5 Helpful Things I Learned Doing Spark Delivery for Walmart
Welcome to Daily Dogmas!
Today I will be talking about five helpful things I learned doing Spark Delivery for Walmart!
Taxes are important, tracking expenses is essential
As obvious as it may seem, Spark Delivery does not automatically withhold taxes for you after each delivery. This was something I knew when I got into Spark in 2024 but did not take seriously enough. After relying heavily on Spark and Uber to pay my bills in 2025, I hoped that the small amount of extra federal and state tax contributions I was making from my W-2 job would cover my tax obligations. I found myself owing a considerable amount come tax time.
This prompted me to create an Excel workbook for tracking my earnings, expenses, and estimated taxes owed for each quarter of the year. It has 24 pages and covers everything from my daily earnings to my mileage and other expenses, giving neat outputs on designated sheets with totals for each category I track. It also has a "daily input" sheet that I use to summarize my day of work and output it to other sheets. Some data I enter on this sheet include the date, my miles for each outing, with space for up to three outings a day, and my earnings per trip, with room for up to 15 trips per day. Using these three variables I am able to calculate things like my taxes accrued for the day, offset by my mileage, how much I need to put back for vehicle expenses, and how much I need to save for retirement and emergencies. This workbook has not yet proven its worth, as this is the first year I have used it, but I am sure I will be eternally grateful for it come tax time in a few months. And sure, I know there are apps that can make this process simpler, but as someone who enjoys using Excel and tracking things myself, this is the perfect solution for me.
Your car will take care of you if you take care of it first
This one also seems like a no-brainer, but if you're working out of your car, you really need to take care of it! This goes beyond simply changing your car's oil and rotating its tires on time. If you put in excess of 100 miles on your car each day, you should expect something to break or wear out eventually. In just 8 months of owning my 2017 model year car, I have had to replace all four tires, all four sets of brake pads and rotors, the transmission mount, a rear door latch, both headlight bulbs, and the front shocks and struts. While these are all wear items (unfortunately including the rear door latch), my business use of this vehicle has accelerated the normal wear process. The key thing I learned here is to be prepared.
What I did to help myself be prepared is I had an emergency fund just for my car. That way a breakdown or a worn-out part didn't turn into an actual emergency. Starting with a car emergency fund of $500, I then add to it each day using a calculation of my "cost per mile driven" times the number of miles I drive each day. I came to this number using the cost of each significant wear part on my car and how many miles I expect it to last. While this is a rough estimate and does not include labor, it gives me a general idea of how much I need to set back each day for car-related expenses.
Shopping orders are often-times better than pickup orders
Based on my browsing of the r/Sparkdriver community on Reddit, I can confidently say that most Spark drivers will agree that shop orders out-pay and are generally more convenient than pickup orders. The base pay is usually higher and the ability to pick, bag, and load the order yourself can make it a much better experience. No worrying about Walmart loaders putting heavy items on bread or simply not loading your car how you like. You do everything yourself with minimal interaction with Walmart employees.
Another big plus is the opportunity to use the restroom or grab something to eat or drink while you're in the store. You also get to leave your car for a little bit and get some steps in the process.
You sometimes have to take orders that don't seem worth your time
This might be a controversial opinion, but I think you sometimes have to take orders that don't seem worth your time. In my zone, I shoot for roughly $1 per mile to the customer. That means if I am driving 15 miles from the store to the customer's house, I want the base pay and tips to add up to at least $15. I do compromise on this sometimes.
For instance, if I have had back-to-back trips for a few hours but can't seem to get a good trip for the life of me after that, I might take a $9 trip going 11 miles. While this ultimately turns into $9 for 22 miles when you account for the trip back to the store and an overall rate of only $0.41 per mile, it does keep me out there doing orders. I feel that doing some orders that aren't quite worth it for the sake of staying busy can be worth it sometimes. After all, you do get paid for the trip, just not as much as would be ideal.
There are also other things to consider when it comes to earnings per mile. If I see a single item shop order going 12 miles for a base pay of just $10 with no tip, I will likely take that. It is a lower-effort trip with the possibility of a cash tip. Cash tips are far and few between, but I always have some hope in getting one when there isn't one attached to the order itself.
OnePay is a great way to access earnings instantly
I would like to start this section by stating that at the time of writing this, per their website, "OnePay is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services [are] provided by Coastal Community Bank or Lead Bank, Members FDIC." Do with that information what you will.
Now that that is out of the way, I would like to say that OnePay is a great way to access Spark earnings instantly. Instead of accruing your earnings over the course of a week and getting a payout the following week, you can opt to be paid out immediately after each trip. While tips do take 24 hours to clear for some odd reason, it is still a nice way to access your base pay immediately and keep up with things like gas or other small expenses.
One helpful tip I have for those who Spark and use OnePay, is to transfer your earnings from OnePay to your bank regularly. Use the OnePay debit card as much as you need to but try not to keep too much money in your OnePay account. I would suggest $500 or less. This way you can have your funds in a real bank account and not have to worry about the glitches or mishaps that have occurred in my experience with OnePay.
That concludes Five Helpful Things I Learned Doing Spark Delivery for Walmart!
Thanks for reading!
— Indiana Justin