OPD Has Burned Me Out
I’ve been working at Walmart/in OPD for 1.5 years now. When I first started, we had a cool coach, 3 great team leads, sufficient staffing, good hours, etc. All of that is gone.
2 coaches later, we now have a sweet but incompetent coach. I like him, but he just stares at the pick/dispense screen like it will change anything. We’ve got 3 new team leads - 2 just started and have no idea what to do. 1 is quiet as a mouse and the other 1 is a psycho micromanager. (Not sure I can actually say what issues she has, but it rhymes with rug and bug. Seriously, not joking).
Our staffing is a joke now. Closers used to include like 6 people. The other night it was 2. A dispenser and a picker who doesn’t know how to do anything but pick and returns. Plus, our store, like many others, is cutting hours for everyone, so it will be even worse.
As told by my former team lead who left recently, market removed our hourly/daily order cap. We can handle 8,000 to 10,000 picks a day. Now we’re up to 13,000 or 14,000. We used to finish picking at 6:30 and go home early. Now we’re lucky if we finish by 8:30. The stuff piles up. The claims pile up.
I used to love this job. I was the stellar employee who skipped their breaks, stayed late, put in 110%. I loved going to work.
Now? I don’t blame anyone for calling in. I don’t get surprised when I’m told another associate quit on the spot. I don’t stay over. I don’t come in early. I don’t answer my phone on my off days. I see people’s orders and instead of wondering what they got (yeah I’m a curious person), all I see is stuff. Junk. Overconsumption.
Like did you really need 16 12-packs of Dr. Thunder? (no joke).
Don’t get me wrong, I respect Walmart to a degree. Our store makes target sales every day. We move inventory. We make money (I suppose).
But at what cost? Sometimes I get home and cry from the stress and exhaustion. My coworkers that I am buddies with, who haven’t quit yet, all say they are tired of this place.
It’s not sustainable. And better yet? Our store lead has seen our struggling numbers - high wait times, LTPs, OTP, pre-sub - and his advice? “Find a solution.”
Coming from a man who has never worked a day in OPD at our store.
I applied to a bunch of jobs on Indeed today. Hoping to find somewhere that pays better and won’t schedule me 16 hours a week. Because that totally pays the bills.
Anyway, vent almost over. I do love the people I work with (most of them) and have many cherished memories. I even met my partner at Walmart lol. But it seems my time is coming to an end at the Walmart.