Walmarts

The article stated that "the (Walmart) policy has upset RV parks," which is understandable to some extent from the point of view of an RV park. Also "Walmart values RV travelers and considers them among our best customers," so Walmart knows RVers spend their money there.

I thought the article was reasonably fair and well-balanced.

My understanding that the city of Pigeon Forge, TN has an ordinance against parking at local businesses. This ordinance was passed due to pressure from local campgrounds. These people have to make a living and with all the campgrounds in that area I see no reason to park at a Walmart. I always ask before I park at a Walmart and was told no only one time and that was because the parking lot was leased and the parking lot owner did not allow MH parking over night. In Canada Fred Myers and Canadian Tire allows over night parking. Some Fred Myers have dump stations and fresh water. Some Fred Myers have a "Green Curb" area for MH. I did see the Fred Myers in Soldotna, AK marking tires and asking people to leave after two nights.  I parked one night and that was because I could not get in the local CG until the next day. In over 20 years of camping I average parking at Walmart once or twice a year and I always spend more money at Walmart than I would have spent at a campground.

In many cities and counties and Perhaps even some states the Campground Owner's Assoication has convinced the government that RV's parking overnight anywhere other than a Licensed Campground is somehow dangerous and have gotten them to ban "Wal-Docking"

My recommendation is to avoid those juristictions, take your tourist dollars elsewhere. and figure out how to let 'em know why you are not spending money there and improving their economy.

A number of my neighbors are RVers, and we all know who's rig belongs to who. Local ordinances limit how long an RV can stay in the street, and don't allow RVs in side yards that result in more than 20% of the RV being visible. It's a long story, but we all park our RVs at offsite storage locations, and we all know if a relative or friend of a neighbor RVer is staying overnight.

If I saw any size RV parked in our street that didn't 'belong', I'd call the Sheriff and they'd be moved on. Arriving late or leaving early wouldn't avoid detection.

So the municipalities put out laws that there will be no overnight parking.  It is called quality of life.

If you are just staying the night, I do not see Tourist Dollars......

Improving the economy is a stretch. Moving on is improving my quality of life...

I am talking about the original pictures this post started with. if anyone thinks they are improving the economy, or adding to the good and welfare of the community, they are just kidding themselves.....

I agree with Tom....RV's in yards become boats, school buses, lawn Maintenance trucks, food trucks, you get the picture.  I am sure you can find some community in this vast country that has no laws against parking in the street, so keep looking....

Clark County, Nevada (Las Vegas) has No Overnight Parking Ordinances throughout the valley which I wholeheartedly support. We also have strict ordinances concerning vehicles parked in the street. In my neighborhood we have no HOA, but we live in the last remaining rural preservation district, and you see a lot of motor homes parked next to houses. Rarely are these coaches used as living quarters except for short term guest quarters as we also have strict ordinances regarding living in a motor home. Some folks skirt the ordinances but they get caught sooner or later, in Las Vegas the tow companies love to tow vehicles, and our zoning enforcement officials are always on the look out for scofflaws. 

Oscar Mike said:

In my neighborhood we have no HOA, but we live in the last remaining rural preservation district, and you see a lot of motor homes parked next to houses. 

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OK, I give up. What's HOA?

Rene T said:

OK, I give up. What's HOA?

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Home Owner's Association=HOA

...and some people are the right types to be head of HOA's. They love to decide how the world should be run.

Jeff said:

... after five days of seeing the same derelict RVs parked in the same spots I took photos to have for the next WMT discussion like this.

If we still lived here I would ask Wal-Mart to prohibit these vagrants from living on our streets and if nothing happened would support a local ordinance to insure that it did. A 24 hour limit would probably work but I don't blame WMT for not wanting to run a meter service.

A couple of newer RVs spent the night here last week and I noticed they parked as far from these permanent residents as possible. When we no longer have the option of stopping at WMT we will have these folks to blame.

