Walmart increases starting US lorry driver pay to as much as $110,000 per year

Company aims to add 5,000 drivers to meet tight labour and market demand

Shipping containers and lorries at the Port of Los Angeles. Getty Images / AFP

The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in California are currently seeing unprecedented congestion. Getty Images / AFP

Last year California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an order aiming to ease bottlenecks that have spilled over into neighbourhoods where cargo lorries are clogging residential streets. AP

On September 17, 2021, there were a record total of 147 ships, 95 of which were container ships, in the twin ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, which move about 40 per cent of all cargo containers entering the US by lorry or train. Getty Images / AFP

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, has launched a training programme for employees who work in its distribution or fulfillment centres. AP

Workers clear debris on Interstate 70 in Lakewood, Colorado, in 2019, following a deadly pile-up involving a semi hauling lumber. AP

Firefighters work to clean up wreckage caused by ice-covered roads after a winter storm hit North Carolina in January. AP

Hundreds of motorists were stranded all night in snow and freezing temperatures along a stretch of Interstate 95 after a crash involving six tractor-trailers in Virginia in January. WJLA / AP

Walmart will lift starting pay for lorry drivers to as much as $110,000 a year in the retail company's latest move to recruit and retain logistics staff in the tight US labour market.

The new salary level is compared with current pay averaging $87,500 for first-year drivers and is about twice the average $56,491 annual pay for a long-haul driver, data cited by Walmart showed.

Whether a new driver can make the full $110,000 depends on factors such as distance driven and location, a Walmart spokesman said.

The aim is to make working as a driver for the company a “destination job”, Walmart supply chain executives Fernando Cortes and Karisa Sprague said in a blog post.

“The investments in pay and training build on multiple recent driver bonuses and improved schedules that enable drivers to spend more time at home,” they said. “Once drivers are on board, this is a job many leave only for retirement.”

Walmart, which currently has 12,000 drivers in its fleet, is looking to add another 5,000 in 2022.

The company has also established an internal training programme in which staff from other parts of Walmart can train for 12 weeks and earn a commercial driver's licence.

Earlier this year, the Port of Los Angeles became the Western Hemisphere's first to process 10 million container units in a year. Holly Aguirre / The National

The Port of Los Angeles is one of the world's busiest and shipments are up 30 per cent since the pandemic. Photo: Sven Kamm

Most of the container ships entering the Port of Los Angeles are carrying 14,000 containers ready to be unloaded. Holly Aguirre / The National

Last week, more than 78 cargo ships sat waiting for a berthing spot. Photo: Sven Kamm

Commercial drivers are now working around the clock in an effort to clear the backlog at the Port of Los Angeles. Photo: Sven Kamm

This year, the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, California, received more shipping containers since its foundation more than 100 years ago. Holly Aguirre / The National

Walmart is paying for trainees in some areas to earn their CDL, which can cost as much as $10,000, the company said. Most companies require drivers to pay for their own training.

The goal is to bring on 400 to 800 drivers through the programme by the end of the company's 2023 fiscal year, a spokesman said.

The hiring push comes amid a period of significant revenue growth for Walmart and other big-box chains throughout the coronavirus pandemic, a period also characterised by port backlogs and supply chain snarls.

The crunch in drivers has prompted some larger trucking companies to argue for lowering the national driving age, a policy opposed by independent drivers who have called for more parking capacity, less unpaid waiting time and other improvements in working conditions to improve employee retention.