you can face jail time and serious fine. To select good auto insurance in Marietta you have to research a lot. Do it online or physically visit the offices of different insurance providers. If you get help from a professional, they will omit all the technical jargon and will explain the policies in easy words. Due to strict insurance laws in GA, many companies see auto insurance as a profitable business and you need to be careful of such companies whose only goal is to make money. Tramites Express Insurance is a highly experienced and trustworthy auto insurance company in Marietta. They will help you select the best insurance policy for your vehicle at the most affordable rates.

[dumptruckinsuranceduluth]

Things You Need to Know About Dump Truck Insurance

If you are running a dump truck business, you will know the amount of trash you have to dump is inevitable. You will obviously have all the machinery and  proper business set up to keep everything up and running, but in this modern world, you should have a proper Dump Truck Insurance in Duluth to be able to run the business with efficiency. There are a number of ways in which your insurance will benefit you and they are described as follows:

Any kind of insurance that one gets is basically the reimbursement of the loss you get. There are a plethora of insurances that people get every year and even now, people are not aware of the significance of the insurance. Your insurance, no matter what type it is, will act as a financial coverage from the loss of property or damage you get. It is highly important for every person who runs a business to have insurance and for Dump Truck Insurance in Duluth, there are a lot of companies that you can find to get insurance. Your insurance will provide you with protection in terms of financial sense. Moreover, some insurance also provides medical coverage as well. If you get into any sort of accident, it covers you in case of any lawsuit. This is highly important for you to protect yourself and to protect your employees as well. Moreover, if there are any bodily injuries to the person or to the truck as well, the insurance will also protect you in that case. And your insurance will also reimburse the maintenance and repairs of the dump truck. However, if you don’t own the truck yourself, your insurance will take care of the rent as well. This will lift the pressure of stopping the business as well.

However, before you hire an insurance agency, make sure to check if the company is registered or not. And it is best to get the insurance quotes for every kind of insurance that you need, beforehand. Before hiring a company, contact a number of different reputable companies so you have a better idea of how the costs are being regulated and the rules as well.

If you are someone who is looking for an insurance agency to get Dump Truck Insurance in Duluth, then you can hire Tramites Express Insurance! They are a trustworthy name in the area and they have a vast number of happy clients, as we speak. The services they provide are efficient and complete. Moreover, you can alter them in every way that you want. When you hire Tramites Express Insurance, not only will you get registered services but you will also get the most affordable insurance quotes as well. no matter what kind of insurance you want, Tramites Express Insurance will provide it all.

[homeownersinsurancemableton]

Secure your living place with reliable Home owners insurance Mableton

When it is about the protection of your house or whether designing of your houses, the first thing you consider about is security that will be reliable and long-lasting or even forever till death. For that purpose, it is important that insurance of house is in safe hands and its insurance must be done for its better protection after it is your whole life saving’s fruit. We all do hard work for our own houses that we can call our authority. So for that, it is important that its insurance must be done with the insured agency and by expert agents. It is important that you must have Homeowners insurance Mableton. Further explanation is below.

Whenever you buy a home or build your own home you bring everything perfect and of good quality so that its beauty can be enhanced and everyone can be astonished on the elegance of your house. When you do this much for your home, it is important that you must take care of its insurance. Insurance is not only for the building or our home, but it should also be of each and everything that belongs to your house because without them your house is empty and is no more be elegant as it was with them. Whatever the belonging is it should be completely insured and perfectly done that there should be no issue being illegal or any kind of loss. Home owners insurance in Mableton you have to contact an insured agency because an insured agency can know the worth of legality better.

Some great services for the customers are, residential, commercial, auto insurances, 24/7 availability, expert agents who are well qualified and trained, complete information of process before and after the work, friendly environment is provided so that you can contact easily and at any time in case of any problem or issue or even you just want an information. When your home is your shelter and it saves you from every kind of problems related to weather or natural disasters. It’s your moral duty to do best for your shelter lace as it is the place of living for you. Not only just home but also the belongings that are present in your homes like bikes, furniture, or any other thing that is the beauty of your house and makes your house looks well-decorated need complete insurance.

For good insurance, it should be done by expert agents who can only belong to an expert agency. Because only they know the legal process’s worth and its importance for your home place. In case any loss or damage after complete investigation you will be compensated by the company and that is the perfect point of having insured house and its belongings.

For the reliable and legal Home owners insurance Mableton, you can contact with Tramites Express Insurance. They are known as an expert agency for legal processes. They have a perfect era of working in the industry.

[autoinsurancenorcross]

Insured Your Vehicles with Auto Insurance in Norcross

When it comes to the safety of vehicles, everyone gets concerned about their vehicles. But to shoe concern is not enough, you have to plan something strong. So, the best option to get your cars secured and safe from any damage or problem is to have Auto insurance in Norcross. This is because with insurance you can claim your funds from an insurance company if your car meets an accident or there is any damage. The insurance companies provide insurances so that at the time of need, you don’t get empty at once. There are different types of insurances depends upon your requirement that which insurance you need for your vehicles. Also, there are other packages available as well so that customers can choose their desired package for insurance of vehicle. In nowadays, the ratio of accidents has increased and the reasons that are reported are over speeding, weather disturbances, and careless driving.

Reliable insurance companies are always advised because they have expert agents who are qualified and experienced. Also, these companies are affiliated with different workshops or mechanics who are experts and professionals. So, they will take you to the right workshop or stations in case of any problem regarding your vehicles. Many cases have seen that one driver tried to overtake the other one and as a result, they both have faced financial as well as lives lost. sometimes people drive carelessly or use mobile phones during driving that is strictly prohibited by the government. But still, some people used to call or answer calls during driving. This can be dangerous for all of the people on the road. But if you have Auto insurance in Norcross, then you don’t have to get panic or worried about the safety of your vehicles. You will be guided completely before signing the contract that what package or insurance you have to select for your vehicles.

Also, reliable companies will always first provide you complete information rather than convincing you to pay money first. There are scammers who exist in the market who always care about the money and nothing else. So. It depends upon you that how you will protect yourself from them. A reliable company will concentrate always on the benefit of customers and then about the payments.  When you compare the companies, you will get to know which company will be better for the insurance of your vehicles. Also, some reliable companies will definitely offer insurance for you and your vehicles in case of an accident. Whenever you will be in a problem, you will get your insurance agents by your side if you have chosen insurance from a reliable company.

So, if you need safe and secure Auto insurance in Norcross, you can contact to Tramites Express Insurance. They are a renowned company having professional staff. You will be proud to have insurance form this company for vehicles.

[smartwebhostingblog]

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

New Post has been published on http://webhostingtop3.com/why-walmart-farms-out-same-day-grocery-deliveries-to-low-cost-freelance-drivers/

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Jeff Leonard slides behind the wheel of his burgundy Hyundai Accord and heads to a nearby Walmart Inc store, where he picks up the package of groceries waiting for him.

Jeff Leonard, a DoorDash driver, waits to pickup an order at a Walmart online grocery pickup parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

Roughly an hour later, the 62-year-old delivers vegetables, flavored water and cleaning supplies to a shopper’s front door. It is one of nearly 100 such Walmart deliveries for Leonard since July, when he first signed up to courier for the world’s largest retailer.

But he does not wear a uniform or collect a traditional paycheck. He is not on Walmart’s staff.

Leonard is one of hundreds of local independent drivers for DoorDash, the San Francisco-based online delivery service that Walmart uses to handle same-day delivery of groceries to shoppers’ homes outside of Atlanta.

Leonard and his cohort of some 16.5 million American “gig” workers – people who currently work in contingent jobs or as on call workers – come at a lower cost for Walmart than full-time employees, according to interviews with drivers, delivery companies and Walmart documents reviewed by Reuters. But they lack loyalty when there are better paying deliveries out there, adding risk to Walmart’s latest attempt to win more online grocery customers.