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If the offenders were in newer motorhomes, would you have the same comment?  Quite honestly, it's when the owners of newer motorhomes abuse the privilege I get a bit heated.  Derelicts or just down and out?  Personally, I feel for these folks.  I'm thankful I have a decent income and a home where I can hang my hat.  I'm sure there are some who are up to no good, but for the most part, what I've seen is some down and out folks doing their best to just get by.  And as we go forward in this land of plenty, where most of the wealth is concentrated in so few wallets, I fully expect the derelict rver situation to increase 10 fold. 

We stay at Walmarts, Casinos, Elks and any place that allows overnight parking, without apologizing for it. We always ask first and get approval even if there are others already parked there. If we can find a spot where our bedroom slide is away from parking and activity we'll put that slide out. If we're badly off-level we'll deploy the levelers, but put leveling blocks down to prevent marking the pavement. We always spend money at Walmarts and especially Casinos (maybe lose is a better word). At Elks we make a donation.

Walmart is changing the way business is done. Allowing RVers to park overnight knowing they will spend money, $4 prescriptions, vision and beauty care, and they have wellness and medical care centers at some stores. I believe the cost is $40 a visit.

Traveling full-time, Walmart is almost a one stop shop for us. We get our groceries, household items, personal and pet prescriptions filled at Walmarts. If we are camped at one place for any length of time we'll try to utilize the local merchants.

Buying gas at Walmarts: buy a Walmart Gift card and put as much money on it as you need to fill your tank. Pay for the gas with the gift card and you won't have to run your credit card several times to fill your tank, and you will get a discount for using their card.

I try to look at the situation in a personal way. I am a veterinarian. I went to school for 7 years, had to pass the state board, had a veterinary clinic, had to have a state license which required 20 hours of continuing education each year, had to have a city and county licenses, had to pay federal, state, county and city tax, had to pay my employees and had to pay insurance. If some joker who never went to vet. school started treating animals in the local Walmart parking lot... Yes I would be very upset. I can see why the local campgrounds would not be very happy if campers started to "camp" over night at Walmart..

On the other hand, I didn't charge for a full yearly exam when I only gave a rabies vaccination.  Would be nice if CG had some in and out over night parking spots. If I didn't use your water, electricity, dump, shower, swimming pool, TV, WIFI...etc. why would I pay for the "yearly exam"?

Frank Hurst said:

I try to look at the situation in a personal way. I am a veterinarian. I went to school for 7 years, had to pass the state board, had a veterinary clinic, had to have a state license which required 20 hours of continuing education each year, had to have a city and county licenses, had to pay federal, state, county and city tax, had to pay my employees and had to pay insurance. If some joker who never went to vet. school started treating animals in the local Walmart parking lot... Yes I would be very upset. I can see why the local campgrounds would not be very happy if campers started to "camp" over night at Walmart..

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Sorry but I don't get the analogy. Walmart has to have city and county licenses, has to pay federal, state, county and city tax, has to pay employees and has to pay insurance.

Newhalls, that was the analogy that I was making. I have stayed at a Walmart averaging about once a year mostly when I find myself caught in a bind. I don't believe that it is right to not routinely use a paying campground. 

Frank Hurst said:

I try to look at the situation in a personal way. I am a veterinarian. I went to school for 7 years, had to pass the state board, had a veterinary clinic, had to have a state license which required 20 hours of continuing education each year, had to have a city and county licenses, had to pay federal, state, county and city tax, had to pay my employees and had to pay insurance. If some joker who never went to vet. school started treating animals in the local Walmart parking lot... Yes I would be very upset. I can see why the local campgrounds would not be very happy if campers started to "camp" over night at Walmart..

On the other hand, I didn't charge for a full yearly exam when I only gave a rabies vaccination.  Would be nice if CG had some in and out over night parking spots. If I didn't use your water, electricity, dump, shower, swimming pool, TV, WIFI...etc. why would I pay for the "yearly exam"?

