WAL-MART DISCRIMINATION AGAINST RVers in HOMESTEAD FLORIDA

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debamoore

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April 8, 2011 - Found out that the WAL-MART in HOMESTEAD. FLORIDA is NOT the area for RVs!!!  Drove into a Wal-Mart parking lot at 10:30am (the last one one the way to The Keys)  The security guard drove up and said,  (I QUOTE)....................."THESE TYPE vehicles have a 3hr parking limit, it's 10:30am now you have til 1:30pm then you have to leave"!! 

We had just pulled up did not even get 5 secs to put my shoes on to go into the store. 

WAL-MART discrimination against RVers!!!  WOW....and they wonder why they are being sued for discrimination!! 

I was not parked overnight!  I was going in to get items for my trip to the Keys since there is NO Wal-Mart in the Keys. 

So, I decided to stay for "MY" 3 hours and take some notes: 

In approx. 1.5 hrs 10 RVers pulled up - out of those 10 they took up (including me) 32 parking spaces.  Now the average RV/5th Wheel/etc.. has 2 or more people.  (BTW...everyone got the same visit, by the same guard, either before or after shopping at Wal-Mart!).  Each RVer had approx. 6-10 bags or more of groceries, etc... in that same time period 2 cars with boats pulled up - NO VISIT from the guard - and one of them did not even go into Wal-Mart - stayed for 45mins on cell phone - took up 3 parking spaces!  The other boat went in and came out with what looked like 1 small bag of chips!!  Then there were cars pulling into the parking lot 2 at a time hitching a ride in another car and leaving one car parked!! 

Before we left we travelled around the side of Wal-Mart as we had seen BUSES going back and forth...(there have a BUS stop on the side of Wal-Mart) - these BUSES park for 15-20 mins pick up people and drop them off....some of the folks I noticed were leaving their cars and getting on the buses...I am sure going into town for work, beach, etc...

I know we take up a lot of room in our RV's but I do not appreciate anyone putting a time limit on MY visit to the store!  I am young enough where I do not have health problems....I feel really bad for those RVers that are not as fortunate and take longer to get their items needed at the store...or even those of you that have small children that want walk slowly down EVERY toy isle in Wal-Mart!!

THE PARKING LOT WAS NOT FULL....NOT EVEN CLOSE....AND WAS A HUGE PARKING LOT!!

I will NOT be going to a Wal-Mart store anytime soon!!    :mad:

SIDE NOTE....FYI........  The meaning for discrimination is:

Discrimination is the cognitive and sensory capacity or ability to see fine distinctions and perceive differences between objects, subjects, concepts and patterns, or possess exceptional development of the senses.



 
Here's my take on it...I seriously doubt this was all WalMart's idea.  If you wanted to investigate further, check with the city/county.  I suspect you will find a "no overnight" regulation and I also suspect WalMart has turned their back on overnighters and someone(s) complained - in turn, officials probably threatened WalMart with legal action if they don't enforce the regulation.  As for discrimination...not very many folks arriving in something other than an RV are likely to stay overnight.  Profiling, probably.  Discrimination, I don't think so.
 
I'm sure if you actually conduct a little research, you'll realize that this is not likely Wal-Mart's doing, but a city by-law. 

Wal-Mart corporation has no problems with RVers stopping over, but if the city says no... it's no.  Don't blame Wal-Mart.

 
Even RVers that stay overnight in the wallyworld parking lot near me dont seem to get in the way. They are parked way out at the end of the parking lot.
And for those of you defending wallyworld, you may be right, but then again you may not be. There have been wallyworld stores that harass truckers also.
 
I agree, not discrimination. It likely the same as the Walmart near my house that is right off the expressway. For the city to approve it Walmart had to make it a no overnight Walmart. Likely the city council for that Walmart put a 3 hr parking restriction on RVs. Since security visited every RV that stopped then they were doing a good job not discriminating as they applied the rule to all who qualified.

We've had security come talk to us in the middle of the day while parked at a Home Depot and working on our RV. We just reassured them that we weren't staying any longer than it took for us to install our surge protector and they were pleasant about it. I think since another RV had pulled up next to us they though we were all settling in.

The good news is that you can rest assured they aren't discriminating against you and you can continue to shop there.
 
Getinaway said:
Even RVers that stay overnight in the wallyworld parking lot near me dont seem to get in the way. They are parked way out at the end of the parking lot.
And for those of you defending wallyworld, you may be right, but then again you may not be. There have been wallyworld stores that harass truckers also.

Let's see... RVers and truckers.. hmm... those 2 tend to stay over for a few hours to sleep, no?  If there is an issue with staying more than 'X' amount of hours, I'd expect to be advised about it right away instead of them waiting for me to possibly fall asleep before rapping on my door.

Someone pulling in towing a boat?  Hmm... not likely to be sleeping over for a few hours.

Has nothing to do with discrimination, nor is it likely anything to do with a local Wal-Mart's policy because it's well known that Wal-Mart corporate has no problem with it. 

