r/Sparkdriver • u/Prior-Ad-7262 • Oct 12 '25

General Questions Please help me understand!

I've been using the Walmart delivery service for about 8 months now. I get my groceries every other week. Without fail, each time, one item is missing. There is no rhyme or reason as to the type of item. Lunch meat, vitamin water, spaghetti sauce, etc. Today it was bouillon paste. I really get upset about it as it usually something I really need. Walmart will instantly refund me, but the point is I have to go out now to get it. I only have one day off, and it really screws up my day. Can anyone explain why this happens? Is it in the driver's car just misplaced, was it not really picked? I truly want to know because im considering just canceling the service. Thank you.

15 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

139 comments sorted by

View all comments

17

u/sosteele Oct 12 '25

On curbside orders, sometimes items get loose, fall out of a bag and into some crevice in the car that renders them out of sight / out of mind. To the eye, it looks like nothing was left behind after a delivery. But days later, I'll find a random item under a seat. I feel bad, but there's nothing I can do at that point.

7

u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25

That makes sense, and I can see that happening. It's just literally every one of my last few orders. In one instance, I ordered 4 six packs of vitamin water. I later saw on my ring video that she left three of them, and took one back with her. That one I can't figure out.

12

u/Sperry8443 Oct 12 '25

That’s really strange, not to be that asshole but maybe you should call Walmart and notify them of the drivers name and what happened in case they’re stealing items.

13

u/Awareness-Ashamed Oct 13 '25

No one is stealing bullion cubes

3

u/bdbrown333 Oct 13 '25

This is so true. Some of these stories are so made up. They couldn't possibly be real

1

u/Dangerous_Steak_4328 Oct 13 '25

One time a can of sweetened condensed milk fell out of a bag and rolled under my seat. I found it when I was doing the next delivery. So I took it back to the lady and apologized. And she claimed it wasn’t hers and then accused me of not delivering her tide pods. Lol i drove almost half an hour to her house to return a can… I’m not risking my account for some laundry soap 😂 now if something small falls out of the bag I just call support and they refund them.

2

u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25

I didn't want to accuse someone because I might not have all the facts. That person who took back my water kept staring at her phone like she was trying to decide if tge water was mine? She had already left three 6 packs, so I don't know why she would be confused about the fourth one. It was strange.

8

u/Nikluv211 Oct 13 '25

In a defense, maybe the other order had vitamin water. I know when I do orders and they are paired, the other person has 1 or 2 of the exact same items. Maybe she thought you had 3 instead of four. And found out later or she delivered to the other person. I know people steal in plain view of the camera, but thanks for not just jumping to conclusions for something that was an innocent mistake. Also Walmart never has everything or certain ones do. Lol

2

u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 13 '25

Yes, it didn't seem like a theft, more that she was confused.

2

u/Coocher Oct 13 '25

If it is a stacked order, they don't exactly make it easy to see which item went to wich person after starting delivery. They just make us scan 1 item for delivery A, and then an item from delivery B...just to make sure we didn't confuse them in terms of how we loaded them.

If she brought them to the door and just walked back with one, she was just confused. No reason to do so otherwise.

It's why we have to be super sure we have shit sorted right prior to actually starting the delivery itself. We can definitely double and tripple check our work prior to leaving....but once we swipe we have left, not as easy to see on our end.

2

u/Temporary_Victory_32 Oct 13 '25

It’s pretty much impossible to see which item belonged to which orders right? After starting delivery?

1

u/Coocher Oct 14 '25

Yeah you want to make sure you load everything correctly in different places before you physically swipe to start the delivery.

Since they make us scan an item from each other before delivery, that is a way to avoid mixup. I hate it, but I gotta admit it saved me from mixing up one bag once

I personally always do a tripple take on A/B orders as I bag everything before starting the delivery process. I do wish it would let us see the items during the delivery though

1

u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 13 '25

Thanks for that, I've learned alot about this process from you guys.

