Camping at Walmart, is it abusing the courtesy?

[slynne]

LOL. Isn't Thomas famous for NOT talking?

 

[deadwood]

I think it will just be a matter of time before WM just gives up on the RV traveler. I've parked overnight at a WM a few times here and there when needed. But like Snow Gypsy said. Parking not Camping. Huge difference between the two. Even when I'm not on the road and I just go to WM I can't help but notice who is staying the night there. And more and more it seems like the privileged is abused. At some point they will figure that it just isn't worth the trouble.

I have noticed that while in CA that a lot of walmarts don't allow overnight parking. It seems the distinction is between when walmart owns the parking lot and when it is a shared lot by other business. I think in the places that are shared parking that they are not allowed to let people overnight. I've only seen this in CA though. I haven't noticed it anywhere else.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I have noticed that while in CA that a lot of walmarts don't allow overnight parking. It seems the distinction is between when walmart owns the parking lot and when it is a shared lot by other business. I think in the places that are shared parking that they are not allowed to let people overnight. I've only seen this in CA though. I haven't noticed it anywhere else.

It isn't so much whether it's a shared parking lot or not.  The Walmart in Kingston NY is in a shared parking lot, and I see both RVs and Big Rig trucks parked there overnight.

I think it's a question of who OWNS the parking lot.  If Walmart owns the facility, they can do what they want.  If Walmart RENTS the store, the landlord decides what he will or will not allow in his parking lot.

Also, some times it can depend on local regulations.  I've seen reports in some of the mainstream RV forums that in destinations that attract a lot of RVs, local campgrounds have successfully lobbied town governments to impose no overnight parking bans in the store lots as a way of increasing their income.

Anyway, here's a link to a page that lists Walmarts that don't allow overnight parking.  You can see they are all over this country and Canada.

https://www.allstays.com/c/walmart-locations-noparking.htm

 

[DuneElliot]

The Walmarts in Billings, MT don't have overnight parking because of city ordinance, not because of Walmart's policies...just depends on where you go.

 

[lenny flank]

Walmart's corporate policy is to allow travelers to overnight park. They know we will be running inside all the time to buy food, water, paper towels, whatever.

But that is up to the individual store manager's discretion. That is why sometimes the policy at a particular Walmart changes in one direction or the other--new manager, new policy.

Some cities or towns have local ordinances which ban overnight parking. Then it depends upon the manager whether the policy actually gets enforced or not. I've been in plenty of Walmarts where it is against city ordinance to overnight, but never had any problem because the Walmart simply doesn't enforce it.

And I suspect it also depends on what I do. When I park at a Walmart, I am a good neighbor. I make no noise, I cause no disturbance, I don't look like a homeless person or a drug addict, I stay in the back compartment where In am not visible, and I do not dump trash or my pee bottle into the parking lot and make a mess. Nobody even knows I am there. If I were to park with my door open and sit on a lawn chair drinking beer all night, I suspect my reception would be a bit different.

 

[AmieW]

I was just looking at the site that tells which WMs allow overnight parking, and was shocked by how many don't. The one in my town that does is in a ridiculously dangerous part of town, full of all sorts of criminals. Most WMs in FL don't allow overnight parking anymore, because people were taking advantage. The ones who do are "In after 10, out by 6," and this is because that's the overnight stocking shift, so at least stealth vans can get away with it. My friend who camps in his SUV says he never had a problem at WalMart. He never asks. He says they are looking for campers, not SUVs, and he usually parks in the last spot in the lot right in front of the store, where employees park. He moves every night, but he says he's seen RV's getting rousted by the cops all the time.

I guess this is what they mean by "stealth." Cops usually figure that if a normal-looking car is parked out in the lot where employees park, it's just an employee.

 

[lenny flank]

Most Walmarts that ban overnight parking do so because of local city ordinances.

 

[Weight]

Yes, that. Also because of people camping instead of parking.

 

[jimindenver]

I had my first Walmart Wallydocking experience last week. I found out that the Walmart in Hurricane welcomed RV'rs and there was lots in the lot when I pulled in late Monday after dumping the tanks and trash, refilling the fresh, doing laundry and taking a shower. I did stay three nights, the last was only because I had ordered a wall bracket for the TV which was showing up the next day. Their strategy worked as I spent over $600 in the store and would have done most of it in other shops had it not been so easy to get it there. I didn't put out the awning and I have no slides. There were people that were there quite a while before me and I met a handful of dwellers including two in 4x4 vans and a person I have sort of a connection to via my company. Right now he and I are camped together on the mesa.

Most people there were extremely quiet except one Sprinter Class C that at first I heard their built in generator. They ran it well past 2 AM when I went to bed and when I walked Max they had their slide out, chair out, awning out with clothes or blankets drying on it. That was only one rig out of 20 or so.

 

[Gunny]

I order groceries for pick-up from a Walmart near me in a nicer neighborhood. I order every two weeks and for the last month there has been a newer Class A pusher with its slides out in the same spot. It's when we start abusing the niceties that they disappear.

Rob

 

[LeeRevell]

Maybe Wally's manager should talk to anyone staying put more than two days, or who has all the camping toys outside, and insist one of them works a full shift each day as cashier or stocker, to "pay" for that "camping spot".