“This affords me the ability to make my own hours,” said Leonard, who pays for his own fuel, car insurance and gets no health insurance, retirement plan or other employee benefits. He and other gig drivers in the area collect $7 to $10 per Walmart delivery. Walmart has deemed $11 an hour as minimum wage for its own employees.

The world’s largest retailer began bolstering its partnerships with third-party courier firms to reach consumers in 100 U.S. cities last year to better compete with Amazon.com Inc. The move came as it ended initiatives to use Uber and Lyft drivers, and struggled with using Walmart’s own employees, to deliver packages.

Walmart told Reuters it benefits from the speed as well as the driver contacts of its seven partner firms, such as DoorDash. The move allows same-day grocery delivery to 40 percent of households across the United States, without the burden of hiring employees. The retailer is able to keep costs down by negotiating pre-determined delivery rates with the firms, namely by breaking down delivery costs by zones in cities, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

The amount that drivers are paid is determined largely by the distance from a store to the shopper’s home or location. For example, for all deliveries within 5 miles of the pick-up point, the retailer agrees to pay a certain amount. It works similarly for distances of 10 or 15 miles from the store as the pick-up point.

“That (payment) gets defined ahead of time and that is fixed,” said a source, referring to the company’s agreement with Walmart. The retailer, the source said, then charges the customer a delivery fee.

The strategy helps Walmart avoid paying surge pricing – higher fares when demand for delivery drivers spikes due to rush hour, bad weather or popular meal times – that can dramatically drive up delivery costs.

Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said speed is a big factor in Walmart’s reliance on the delivery companies, who have existing contracts with drivers and technology to dispatch them on demand. “To develop that on our own in each market would take us much longer to roll out,” she said.

Walmart’s partnership approach to grocery delivery is in contrast to Amazon Flex, which taps freelance drivers directly as needed, and pays them $18 or more per hour. Amazon is also launching its own branded delivery service for Amazon packages, providing couriers with access to leased Mercedes delivery vans and discounted insurance. Amazon did not respond to request for comment.

By working with partners who hire out drivers “on demand” as contractors who can then also earn money from other outlets, Walmart is also able to lower liability risk from labor-related driver lawsuits, which are growing in number around the United States.

Walmart’s Blakeman said the drivers are paid by the delivery, not by the hour, and the all-in average delivery time is 35 minutes. The delivery companies then make decisions about payments to drivers and how they are distributed, she said.

In Georgia and Ohio where these drivers deliver for Walmart as well as local restaurants, Reuters found nearly two dozen drivers take in compensation of less than $11 an hour when they made deliveries for Walmart. And some took in less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. All but one of the 22 deliveries, Reuters tracked, took over an hour to finish.

In a statement, DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne said a majority of drivers earn over $11 an hour while completing Walmart deliveries and a significant portion of the drivers earn over $15 an hour. Reuters was not independently able to verify the higher end of the hourly pay scale.

Walmart partner Deliv paid drivers by the hour, sources said. Reuters reported earlier this week that Deliv, one of Walmart’s partners in Miami and San Jose, ended the relationship altogether.

LACKING LOYALTY

The risk to Walmart’s new strategy is driver loyalty. None of the drivers in Georgia and Ohio Reuters interviewed said they would commit to handling Walmart deliveries over more lucrative gigs from local restaurants, especially during busy hours.

Garrick Clark, a 44-year-old driver making deliveries for Walmart in Alpharetta, said he would prefer dropping packages for Amazon over delivering groceries for Walmart because Amazon pays $18 to $24 an hour for similar deliveries.

A source with direct knowledge of why the relationship between Walmart and Deliv ended, said delivering large orders over long distances was a hurdle to the tie-up. Walmart charges $7.99 to $9.99 delivery fee on a minimum order size of $30 for online grocery orders, and customers willing to pay for same-day delivery often do not live close to a Walmart store, the person said.

Further, many Walmart’s stores are in low-income neighborhoods which generated fewer online grocery orders for Deliv’s same-day delivery, two sources said.

Parking stall signs for Walmart online grocery pickup are seen at a Walmart parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

“To get drivers to agree to $7 or so to drive 15 miles to deliver 40 items was a big problem. Most drivers were like, ‘We don’t want to do Walmart anymore,’” one of the sources said. According to Spend Management Experts, Walmart would have to spend at least $141.76 per employee, per day if it hired them to make deliveries for 8 hours at $11 an hour in Atlanta. The cost analysis, which the firm performed on behalf of Reuters in December, includes what Walmart would pay for fuel, car insurance and car maintenance. But it excludes the cost of employee benefits.

Leonard, the driver here in Alpharetta, said getting a guaranteed minimum wage from delivery companies for the hours he logs would be a big help.

“But they don’t, and that’s the nature of the beast,” Leonard said.

Reporting by Nandita Bose in Alpharetta, Georgia; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Vanessa O’Connell and Edward Tobin

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[awesomecolorfulcollectorwombat]

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

New Post has been published on http://webhostingtop3.com/why-walmart-farms-out-same-day-grocery-deliveries-to-low-cost-freelance-drivers/

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Jeff Leonard slides behind the wheel of his burgundy Hyundai Accord and heads to a nearby Walmart Inc store, where he picks up the package of groceries waiting for him.

Jeff Leonard, a DoorDash driver, waits to pickup an order at a Walmart online grocery pickup parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

Roughly an hour later, the 62-year-old delivers vegetables, flavored water and cleaning supplies to a shopper’s front door. It is one of nearly 100 such Walmart deliveries for Leonard since July, when he first signed up to courier for the world’s largest retailer.

But he does not wear a uniform or collect a traditional paycheck. He is not on Walmart’s staff.

Leonard is one of hundreds of local independent drivers for DoorDash, the San Francisco-based online delivery service that Walmart uses to handle same-day delivery of groceries to shoppers’ homes outside of Atlanta.

Leonard and his cohort of some 16.5 million American “gig” workers – people who currently work in contingent jobs or as on call workers – come at a lower cost for Walmart than full-time employees, according to interviews with drivers, delivery companies and Walmart documents reviewed by Reuters. But they lack loyalty when there are better paying deliveries out there, adding risk to Walmart’s latest attempt to win more online grocery customers.

“This affords me the ability to make my own hours,” said Leonard, who pays for his own fuel, car insurance and gets no health insurance, retirement plan or other employee benefits. He and other gig drivers in the area collect $7 to $10 per Walmart delivery. Walmart has deemed $11 an hour as minimum wage for its own employees.

The world’s largest retailer began bolstering its partnerships with third-party courier firms to reach consumers in 100 U.S. cities last year to better compete with Amazon.com Inc. The move came as it ended initiatives to use Uber and Lyft drivers, and struggled with using Walmart’s own employees, to deliver packages.

Walmart told Reuters it benefits from the speed as well as the driver contacts of its seven partner firms, such as DoorDash. The move allows same-day grocery delivery to 40 percent of households across the United States, without the burden of hiring employees. The retailer is able to keep costs down by negotiating pre-determined delivery rates with the firms, namely by breaking down delivery costs by zones in cities, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

The amount that drivers are paid is determined largely by the distance from a store to the shopper’s home or location. For example, for all deliveries within 5 miles of the pick-up point, the retailer agrees to pay a certain amount. It works similarly for distances of 10 or 15 miles from the store as the pick-up point.

“That (payment) gets defined ahead of time and that is fixed,” said a source, referring to the company’s agreement with Walmart. The retailer, the source said, then charges the customer a delivery fee.

The strategy helps Walmart avoid paying surge pricing – higher fares when demand for delivery drivers spikes due to rush hour, bad weather or popular meal times – that can dramatically drive up delivery costs.

Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said speed is a big factor in Walmart’s reliance on the delivery companies, who have existing contracts with drivers and technology to dispatch them on demand. “To develop that on our own in each market would take us much longer to roll out,” she said.

Walmart’s partnership approach to grocery delivery is in contrast to Amazon Flex, which taps freelance drivers directly as needed, and pays them $18 or more per hour. Amazon is also launching its own branded delivery service for Amazon packages, providing couriers with access to leased Mercedes delivery vans and discounted insurance. Amazon did not respond to request for comment.

By working with partners who hire out drivers “on demand” as contractors who can then also earn money from other outlets, Walmart is also able to lower liability risk from labor-related driver lawsuits, which are growing in number around the United States.

Walmart’s Blakeman said the drivers are paid by the delivery, not by the hour, and the all-in average delivery time is 35 minutes. The delivery companies then make decisions about payments to drivers and how they are distributed, she said.

In Georgia and Ohio where these drivers deliver for Walmart as well as local restaurants, Reuters found nearly two dozen drivers take in compensation of less than $11 an hour when they made deliveries for Walmart. And some took in less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. All but one of the 22 deliveries, Reuters tracked, took over an hour to finish.

In a statement, DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne said a majority of drivers earn over $11 an hour while completing Walmart deliveries and a significant portion of the drivers earn over $15 an hour. Reuters was not independently able to verify the higher end of the hourly pay scale.

Walmart partner Deliv paid drivers by the hour, sources said. Reuters reported earlier this week that Deliv, one of Walmart’s partners in Miami and San Jose, ended the relationship altogether.

LACKING LOYALTY

The risk to Walmart’s new strategy is driver loyalty. None of the drivers in Georgia and Ohio Reuters interviewed said they would commit to handling Walmart deliveries over more lucrative gigs from local restaurants, especially during busy hours.

Garrick Clark, a 44-year-old driver making deliveries for Walmart in Alpharetta, said he would prefer dropping packages for Amazon over delivering groceries for Walmart because Amazon pays $18 to $24 an hour for similar deliveries.

A source with direct knowledge of why the relationship between Walmart and Deliv ended, said delivering large orders over long distances was a hurdle to the tie-up. Walmart charges $7.99 to $9.99 delivery fee on a minimum order size of $30 for online grocery orders, and customers willing to pay for same-day delivery often do not live close to a Walmart store, the person said.

Further, many Walmart’s stores are in low-income neighborhoods which generated fewer online grocery orders for Deliv’s same-day delivery, two sources said.

Parking stall signs for Walmart online grocery pickup are seen at a Walmart parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

“To get drivers to agree to $7 or so to drive 15 miles to deliver 40 items was a big problem. Most drivers were like, ‘We don’t want to do Walmart anymore,’” one of the sources said. According to Spend Management Experts, Walmart would have to spend at least $141.76 per employee, per day if it hired them to make deliveries for 8 hours at $11 an hour in Atlanta. The cost analysis, which the firm performed on behalf of Reuters in December, includes what Walmart would pay for fuel, car insurance and car maintenance. But it excludes the cost of employee benefits.

Leonard, the driver here in Alpharetta, said getting a guaranteed minimum wage from delivery companies for the hours he logs would be a big help.

“But they don’t, and that’s the nature of the beast,” Leonard said.

Reporting by Nandita Bose in Alpharetta, Georgia; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Vanessa O’Connell and Edward Tobin

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[lazilysillyprince]

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

New Post has been published on http://webhostingtop3.com/why-walmart-farms-out-same-day-grocery-deliveries-to-low-cost-freelance-drivers/

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Jeff Leonard slides behind the wheel of his burgundy Hyundai Accord and heads to a nearby Walmart Inc store, where he picks up the package of groceries waiting for him.

Jeff Leonard, a DoorDash driver, waits to pickup an order at a Walmart online grocery pickup parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

Roughly an hour later, the 62-year-old delivers vegetables, flavored water and cleaning supplies to a shopper’s front door. It is one of nearly 100 such Walmart deliveries for Leonard since July, when he first signed up to courier for the world’s largest retailer.

But he does not wear a uniform or collect a traditional paycheck. He is not on Walmart’s staff.

Leonard is one of hundreds of local independent drivers for DoorDash, the San Francisco-based online delivery service that Walmart uses to handle same-day delivery of groceries to shoppers’ homes outside of Atlanta.

Leonard and his cohort of some 16.5 million American “gig” workers – people who currently work in contingent jobs or as on call workers – come at a lower cost for Walmart than full-time employees, according to interviews with drivers, delivery companies and Walmart documents reviewed by Reuters. But they lack loyalty when there are better paying deliveries out there, adding risk to Walmart’s latest attempt to win more online grocery customers.

“This affords me the ability to make my own hours,” said Leonard, who pays for his own fuel, car insurance and gets no health insurance, retirement plan or other employee benefits. He and other gig drivers in the area collect $7 to $10 per Walmart delivery. Walmart has deemed $11 an hour as minimum wage for its own employees.

The world’s largest retailer began bolstering its partnerships with third-party courier firms to reach consumers in 100 U.S. cities last year to better compete with Amazon.com Inc. The move came as it ended initiatives to use Uber and Lyft drivers, and struggled with using Walmart’s own employees, to deliver packages.

Walmart told Reuters it benefits from the speed as well as the driver contacts of its seven partner firms, such as DoorDash. The move allows same-day grocery delivery to 40 percent of households across the United States, without the burden of hiring employees. The retailer is able to keep costs down by negotiating pre-determined delivery rates with the firms, namely by breaking down delivery costs by zones in cities, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

The amount that drivers are paid is determined largely by the distance from a store to the shopper’s home or location. For example, for all deliveries within 5 miles of the pick-up point, the retailer agrees to pay a certain amount. It works similarly for distances of 10 or 15 miles from the store as the pick-up point.

“That (payment) gets defined ahead of time and that is fixed,” said a source, referring to the company’s agreement with Walmart. The retailer, the source said, then charges the customer a delivery fee.

The strategy helps Walmart avoid paying surge pricing – higher fares when demand for delivery drivers spikes due to rush hour, bad weather or popular meal times – that can dramatically drive up delivery costs.

Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said speed is a big factor in Walmart’s reliance on the delivery companies, who have existing contracts with drivers and technology to dispatch them on demand. “To develop that on our own in each market would take us much longer to roll out,” she said.

Walmart’s partnership approach to grocery delivery is in contrast to Amazon Flex, which taps freelance drivers directly as needed, and pays them $18 or more per hour. Amazon is also launching its own branded delivery service for Amazon packages, providing couriers with access to leased Mercedes delivery vans and discounted insurance. Amazon did not respond to request for comment.

By working with partners who hire out drivers “on demand” as contractors who can then also earn money from other outlets, Walmart is also able to lower liability risk from labor-related driver lawsuits, which are growing in number around the United States.

Walmart’s Blakeman said the drivers are paid by the delivery, not by the hour, and the all-in average delivery time is 35 minutes. The delivery companies then make decisions about payments to drivers and how they are distributed, she said.

In Georgia and Ohio where these drivers deliver for Walmart as well as local restaurants, Reuters found nearly two dozen drivers take in compensation of less than $11 an hour when they made deliveries for Walmart. And some took in less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. All but one of the 22 deliveries, Reuters tracked, took over an hour to finish.

In a statement, DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne said a majority of drivers earn over $11 an hour while completing Walmart deliveries and a significant portion of the drivers earn over $15 an hour. Reuters was not independently able to verify the higher end of the hourly pay scale.

Walmart partner Deliv paid drivers by the hour, sources said. Reuters reported earlier this week that Deliv, one of Walmart’s partners in Miami and San Jose, ended the relationship altogether.

