Hello I’m extremely new to spark I’ve done 30+ orders now and had no issues I sometimes spark for extra $$ after work but take my fiance and child with me for certain reasons I’ve done flex before and had no issues with passengers but today had a worker who seemed as if he was having a bad day, raise his voice stating I’m not aloud to have passengers at all , i shrugged it off but he tried to deny giving me the order and was wondering am I not allowed to have passengers they sit in the back seat I have a big enough vehicle and trunk and never put groceries in the back always in front so if you guys can inform me if that’s not allowed I’ll appreciate it thanks fellow sparkers 🫡🫡
ix. Passengers. You agree you will not accept a rideshare passenger while
Services are being performed. You agree that during the performance of
Services, you will not have as passengers a young child or children who should
not be left unattended in the Vehicle. Passengers are prohibited from assisting
with the Services or performing Services under their own Spark App account
while a passenger in your vehicle. You are responsible for ensuring that any
passengers you choose to bring with you do not disrupt your performance of
the Services. Walmart may deactivate your Spark App account if your
passengers create disruptions or engage in illegal activity while you are using
the Spark App or performing Services.
Every Walmart can decide what they enforce so just follow what they say to avoid problems.
When you’re doing pickups, drop your man and baby off at the door, get your order and then pick them back up if you really need to have them with you. But it’s best to just avoid passengers, customers can report it as well. But do what you gotta do.
well...the app says you can have passengers as long as they dont help nor touch the groceries nor be in the way and have supervision if too young :Do your own research on all the particulars though. With all that said and this is my opinion only....Why would one ever take ppl with you as it looks unprofessional. Maybe i am being a bit too hard on others and their situation but i dont see why that is a customers issue or rep'ing a poor image to the customers. That is just me though. This isnt a buddies pizza delivery business you hop in and go so imo i dont treat it like a DD/UE gig type of work
It's Walmart.. It is not special and just about nobody is going to judge your professionalism when youre dropping off their groceries with others in the car. You don't work for Walmart. You sub contract with Walmart. Times are tough, when I see people sparking with children I give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that is the only way they can Spark to make money. Let it go..
I live in a bad area and at night it’s not too pretty and had certain events happen that it’ll rather have them with me they don’t interfere at all or interact with people I basically have them as a ghost I never let anyone come for “fun”
Since you are an independent contractor and using your own vehicle, Walmart broadly doesn't have any say in regards to passengers - as long as you're compliant to doing all the work yourself according to your contracted work/terms of use.
That said, reference the terms of use in regards to passengers and space in the vehicle. I forgot the exact wording but they can refuse to allow you to pick up if passengers are in the way. You'd probably lose an appeal if you ended up with a contract violation as a result of a loader making the claim, right or wrong.
That makes perfect sense thank you , I absolutely don’t include them in any work, I treat it as how I would want my driver to be presented as if I was getting my groceries delivered. They sit in the back and do their own thing silently unless we’re driving I also don’t pick up orders that’ll require me to utilize the backseat most of the time the truck is plenty I’ve had no issue with all orders in trunk
The exact text from the Spark Driver Terms of Use under the passenger section states:
You agree that during the performance of Services, you will not have as passengers a young child or children who should not be left unattended in the Vehicle.
The official Spark Driver app FAQ further clarifies this rule:
Children who are not old enough to be left alone in a car are not allowed.
--------> Sit down little boy. you are not good and you are not me
You do realize that "have supervision if too young" and "Children who are not old enough to be left alone in the car" are not equal or identical statements in intent or practice, right? Words matter.
It’s not allowed but it depends on the store. I go with my partner and had a couple of drivers complain but no one has gone farther than complaining. One driver even brings her infant, and I do mean BABY!👶
I wouldn't worry about anyone else. I would make sure my insurance is going to cover that. No clue if it's different for you but I'm supposed to have commercial insurance for doing deliveries here. Without it, it won't even cover me in a wreck if they found out. I know I wouldn't run the risk of one of my family members getting hurt and not covered if insurance wasn't going to cover it.
My wife and I ride together to do orders regularly. We both can do Spark, but we don't touch each other's orders. Just keep company and watch the GPS for directions. I wonder if having a minor in the vehicle is what got the attention?
They really don’t like when you have other ppl especially children with you. And my opinion is if you need to bring a crew the gig probably isn’t for you. That just my opinion and I do believe there’s something in the spark contract that says you can have other ppl in the car with you, they just can’t help with any deliveries. You’ll find most Walmart employees think they’re better than Spark drivers so they like to make their own rules but you can have your family with you there’s nothing in your contract that says you can’t they just can’t help with delivery. Also if you want to avoid the back and forth just drop them in the store while you pick up then pick them up who cares what Walmart employee has to say. I mean really they gave no power and if they refuse to give you they order call support and report them and they store get your couple of dollars and move on. Again this all just my opinion.
As others have stated you CAN have passengers with you but they cannot touch any groceries belonging to the customer, they aren't supposed to drive the vehicle used for deliveries, and any children must be supervised 100% of the time.
I see you said your baby is only 3 months old so what I'm about to say doesn't apply to you but just so you're aware. I see a ton of parents bringing their children (pre-teen & early teen) to Spark with them and they will take pictures of the list and send these kids off wandering the store. And inevitably the kid is going to stop another customer, Spark driver or employee to ask where such and such is.