 

[gcal]

I find a rare walmart in california that allows over night parking, in fact even rarer still it allows extended stay as far as I can tell.  This is a huge boon to me which I am grateful for.  I often wondered why more wallys weren't this way but I think i get it now.  In the 3 days ive been here, another van has parked in a space near the road at a stop sign.   They leave the side doors open, from which a small army of sign wielding panhandlers with dogs set forth to cover every corner and stop sign in the parking lot and street.  They are actually doing it from the van itself too so no question where they originate from.  

I am not anti-panhandle, do what you gotta do.  If people want to help you, good on them, and if you really need it and use it to live, good on you.  But don't do it at the store that is putting you and others up.  

Last night, a van parked 2 spots from me despite me being way out of the way.  They threw their food and garbage on the ground, and left a cart full of boxes and trash behind before driving off.  There are trash cans in the lot!

Im sad, because i can see the future, and its another walmart tossing everyone out.  I'm not sure what to do, i guess there is nothing i can do except maybe pick up trash and hope the others move on.  I have a site ear marked so i can move on soon, but id to keep signal range to take care. of things

No, not much anyone else can do. Sooner or later, customer complaints will cause management to close the lot for overnighters. It has benn happening more and more. Now that the old man is dead, his kids would as soon close them to campers, anyway.

 

[Thirsty Boots Nomad]

Maybe Wally's manager should talk to anyone staying put more than two days, or who has all the camping toys outside, and insist one of them works a full shift each day as cashier or stocker, to "pay" for that "camping spot".

Maybe have them sweep, clean bathrooms, or something like that instead; ... as someone that worked several years in retail type environments I can state that, even if it's only 1 person out of every 100, there are too many dishonest people that would take advantage of a "trust" position around cash/merchandise to allow them any opportunity to pocket something --- wrote more, but unnecessary for the point so deleted it.

 

[LeeRevell]

Good point!

 

[tx2sturgis]

Also, some times it can depend on local regulations.  I've seen reports in some of the mainstream RV forums that in destinations that attract a lot of RVs, local campgrounds have successfully lobbied town governments to impose no overnight parking bans in the store lots as a way of increasing their income.

This is in fact the PRIMARY reason for the no overnight RV stays in most WalMarts. Local regulations, policies, and sometimes, agreements with the town to get a building permit in the first place.

Occasionally, some low-life in an RV will dump their black water tanks across the parking lot at 3AM...and the resulting cleanup costs and fines for the flowing sewage mess forces the local management team to have signs put up that prohibit overnight parking, and they will inform the night security patrol to enforce the ban.

I think if there were some way to catch those in-bred scum-bags, I would make the punishment fit the crime: Force them under gunpoint to clean up the mess with their tongue.

 

[Trebor English]

I think if there were some way to catch those in-bred scum-bags, 

Way back in the 1960s there was a product called scum bag.  I had one and used it.  Back then drafting was done with a drawing board and a T square.  When your drawing tools rubbed over pencil marks there was smearing.  The scum bag was  like a sock full of eraser crumbs.  When squeezed over a work in progress the crumbs that came through the cloth and deposited on the paper prevented smearing.  

My rescue dog is a Bichon.  Those beasts are horribly inbred.  The people who do that to dogs are evil.  The dog is a great little dog.  She makes my life better even though she is inbred.

People are always maligning inbreds and scum bags.  I enjoy making them smile by taking issue with them. : )

If someone lets you use their space it should be like boondocking, pack it in, pack it out, leave no trace that you were there, take with you only memories.

 

[tx2sturgis]

People are always maligning inbreds and scum bags.  I enjoy making them smile by taking issue with them. : )

If someone lets you use their space it should be like boondocking, pack it in, pack it out, leave no trace that you were there, take with you only memories.

You know, I had to use some words that leave no doubt about my intentions and thoughts, without using obscene language. In real life I would have used a variety of terms that would absolutely not have been ambiguous OR politically correct.

Either way, I think my meaning was pretty clear, and yes, thanks for the chuckle.

Yeah, the Neanderthals that leave their raw sewage on a public parking lot should be hanged until dead.

Come to think of it, even pre-historic cave-men knew better.

Sorry guys!

 

[rvpopeye]

Trebor's (Ron's) tagline pretty much sums up a lot (all?) of the (abusing) problems at Walmart lots.
No point in judging though. No cure.

This subject has been hashed over in every RVing forum I've ever been on. Abusers don't usually do forums anyway.

Park there or don't , your choice.
Try not to do anything that will make it worse for the future.

I've used the privilage many times over the years.
Even pick up trash in my vicinity if I see any.

It's only a cheap stop if you don't go inside.....
I usually restock and get whatever else.
Average $100 a stop

Crash for a while and hit the road , hate rush hour(s).

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

without using obscene language.

I can't think of his name right now, but there used to be a comedian who was absolutely brilliant at that.  Something like:

"So I responded by casting  aspersians on his mother, his father and even his mother's husband.

The gentleman had the termerity to then suggest that I had had carnal knowledge of my own maternal antecedants!

Well, naturally, I then suggested that he consume excrement and expire!

The situation deteriorated after that . . ."

 

[ZoNiE]

Lock your stuff at WM. Even when you are in the rig.

I didn't used to lock my plumbing compartment, but some douchenozzle messed with my dump valves the one time I Boondocked at a walmart (In Payson AZ). Was embarrassing when I took a shower and had water running out of the outlet. Nothing to steal in there, but they had to **** with it. Maybe I took the guy's spot...