Walmart wants to beef up its shipping department, and it’s willing to pay top dollar to do so.
The retailer is looking to hire 900 truckers to help move merchandise to stores. To make the job enticing, it’s adjusting some of its payment structures to bring the average trucker salary to $87,500.
That’s significantly more than the national average for truck drivers, which according to the American Trucking Associations currently stands at $53,000.
As an added incentive, Walmart—which operates its own private fleet of trucks—is offering referral bonuses of up to $1,500. Also, starting next month, it will pay drivers an extra one cent per mile and an extra $1 each time they deliver a trailer.
Strong sales at Walmart have resulted in the need to beef up the trucking fleet. Same-store comp sales were up 3% last year, the retailer says.
To be considered for the jobs, drivers must have a clean safety record and 30 months of experience within the last three years.
Walmart has been on a hiring spree. Earlier this year, it announced plans to hire 2,000 tech workers to better compete with Amazon.