Walmart reverses an earlier limit on the height of order fulfillment carts in stores

A Walmart employee pulls an online order fulfillment cart at a store in Wisconsin.

Dominick Reuter/Business Insider Walmart reversed a policy on the height and handling of online fulfillment carts.

Earlier this year, the company limited carts to six bins to improve safety and visibility in stores.

Now the eight-bin formation is back, with workers instructed to pull loaded carts behind themselves.

The push-and-pull continues for Walmart's online order picking teams.

The retail giant has reversed an earlier policy that reduced the number of bins workers haul on specialized carts, which was first reported by Business Insider in May and intended to improve visibility and safety .

Under that guidance, workers were told to push carts unless they could not safely see ahead.

The online fulfillment carts are a key piece of equipment that Walmart store employees use to gather the items shoppers order for pickup or delivery.

Four Walmart employees in three states recently told Business Insider that their store leaders instructed their teams to return to hauling eight bins on their fulfillment carts and that they are now supposed to pull the carts rather than push them.

Business Insider also observed the practice during a visit to a supercenter in Wisconsin on Tuesday.

A Walmart spokesperson confirmed the policy change, saying it followed a period of testing and evaluation.

Reducing the bin load over the summer allowed the company to identify ways to improve the online order fulfillment process, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said the company's safety policies, which require workers to maintain control of their carts and a line of sight ahead, have not changed.

"Safety of associates and customers is absolute," the spokesperson said.