Mary Beasley has spent 35 years helping Walmart stay on track.
In January 1988, a 27-year-old Mary Beasley started work at a Walmart Regional Distribution Center in South Carolina. Picture it: The area was still recovering from a record 15 inches of snow. Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel” was the top song on the radio and the Ford Escort was the most popular car. Mary had a young child and another on the way.
Today, Mary is an associate at Specialty Fulfillment Center (FC) 2076 in Laurens, South Carolina. And that young child — her oldest daughter — is now an associate at a Walmart store in Spartanburg, South Carolina. After 35 years with the company, Mary has covered a lot of ground and helped countless folks.
Proud to help
Over the years, Mary has worked in different roles at various Walmart distribution and fulfillment centers. She’s even traveled to help open new regional DCs in other states, including Virginia, Delaware and Florida. “I’d set up quality assurance and train the people before they opened.”
“I like helping people,” she says. “I train them and help them to learn. I’m proud of that.” Some of the people she trained still stay in touch.
Mary appreciates the benefits at Walmart and loves the people even more. She also enjoys the opportunities for problem-solving that come up each day: fixing freight orders that come in wrong or figuring out the right solution if an item was picked incorrectly.
Anniversary in Arkansas
Mary attended the 2000 Associates Week in Bentonville, Arkansas, where she met associates from all over the world. She made her triumphant return in November 2022, at a milestone celebration for her and other associates who hit a big anniversary. They got to meet Doug McMillon, tour area stores, mingle over great food and check out downtown Bentonville.
When asked if she ever considered moving over to the store side of the business, Mary says she’d like to give it a try once she retires — "just a few days a week to keep busy.”
After talking to Mary about her career in fulfillment, it’s easy to see that her role at Walmart through the years has kept her quite fulfilled. (See what we did there?)
