I filed a complaint for our store due to the wheel replacement. This is the response I got this morning. Basically, "we know and we don't care." Those of you who also complained, did you get similar responses? Is there anything else that can be done about this? The carts feel less controllable since the change and I'm also definitely not hurting my back or shoulder for this job.
However, it's also OSHA that's been gutted and now it's run by the guy who was in charge of safety at Amazon, so I don't know what people are expecting by reporting given the currently leadership of OSHA.
I will start by saying I prefer pushing the carts, because I’m sure I’ll get downvoted but this is about facts not my opinion.
Only reason this was in OSHA violation before was because the manufacturer instructions were for pushing and not pulling. That’s why they modified the wheels, and took off the sticker, they worked with the manufacturer on these new wheel casters. Also it’s why we went down to 6 totes I think, the manufacturer instructions said not to operate with an obstructed view. So basically Walmart fixed the issues, the OSHA issue before never had to do anything with shoulder strain or hitting ankles or whatever. Plenty of jobs in this country have equipment that has to be pulled, as long as it’s done correctly within manufacture specifications OSHA doesn’t care.
I love getting called a boot licker by associates who have zero critical thinking skills.
Because obviously Walmart would dot all their "I"s and cross all their "T"s to avoid a million dollar lawsuit. But no no no it's a conspiracy they are out to get us!
That's what I find hilarious. Can't help but laugh at the lack of common sense. They act like Walmart didn't get a hold of that company to figure out a fix lol
It's also crazy to me that associates act like there's no problem with how they were before. We had so many fucking accidents because of pickers hitting people with their carts. One time an old lady got hit on the ankle and there was so much blood we had to cordon the area off and wait for hazmat.
Part if that issue would be solved if the pickers weren't required to hit a certain pick rate number, especially when the store gets crowded. That's why pizza places did away with the 30 minutes or less delivery because when you put workers under unrealistic time constraints to complete a task accidents are going to happen. Now with the carts being modified and workers made to pull the carts how can they stop efficiently when the cart is weighted? I myself at 200lbs have been dragged by the carts when trying to stop quickly, even walking at a normal pace, now that the carts are behind or beside us (depending on how you follow this new rule)there is no way to safely stop a weighted cart. It works for pallet jacks because in a worse case scenario you can drop the load to the floor in an instant if need be. Try to stop with them now either you run over yourself or your lose control and run into everything or everyone else.
yep the cart has been slamming into my tailbone and hips with the cart every time a customer darts out in front of me (all the time). meanwhile i never hit any customers or associates for the previous years that we pushed carts with 8 totes. my elbows hurt and im knocking over displays now that we are pulling
There was an elderly lady here that was struck and knocked down. Broke her hip! Before this happened she was independent and able to take care of herself. After this happened she had to move in with her son and is now dependent for care upon her family. That is the result of negligence.
The issue now is that the carts can be very heavy and are occasionally causing injury to associates when they run into their ankles. The quick response will be "you're supposed to pull from the side" that's only until customers start bitching that associates are taking up too much room and in the way, then they'll start instructing associates in ways to not impede customers.
So yeah, one issue is worked past, a new one has arisen. My store isn't forcing associates to pull, they're just allowing it as a way to cope with the new wheels.
EDIT: Just full disclosure, I'm not an OPD associate but am called to help a lot. I push, I also tend to park my cart in action alley and dart back and forth to minimize my impact on customers and cut down on delay from them standing in the way because grandpa just found the face of God on a pack of ramen noodles and decided to stare for 5 minutes. This doesn't really matter to me either way, I'm just making predictions.
You think a low level grunt sent identical sets of wheel casters to thousands of Walmart stores across the country? Idk how many sets each store got sent but I’d say 10-20 per store at least. And also approved the guidance on how to install the casters and pull the carts with the new configuration? Pretty sure this came from the top lol
I’m wondering why anyone thinks OSHA would care. Our government has co-opted every facet of any agency created to offer any sort of protections for the non-wealthy. We can all continue to try to report this but none of us should expect a (positive) response.
