Sweeping Industry News Bulletin

Bentonville, AR; April 1, 2022

Walmart Announces Big Changes in Sweeping Program

Walmart pledges to sweep parking lots seven days per week; changes slogan to reflect new emphasis on exterior cleanliness for its customers.

As many readers will know, over the past several weeks Walmart corporate has reportedly been making capricious changes to the schedule in which the retail behemoth wants its parking lots swept. The response from the power sweeping industry – comprised of thousands of independent businesses in the U.S. alone – has been consternation.

Contractors have watched helplessly as the Bentonville, AR, chain moved – in short order – from hiring sweeping 7x/week to 3x/week; then, in many areas, almost immediately back to 5x/week. To accommodate, some contractors laid off employees only to have to try and re-hire them mere days later.

However, perhaps due to questions raised by the World Sweeping Companies via Walmart's media portal, the largest employer in the U.S. appears to be doing a complete 'about face.' In this surprise April 1st announcement, Walmart reports it will sweep every one of its 4,742 stores on a nightly basis.

It will also stop requesting that nightly photos be taken by sweeper operators. This is a long-awaited recognition that, since sweepers cover the entire parking area and the activity takes place at night, requiring photos is nonsensical as well as a logistical nightmare.

In addition, Walmart has pledged to quit using middle-man, 'third party vendor,' companies that do little except siphon profit from the contractors actually doing the cleaning.

"We recognize that some of these companies have been relentless in pushing down the $$ per sweep received by the contractors actually doing the work," said Cash Flowman, Walmart spokesperson. "Since some of them also hold onto contractors' payments for up to three full months after service has been rendered – and in some cases have found trivial 'mistakes' so as not to pay sweeping contractors at all – Walmart has come to realize that its business model is flawed in that regard."

Walmart has also agreed to allow a fuel surcharge to be added to sweeping contractor contracts since fuel has gone up so significantly in recent months. Additionally, Walmart will no longer require that contractors 'check in' while on their lot. "With emergent technology," continued Cashman, "Walmart software at each store will connect with GPS units in the sweepers and track automatically when the sweeper is on our lot. This is another way we can reduce the burden on our professional contractor corps. Besides, our managers can tell at a glance if sweeping has occurred.

Two final changes will also be applauded by customers and contractors alike: Even in instances where Walmart sweeping contracts call for all contractors to use machine sweepers, a few have reportedly been just using brooms and dustpans – without consequences. From now on, any contractor found to be doing so will be terminated.

Likewise with contractors who perform power washing at Walmart locations under contracts where dirty water recapture is mandated. If a contractor is found not doing so, they will be summarily replaced with one who has the (more expensive) equipment designed for that purpose.

"The upshot of these major changes is that we'll be able to get better performance at lower prices per sweep, which can only benefit our loyal customer base. Walmart believes our dedicated customers deserve the cleanest possible exterior areas at all 10,593 of our locations – not just on particular days of the week, but at any time they shop at one of our stores."

For complete information on these changes designed to make Walmart locations the cleanest retail exteriors in the nation, click here.