What you do in your free time is your business, right? If only it were that simple. The threat of a drug test severely restricts how employees at many companies can enjoy themselves after their shift ends. But does Walmart care if you take drugs or not?
Walmart does not have a publicly available drug test policy. However, during pre-employment screening, the company rarely tests those applying for entry-level or managerial roles. Walmart may conduct random drug tests and will screen after a workplace accident. Testing could be stricter for some deli, pharmacy, and TLE roles.
Walmart is a massive corporation with many unique roles – it’s no surprise the drug testing situation there is a little complex! But you have come to the right place. In this post, I’ll give you the facts about drug testing at Walmart.
1. Introducing Walmart
Walmart Inc. is a gigantic retail corporation operating primarily in the United States. There are more than 10,000 Walmart stores worldwide, an eye-popping figure comprised of hypermarkets, grocery stores, and discount stores.
Sam Walton founded Walmart in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. The company’s current headquarters are in Bentonville, Arkansas. On revenue ($572.8 billion), Walmart is the world’s largest company.
Walmart employs around 2.3 million people, with 1.6 million working in the United States. That means Walmart employs nearly 0.5% of the entire US population!
You could work as a stocker, order filler, cashier, general merchandiser, manager, or supervisor. Walmart hires pharmacists, deli workers, and car maintenance experts, too.
2. Drug Test at Walmart
Most workers at Walmart should not be overly concerned about drug tests. However, whether you are a humble cashier or a high-up manager, staying sober at work is the best way to keep the drug tester from your door.
That said, some roles get scrutinized more. For example, it’s more important the pharmacist dishing out medication is clean than the employee replenishing the shelves. Let’s dig into the details and workers’ stories.
2.1. In-Store Employee
In this part, I will cover cashiers, stockers, order fillers, pharmacists, TLE workers, deli workers, and certified car technicians. There’s no indication that Walmart drug screens during the hiring process, although they carry out a background check.
Nowadays, random drug tests are more of a myth than reality at Walmart. As the contract states, testing is always a possibility. But the wealth of employee testimonials on the Walmart Indeed page shows that testing is rare.
Of course, we must remember these are only user-generated results and do not reflect official Walmart policy, but it’s our best! Most people say they haven’t been tested, or at least not as part of a random policy.
Your likelihood of getting tested may vary depending on the store you work at, your state, and your job type. For instance, Walmarts operating in states where marijuana is legal may care less about a positive THC test.
In this Reddit post, u/DiancieOnStage succinctly explained why pharmacists should get tested more than other workers. Yet they claimed that Walmart hasn’t randomly screened them or other pharmacists in their five years there.
If Walmart isn’t even hot on testing these employees, they probably have a lax drug screening approach. As other Redditors pointed out, testing is not cheap, and Walmart can’t risk firing half of its staff.
While you shouldn’t be too blasé about the possibility of getting tested as a Walmart employee, this serves as a crucial dose of reality.
Sure, they may play psychological games and hang the threat of a drug test over your head. But there are reasons why they can’t bombard employees with testing.
If you work at Walmart and use drugs, your best bet is to stay under the radar. Providing you are sober at work, do your job competently, and interact well with customers, it’s unlikely that Walmart will pull you in for a test.
2.2. Delivery Driver
Considering the possible consequences of an accident, Walmart may have a firmer drug-taking policy for delivery drivers. A thread on the Truckers Report forum suggests that A DOT physical and drug screen is part of the Walmart hiring process.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) exam is more thorough than a typical test. In addition to checking your sobriety, the test probes whether you are physically, mentally, and emotionally fit for the position.
Operating heavy machinery for Walmart is not like working as a cashier. Driving under the influence could put lives at risk. While Walmart might not test its drivers regularly, ensure you are sober on the job and always prepared.
2.3. Management Positions
A managerial job at Walmart comes with extra demands and importance. Therefore, you can expect the corporation to be hotter on drug use. I have seen anecdotes of prospective managers saying they were tested during pre-employment.
However, others have stories about being hired as a Walmart manager and never being screened. Again, policies may vary depending on the store and state. But the chance of getting tested is certainly higher than for entry-level jobs.
As with any position at Walmart, your best move is to stay lowkey. Turn up to work looking fresh, fit, and focused, and I doubt they will suspect you of taking drugs. Companies have limited resources and do not want to test employees for the sake of it.
3. Types of Drug Tests Used at Walmart
Walmart primarily uses urine screening to test for drug, but there are some reports of employees having to give a saliva sample. Let’s look at both.
3.1. Urine
If required to take a urine test, you will urinate in a cup, with the sample then sent to a laboratory for analysis. Sometimes, you can pee in a private room, but you might have to deliver under supervision.
Your urine’s concentration, appearance, and contents will be verified as part of a urinalysis. If all is well, you should hear of your negative result within 24 hours. But it may take two or three days to confirm a positive test.
3.2. Saliva (mouth swab)
Mouth swab drug tests are an efficient way of checking for substance use. Some refer to these as saliva or oral fluid drug tests. Employers like them because they are nearly impossible to fake, noninvasive, and can detect recent drug use.