Again... conduct a little research and you're likely to find that the city has a problem with the stopovers.

 
Relax. I have had this happen to me in many Walmarts around the country. It is much better to have them tell you immediately rather than wake you up at midnight and tell you to move.
 
diehard said:
Let's see... RVers and truckers.. hmm... those 2 tend to stay over for a few hours to sleep, no?  If there is an issue with staying more than 'X' amount of hours, I'd expect to be advised about it right away instead of them waiting for me to possibly fall asleep before rapping on my door.

Someone pulling in towing a boat?  Hmm... not likely to be sleeping over for a few hours.

Has nothing to do with discrimination, nor is it likely anything to do with a local Wal-Mart's policy because it's well known that Wal-Mart corporate has no problem with it. 

Again... conduct a little research and you're likely to find that the city has a problem with the stopovers.
Research. Hmm, Lets see.  There have been a couple wallyworlds where the STORE manager has decided to institute a no truck policy at their store. There were no local restrictions. It was all the STORE manager. You are correct that wallyworld corporaste has no problem with it. In fact corporate WELCOMES truckers and RVers, as you say. This was obvious to those of us responsible for complaining to Bentonville about these practices and getting these store policies stricken down.
So............ You may be right. There may be a local code restrictions, but you may be wrong, it could be a store manager on a power trip with his own agenda.
 
It has nothing to do with the "store manager on a power trip". Many Walmart don't allow trucks because the parking lot is too small to handle them.
 
seilerbird said:
It has nothing to do with the "store manager on a power trip". Many Walmart don't allow trucks because the parking lot is too small to handle them.
That is correct sometimes. But you are wrong when you say it has nothing to do with a store manager on a power trip. Did you read my entire post? Or did you stop right there and decide to contradict me? Because you seem to have missed the part where I said I was involved in complaining to Bentonville to get these STORE MANAGER policies CHANGED.
 
There are many reasons that the Wal-Mart may be not allowing RV's to park for extended amounts of time - who knows.

Does it matter? There seems to be a feeling of "entitlement" here, like we have a right to park anywhere we want to. Personally I appreciate those WM's that let us park and don't worry about all the possible reasons for those that don't. I certainly do no feel I have a RIGHT to park on someones property.

Frank
 
FrankNSharon said:
There are many reasons that the Wal-Mart may be not allowing RV's to park for extended amounts of time - who knows.

Does it matter? There seems to be a feeling of "entitlement" here, like we have a right to park anywhere we want to. Personally I appreciate those WM's that let us park and don't worry about all the possible reasons for those that don't. I certainly do no feel I have a RIGHT to park on someones property.

Frank
I think if you are a customer you do have a right to park without being harassed. If it is a local code there will be signs posted prominently at the entrances and at spots in the property. Now if the store decides to extend the courtesy of having security inform people of the local code restrictions that is fine if it is done in a courteous manner. But there would be signs. And the OP never mentioned any signs. So we could deduce that since the OP never mentioned the signs, there were no signs, so there was no local code.
 
That is why most stores have a sign that says "We Reserve the RIGHT to refuse service to anyone", no one has a RIGHT to be anyones customer against that stores/company's will.

But, go right on and be unhappy, demand your rights, and before long WM as a corporation will decide it just is not worth it to them to allow ANY RV's to park in their lots. They do not have to - at least in those cases where they own the lot.

I am out of this conversation, it is about to turn political which we are not supposed to do here...
 
I'm with FrankNSharon on this one.  I'm glad for the WalMarts that allow parking overnight, and we use them quite a bit when between destinations, but it's private property, so if they don't want me there, I'm not arguing or feeling slighted about it.  I believe that landowner's have the right to make the rules for their own land, within the law.
 
I also agree with FrankNSharon. Many Walmarts do let RVers spend the night, and you cannot name many other stores with big parking lots that do this. As far as signs go, just because there is a local code does not necessarily mean that law would be posted on signs in a parking lot (or every store with a parking lot in that juridiction would have to have them). Ever seen them in your supermarket parking lot? I appreciate the fact that where they can, Walmarts try and cater to RV's, and like other posters, would appreciate being made aware of the no over night policy up front. 
 
Think I remember your post stating '....Last before the keys....' or something close to that.  I would not get down on the Manager, nor Walmart in general.  They most likely have a ton of trouble at certain times of the year with no parking available because of all the RV's jamming the parking lot.  Only our experience... but Walmart in the majority of their stores is very liberal on RV parking, we have never been personally asked to leave in countless stops over-night.  Frankly this kind of sounds like screaming at a free soup kitchen Manager because they did not have the certain bread that is a favourite......
 
I believe that Florida City enacted an ordinance against RV parking in the Florida City Walmart. I have heard there were many complaints there due to people camping there day and night. I live north of there but pass there somewhat infrequent but used to see a lot of campers there but now it is sparse. I just attributed it to the snowbirds leaving but then heard from my daughter who manages a store at the outlet Mall that Florida City changed their policies.
 
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