Walmart Updates Spark App to Track Driver Location and Reorder Item List by Proximity

Walmart revised a feature in its Spark delivery app that guides workers through stores to collect items for orders. The updated Smart Path tool now tracks a worker's location and reorders the list according to proximity instead of providing a fixed route optimized for time. Four Spark drivers said the revision slows them down.

In multiple cases the app directed workers to collect frozen items such as large lasagnas or bags of ice at the beginning of a trip, raising the risk that products would thaw before checkout. Drivers are paid per completed delivery, so added time directly reduces earnings.

" A Tennessee-based driver reported being sent across the store multiple times for a single order because the app assigns items to letter-and-number sectors that often do not match actual shelf locations.

In early July the same driver followed the feature to a seeded-watermelon display and found only seedless fruit available. " A Walmart spokesperson said the company continues to add features that help shoppers navigate stores more efficiently and locate items more easily.

The changes apply only to orders gathered by drivers inside Walmart stores; prepackaged orders and Sam's Club deliveries remain unaffected.