LACKING LOYALTY

The risk to Walmart’s new strategy is driver loyalty. None of the drivers in Georgia and Ohio Reuters interviewed said they would commit to handling Walmart deliveries over more lucrative gigs from local restaurants, especially during busy hours.

Garrick Clark, a 44-year-old driver making deliveries for Walmart in Alpharetta, said he would prefer dropping packages for Amazon over delivering groceries for Walmart because Amazon pays $18 to $24 an hour for similar deliveries.

A source with direct knowledge of why the relationship between Walmart and Deliv ended, said delivering large orders over long distances was a hurdle to the tie-up. Walmart charges $7.99 to $9.99 delivery fee on a minimum order size of $30 for online grocery orders, and customers willing to pay for same-day delivery often do not live close to a Walmart store, the person said.

Further, many Walmart’s stores are in low-income neighborhoods which generated fewer online grocery orders for Deliv’s same-day delivery, two sources said.

Parking stall signs for Walmart online grocery pickup are seen at a Walmart parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

“To get drivers to agree to $7 or so to drive 15 miles to deliver 40 items was a big problem. Most drivers were like, ‘We don’t want to do Walmart anymore,’” one of the sources said. According to Spend Management Experts, Walmart would have to spend at least $141.76 per employee, per day if it hired them to make deliveries for 8 hours at $11 an hour in Atlanta. The cost analysis, which the firm performed on behalf of Reuters in December, includes what Walmart would pay for fuel, car insurance and car maintenance. But it excludes the cost of employee benefits.

Leonard, the driver here in Alpharetta, said getting a guaranteed minimum wage from delivery companies for the hours he logs would be a big help.

“But they don’t, and that’s the nature of the beast,” Leonard said.

Reporting by Nandita Bose in Alpharetta, Georgia; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Vanessa O’Connell and Edward Tobin

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[hostingnewsfeed]

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

New Post has been published on http://webhostingtop3.com/why-walmart-farms-out-same-day-grocery-deliveries-to-low-cost-freelance-drivers/

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Jeff Leonard slides behind the wheel of his burgundy Hyundai Accord and heads to a nearby Walmart Inc store, where he picks up the package of groceries waiting for him.

Jeff Leonard, a DoorDash driver, waits to pickup an order at a Walmart online grocery pickup parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

Roughly an hour later, the 62-year-old delivers vegetables, flavored water and cleaning supplies to a shopper’s front door. It is one of nearly 100 such Walmart deliveries for Leonard since July, when he first signed up to courier for the world’s largest retailer.

But he does not wear a uniform or collect a traditional paycheck. He is not on Walmart’s staff.

Leonard is one of hundreds of local independent drivers for DoorDash, the San Francisco-based online delivery service that Walmart uses to handle same-day delivery of groceries to shoppers’ homes outside of Atlanta.

Leonard and his cohort of some 16.5 million American “gig” workers – people who currently work in contingent jobs or as on call workers – come at a lower cost for Walmart than full-time employees, according to interviews with drivers, delivery companies and Walmart documents reviewed by Reuters. But they lack loyalty when there are better paying deliveries out there, adding risk to Walmart’s latest attempt to win more online grocery customers.

“This affords me the ability to make my own hours,” said Leonard, who pays for his own fuel, car insurance and gets no health insurance, retirement plan or other employee benefits. He and other gig drivers in the area collect $7 to $10 per Walmart delivery. Walmart has deemed $11 an hour as minimum wage for its own employees.

The world’s largest retailer began bolstering its partnerships with third-party courier firms to reach consumers in 100 U.S. cities last year to better compete with Amazon.com Inc. The move came as it ended initiatives to use Uber and Lyft drivers, and struggled with using Walmart’s own employees, to deliver packages.

Walmart told Reuters it benefits from the speed as well as the driver contacts of its seven partner firms, such as DoorDash. The move allows same-day grocery delivery to 40 percent of households across the United States, without the burden of hiring employees. The retailer is able to keep costs down by negotiating pre-determined delivery rates with the firms, namely by breaking down delivery costs by zones in cities, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

The amount that drivers are paid is determined largely by the distance from a store to the shopper’s home or location. For example, for all deliveries within 5 miles of the pick-up point, the retailer agrees to pay a certain amount. It works similarly for distances of 10 or 15 miles from the store as the pick-up point.

“That (payment) gets defined ahead of time and that is fixed,” said a source, referring to the company’s agreement with Walmart. The retailer, the source said, then charges the customer a delivery fee.

The strategy helps Walmart avoid paying surge pricing – higher fares when demand for delivery drivers spikes due to rush hour, bad weather or popular meal times – that can dramatically drive up delivery costs.

Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said speed is a big factor in Walmart’s reliance on the delivery companies, who have existing contracts with drivers and technology to dispatch them on demand. “To develop that on our own in each market would take us much longer to roll out,” she said.

Walmart’s partnership approach to grocery delivery is in contrast to Amazon Flex, which taps freelance drivers directly as needed, and pays them $18 or more per hour. Amazon is also launching its own branded delivery service for Amazon packages, providing couriers with access to leased Mercedes delivery vans and discounted insurance. Amazon did not respond to request for comment.

By working with partners who hire out drivers “on demand” as contractors who can then also earn money from other outlets, Walmart is also able to lower liability risk from labor-related driver lawsuits, which are growing in number around the United States.

Walmart’s Blakeman said the drivers are paid by the delivery, not by the hour, and the all-in average delivery time is 35 minutes. The delivery companies then make decisions about payments to drivers and how they are distributed, she said.

In Georgia and Ohio where these drivers deliver for Walmart as well as local restaurants, Reuters found nearly two dozen drivers take in compensation of less than $11 an hour when they made deliveries for Walmart. And some took in less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. All but one of the 22 deliveries, Reuters tracked, took over an hour to finish.

In a statement, DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne said a majority of drivers earn over $11 an hour while completing Walmart deliveries and a significant portion of the drivers earn over $15 an hour. Reuters was not independently able to verify the higher end of the hourly pay scale.

Walmart partner Deliv paid drivers by the hour, sources said. Reuters reported earlier this week that Deliv, one of Walmart’s partners in Miami and San Jose, ended the relationship altogether.

LACKING LOYALTY

The risk to Walmart’s new strategy is driver loyalty. None of the drivers in Georgia and Ohio Reuters interviewed said they would commit to handling Walmart deliveries over more lucrative gigs from local restaurants, especially during busy hours.

Garrick Clark, a 44-year-old driver making deliveries for Walmart in Alpharetta, said he would prefer dropping packages for Amazon over delivering groceries for Walmart because Amazon pays $18 to $24 an hour for similar deliveries.

A source with direct knowledge of why the relationship between Walmart and Deliv ended, said delivering large orders over long distances was a hurdle to the tie-up. Walmart charges $7.99 to $9.99 delivery fee on a minimum order size of $30 for online grocery orders, and customers willing to pay for same-day delivery often do not live close to a Walmart store, the person said.

Further, many Walmart’s stores are in low-income neighborhoods which generated fewer online grocery orders for Deliv’s same-day delivery, two sources said.

Parking stall signs for Walmart online grocery pickup are seen at a Walmart parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

“To get drivers to agree to $7 or so to drive 15 miles to deliver 40 items was a big problem. Most drivers were like, ‘We don’t want to do Walmart anymore,’” one of the sources said. According to Spend Management Experts, Walmart would have to spend at least $141.76 per employee, per day if it hired them to make deliveries for 8 hours at $11 an hour in Atlanta. The cost analysis, which the firm performed on behalf of Reuters in December, includes what Walmart would pay for fuel, car insurance and car maintenance. But it excludes the cost of employee benefits.

Leonard, the driver here in Alpharetta, said getting a guaranteed minimum wage from delivery companies for the hours he logs would be a big help.

“But they don’t, and that’s the nature of the beast,” Leonard said.

