Something to be aware of while overnighting at Walmart

[TrainChaser]

CD, Your assessment of where a city's/county's tax money goes is... amusing, if not accurate.

Walmart doesn't pay any higher property taxes than any other business.  And Oklahoma has one of the lowest property taxes in the U.S., 47th out of 50.

CD: "These taxes are what pay for police departments. Whatever the "burden" it's no big deal if the taxes Walmart remits covers their salaries, and I'm quite sure Walmart's tax remittance more than covers that expense."

Whatever part WM pays toward law enforcement, it's supposed to be spread across the city and county, NOT centered in one place. Other people and businesses pay taxes, too , you know.

"911, What is your emergency?  I'm sorry you have three men with guns kicking in your door, Mr. CD, but all of our officers are at Walmart, dealing with five shoplifters, one man with a gun, a naked woman running around the parking lot, a major shopping cart theft, and sixteen abandoned toddlers.  As soon as I have someone available, I promise that I'll send them directly to your house. Perhaps about 3 p.m., but please don't hold me to that."

CD: "Then, think about all the court costs, fees and fines that result, on top of that. That's a whole bunch more the locals are collecting to pay for themselves..."

LOL!  You're so naive that you think courts are self-supporting????????  How about the parks? Attorney's office?  Road repair dept? Fire Depts?  911 dispatch? Call some of those offices in your town and ask about that -- they'll laugh so hard they'll fall out of their chairs.

CD: "And no, Walmart shouldn't "split the cost" or "do more"...  The only money they have is the money they collect from us when we shop there..."

Walmart made more than $485 BILLION DOLLARS in 2015.  Most companies make far less than that, and can provide their own security guards. 

Walmart is simply reducing their costs to increase their profits. They don't care who it costs or how much, as long as it isn't them.

 

[akrvbob]

.More than 200 violent crimes, including attempted kidnappings and multiple stabbings, shootings, and murders, have occurred at the nation’s 4,500 Walmarts this year, or about one a day,..."

It's hard for me to believe  we're having this conversation. You really believe one violent crime out of 4500 stores per day is this huge an issue? 

I wish we had a mathematician to figure out what the odds are of one of us being the victim of a violent crime at Walmart. It's 1 in 4500 for every day I shop there. But there are 24 hours a day so there is then a 1 in 24 chance of that 1 in 4500 chance that I'll be at the store the same hour it has a violent crime. 

But here's where it gets real interesting, there are at least 300,000 square feet of space for the store and parking lot so your odds are only 1 in 300,000 of being within a foot of the violent crime.

1 in 4500 to be at the one store with a violent crime, plus
1 in 24 of being there the same hour, plus
1 in 300,000 of being within a foot of the violent crime.

What I don't know is how you multiply all these things together to get the total odds. My guess is it's one in hundreds of millions or even billions.
 
Do you really want to live your life in fear of these tiny, tiny risks? 

Is it really necessary to spread fear to everyone in the forum about something so trivial? Of course it's not trivial to those 365 victims, but will our ruining our lives by phobia really help them much?
Bob

 

[Sabatical]

Wal mart has made it easy to put in more miles of travel when going cross country. Just drive until you feel tired and find a wal mart. The overnight parking app is a great help too.
Our only negative experience with overnighting there is the sound of what i assume are young folks revving there cars in proximity to overnighters. You can draw your own conclusion about whether it's harrassment.
We will start looking for sam's clubs to overnight at when traveling. They aren't open round the clock so in theory that should alleviate the car revver's. The downside to this is not having an open store steps away from the camper for supplies.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

 

[Headache]

Is it really necessary to spread fear to everyone in the forum about something so trivial? Of course it's not trivial to those 365 victims, but will our ruining our lives by phobia really help them much?

Brilliant post Bob as it made me more mindful of how I responded.  I meant it to be more general and it didn't come out that way.  I shall add now that I also stay in truck stops because I'm a creature of habit and convenience when on the road as well as getting my "people fix".  After I get to my destination not so much. Now shopping at Walmart, I try to limit it but yeah, I go there and if it's the closest spot to park when fatigued, I'm sleeping in their parking lot if the town allows.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I would hazard a guess that most of the violent crime is in Walmarts inside big cities: Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, LA come to mind.

 -- Spiff