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That Walmart Delivery Could Mean a Lump of Coal for the Driver
A not-so-cheery holiday tale
Sure, you need that item right now. Fast. 10 minutes ago.
And, yes, Walmart is delivering even on Christmas Eve.
But, in news that likely won’t surprise many, Walmart is not exactly nice to the gig workers who carry out those “last mile” deliveries.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) alleges in a complaint that Walmart’s payment scheme for its “last-mile” delivery service violates federal law by denying workers the right to deposit funds in an account of their choosing and by forcing those drivers to pay millions of dollars in junk fees in order to access their own pay.
The story is pretty bad. Walmart used information provided by the drivers to open payment accounts in their names (without consent) and then required the drivers to receive their pay only through those accounts.
Despite promising “instant access” to pay, drivers found they had to pay fees to get their earnings sooner than 3…