Reporting by Nandita Bose in Alpharetta, Georgia; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Vanessa O’Connell and Edward Tobin

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[smartwebhostingblog]

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

New Post has been published on http://cloudwebhostingproviders.com/2019/02/14/why-walmart-farms-out-same-day-grocery-deliveries-to-low-cost-freelance-drivers/

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Jeff Leonard slides behind the wheel of his burgundy Hyundai Accord and heads to a nearby Walmart Inc store, where he picks up the package of groceries waiting for him.

Jeff Leonard, a DoorDash driver, waits to pickup an order at a Walmart online grocery pickup parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

Roughly an hour later, the 62-year-old delivers vegetables, flavored water and cleaning supplies to a shopper’s front door. It is one of nearly 100 such Walmart deliveries for Leonard since July, when he first signed up to courier for the world’s largest retailer.

But he does not wear a uniform or collect a traditional paycheck. He is not on Walmart’s staff.

Leonard is one of hundreds of local independent drivers for DoorDash, the San Francisco-based online delivery service that Walmart uses to handle same-day delivery of groceries to shoppers’ homes outside of Atlanta.

Leonard and his cohort of some 16.5 million American “gig” workers – people who currently work in contingent jobs or as on call workers – come at a lower cost for Walmart than full-time employees, according to interviews with drivers, delivery companies and Walmart documents reviewed by Reuters. But they lack loyalty when there are better paying deliveries out there, adding risk to Walmart’s latest attempt to win more online grocery customers.

“This affords me the ability to make my own hours,” said Leonard, who pays for his own fuel, car insurance and gets no health insurance, retirement plan or other employee benefits. He and other gig drivers in the area collect $7 to $10 per Walmart delivery. Walmart has deemed $11 an hour as minimum wage for its own employees.

The world’s largest retailer began bolstering its partnerships with third-party courier firms to reach consumers in 100 U.S. cities last year to better compete with Amazon.com Inc. The move came as it ended initiatives to use Uber and Lyft drivers, and struggled with using Walmart’s own employees, to deliver packages.

Walmart told Reuters it benefits from the speed as well as the driver contacts of its seven partner firms, such as DoorDash. The move allows same-day grocery delivery to 40 percent of households across the United States, without the burden of hiring employees. The retailer is able to keep costs down by negotiating pre-determined delivery rates with the firms, namely by breaking down delivery costs by zones in cities, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

The amount that drivers are paid is determined largely by the distance from a store to the shopper’s home or location. For example, for all deliveries within 5 miles of the pick-up point, the retailer agrees to pay a certain amount. It works similarly for distances of 10 or 15 miles from the store as the pick-up point.

“That (payment) gets defined ahead of time and that is fixed,” said a source, referring to the company’s agreement with Walmart. The retailer, the source said, then charges the customer a delivery fee.

The strategy helps Walmart avoid paying surge pricing – higher fares when demand for delivery drivers spikes due to rush hour, bad weather or popular meal times – that can dramatically drive up delivery costs.

Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said speed is a big factor in Walmart’s reliance on the delivery companies, who have existing contracts with drivers and technology to dispatch them on demand. “To develop that on our own in each market would take us much longer to roll out,” she said.

Walmart’s partnership approach to grocery delivery is in contrast to Amazon Flex, which taps freelance drivers directly as needed, and pays them $18 or more per hour. Amazon is also launching its own branded delivery service for Amazon packages, providing couriers with access to leased Mercedes delivery vans and discounted insurance. Amazon did not respond to request for comment.

By working with partners who hire out drivers “on demand” as contractors who can then also earn money from other outlets, Walmart is also able to lower liability risk from labor-related driver lawsuits, which are growing in number around the United States.

Walmart’s Blakeman said the drivers are paid by the delivery, not by the hour, and the all-in average delivery time is 35 minutes. The delivery companies then make decisions about payments to drivers and how they are distributed, she said.

In Georgia and Ohio where these drivers deliver for Walmart as well as local restaurants, Reuters found nearly two dozen drivers take in compensation of less than $11 an hour when they made deliveries for Walmart. And some took in less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. All but one of the 22 deliveries, Reuters tracked, took over an hour to finish.

In a statement, DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne said a majority of drivers earn over $11 an hour while completing Walmart deliveries and a significant portion of the drivers earn over $15 an hour. Reuters was not independently able to verify the higher end of the hourly pay scale.

Walmart partner Deliv paid drivers by the hour, sources said. Reuters reported earlier this week that Deliv, one of Walmart’s partners in Miami and San Jose, ended the relationship altogether.

LACKING LOYALTY

The risk to Walmart’s new strategy is driver loyalty. None of the drivers in Georgia and Ohio Reuters interviewed said they would commit to handling Walmart deliveries over more lucrative gigs from local restaurants, especially during busy hours.

Garrick Clark, a 44-year-old driver making deliveries for Walmart in Alpharetta, said he would prefer dropping packages for Amazon over delivering groceries for Walmart because Amazon pays $18 to $24 an hour for similar deliveries.

A source with direct knowledge of why the relationship between Walmart and Deliv ended, said delivering large orders over long distances was a hurdle to the tie-up. Walmart charges $7.99 to $9.99 delivery fee on a minimum order size of $30 for online grocery orders, and customers willing to pay for same-day delivery often do not live close to a Walmart store, the person said.

Further, many Walmart’s stores are in low-income neighborhoods which generated fewer online grocery orders for Deliv’s same-day delivery, two sources said.

Parking stall signs for Walmart online grocery pickup are seen at a Walmart parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

“To get drivers to agree to $7 or so to drive 15 miles to deliver 40 items was a big problem. Most drivers were like, ‘We don’t want to do Walmart anymore,’” one of the sources said. According to Spend Management Experts, Walmart would have to spend at least $141.76 per employee, per day if it hired them to make deliveries for 8 hours at $11 an hour in Atlanta. The cost analysis, which the firm performed on behalf of Reuters in December, includes what Walmart would pay for fuel, car insurance and car maintenance. But it excludes the cost of employee benefits.

Leonard, the driver here in Alpharetta, said getting a guaranteed minimum wage from delivery companies for the hours he logs would be a big help.

“But they don’t, and that’s the nature of the beast,” Leonard said.

Reporting by Nandita Bose in Alpharetta, Georgia; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Vanessa O’Connell and Edward Tobin

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[awesomecolorfulcollectorwombat]

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

New Post has been published on http://cloudwebhostingproviders.com/2019/02/14/why-walmart-farms-out-same-day-grocery-deliveries-to-low-cost-freelance-drivers/

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Jeff Leonard slides behind the wheel of his burgundy Hyundai Accord and heads to a nearby Walmart Inc store, where he picks up the package of groceries waiting for him.

Jeff Leonard, a DoorDash driver, waits to pickup an order at a Walmart online grocery pickup parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

Roughly an hour later, the 62-year-old delivers vegetables, flavored water and cleaning supplies to a shopper’s front door. It is one of nearly 100 such Walmart deliveries for Leonard since July, when he first signed up to courier for the world’s largest retailer.

But he does not wear a uniform or collect a traditional paycheck. He is not on Walmart’s staff.

Leonard is one of hundreds of local independent drivers for DoorDash, the San Francisco-based online delivery service that Walmart uses to handle same-day delivery of groceries to shoppers’ homes outside of Atlanta.

Leonard and his cohort of some 16.5 million American “gig” workers – people who currently work in contingent jobs or as on call workers – come at a lower cost for Walmart than full-time employees, according to interviews with drivers, delivery companies and Walmart documents reviewed by Reuters. But they lack loyalty when there are better paying deliveries out there, adding risk to Walmart’s latest attempt to win more online grocery customers.

