Walmart Spark Driver Reviews: My $500 Weekend Side Hustle Challenge

Can you make $500 in a single weekend with a new side hustle? I decided to find out by signing up for Walmart Spark Delivery.

If you listen to The Money Nerds Podcast, you know I love testing side hustles to see how realistic they are for people with 9-to-5 jobs, busy families, and limited free time. For this weekend challenge, I worked Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday to see how close I could get to $500.

Here’s my Walmart Spark Driver review: how the app works, what I earned, and what I’d do differently next time.

The Weekend Side Hustle Challenge Rules

To keep the experiment realistic, I set three rules:

Work only on the weekend: Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday.
Use one platform: Walmart Spark Delivery.
Skip the all-day marathons: I wanted time with my partner, Tony, and my daughter, Charlotte, too.

What Is Walmart Spark Delivery?

Walmart Spark is one of several gig apps that pay drivers (independent contractors) to complete delivery orders. Depending on the offer, you either pick up an order that Walmart employees have prepared or shop for the items yourself before delivering them to the customer. You are functioning as independent contractors when using this app so you will not have taxes taken out of your income.

Like other delivery jobs in the gig economy, it lets you choose when to look for work. That flexibility was a big reason I wanted to try it.

How to Get Started

Download the Spark Driver app on iOS or Android.
Complete on boarding. The wait to start may depend on availability in your area.
Verify your account. I had to provide a photo ID and proof of auto insurance, pass a background check, and complete the independent contractor paperwork.
Look at available offers. When you tap Spark Now, the app shows details such as pay, item count, mileage, and drop-off locations.

Before accepting an offer, I’d look beyond the payout. The type of order matters: a short drive with heavy items or a large order going up apartment stairs can take more effort than the mileage suggests.

The Two Main Order Types

Curbside pickup and delivery: Park in a designated spot, let Walmart employees load your vehicle, and deliver the order.
Shop and deliver: Find and scan the items in the store, check out, and deliver them. In my experience, these offers generally paid more.

One thing I liked: I didn’t have to wait in the Walmart parking lot for my first offer. Since I live nearby (I don’t really go out of my zip code for my own sanity/convenience), I could check the app from home and head to the store after accepting an order.

My Walmart Spark Weekend Earnings

Shift	What happened	Active time	Earnings
Friday evening	Three orders, including pickup and shop and deliver	About 2 hours	$42.25
Saturday and Sunday	Worked around family breaks and a teething baby; finished early Sunday	About 13 hours	$430.12
Weekend total	Orders completed across all three days	About 15 hours	$472.37

I finished $27.63 short of my $500 goal. My earnings worked out to about $31.49 per active hour before expenses and taxes. I estimated another $25–$30 in gas after driving roughly 100–120 miles, so the amount I kept was lower.

My audience for new drivers: try to avoid large orders for your first few Walmart Spark Delivery orders. It can be a bit overwhelming if you are new to gig side hustles. I didn’t need to use driver support customer service, but I did find the app to be very intuitive and easy to navigate. They even have a map of the store so you can see the route and what aisles every item is located.

Would I call that a good side hustle? For this particular weekend, yes. I could work around my family’s schedule and make enough extra cash to put toward a credit card balance, an investment account, or the kitchen backsplash tile I’ve been eyeing. I wouldn’t assume every weekend would pay the same, though.

5 Tips I’d Give New Spark Drivers

Set an hourly target. Pay compared with mileage is a useful first check, but I also considered how long each order would take. My goal was at least $27 per hour, so a $27–$34 offer looked promising if I thought I could finish it in about 45–50 minutes.
Give each delivery stop its own space. For an order with multiple stops, I put the largest order in the trunk, the second in the back seat, and the third in the front passenger seat. Plastic storage totes could help keep bags separate, too.
- I just purchased these bags to help me organize orders in a cleaner way!
Park near a cart return when you shop. It’s a small time saver, but I appreciated being able to unload, return the cart, and leave without walking back across the lot.
Learn one home-base store. Shopping got easier as I learned the aisle layout. Sticking close to home also cut down on the time I spent driving back to my starting area.
Choose a final delivery near home. Toward the end of a shift, I looked for an order headed toward my neighborhood. That let me earn money on a trip I was about to make anyway.
Earnings are direct deposited. Every Tuesday you will receive your earning by direct deposit in your bank account.

Final Thoughts

This Walmart Spark weekend challenge was a fun test. I didn’t quite make $500, but $472.37 in about 15 active hours impressed me. I found the Spark Driver app easy to use, and I liked being able to work on my own schedule.

I will be the first to admit, I don’t think this will be a consistent full-time income, but I will say- it is one of the best ways to get some extra income and is one of the better paying of the gig apps.

If you’re considering Walmart Spark, pay attention to the full trip, the size of the order, and your expenses before deciding whether an offer is worth your time. Those details made the biggest difference in my experience. I personally think it is a pretty good side hustle if you are looking for extra cash on a weekly basis.

Would you try Walmart Spark Delivery? What would you want to know before taking your first order?

If you are looking at trying more side hustles check out my side hustle reviews of: