Walmart and Saftey?

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Apologies, didn't mean to offend anyone with my comments. I tend to be overly cautious (some might say paranoid) about overnighting in store parking lots. We have numerous friends who stay at WalMarts without concern, although some of them feel safe because they carry one or more weapons aboard.
 
I find this whole topic about Walmart and safety strange. I bet a lot more people are killed in their bed than at a Walmart parking lot. I bet a lot more people have their house robbed than have their vehicle broken into in a Walmart parking lot. People, there is no such thing as a "safe" place. I have spent hundreds of nights in a Walmart parking lot and never have I felt unsafe nor the need to carry weapons.
 
seilerbird said:
I have spent hundreds of nights in a Walmart parking lot and never have I felt unsafe
Ditto. I have, however, removed my self from some dimly lit rest centers. 90% of my road driving is in January & February. Driving until 7:30 PM, I refuse to enter and negotiate dark roads in a campground.
 
I was almost attacked by a crazy tattoed idiot in a campground. The campground was almost empty and if he would have I would have been pulverized. My cell phone didn't work their either. The moron was allowing his pit bull to roam through my campsite and when I objected he came after me. The only thing that saved was he was an ex-con and if he would have come after me he would have gone back to jail. No one has ever tried to attack me in a Walmart parking lot nor have I ever been threatened by a pit bull in one.
 
Our first night we almost froze. I did not know how to operate the heater. The trailer is high tech and I am low tech. We got the heater working on the way home and it was nice. After pulling all day and into the night it was nice to walk around and shop with no one in the store.
We never noticed people sleeping in a Walmart before because we had kids and by 5 pm they needed to get out of the truck. Now we can just stop get some sleep and keep going. This has changed our miles per day and we enjoy the pull over sleep.
 
Tom said:
Apologies, didn't mean to offend anyone with my comments. I tend to be overly cautious (some might say paranoid) about overnighting in store parking lots. We have numerous friends who stay at WalMarts without concern, although some of them feel safe because they carry one or more weapons aboard.

Not a problem, Tom.  I don't think that anyone here was offended.  We're just putting our $0.02 into the pot.  :)

Personally, I think that it is a sensible precaution to have a weapon or two of some kind handy.  I'm not advocating having anything that violates the laws.  One need not have a Rambo arsenal on tap but a good bat or some hornet spray can be a pretty good discourager for those who think that the others owe them their property.

A good watchdog is also very helpful.  Even a small but noisy dog brings a lot more attention to thieves activities than they want.

 
We have overnighted at Walmart many times.  We usually ask permission from customer service or manager.  We park in a well lighted place and have never felt unsafe.  We don't stay at WM except when passing through for brief time.  It is usually close to interstate where we can get off and back on with no trouble.
 
Watch Dog I have two  golden retrievers and a flat coat. They are very good watch dogs. We keep the door locked so they don't let the bad person in to play.
 
SteelHeadR said:
A good watchdog is also very helpful.  Even a small but noisy dog brings a lot more attention to thieves activities than they want.
Dick Francis in one of his fiction books a decade or two ago mentioned an exterior motion detector hooked up to a speaker inside of a large dog barking.  I've always liked that idea. 

A few buttons near the arm chair, bed or computer so that as soon as someone knocks or you hear some noise you hit the button.  A few deep "woof, woof"s and the bad guy ain't hanging around.
 
I always kept a 45 cal hand gun in my trailer. The gun was used for protection from Bears and also used shark fishing. The word has changed now and if I am over the state line and get caught that might be a problem. Plus now that I am older I would most likely shoot myself loading it. Walmart seems to be safe but there are nutty people everywhere. We looked at the rest stops and they were packed with 18 wheelers after 8 pm.  We looked at a Flying J but it was too noisy and crowed. Walmart had good lighting and a place to unwind by shopping.
 
skirk55 said:
We looked at the rest stops and they were packed with 18 wheelers after 8 pm. 
On the rare occasion that we do not use Walmart, we do not use the truck area of rest centers. Truckers, by law, are limited in hours driven and sometimes can not legally proceed further. Even though we are 69', the car sections have always had adequate room for us after 8PM.
 
skirk55 said:
I was reading some posts about Walmart and some strange people. I am always thinking about our safety when traveling. Back in the early 80's a campground we pulled into put us all the way in the back by ourselves away from all of the lights nice and quiet. The next morning we found our truck broken in and they stole my CB and my toll money I kept in the ash tray so my wife could sleep. The Florida police told us the campground employees were in this scam ripping off campers. My best friend last year had his flat screen TV taken. It was the people picking up the trash in the campground. They would tell someone who to hit  when using a cell phone. The police took care of that but my friend never got his TV back.We have seen campground employees rip campers off. I know theft is all over but is spending the night in a Walmart parking lot Safe??

Never had an issue when growing up staying at a walmart.
We stayed near the light posts though and eyesite of the front door. Lock the doors and pull the shades.
I sure hope this never happens to my family in our acquired camper, someones head would be on a spike!
 
My wife and I can get over how nice it was to stop get some sleep and back on the road. This has changed our way of traveling. We are making plans to go from Pa. to Alaska. Thank you everyone for the help. Look what you did!
 
walmart for me is a low to moderate security risk depending on what side of town you are. so i take extra security precautions.

make sure everything is securely locked and valuables are hidden from sight, the cell phone is charged and handy, if possible camp with in sight of the night staff, camp under a parking lot light.

lastly, i make sure that i'm able to defend myself and others effectively in a emergency situation ....

that said, i have never had a bad experience yet, just a good nights sleep.

:)
 
My wife and I are going to Florida in a few weeks and we will stay over for 4 or 5 hrs. I get all wound up and I can not rest. I love to pull my fifth wheel and I am like a kid in a candy store!
 
Hello all;
Been RVing for over 50 years man and boy and I never thought I would be able to say "I've camped at Walmart", but we did just that a couple of weeks ago in Minot ND.  We were pulling our brand new RV from Fargo where we had purchased it, home to Saskatchewan in Canada.  We had not yet stocked the trailer with anything and had planned to stay in a motel.  Minot of course has had a terrible flood this year and the was no room at any of the inns, most likely due to the poor unfortunate people who were flooded out havng nowhere else to go.  The campgrounds of course were down by the river and had taken the brunt of the flood as well.  Anyway, Walmart it was and I have to say I would not hesitate to do it again for a quick overnight.  Minot's Walmart is 24 hours so we were able to go in and purchase some bedding and a few essentials.  The lot was well lit and had security cameras as well.  There must have been close to 100 units in the lot that night.  I felt quite secure and my wife and I slept like a couple of logs.  Thanks Walmart!
 
Much of Safety is how much you pay attention to your surroundings...

Here is a link that talks about your State of mind & your State of Awareness relating to your safety -

States of Awareness, the Cooper Color Codes
http://www.teddytactical.com/SharpenBladeArticle/4_States%20of%20Awareness.htm

If you pay attention, this is the Condition that the majority of people are in -
CONDITION WHITE- White is the lowest level on the escalator. In Condition White one is unaware, not alert, oblivious. This state can be characterized as "daydreaming" or "preoccupied".  People in White tend to walk around with their heads down, as if watching their own feet. They do not notice the impending danger until it literally has them by the throat.

Talking on there phones, Walking & Texting, Walking & Reading, ect.

You can literally just stand there and see all the future victims of a crime.

If you read the whole link, you will see where you fall and it may help you raise your situational awareness and thus help to reduce your viability as a target.

Will this stop a thief from breaking into your RV/Car?  No - but it may keep you from parking somewhere that this will happen.

 
And on top of that we complain because the site prices at CG's are going up.
 

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