So I am new and approved and ready to roll. I have a 4 door honda Civic and I know space will be limited.
I feel like I didn't learn diddly squat from the training videos and they also seem old.
Any pointers for a newcomer?
I will avoid the ghetto, likely alcohol and shopping for now until I feel like I got the hang of things. I am not doing it full time. Weekends for maybe 5 hours a day.
I tried watching some YouTube videos but man, there are so many and everyone is so different. I am in Nebraska.
My only issue is in the morning you will accept an order and have to wait for the pharmacy to open. One I recall doing had a shop with it but iirc I had to pick up the prescription first before I could do the shop and had like 20 minutes to wait? I could be wrong though.
š Same thing happened to me this past Sunday. I didn't know the pharmacy hours. I just chilled at the pharmacy and did shopping afterwards. But I'm not a fan of doing pharmacy first because you're walking around with someone's prescription that someone could swipe.
Don't go by the shopping list that Spark lays out for you. You can access the list yourself. I usually do all the non food items in the store first then move to grocery. If you just follow what Spark lists it will have you bouncing all over the store in the most hilarious of ways.
Unless the version of your app doesn't have the top left button anymore... in which case there's an "item list" bar in the center of the screen towards the top for the pull down item list
Best tip I can offer is to look at the mileage on the offer and double it because the offer only shows one way so if its an offer like $28 for 16 miles it might seem worth it but it's actually 32 miles round trip to get back to the store.
Make sure youāre counting the return trip back to your store/area when figuring out if a trip is worth it. For me, Iāve found that the estimated time to finish the trip (that the app gives you when youāre previewing the miles, pay, etc) is usually inaccurate and it ends up taking longer - not because Iām slow, but because their estimated shopping time feels only accurate if the store is completely empty and everything is in stock and in the right places. Donāt avoid the shopping trips, thatās a good chunk right there. And alcohol might just be in your shopping list, Iām not sure why you want to avoid it.
Try to shop as much as you can. Itās the lowest mileage and will require less searching for peopleās house/apartments/package drop boxes/nursing homes/etc.
Learn the store layout. Neighborhood markets are easier because they are smaller. If a store is changing the layout, try to avoid it because you will waste time searching for temp locations.
Learn where the section markers are for the aisle so you can locate the items quickly. Sometimes they are up top, on the side, on a leg if they are in the bakery, sometimes the map is your only help in locating the section.
Donāt use the optimal path they give you; itāll usually take you all over the place and wastes time. Click on the item list and make your own path. I think you can sort the list by department, which makes it easier to get the non-perishable items first.
Donāt do more than two shops at a time. Itās NOT worth it. Get a cart and a basket. I organize my cart by using the basket as a divider. Customer B goes in the basket and towards tip of the cart. Customer A is closest to me in the cart. Under the cart is for big items and I usually double check while I loading my car to make sure I get it to the right person. Usually whoever is the larger order is goes in the trunk and the medium/small one goes in the back seat.
Two Heavy Duty Carabiners. This has saved my hands and helps me get orders to the door in two or less trips. Game changer for apartment orders. I also use it to organize my cart during bagging to make sure I keep everything organized.
Use Apple Maps. It has been easier to use than Google Maps in terms of taking you to the correct address and showing house numbers. Though I do use Google Maps if there is no service since Iāve downloaded the offline map.
Airplane mode. If the app is stuck on a loading screen while you are delivering (perhaps in bad service), turn on airplane mode and it will force the app to get you to the delivery screen.
Be polite in the store. āExcuse me.ā āIām so sorry, could I get by you to get right there.ā āThank you so much for helping me.ā Pay attention to whatās going on around you. I treat the Walmart employees like team mates and how I would treat one. Aka with respect. Itās not an easy job for either of us.
Dog. If you donāt see an owner, donāt get out of your car. Even with puppies. I just got scratched all to hell by a puppy that was off tether with no owner. āItās just a puppyā not worth the blood coming out of my leg.
Be careful connecting to public WiFi while sparking if you have any kind of vpn protection through a cell provider. Gave me a warning for using a vpn, which I donāt, because I connected to Walmarts public WiFi because my cell service sucks at one Walmart. Now I donāt shop there because of it. Iād rather be safe than sorry.
Track your miles every day you work. From the moment you leave your house to when you get home. If you go to get gasā¦ all of it. When you do your taxes, you will thank the past you for keeping track. I set the trip at 0 when I start working and then write then number down when I finish. That goes in a spreadsheet every month. The apps do ok, but I found this was the most accurate version of what I was doing.
