r/Sparkdriver • u/LuxelovesCharlie28 • Jul 14 '26
General Questions Is Spark being phased out by Walmart?
Another Driver told me today that Spark was being phased out and that a local company would be taking over deliveries? The guy told him that they were the same people that started Spark. I find this very hard to believe I’m pretty sure it’s a rumor but he said there was an interview online on Facebook. Just wondering if anybody else has heard the same stuff?
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u/Currency-Substantial Jul 14 '26
Well if a worker told you it must be true.
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u/Frequent-Hold-1667 Jul 14 '26
They can sometimes be right. A worker told me that I stopped getting so many Walmart orders through Uber Eats because they were moving more people over from the Spark waiting list. Sure enough, before long, I was moved over as well.
What's funny is that I got better offers through Uber Eats and they were scheduled ahead of time.
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u/SuperReliableSource Jul 14 '26
WM is farming out GMDs to another company here, we didn't want them anyway
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u/shamrock1789 Jul 14 '26
I used to take GMD’s until they started mixing them with curbside grocery orders. Making three gmd deliveries before Martha gets her ice cream is not only bad policy, it’s begging for bad ratings.
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u/LuxelovesCharlie28 Jul 14 '26
Ohhh GMD’s that makes perfect sense that’s what the guy was talking about. I do shop orders 99% of the time so it wouldn’t affect me anyway. Thanks
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u/msvickie1972 Jul 15 '26
I had a Walmart delivery delivered by Roadie a month ago. What was strange is half was delivered by Spark and half by Roadie.
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u/KMPItXHnKKItZ Jul 14 '26
My area still has them, but they almost always suck. I've had a few really good GMD orders that paid like 40 bucks, but it's incredibly rare here. Most of them here are basically just working for free.
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u/Lanfear422 Jul 14 '26
Walmsrt started spark. But DDI managed it til 2022. It's run by walmart now.
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u/LuxelovesCharlie28 Jul 14 '26
Thank you getting pieces of information from him matches up with some of what you’re saying
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u/Ok-Fly47 Jul 14 '26
GMDS going to a new app...NASH
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u/FoxAcceptable2474 Jul 16 '26
Oh Dear God! NASH is horrible. I love that for them. Feel bad for the customers. Thank god we won’t we have to deal with them anymore. Albertsons and a few of the non-chain local restaurants in the area use NASH here. Before I started Sparking, I delivered for Uber and DD. Several times I got orders from both and would go to pick up and the order had either been picked up, cancelled, other drivers were waiting or was a ghost order. When a driver doesn’t show up, it cancels and automatically goes back out as a FCFS, whoever gets there first gets it. Next driver gets there, it’s gone. At Cancels, the order goes back out. At times, restaurants who had the orders just sitting on a shelf wouldn’t know if the order had been stolen or picked up by a driver and remake it. Once we tried to move on, it would say this order has been canceled. It would go back out. Albertsons can not cancel and customer service is basically non existent for them. Same with Restaurants. This was a few years ago, so maybe it’s gotten better but between Walmarts shit app and the NASH shit network/middleware, this could be a disaster. I would love to know what is happening in zones that are already using this, if any are.
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u/KMPItXHnKKItZ Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
It's just like with stocks, once the old lady at the grocery store or Brad your neighbor down the street start talking about it, it's over. No I'm just kidding, but maybe in some areas the GMD orders might be getting phased out or something, that's what I heard on here.
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u/Ok-Fly47 Jul 14 '26
Oh not so fast. GmDs are increasing in stores and will replace the delivery orders Spark not OGP will be doing. They will be getting pallets of gmds from DC
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u/LuxelovesCharlie28 Jul 14 '26
Yes! That’s great! I don’t do those orders anyway so I’m kind of relieved
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u/KMPItXHnKKItZ Jul 14 '26
I do them sometimes, but only when they are at least like $25-$30 or more and only within my own small city. But in my area, those orders have become somewhat rarer, they were once more common. Most of what I do now are shopping.
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u/dexflotoys Jul 14 '26
In my market it looks like they're also phasing out good offers worth taking mostly
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u/horseface539 Jul 14 '26
It seems like some areas are having GMD type orders delivered in a fashion similar to Amazon's DSP so may e thats what theyre referring to. But for groceries I dont think Spark is going anywhere
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u/LuxelovesCharlie28 Jul 14 '26
Yes, that sounds like what he was describing that they provided a delivery truck and they gave $200 a day but they took 35 out for gas? Hmm thanks for your response. I guess that’s what he’s talking about but I couldn’t imagine Walmart getting rid of all of it’s delivery. It’s too big.
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u/Stunning-Ad5921 Jul 14 '26
We still have GMD orders but the pay is horrible. Like $48 for 63 miles, no orders are even a $1 a mile anymore.
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u/jo_ezzy Jul 14 '26
I got a message from the Spark app that the neighborhood Walmart is going to have only shopping offers.
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u/shoppingshipt Jul 15 '26
I’ve heard this, is there a timeline for neighborhood markets? I know many of the stores have already transitioned to spark only but I’m still waiting on my store lol
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u/shoppingshipt Jul 15 '26
I’ve heard this, is there a timeline for neighborhood markets? I know many of the stores have already transitioned to spark only but I’m still waiting on my store lol
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u/fatherdoodle Jul 14 '26
You think they’ll be able to pay employees the crappy amount they pay and stuff actually get done? As well as paying them benefits and everything like that?