“This affords me the ability to make my own hours,” said Leonard, who pays for his own fuel, car insurance and gets no health insurance, retirement plan or other employee benefits. He and other gig drivers in the area collect $7 to $10 per Walmart delivery. Walmart has deemed $11 an hour as minimum wage for its own employees.

The world’s largest retailer began bolstering its partnerships with third-party courier firms to reach consumers in 100 U.S. cities last year to better compete with Amazon.com Inc. The move came as it ended initiatives to use Uber and Lyft drivers, and struggled with using Walmart’s own employees, to deliver packages.

Walmart told Reuters it benefits from the speed as well as the driver contacts of its seven partner firms, such as DoorDash. The move allows same-day grocery delivery to 40 percent of households across the United States, without the burden of hiring employees. The retailer is able to keep costs down by negotiating pre-determined delivery rates with the firms, namely by breaking down delivery costs by zones in cities, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

The amount that drivers are paid is determined largely by the distance from a store to the shopper’s home or location. For example, for all deliveries within 5 miles of the pick-up point, the retailer agrees to pay a certain amount. It works similarly for distances of 10 or 15 miles from the store as the pick-up point.

“That (payment) gets defined ahead of time and that is fixed,” said a source, referring to the company’s agreement with Walmart. The retailer, the source said, then charges the customer a delivery fee.

The strategy helps Walmart avoid paying surge pricing – higher fares when demand for delivery drivers spikes due to rush hour, bad weather or popular meal times – that can dramatically drive up delivery costs.

Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said speed is a big factor in Walmart’s reliance on the delivery companies, who have existing contracts with drivers and technology to dispatch them on demand. “To develop that on our own in each market would take us much longer to roll out,” she said.

Walmart’s partnership approach to grocery delivery is in contrast to Amazon Flex, which taps freelance drivers directly as needed, and pays them $18 or more per hour. Amazon is also launching its own branded delivery service for Amazon packages, providing couriers with access to leased Mercedes delivery vans and discounted insurance. Amazon did not respond to request for comment.

By working with partners who hire out drivers “on demand” as contractors who can then also earn money from other outlets, Walmart is also able to lower liability risk from labor-related driver lawsuits, which are growing in number around the United States.

Walmart’s Blakeman said the drivers are paid by the delivery, not by the hour, and the all-in average delivery time is 35 minutes. The delivery companies then make decisions about payments to drivers and how they are distributed, she said.

In Georgia and Ohio where these drivers deliver for Walmart as well as local restaurants, Reuters found nearly two dozen drivers take in compensation of less than $11 an hour when they made deliveries for Walmart. And some took in less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. All but one of the 22 deliveries, Reuters tracked, took over an hour to finish.

In a statement, DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne said a majority of drivers earn over $11 an hour while completing Walmart deliveries and a significant portion of the drivers earn over $15 an hour. Reuters was not independently able to verify the higher end of the hourly pay scale.

Walmart partner Deliv paid drivers by the hour, sources said. Reuters reported earlier this week that Deliv, one of Walmart’s partners in Miami and San Jose, ended the relationship altogether.

LACKING LOYALTY

The risk to Walmart’s new strategy is driver loyalty. None of the drivers in Georgia and Ohio Reuters interviewed said they would commit to handling Walmart deliveries over more lucrative gigs from local restaurants, especially during busy hours.

Garrick Clark, a 44-year-old driver making deliveries for Walmart in Alpharetta, said he would prefer dropping packages for Amazon over delivering groceries for Walmart because Amazon pays $18 to $24 an hour for similar deliveries.

A source with direct knowledge of why the relationship between Walmart and Deliv ended, said delivering large orders over long distances was a hurdle to the tie-up. Walmart charges $7.99 to $9.99 delivery fee on a minimum order size of $30 for online grocery orders, and customers willing to pay for same-day delivery often do not live close to a Walmart store, the person said.

Further, many Walmart’s stores are in low-income neighborhoods which generated fewer online grocery orders for Deliv’s same-day delivery, two sources said.

Parking stall signs for Walmart online grocery pickup are seen at a Walmart parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

“To get drivers to agree to $7 or so to drive 15 miles to deliver 40 items was a big problem. Most drivers were like, ‘We don’t want to do Walmart anymore,’” one of the sources said. According to Spend Management Experts, Walmart would have to spend at least $141.76 per employee, per day if it hired them to make deliveries for 8 hours at $11 an hour in Atlanta. The cost analysis, which the firm performed on behalf of Reuters in December, includes what Walmart would pay for fuel, car insurance and car maintenance. But it excludes the cost of employee benefits.

Leonard, the driver here in Alpharetta, said getting a guaranteed minimum wage from delivery companies for the hours he logs would be a big help.

“But they don’t, and that’s the nature of the beast,” Leonard said.

Reporting by Nandita Bose in Alpharetta, Georgia; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Vanessa O’Connell and Edward Tobin

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[lazilysillyprince]

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

New Post has been published on http://cloudwebhostingproviders.com/2019/02/14/why-walmart-farms-out-same-day-grocery-deliveries-to-low-cost-freelance-drivers/

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Jeff Leonard slides behind the wheel of his burgundy Hyundai Accord and heads to a nearby Walmart Inc store, where he picks up the package of groceries waiting for him.

Jeff Leonard, a DoorDash driver, waits to pickup an order at a Walmart online grocery pickup parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

Roughly an hour later, the 62-year-old delivers vegetables, flavored water and cleaning supplies to a shopper’s front door. It is one of nearly 100 such Walmart deliveries for Leonard since July, when he first signed up to courier for the world’s largest retailer.

But he does not wear a uniform or collect a traditional paycheck. He is not on Walmart’s staff.

Leonard is one of hundreds of local independent drivers for DoorDash, the San Francisco-based online delivery service that Walmart uses to handle same-day delivery of groceries to shoppers’ homes outside of Atlanta.

Leonard and his cohort of some 16.5 million American “gig” workers – people who currently work in contingent jobs or as on call workers – come at a lower cost for Walmart than full-time employees, according to interviews with drivers, delivery companies and Walmart documents reviewed by Reuters. But they lack loyalty when there are better paying deliveries out there, adding risk to Walmart’s latest attempt to win more online grocery customers.

“This affords me the ability to make my own hours,” said Leonard, who pays for his own fuel, car insurance and gets no health insurance, retirement plan or other employee benefits. He and other gig drivers in the area collect $7 to $10 per Walmart delivery. Walmart has deemed $11 an hour as minimum wage for its own employees.

The world’s largest retailer began bolstering its partnerships with third-party courier firms to reach consumers in 100 U.S. cities last year to better compete with Amazon.com Inc. The move came as it ended initiatives to use Uber and Lyft drivers, and struggled with using Walmart’s own employees, to deliver packages.

Walmart told Reuters it benefits from the speed as well as the driver contacts of its seven partner firms, such as DoorDash. The move allows same-day grocery delivery to 40 percent of households across the United States, without the burden of hiring employees. The retailer is able to keep costs down by negotiating pre-determined delivery rates with the firms, namely by breaking down delivery costs by zones in cities, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

The amount that drivers are paid is determined largely by the distance from a store to the shopper’s home or location. For example, for all deliveries within 5 miles of the pick-up point, the retailer agrees to pay a certain amount. It works similarly for distances of 10 or 15 miles from the store as the pick-up point.

“That (payment) gets defined ahead of time and that is fixed,” said a source, referring to the company’s agreement with Walmart. The retailer, the source said, then charges the customer a delivery fee.

The strategy helps Walmart avoid paying surge pricing – higher fares when demand for delivery drivers spikes due to rush hour, bad weather or popular meal times – that can dramatically drive up delivery costs.

Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said speed is a big factor in Walmart’s reliance on the delivery companies, who have existing contracts with drivers and technology to dispatch them on demand. “To develop that on our own in each market would take us much longer to roll out,” she said.