The tester obtains your sample using a collection stick before analyzing it on-site or at a laboratory. Employers can conduct saliva tests at short notice with little preparation. You may be asked not to eat or drink for a few minutes beforehand.
4. What Drugs Show Up on a Drug Test?
Regular drug tests can detect cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, PCP, and marijuana. Some employers may use tests that can also spot benzodiazepines, barbiturates, methadone, and methamphetamines – these are known as 9-panel drug tests.
4.1. Prescription drugs
You do not need to worry about a positive test result if you take prescription medication. But you should alert Walmart about your situation so that it won’t be a shock if you test positive.
Walmart may want confirmation that you have a valid prescription. I recommend giving them your doctor’s contact details so they can verify your circumstances. That protects your privacy better than needlessly showing Walmart your prescription.
4.2. Kratom products
Walmart does not test for kratom use. While it’s possible to screen for kratom with a special type of test, the classic 5 and 9-panel tests have no way of detecting kratom alkaloids. That’s great news if you enjoy kratom recreationally or take it for health reasons.
But you don’t want to stand out as a suspicious employee. Avoid bringing kratom products to work or talking about them with others. Your manager could keep a closer eye on you if they think you are taking drugs on the job.
4.3. Does Walmart Test for Marijuana?
Employers are adjusting to the changing legal landscape for cannabis. In the past decade, more than a dozen states have legalized recreational marijuana, and only a handful still prohibit medicinal pot. That has not gone unnoticed at Walmart.
In 2019, a federal judge in Arizona ruled that Walmart discriminated against a worker over medical marijuana use. Carol Whitmire was involved in an accident at work, failed a drug test, and got fired after Walmart said she was impaired during her shift.
However, the court favored Whitmire, who had been discriminated against under the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA). The case highlights the risks employers face by being too heavy-handed over marijuana use in legal states.
Drug testing in states with legal recreational marijuana is becoming increasingly unsustainable for the likes of Walmart. And with such a competitive post-pandemic labor market, employers can’t be too picky over who they hire for entry-level jobs.
4.4. Hemp-based products
You can take CBD without risking a positive drug test, but only if you have the correct type of extract. Drug tests screen for the THC cannabinoid, which is present in full-spectrum CBD products.
These supposedly have more health benefits than their standard CBD counterparts. The additional cannabinoids, including up to 0.3% THC, combine to generate the entourage effect.
But these health perks come with the possibility of failing a drug test. The more often you consume full-spectrum CBD, and the stronger your doses are, the greater your risk of a positive test.
Urine tests can detect THC’s metabolite, THC-COOH, several weeks after consumption. If you pump full-spectrum CBD into your body regularly, THC-COOH metabolites will gradually accumulate.
Taking CBD-isolate products instead is the most sensible solution here. You’ll have to accept a slightly diminished therapeutic experience as a price worth paying for peace of mind with drug tests.
Marijuana lovers may be wondering about delta-8, delta-10, and similar hemp-based products with psychoactive properties. I am afraid that you could fail a substance abuse screening with any of these THC-like products.
5. How Long Do Drugs Stay in Your System?
Your body flushes some drugs out of your system more swiftly than others. The time that drugs remain detectable also depends on how often you use them and the type of test you take.
Here’s a guide for the drugs detectable on 5-panel tests.
Cocaine
Urine: up to 72 hours
Saliva: up to 48 hours
Marijuana
Urine: up to 30 days
Saliva: detectable minutes after intake and for up to 48 hours
Amphetamines
Urine: up to 5 days
Saliva: up to 5 days
Opiates
Urine: codeine – 1 to 2 days, fentanyl – 1 to 2 days, heroin – up to 1 week
Saliva: codeine – 1 to 4 days, fentanyl – unreliable results, heroin – up to 5 hours
PCP
Urine: 1 to 14 days
Saliva: up to 48 hours
6. Tips for Passing a Urine Test
In the worst-case scenario of an unexpected drug test, you can still take steps to ensure you pass. If you fear a positive result, these three sneaky tips can help.
6.1. Drink Water
In the run-up to a urine test, stay hydrated so your sample contains as much water as possible. The more water in your pee, the lower the concentration of drug metabolites and the reduced likelihood of failing a test.
6.2. Use synthetic urine
Heavy recreational drug users have no option but to use synthetic urine. The upside with fake pee is that your sample won’t have any drugs in it. However, it must still pass the authenticity checks conducted during the urinalysis.
For that reason, synthetic urine is hit and miss, with conflicting information over what products genuinely work. Clear Choice’s Sub-Solution Synthetic Urine is a recent best-seller. It’s not cheap but has the lifelike qualities to pass as real pee.
6.3. Use detox products
Finally, you could invest in a detox product. These hide drug metabolites for long enough so that you can pass a test, but typically only work for around five hours.
If you are looking to detox your way to success in a urine test, you’ll need a detox drink, a capsule product, or a whole-body cleanser.