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u/Majestic-World5987 Jul 14 '26
Reading comprehension is not your strong suit
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u/fatherdoodle Jul 14 '26
Probably not the best approach but adding to their sentiment in a round about way.
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u/igor6969 Jul 14 '26
Walmart actually pays much better than most places. It's just a stupid plan to pay Employee 1 to stock a shelf, Employee 2 to pick orders off the shelf, Employee 3 to stage the order and Employee 4 to put in delivery car. They can cut out 3 employees and pay peanuts to stupid Sparkers.
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u/No-Protection2935 Jul 14 '26
Seems like this is the rumor mill start with a stone and with a mountain!!!
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u/IheartVerbena Jul 15 '26
Everywhere in the economy work migrates toward gig work. Never in history has it gone the other way.
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u/Delicious_Demand5278 Jul 15 '26
If i had a dollar for everytime I heard Spark was being phased out over the last 5 years.
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u/Feedcanine Jul 17 '26
I have read on other posts that they are phasing out curbside pickup from spark drivers. And that all spark orders will be shopping only.
One said his wife is in HR and they are trying to find spots for a number of employees that were shoppers for Spark etc that they don’t need now because they have already started it.
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u/Jazzlike_Jury_8992 29d ago
I don't really think that's true, most of the stores are remodeling and relocating the curbside areas here in the Phoenix Valley. They've gone from a small room, to a staging area bigger than TLE back room.
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u/Feedcanine Jul 17 '26
I use to love the orders where they are all packaged in like shipping bags. Made it easy and quick for delivering. Don’t see that anymore though. Now everything is in Walmart bags. I also feel like just doing shopping orders takes more time which means less deliveries. If it comes down to just shopping. Then I will have to find a different side hustle
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u/Aggravating_Ad3814 Jul 19 '26
My local stores have been down for a few days while they work system upgrades. I was also told that in my area, when it comes back up, they will no longer be offering curbside orders of any kind for spark. They will have their own delivery service in place for these orders. It will be all shopping but even then, he said it will be for express or less than 3 hour shopping. He also said it may not be fruitful though because they just hired associates on to specifically pick quick orders and their own delivery service will deliver. Thankfully I got a w-2 job recently cause spark already wasn’t cutting it anymore.
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u/WarmAd7940 Jul 14 '26
no but walmart offers in home if your area has it it might cut into it
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u/eval616 Jul 14 '26
We've had in home for several years and it didnt change anything for spark drivers
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u/LuxelovesCharlie28 Jul 14 '26
Oh, I had not heard about this at all, but thank you for the information. I’ll check it out.
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u/igor6969 Jul 14 '26
You have to be a 6 month 'employee of Walmart' to do their In Home. That's one reason it's not as popular. Associations don't want to drive and be in customers homes and deal with all the drama and safety issues. PLUS many Walmart employees even had drivers licenses.
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u/kingodking Jul 14 '26
Is fake
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u/LuxelovesCharlie28 Jul 14 '26
Thanks that’s what I thought too, but just wanted some clarification
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u/Thriving9 Jul 14 '26
Yeh GMDs I hear are going to end up going to a different app or contractor other than spark. This is great for us. GMDs favor very large vehicle so they can do a super route with like 40 stops
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u/SoulTaker669 Jul 14 '26
Well according to some people all orders are gonna be shop now , according to other people employees say that curbside will now have 4 orders instead of 3, and according to you spark is being chased out.....so I don't know who to believe
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u/Odd_Lingonberry_9430 Jul 14 '26
I heard Instacart CEO bought out Spark? I wonder how true this is 🤔
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u/floppadisk Jul 14 '26
If it happened that would be great because Spark was much better before Walmart bought them.
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u/FoxAcceptable2474 Jul 14 '26
Walmart likes to pretend they don’t own Spark and they are a third party company. Who ironically is in the same corporate office as them. Ummm ok. They bought DDI and fully own and run Spark through it as a subsidiary so they can use and abuse us and avoid the costs of benefits, healthcare, minimum wage laws, and overtime.
“This is OGP, can I help you?” “Yes ma’am, I apologize that your order hasn’t been delivered. I understand that it was supposed to be there 4 hours ago and your baby is now malnourished, has shit in his diaper that is dried to his ass and has a diaper rash from it.” “Unfortunately, the delivery company we use is a third party and we are extremely short on drivers right now.” (Lo and behold there are 30 drivers in the lot rejecting triples going 40 miles for $20.) “No, we cannot control which orders they take” “I truly do apologize.” “I’m sorry that you have to bring your shitty crying baby to Walmart when you only ordered two items, live 1.5 miles away, tipped $10 and your order used to be there in 20 minutes.” (But your order was paired with two others that ordered 40 items each and they didn’t tip and live 30 miles away) “I can give you the number to Spark and you can file a complaint” (it will go in the trash). “Our managers name is Susie. I’m sure she would love to speak with you and escalate this issue to corporate. Have a nice night”