Walmart returns its store pickers to pulling eight-bin carts after a summer of lighter loads

Pickers at Walmart are on their third cart instruction since April, and the current one matches the first ^[19]. The May version cut the number of bins and told workers to push unless they could not safely see ahead ^[1][2]. A memo at the time said, "This update supports a safer environment for associates and customers while helping make Walmart the best and safest place to shop and work" ^[5]. Workers told Business Insider that their managers blamed the changing policies on safety incidents at other Walmart US stores ^[6].

Walmart now describes the summer as a test. A spokesperson said the change followed a period of testing and evaluation, and that the lighter load let the company identify ways to improve online order fulfillment ^[7]. The spokesperson said the safety policies, which require workers to keep control of a cart and a line of sight ahead, have not changed ^[8]. "Safety of associates and customers is absolute," the spokesperson said ^[9]. Business Insider's report does not say what the test measured or what it found.

On its own terms, the company's position holds. A line-of-sight rule is a standard the worker has to meet, and the size of the load sets how hard it is to meet. With bins on top, the carts stand about 5 feet tall by Business Insider's measurement, roughly 1.5 feet above the 3.5-foot work surface the manufacturer's brochure gives for a comparable model ^[15][20]. The May guidance made the choice between pushing and pulling depend on whether a worker could see ahead ^[2]. With the written rule unchanged, the visibility problem now sits with the person holding the handle ^[8]. Walmart said it replaced wheels on some carts so that workers pulling them could shift position and keep a clear view ^[21].

The timing is consistent with a push for throughput, but the record shows only that the timing fits. Walmart fills most of its online orders from more than 4,600 US stores, and a single store may handle several hundred orders a day ^[10]. On Wednesday, with holiday shopping picking up, it added an express pickup option offering curbside collection in as little as one hour ^[11].

Individual workers carry the cost. The Texas worker who was warned about transfers said, "Something that is so minor, you're not gonna go and complain, for the most part" ^[13]. If minor strains go unreported, an evaluation built on reported incidents would not capture them. "I'm not willing to sacrifice my body and my health over this cart," a worker in Oklahoma told Business Insider ^[17].

This quarter, eight-bin pulling runs through peak holiday volume ^[3][11]. Next quarter, Michigan's regulator will still have dozens of worker complaints and an investigation already under way, and any review of the practice would set a pull instruction beside labels that say push only ^[16][14]. I think calling it a test has a cost of its own. When a measure is introduced by memo as safer and withdrawn as a finished evaluation, workers have reason to treat the next safety memo as provisional. Walmart declined to comment on the complaints or the investigation ^[16]. It has also faced multiple lawsuits in recent years from customers who say they were injured by carts that employees were pushing ^[18].