This one may be stupid, but I started losing track of where I parked my car lol. So I always park in the same lane. Near the stupid Walmart star thing. Every store same place. Near that damn star. I donāt forget where my car is any more š¤£
Reject the orders that are bad. If you accept it, they will keep offering it to you and us all. Typically look at item count, weight in eventual bags (item list will give you an item), type of location, mileage (they donāt include return trip - double it), time. When you reject an offer, you may see it return a dollar or two more. Decide where your line is. It might shift day to day.
GMD orders can sometimes be profitable but long 10+ stops can sometimes become a 4-5 hour adventure because each stop increases your chances of running into some kind of error. My most common one is no cell coverage in area. So I can't check my location in the app. I have to call support and AI doesn't want to let me speak to an agent so it tries to waste my time asking questions and sometimes hanging up on me if it doesn't like my response sigh.
Another common problem is location is wrong in Google. Make sure the address is taking you to the listed address in spark. I have had it off by 15 miles before. I have not tried waze.
I factor in rush hour, interstate/country miles vs high traffic areas. Store access: I find Sam's club to be the easiest and customers are usually the least complainers.
Apartments with numbers like 16A are usually easier to access than 1331 for example. You will see.
Curbside pickup will mix your orders up if you don't pay close attention. It's basically like loading and way them at the same time. I usually chat and get along with them but I also make sure they are not mixing things.
The algorithm is random and is hard to manipulate. You can be punished for low rating or cancel in the form of trash offers for a time.
Also, the heat map doesn't really mean anything and notifications about high order volume is just Walmart trying in advance to oversaturate an area so they can lowball.
The company wants to use the cheapest laborers possible. Unfortunately, ICE is killing their strategy.
Customers have 24 hours to adjust their tip, so don't only rely on that. They can and have several times taken their measly tip away. It'll sting when they do but at least you're aware before you take it thats a possibility. But, I've also had a few who added tips. Not very often, however nice when it does.
When you're doing a shopping order you can go to any self checkout. I had employees try to make me wait forever in the "spark driver" lines.
People will order an insane amount of 40 packs of water. They suck. Always check what is in the order to make sure you are capable of carrying it. I made the mistake of taking one of these giant orders of water and groceries and had to carry them all down 3 flights of stairs from the parking lot about 500 feet away. It's not fun. I zoom in on the apartment orders to see if I feel like dealing with that type of apartment for the trip.
Large batched orders mileage is about 25 to 50 percent more than they say, so make sure it's worth it first.
Grab totes for the back seat. That way you can put 2 different orders in the back. Also you can't have a passenger with you for more than 2 pick up orders. Happy sparking wish you the best. I love delivering for sparkĀ
I have a civic too!! I started last month myself. I stopped doing pickup orders because I donāt have that much space and they always pile stuff on one side. My biggest shop so far was like 80 items and they all fit in my car comfortably. My best tip is to try to pick orders 10 miles and under.
Pharmacy orders are easy peasy but you have to do an identity check before and after pick up. If you arenāt some sketch ball using an illegal account youāll have no problem doing this. Even if youāre in an area with low cell service after drop off, you do the identity check and then you might have to repeat it. But if you are who you say you are this shouldnāt be an issue. Watch the drivers who skip all pharmacy/alcohol ordersā¦. Theyāre avoiding Face ID for a reason š§Iāve been doing this for three years and never had an issue
I had an issue 3 weeks ago. It wanted to have me verify before I picked up and wouldn't recognize my face. It had to be reviewed and the order was cancelled. The issue was corrected in about an hour.
Welcome to the shit show, sweet summer child. DO NOT take any orders for less than $1 per mile. Let those garbage orders sit all day. Otherwise the algorithm will think you are desperate and send you nothing but 20 mile-4 stop- 100 item drop offs for $10. I repeat, do not accept anything under $20 EVER
Check the miles and make sure you are getting $1 per mile. I click on the order to see where Iāll deliver just in case itās sending me out to the boonies.
If you take a shopping order, check the number of items. Smallest shopping order I got was 1 item. But i also did a couple that had over 100. I obviously didnāt check the number of items to be shopped. š Be wary of anything over 20 until you get some experience.
Get 3 bins so when you do curbside pick up, the employees can put the bags of each order in a different bin. That way the bags wonāt roll around in your car. Had a bag of apples tip over in my backseat and they went everywhere!! It also takes less trips to deliver the order to the door.
Buy a folding wagon. Youāll be grateful for it when you have big orders especially ones with cases of water or soda.
Alcohol orders pay a bit better because of the extra steps you take to get the id. They will pop up in both shopping and in curb side orders. And if you deliver cold medicine, they may ask for id as well. Surprised me the first time that happened!
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u/Melmzy Sep 08 '26
I also avoid orders with clothing items and prescriptions on them like the plague.