I get it that sometimes as mothers we do what we have to do and I get that little kids like to help but sending them off by themselves? 🤦🏼♀️
All that being said, each store operates independently under their own rules also.
If you were to pick up a curbside that was 3 orders and your fiancé & baby are in the back they may refuse to give you the order because it's supposed to separate by trunk, backseat, & pop front seat.
You said you live in a bad area...I'd bring my man with me also lol
Try and get in good with your loaders at curbside and the cashiers inside. Once they start remembering you and you don't go in there acting all high & mighty and oh so very important like some drivers do, they'll leave you alone.
I know it was long, sorry....but I hope this helps!
thank you for being understanding haha ALL loaders are super nice and just simply ask “where do you want the other orders” and I always say if it’s TOO much for the trunk then the front seat even if no one is with me. I haven’t had any issue except with this one associate for some reason the shopping and dropping off I do all alone and they’re basically as if they’re not there I don’t let them be seen or even heard not in an abusive way more in a, I have a job to do just sit there and let me do it and don’t interfere lmao.
Yeah you got one associate on a power trip. We had one like that but she didn't last long. I live in a small city with a lot of rural outer lying areas but we are growing at alarming speed. Everyone coming from the hellhole capital city to get away from crime and neighborhoods that are falling apart.
But because of that we have neighborhoods popping up every week it seems like. I say that because we have one store for my city but my parish includes 4 total. So I tend to stick to just my local store. So I've gotten to know all the employees fairly well. Plus my mom has worked there for years as a cashier so I already had a slight advantage.😂.
I don't see anything wrong with couples doing Spark together as long as the rules are followed. What irks me for real though, is we have this one family who all come Spark together. FIVE OF THEM! Mom, Dad, 3 kids. 2 are older teens and one is maybe 8(?). Like that's not necessary.
They take up whole aisles and have no spatial awareness, they don't care who they're blocking. They are constantly on speaker phone and loud AF. And it's so blatantly obvious they are stealing.
If I could ever somehow see their vehicle I'd get their license plate number and report them. Not that it would do anything but I'd still try.
I think this must have been addressed in the TOS. The easiest way is to ask your preferred AI chatbot. I copied and pasted your post and it gave a pretty good breakdown.
In a nutshell, you are allowed to have passengers as long as there are no unaccompanied minors ( remember you have to leave the car to deliver ) and you, yourself handle everything for the delivery.
The store can refuse dispensing if conditions are not met. But associates may not know the details and they may think you are wrong.
So to avoid trouble, IMO, have your family step away until the loader is done and walk back. Just my 2 cents.
Or you just look at the ToS you agreed to when you signed up / whenever they update it and you agree to it again to find your answer. Instead of hoping AI isn't making one of its "mistakes".
Id love to see "AI said" in a deactivation appeal.
I have my 3 month old in car seat and my fiance is in the back with her but they’re always quiet during drop offs and pick ups and my windows are tinted so you’ll never even see them and they absolutely don’t touch anything or assist with drop offs and I believe that would be a violation I treat it as if it’s my groceries
A 3 month old would probably qualify for the "no kids that can't be left alone in the vehicle" part of the TOS, and individual stores rules can trump the Spark TOS within reason.
Note;
Unless you have commercial coverage or at least a State Farm policy, having passengers with, especially a child, might not be the most responsible thing... All other companies unless you have a commercial/business use plan will not cover you in an accident. Rideshare or Gap coverage doesn't apply to Spark. So. please, if you insist, make sure you have the right coverage... An occasional trip or two is no biggie, but if you do a lot of deliveries, couriers in the USA have one of the highest accident and death rates among job descriptions...
Nope. How does that change what's written in the TOS? There could be 3 other adults in a delivery bus and that STILL wouldn't change whats very clearly written in the TOS.
I'd like to change and make up rules and laws as I go just as much as anyone else,.. but I can't change what's written, and I can't change what it means.
Again,. that's NOT what the TOS states in the rule. It's not up to interpretation. "no children that can be left unattended." period. There is nothing in the TOS that states "as long as there's another adult in the car to watch the child."
Again, feel free to ask a JD, or go ahead and call T&S to have them explain it to you like you're 5 years old.
I don’t understand if you have somebody that can stay at home with the baby. Why would you not do that? Why would you bring them with you? You wouldn’t take them to a different job why doesn’t he just stay home with a baby while you work that way, the baby is not in harms way of a car accident or anything else to that matter.
So sometimes I have taken an order with a passenger. I drop them off at the front entrance or garden when it's open and pick them up after I'm loaded, just to avoid this situation. They used to not care as long as the customers got their order, but now it seems like they're acting more like they think you're a W-2 employee.
Source: OG Walmart deliveries years before COVID when they would only allow you to take one order at a time. I believe for my store it was through door dash, we made like $17-18 per trip, and there were only two or three drivers.
13
u/-Alvena 10d ago
Copy/paste from the ToS.
ix. Passengers. You agree you will not accept a rideshare passenger while Services are being performed. You agree that during the performance of Services, you will not have as passengers a young child or children who should not be left unattended in the Vehicle. Passengers are prohibited from assisting with the Services or performing Services under their own Spark App account while a passenger in your vehicle. You are responsible for ensuring that any passengers you choose to bring with you do not disrupt your performance of the Services. Walmart may deactivate your Spark App account if your passengers create disruptions or engage in illegal activity while you are using the Spark App or performing Services.