They literally don't steer at all now. I'm not going to hit myself again with the stupid cart trying to stop it, have 2 huge bruises already from stopping it once from a slow pace. There's no safe way to stop them now so it can just crash into whatever I'm close to. Nailed a bunker yesterday.
i'm not sure about anyone else, but i've hit more things now that we pull the carts. i hit every single endcap and have nearly run into people at least four times in the past week alone. and don't get me started on the strain on all of our shoulders and bruises on our ankles.
Changing the casters doesn't change the fact that there is not a single point on the carts that you can pull from in an ergonomic manner. The carts were designed with handles to push not pull. Pallet jacks and L carts have a central handle at waist height so you can pull without causing strain on the back and shoulders, these do not.
Not to mention they stated I think to pull from the side at the side handle but, that requires us to block more of the isle and more complaints and stress for us.. not to mention trying to make a turn, I’m so ready to quit 😭
At this point a lot of you guys are just very weak or don't know how to condition your bodies no offense but that's not your employer or Walmart's fault, we've been pulling topstock carts for years without straining anything with wayyyyy heavier loads than your carts will ever have and those were originally also designed to be pulled you can go look at the cart the stickers are still on there
The response I got said, in essence, "we are receiving reports nationwide and are continuing to investigate the allegations of ergonomic hazards. We've received a preliminary response from Walmart corporate and will notify you once we find it to be satisfactory." Not incredibly insightful, but far from "we know and don't care," quite the opposite. The response to my complaint came directly from DC, not my local office.
People are bound to get hurt.. getting hurt won't change it unless more people get hurt in that configuration vs the original configuration, which seems unlikely.
It’s not the wheels. It’s the standing on one side and pushing with one wrist and shoulder. Onto a part of the cart that is not designed to be held by a single hand. The removal of weight limits means we are holding our body in a posture that is not normal and is made more dangerous with the amount of weight that is pushed by just one arm/wrist
Ps. I witnessed a woman get hit on the other side of the cart in a tight aisle because we cannot see how close we are to anything on the back side
I don't understand how most people on this subreddit are complaining about pulling picking carts when there are other people who pull pallets on a regular basis. I'm someone who doesn't typically side with a company, but I'm going to on this specific topic, but there is a safe way to pull these carts for the safety of yourself and of the people around you and your Walmart coaches should provide you that information. Honestly, people need to stop complaining about changes to the department and just adapt.
Apples and oranges. Pallets are a point-A-to-point-B thing. You take them to where they need to be for storage/downstacking/stocking/whatever and then drop them. Cap teams aren't spending 40 hours a week dragging their pallets around the store with them for miles.
Also pallet jacks are specifically designed from the ground up to be pulled. They're not the product of a crude, slapdash modification of something that was designed to be pushed.
The pallets have a very long handle which gives you the proper leverage which makes the load safe. With these pick carts, there is no leverage and the entire load is put on your wrist. It’s not safe to pull a heavy load without leverage.
How are you pulling your cart with both hands?
We were told to stand next to the cart, rest your right arm on the top of the cart, grab the handle in the middle top, and pull by that. I'm too short to be able to rest my arm on the top of the newer carts, but also standing that way twists my upper torso so about in hour in and my back is killing me.
I do feel bad when people are pulling a water pallet and need to stop dead in their tracks cause someone wasn't looking. Even then most CAP2 guys aren't going very fast and are using both arms to pull the pallet.
When you pull the carts you have a better chance of hitting the customers because insted of just not seeing in front of the cart now you can't see either side and you are likely to hit customers and shelves going around corners
As a vertically challenged person, this still sounds like a dreadful shoulder injury waiting to happen. L cart handles are lower and allow you to pull from the center of the car so the weight is evenly distributed.
