With nearly 12 years spent driving a Walmart truck, Ricky has driven almost 1.5 million accident-free miles. In his free time, he volunteers for Walmart Heart, a program that raises money for children and adults with chronic medical conditions or special needs. When he’s at work, his time behind the wheel is crucial to providing the things we all want and need – from groceries and medicine to the latest electronic gadget.
Done well, a truck driver’s job can sometimes go unnoticed until there’s severe weather or some other adverse condition that makes it impossible. So more than 25 years ago, the American Trucking Association started National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, a time to recognize the hard work that 3.2 million drivers do for all sorts of companies across the country all year long.
Just last month, 49 Walmart drivers competed in the ATA’s National Truck Driving Championships, where they demonstrated their skills, knowledge and professionalism. Five of our drivers earned trophies, and three placed first in their categories.
Walmart has many reasons to appreciate our more than 7,200 drivers today and every day, and not just for bringing 5.5 billion cases of merchandise to our customers annually. One way they are also leading is by driving environmental efficiency. They work hard to deliver more merchandise while at the same time, driving fewer miles. In 2013, their efforts saved the company nearly $65 million in fuel costs – allowing us to pass those savings on to our customers – and avoided almost 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of taking 5,000 cars off the road.
With more than 6,000 tractors, 53,500 trailers
and 5,600 refrigerated trailers traveling about 700 million miles last year,
Walmart’s private fleet is among the largest in the country. I am proud to lead
the amazing men and women who are the face of that organization – and to call
on all of us to recognize the essential role they play on our highways and in
communities across America.