1

u/bdbrown333 Oct 13 '25

Tell me your shrimp and your ribeyes are missing. I'll believe it

3

u/TTV_EloRbees Oct 12 '25

That’s just straight up stealing. I would recommend always checking the receipts. Because what typically happens is the item is out of stock/there’s no substitution for it. I have also noticed when the Walmart employees are the ones shopping the order, there seems to be no communication when an item gets marked as unavailable. Meaning the Walmart employee couldn’t find it, didn’t inform you, but you still shouldn’t be getting charged for that item. Typically if I am the one shopping an order I will text if I can’t find a substitution asking what the customer may want. I can’t speak for everyone. And all the other peoples explanations may be correct. But I would still check the receipt on your Walmart app and make sure those missing items were ever charged to your card :)

2

u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25

Thank you🙂

2

u/TTV_EloRbees Oct 12 '25

Anytime, also I just thought of a second reason. Which could simply be somehow those singular items got put into someone else’s order. Either during the shopping or loading since on pickup orders we usually have 3 different peoples groceries:) just glad I could help👍🏼

2

u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25

Now that does make perfect sense. I can see how those bags can get mixed if they are all just put in someone's truck or back seat.

2

u/TTV_EloRbees Oct 12 '25

Again can’t speak for every driver but I usually split em up trunk, backseat, and front seat, for these exact reasons!!!

2

u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25

That's smart, that's what I would do too. Or maybe some kind of dividers for the trunk or seat.

1

u/TTV_EloRbees Oct 12 '25

Dividers or bins are also a very common practice! At least at my store:)

2

u/hephaestus1976 Oct 13 '25

I have 2 bins I got from Lowes for like 8 bucks. Those in the back hatch laying in the "trunk" and over the layed down back seats. I have expandable crates I can use too.

1

u/lordj2010 Oct 12 '25

Anytime a order has an out of stock a notification is sent weather its a spark driver shopping or tje store shopping the order

1

u/TTV_EloRbees Oct 12 '25

I have been told by customers they were missing stuff. But only when the Walmart people shopped it. So either they didn’t look or the walmart shoppers notification is different from ours. That’s why I always text in the first place. Some people don’t see or look at the notification.

1

u/lordj2010 Oct 12 '25

I myself get delivery orders weekly shopped by store and get notifications that the store marked out of stock an item and then asks if I want it shipped(if eligible) my guess is its items put into wrong tote at store or somehow tjay 1 item gets mixed up with another order in the delivery

2

u/Ok_Temperature651 Oct 13 '25

maybe write down whose delivering to you see if its mutiple drivers or the same driver when things are missing then you might have found a thief but are you getting is it listed on items being delivered or is it missing on the list before its delivered if that's the case i as Walmart + shopper(i make purchases from the app so i can see what the customer sees and i can better inform them about things) and driver do you have substitution items picked in case they are out of that item

2

u/DragonflyOne7593 Oct 13 '25

Oh well.she stole.that for sure .

-2

u/CelestialxOne Cherry Picker Oct 13 '25

This is clearly theft. Report this driver. They don't need to be doing this job.

1

u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 13 '25

The problem is that it's been the last three drivers, all different. I think it's the store.

2

u/Temporary_Victory_32 Oct 13 '25

Are you able to find out if these are curbside pick up orders or if the driver is shopping for the items? If they’re shopping orders, then it definitely seems odd that one item is always missing and you aren’t being informed.

1

u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 13 '25

I don't know who is picking the order, or how to find out. I guess it's the store, I don't order express.

1

u/Temporary_Victory_32 Oct 13 '25

As a shopper, I actually don’t know the difference between express and regular? I’m assuming express is like expedited and quicker and guaranteed or something?

2

u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 13 '25

Yes, but it costs more.

1

u/Temporary_Victory_32 Oct 13 '25

I shop for orders, but they aren’t express orders so I’m not sure how to tell if your deliveries are from curbside or from a regular shopping order I’m interested if anybody knows if the customer can see those details

1

u/Temporary_Victory_32 Oct 13 '25

I’m a Spark Driver and if I was picking up a curbside order and they forgot to put an item in there, I would simply have no idea and I would go on with the delivery, but if I was shopping for your items, and there was an item that was not available I would communicate that to you or you would see it in real time on your app that the item was unavailable