Walmart’s partnership approach to grocery delivery is in contrast to Amazon Flex, which taps freelance drivers directly as needed, and pays them $18 or more per hour. Amazon is also launching its own branded delivery service for Amazon packages, providing couriers with access to leased Mercedes delivery vans and discounted insurance. Amazon did not respond to request for comment.

By working with partners who hire out drivers “on demand” as contractors who can then also earn money from other outlets, Walmart is also able to lower liability risk from labor-related driver lawsuits, which are growing in number around the United States.

Walmart’s Blakeman said the drivers are paid by the delivery, not by the hour, and the all-in average delivery time is 35 minutes. The delivery companies then make decisions about payments to drivers and how they are distributed, she said.

In Georgia and Ohio where these drivers deliver for Walmart as well as local restaurants, Reuters found nearly two dozen drivers take in compensation of less than $11 an hour when they made deliveries for Walmart. And some took in less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. All but one of the 22 deliveries, Reuters tracked, took over an hour to finish.

In a statement, DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne said a majority of drivers earn over $11 an hour while completing Walmart deliveries and a significant portion of the drivers earn over $15 an hour. Reuters was not independently able to verify the higher end of the hourly pay scale.

Walmart partner Deliv paid drivers by the hour, sources said. Reuters reported earlier this week that Deliv, one of Walmart’s partners in Miami and San Jose, ended the relationship altogether.

LACKING LOYALTY

The risk to Walmart’s new strategy is driver loyalty. None of the drivers in Georgia and Ohio Reuters interviewed said they would commit to handling Walmart deliveries over more lucrative gigs from local restaurants, especially during busy hours.

Garrick Clark, a 44-year-old driver making deliveries for Walmart in Alpharetta, said he would prefer dropping packages for Amazon over delivering groceries for Walmart because Amazon pays $18 to $24 an hour for similar deliveries.

A source with direct knowledge of why the relationship between Walmart and Deliv ended, said delivering large orders over long distances was a hurdle to the tie-up. Walmart charges $7.99 to $9.99 delivery fee on a minimum order size of $30 for online grocery orders, and customers willing to pay for same-day delivery often do not live close to a Walmart store, the person said.

Further, many Walmart’s stores are in low-income neighborhoods which generated fewer online grocery orders for Deliv’s same-day delivery, two sources said.

Parking stall signs for Walmart online grocery pickup are seen at a Walmart parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

“To get drivers to agree to $7 or so to drive 15 miles to deliver 40 items was a big problem. Most drivers were like, ‘We don’t want to do Walmart anymore,’” one of the sources said. According to Spend Management Experts, Walmart would have to spend at least $141.76 per employee, per day if it hired them to make deliveries for 8 hours at $11 an hour in Atlanta. The cost analysis, which the firm performed on behalf of Reuters in December, includes what Walmart would pay for fuel, car insurance and car maintenance. But it excludes the cost of employee benefits.

Leonard, the driver here in Alpharetta, said getting a guaranteed minimum wage from delivery companies for the hours he logs would be a big help.

“But they don’t, and that’s the nature of the beast,” Leonard said.

Reporting by Nandita Bose in Alpharetta, Georgia; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Vanessa O’Connell and Edward Tobin

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[hostingnewsfeed]

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

New Post has been published on http://cloudwebhostingproviders.com/2019/02/14/why-walmart-farms-out-same-day-grocery-deliveries-to-low-cost-freelance-drivers/

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Jeff Leonard slides behind the wheel of his burgundy Hyundai Accord and heads to a nearby Walmart Inc store, where he picks up the package of groceries waiting for him.

Jeff Leonard, a DoorDash driver, waits to pickup an order at a Walmart online grocery pickup parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

Roughly an hour later, the 62-year-old delivers vegetables, flavored water and cleaning supplies to a shopper’s front door. It is one of nearly 100 such Walmart deliveries for Leonard since July, when he first signed up to courier for the world’s largest retailer.

But he does not wear a uniform or collect a traditional paycheck. He is not on Walmart’s staff.

Leonard is one of hundreds of local independent drivers for DoorDash, the San Francisco-based online delivery service that Walmart uses to handle same-day delivery of groceries to shoppers’ homes outside of Atlanta.

Leonard and his cohort of some 16.5 million American “gig” workers – people who currently work in contingent jobs or as on call workers – come at a lower cost for Walmart than full-time employees, according to interviews with drivers, delivery companies and Walmart documents reviewed by Reuters. But they lack loyalty when there are better paying deliveries out there, adding risk to Walmart’s latest attempt to win more online grocery customers.

“This affords me the ability to make my own hours,” said Leonard, who pays for his own fuel, car insurance and gets no health insurance, retirement plan or other employee benefits. He and other gig drivers in the area collect $7 to $10 per Walmart delivery. Walmart has deemed $11 an hour as minimum wage for its own employees.

The world’s largest retailer began bolstering its partnerships with third-party courier firms to reach consumers in 100 U.S. cities last year to better compete with Amazon.com Inc. The move came as it ended initiatives to use Uber and Lyft drivers, and struggled with using Walmart’s own employees, to deliver packages.

Walmart told Reuters it benefits from the speed as well as the driver contacts of its seven partner firms, such as DoorDash. The move allows same-day grocery delivery to 40 percent of households across the United States, without the burden of hiring employees. The retailer is able to keep costs down by negotiating pre-determined delivery rates with the firms, namely by breaking down delivery costs by zones in cities, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

The amount that drivers are paid is determined largely by the distance from a store to the shopper’s home or location. For example, for all deliveries within 5 miles of the pick-up point, the retailer agrees to pay a certain amount. It works similarly for distances of 10 or 15 miles from the store as the pick-up point.

“That (payment) gets defined ahead of time and that is fixed,” said a source, referring to the company’s agreement with Walmart. The retailer, the source said, then charges the customer a delivery fee.

The strategy helps Walmart avoid paying surge pricing – higher fares when demand for delivery drivers spikes due to rush hour, bad weather or popular meal times – that can dramatically drive up delivery costs.

Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said speed is a big factor in Walmart’s reliance on the delivery companies, who have existing contracts with drivers and technology to dispatch them on demand. “To develop that on our own in each market would take us much longer to roll out,” she said.

Walmart’s partnership approach to grocery delivery is in contrast to Amazon Flex, which taps freelance drivers directly as needed, and pays them $18 or more per hour. Amazon is also launching its own branded delivery service for Amazon packages, providing couriers with access to leased Mercedes delivery vans and discounted insurance. Amazon did not respond to request for comment.

By working with partners who hire out drivers “on demand” as contractors who can then also earn money from other outlets, Walmart is also able to lower liability risk from labor-related driver lawsuits, which are growing in number around the United States.

Walmart’s Blakeman said the drivers are paid by the delivery, not by the hour, and the all-in average delivery time is 35 minutes. The delivery companies then make decisions about payments to drivers and how they are distributed, she said.

In Georgia and Ohio where these drivers deliver for Walmart as well as local restaurants, Reuters found nearly two dozen drivers take in compensation of less than $11 an hour when they made deliveries for Walmart. And some took in less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. All but one of the 22 deliveries, Reuters tracked, took over an hour to finish.

In a statement, DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne said a majority of drivers earn over $11 an hour while completing Walmart deliveries and a significant portion of the drivers earn over $15 an hour. Reuters was not independently able to verify the higher end of the hourly pay scale.

Walmart partner Deliv paid drivers by the hour, sources said. Reuters reported earlier this week that Deliv, one of Walmart’s partners in Miami and San Jose, ended the relationship altogether.

LACKING LOYALTY

The risk to Walmart’s new strategy is driver loyalty. None of the drivers in Georgia and Ohio Reuters interviewed said they would commit to handling Walmart deliveries over more lucrative gigs from local restaurants, especially during busy hours.