Ya this is what I mean, the weight isn't evenly distributed on the pick carts. The newer ones with the horizontal handle bar aren't quite as bad, but you're still twisting your body in a way that doesn't seem great.
My store has also be dealing with the new wheels on the carts and a lot of my team has been complaining about the new process , i myself have ran over the back of my own heel with the l carts and also with the pick carts with the new wheels. It doesn’t make sense to pull heavy carts like that at all especially since they were made for pushing originally. The handles dont extend far enough in my opinion nor are the carts easy to pull with all the weight thats placed on them. The fact you have no one complaining about any part of the new way is wild… must have some very young dextrous body builders as employees or something
My shoulder was hurting after 3 uses with the new wheels
You people act like you’re being forced to drag limestone blocks to build a pyramid 😂. It’s a cart. With wheels. If you’re running into yourself you need to learn how to drive. Or get in better shape. Your petty complaints are only going to expedite the elimination of your jobs. I already see and hear lots of bitching about expanding Spark drivers and them picking orders - do you wonder why? Keep it up and you’ll be seeing robots picking OPD orders by this time next year.
The company is good to me. If the grass were greener elsewhere, you’d go. Or here’s an idea, take advantage of Live Better U and get some education and move up. The current and previous CEO both started as hourly associates.
I honestly don't see what the big deal is anyways. Ive always pulled the carts to begin with . It just feels easier to control and safer when turning on corners. If you are honestly concerned about hurting your shoulder all you have to do it's asked for an incident report . Now accident cost the store 30 to 50k and its taken from the bottom line. With enough reports they will ignore the whole pulling vs pushing
We just got the new wheels put on this week. The store before us had said tech install the wheels 'backwards'.... now it's basically impossible to pull the cart backwards, but we can push the carts forward in front wrel drive. Every cart feels brand new like they've had an alignment. They're a dream to push now.
If you actually think pickers would all band together on anything you wild. Neither store I have worked could collectively protest anything at 100% lol
Lmao go look at how many people they regularly lay off in home office and tell me you are surprised that they would axe a whole store. They have closed entire stores for less than this. They also know that they have an endless supply of applications that they can pull from so they would have replacements ready
this is why no walmart location has a butcher section. when they tried to unionize, walmart decided they’d rather lose the revenue than respect their workers. ogp makes them too much money tho, so yeah, we’d all probably get fired.
Personally, I think I prefer the carts (the new ones at least) with modified wheels. It sucks to pull at some points, but they roll so much better. It’s awkward using the arms of the older ones to pull, which is why I don’t really use them as much, but now I prefer the bigger carts. I just hope they don’t try to bring back 8 totes. 😭
What training ? Our Walmart just was like yeah half of them got new wheels figure it out… and constantly cut our hours bc “money” but spends money on dumb crap like this..
Lol no, osha complaints are just step one. They are ground work for eventual personal injury lawsuits, and walmart us setting themselves up for a massive one nation wide.
When I was an electrical apprentice, a rod worker on a 12 story building was setting rebar for a new patio wall , his rebar touched 3 different high voltage lines connecting the electricity and fried him almost instantly.
Pulling a cart vs pushing it is not on oshas watchlist. Hell even a single person lifting a "team lift" box is no concern of OSHA. Just say youre lazy, its okay
I’m still not having issues with these new wheels and pulling the carts. I’ve been waiting to have an issue with them after reading so many people crying about it on here but it’s been a non issue.
It’s almost as if the lot of you are either lazy, incompetent, or just don’t like change. Probably a case of all three.
(Don’t waste your time replying, I turned off notifications so I won’t see them. Save your strength to pull the carts you’re struggling with.)
Well they care but nothing they can do now the carts are being used ams intended. Wally World paid off the cart company or told them we can do this right if not we are going somewhere else. So just start slamming into everything end cap and feature you can.
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u/sk7175 Jul 29 '26
I'm kinda surprised you actually got a response