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Like the Newhalls I do not get the analogy either.. For one thing the reason Wal*mart likes RVers to park there is .. Well, I pull into the Wall*mart and I'm tired, there is often an eatery inside, or if I do not what what that store serves I can pick up a quick meal in the deli or in the frozen dinner department and do a quick Microwave.. But no matter which method I choose. I AM SPENDING MONEY, improving the economy,, IN fact for my wife and I to overnight in say a Flying-J often cost more than overnight in a licensed RV park (Dinner and breakfast for 2 at the affiliated restaurant).

This is what the govermaurnent is missing,  People spend money in the store, Which like you pays taxes, and permit and licensing fees.

And the kind of Vets I used to deal with treated animals where they were (on the farm) more often than in the clinic.  Pet Vets tend to overcharge epically when compared to Farm Vets.. So you know you are already on my bad side.

Frank, we're all different.  My x wife was a Dentist.  I suspect she had as much medical school as you.  But I guarantee you, she doesn't feel the need to support anyone just because they're struggling to maintain a business.  A business is not successful because patrons feel sorry for them.  I'm sure your pet owners didn't go to you because you needed the business.  I suspect they went to you because you could provide exceptional care for their pet.  Walmart provides services for me that are not available elsewhere.  When I stay at one of their lots, it's because they have extended an invitation.  If they don't allow for overnight parking, I still shop there.  If I need something I leave my RV and walk over to the store.  That's almost every time.  I like Walmart.  They get the business.  I could drive 10 miles to a store at the other end of town but they must have something that sets them apart other than the sad face of the proprietor. 

John: I did large animal work for 30 years until 5 hernia surgeries, arthritis and heart surgery put a stop to my doing that type of practice. Hope that you will like me a little bit better for that.    Over the years I have treated thousands of animals at little or no cost, so please don't lump all veterinarians in the category of overcharges.

To everyone: If you read my past post you will see where I stated that I usually spend more money parking at Walmart than I would have spent staying at a campground and that most Walmart welcome my staying at their locations.

Don't want to get into a great debate with anyone, but I also want to try to understand the position of the campground owners.

Frank Hurst said:

Don't want to get into a great debate with anyone, but I also want to try to understand the position of the campground owners.

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How many of us have purchased MS Windows or MS Office or Photoshop or any number of other software products?  Well, there is likely a freebie out there that does everything you use your purchased product for.  True, most of the freebies can't do everything the purchased version does or do it quite as well. But, unless there is a copyright infringement, the producers of purchased products do not try to make the freebie offering illegal.  Instead, they try to produce a product more functional, more effective, more attractive product than the freebies...or they buy the freebie code.  So, the way I see it the local campgrounds should either improve their services to better meet the needs of the overnight campers or buy out the local WalMart store.

There are a lot of establishments that have followed Walmart and now allow overnight parking. Cabela's, Cracker Barrel, Bass Stores, Home Depot, Lowes, also Flying J, Pilots, Loves, and Elks. Why is Walmart the lightning rod? I never read anything negative about staying at any of the others.

We recently had to pull in around 7pm at a new Walmart super store in Woodland, WA. We had left our home around 3:30pm and just drove awhile before determining we needed to rest a spell. We pulled in about as far away from the store entrance as we could. There were no other RV's. We went in and did some shopping. We asked a manager on duty if we could rest overnight. She said that while Woodland had an ordinance prohibiting overnight camping within city limits, it was not enforced at the Walmart lot. We probably spent $50-60 on groceries and enjoyed a restful night. When we awoke in the morning there were 3 additional RV's.

We went in for some breakfast items and found the manager on duty and thanked her. We shall be heading out shortly for 6/7 months and no doubt will need a free overnight on occasion. Or at least a grocery run. And some Walmart's actually have an auto store which is capable of doing MH oil changes. I think I was charged $50 a year or so ago. Nice to know.