Garrick Clark, a 44-year-old driver making deliveries for Walmart in Alpharetta, said he would prefer dropping packages for Amazon over delivering groceries for Walmart because Amazon pays $18 to $24 an hour for similar deliveries.

A source with direct knowledge of why the relationship between Walmart and Deliv ended, said delivering large orders over long distances was a hurdle to the tie-up. Walmart charges $7.99 to $9.99 delivery fee on a minimum order size of $30 for online grocery orders, and customers willing to pay for same-day delivery often do not live close to a Walmart store, the person said.

Further, many Walmart’s stores are in low-income neighborhoods which generated fewer online grocery orders for Deliv’s same-day delivery, two sources said.

Parking stall signs for Walmart online grocery pickup are seen at a Walmart parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

“To get drivers to agree to $7 or so to drive 15 miles to deliver 40 items was a big problem. Most drivers were like, ‘We don’t want to do Walmart anymore,’” one of the sources said. According to Spend Management Experts, Walmart would have to spend at least $141.76 per employee, per day if it hired them to make deliveries for 8 hours at $11 an hour in Atlanta. The cost analysis, which the firm performed on behalf of Reuters in December, includes what Walmart would pay for fuel, car insurance and car maintenance. But it excludes the cost of employee benefits.

Leonard, the driver here in Alpharetta, said getting a guaranteed minimum wage from delivery companies for the hours he logs would be a big help.

“But they don’t, and that’s the nature of the beast,” Leonard said.

Reporting by Nandita Bose in Alpharetta, Georgia; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Vanessa O’Connell and Edward Tobin

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[smartwebhostingblog]

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

New Post has been published on http://paulrosenyachts.com/why-walmart-farms-out-same-day-grocery-deliveries-to-low-cost-freelance-drivers/

Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Jeff Leonard slides behind the wheel of his burgundy Hyundai Accord and heads to a nearby Walmart Inc store, where he picks up the package of groceries waiting for him.

Jeff Leonard, a DoorDash driver, waits to pickup an order at a Walmart online grocery pickup parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

Roughly an hour later, the 62-year-old delivers vegetables, flavored water and cleaning supplies to a shopper’s front door. It is one of nearly 100 such Walmart deliveries for Leonard since July, when he first signed up to courier for the world’s largest retailer.

But he does not wear a uniform or collect a traditional paycheck. He is not on Walmart’s staff.

Leonard is one of hundreds of local independent drivers for DoorDash, the San Francisco-based online delivery service that Walmart uses to handle same-day delivery of groceries to shoppers’ homes outside of Atlanta.

Leonard and his cohort of some 16.5 million American “gig” workers – people who currently work in contingent jobs or as on call workers – come at a lower cost for Walmart than full-time employees, according to interviews with drivers, delivery companies and Walmart documents reviewed by Reuters. But they lack loyalty when there are better paying deliveries out there, adding risk to Walmart’s latest attempt to win more online grocery customers.

“This affords me the ability to make my own hours,” said Leonard, who pays for his own fuel, car insurance and gets no health insurance, retirement plan or other employee benefits. He and other gig drivers in the area collect $7 to $10 per Walmart delivery. Walmart has deemed $11 an hour as minimum wage for its own employees.

The world’s largest retailer began bolstering its partnerships with third-party courier firms to reach consumers in 100 U.S. cities last year to better compete with Amazon.com Inc. The move came as it ended initiatives to use Uber and Lyft drivers, and struggled with using Walmart’s own employees, to deliver packages.

Walmart told Reuters it benefits from the speed as well as the driver contacts of its seven partner firms, such as DoorDash. The move allows same-day grocery delivery to 40 percent of households across the United States, without the burden of hiring employees. The retailer is able to keep costs down by negotiating pre-determined delivery rates with the firms, namely by breaking down delivery costs by zones in cities, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

The amount that drivers are paid is determined largely by the distance from a store to the shopper’s home or location. For example, for all deliveries within 5 miles of the pick-up point, the retailer agrees to pay a certain amount. It works similarly for distances of 10 or 15 miles from the store as the pick-up point.

“That (payment) gets defined ahead of time and that is fixed,” said a source, referring to the company’s agreement with Walmart. The retailer, the source said, then charges the customer a delivery fee.

The strategy helps Walmart avoid paying surge pricing – higher fares when demand for delivery drivers spikes due to rush hour, bad weather or popular meal times – that can dramatically drive up delivery costs.

Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said speed is a big factor in Walmart’s reliance on the delivery companies, who have existing contracts with drivers and technology to dispatch them on demand. “To develop that on our own in each market would take us much longer to roll out,” she said.

Walmart’s partnership approach to grocery delivery is in contrast to Amazon Flex, which taps freelance drivers directly as needed, and pays them $18 or more per hour. Amazon is also launching its own branded delivery service for Amazon packages, providing couriers with access to leased Mercedes delivery vans and discounted insurance. Amazon did not respond to request for comment.

By working with partners who hire out drivers “on demand” as contractors who can then also earn money from other outlets, Walmart is also able to lower liability risk from labor-related driver lawsuits, which are growing in number around the United States.

Walmart’s Blakeman said the drivers are paid by the delivery, not by the hour, and the all-in average delivery time is 35 minutes. The delivery companies then make decisions about payments to drivers and how they are distributed, she said.

In Georgia and Ohio where these drivers deliver for Walmart as well as local restaurants, Reuters found nearly two dozen drivers take in compensation of less than $11 an hour when they made deliveries for Walmart. And some took in less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. All but one of the 22 deliveries, Reuters tracked, took over an hour to finish.

In a statement, DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne said a majority of drivers earn over $11 an hour while completing Walmart deliveries and a significant portion of the drivers earn over $15 an hour. Reuters was not independently able to verify the higher end of the hourly pay scale.

Walmart partner Deliv paid drivers by the hour, sources said. Reuters reported earlier this week that Deliv, one of Walmart’s partners in Miami and San Jose, ended the relationship altogether.

LACKING LOYALTY

The risk to Walmart’s new strategy is driver loyalty. None of the drivers in Georgia and Ohio Reuters interviewed said they would commit to handling Walmart deliveries over more lucrative gigs from local restaurants, especially during busy hours.

Garrick Clark, a 44-year-old driver making deliveries for Walmart in Alpharetta, said he would prefer dropping packages for Amazon over delivering groceries for Walmart because Amazon pays $18 to $24 an hour for similar deliveries.

A source with direct knowledge of why the relationship between Walmart and Deliv ended, said delivering large orders over long distances was a hurdle to the tie-up. Walmart charges $7.99 to $9.99 delivery fee on a minimum order size of $30 for online grocery orders, and customers willing to pay for same-day delivery often do not live close to a Walmart store, the person said.

Further, many Walmart’s stores are in low-income neighborhoods which generated fewer online grocery orders for Deliv’s same-day delivery, two sources said.

Parking stall signs for Walmart online grocery pickup are seen at a Walmart parking lot in Cumming, Georgia, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nandita Bose

“To get drivers to agree to $7 or so to drive 15 miles to deliver 40 items was a big problem. Most drivers were like, ‘We don’t want to do Walmart anymore,’” one of the sources said. According to Spend Management Experts, Walmart would have to spend at least $141.76 per employee, per day if it hired them to make deliveries for 8 hours at $11 an hour in Atlanta. The cost analysis, which the firm performed on behalf of Reuters in December, includes what Walmart would pay for fuel, car insurance and car maintenance. But it excludes the cost of employee benefits.

Leonard, the driver here in Alpharetta, said getting a guaranteed minimum wage from delivery companies for the hours he logs would be a big help.

“But they don’t, and that’s the nature of the beast,” Leonard said.

Reporting by Nandita Bose in Alpharetta, Georgia; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Vanessa O’Connell and Edward Tobin

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.