Walmart overnight parking

[Tom_M]

Someone told me that Walmart now has a nationwide policy that bans overnight parking. I can not find anything about this doing a web search. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[phil-t]

I would not be surpised. Seeing instances of abuse/misuse by folks parked in RVs is disheartening.

 

[jymbee]

Someone told me that Walmart now has a nationwide policy that bans overnight parking. I can not find anything about this doing a web search. Can anyone confirm this?

Not buyin' it. That's a story that's been out there for over a year with nothing to indicate it's so. We've seen RVs at a number of Walmarts in the last few months.

 

[Joezeppy]

We have 3 Wal-Mart stores near us - one is near impossible to get into with an RV (the trucks have their own entrance) but the other two are very popular with RVs since they are both within a mile or so of the NYS Thruway (I-90). No shortage of overnighters in those two lots!

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Yet another phony internet rumor. The FAQs on the official Walmart site still say "we do permit RV parking on our store parking lots as we are able. Permission to park is extended by individual store managers ..."

The official policy remains that each store manager determines the overnight parking policy for that store, in adherence to local regulations.

 

[Trivet]

Someone told me that Walmart now has a nationwide policy that bans overnight parking. I can not find anything about this doing a web search. Can anyone confirm this?

Why didn't you ask this person where they got the information? That always gives a good starting point for evaluating the truth.

 

[Tom_M]

Here's the lowdown on how this started. The person that told me this had downloaded a Walmart POI file from POI Factory three days ago. Every store was flagged as 'NOP' meaning No Overnight Parking and he assumed the worst. Today I downloaded a Walmart POI file from POI Factory and found that about one fourth of the stores were flagged NOP. Obviously somebody screwed up at POI Factory. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[LMHS]

What may have confused them is that the WalMart, Sam's Clubs, And Super WalMart Centers In The United States & Canada contains:
Murphy
Murphy Express
Sam's Club
Walmart
Walmart Fuel Station
Walmart Neigbourhood Markets
Walmart Pharmacy
Walmart Pharmacy/Clinic
Walmart Pickup
Walmart Super Centers
Walmart To Go

Of these, I would say the majority of the regular Walmarts and Walmart Neigbourhood Markets are listed as NOP (No Overnight Parking). That adds up to a substantial amount of NOPs. My copy was downloaded around the middle of March.

I download a .csv file, save it as an .ods file, then rip the the whole thing into pieces so I can delete and organize to suit me. I keep only the Sam's Clubs and Walmart Super Centers in the states I am interested in (I also have no interest in Canada at this time). Everything else is deleted. Regular Walmarts and the Neigbourhood Markets typically have small parking lots. I am looking for large parking lots that are big rig friendly. Then I use what I have salvaged to build my own maps.

Because I do this, I know roughly how many NOPs are left in my spreadsheet. For example out of the 101 Alabama Walmart Super Centers, there are 5 listed as NOP. Out of the 171 Florida Walmart Super Centers, there are 58 listed as NOP. If I had included the regular Walmarts and the Neighbourhood Markets, the numbers would have been much, much higher.

 

[Tom_M]

The POI that I downloaded today lists 7,151 stores and 1,468 of them are NOP.

 

[LMHS]

I have 7153 listed in my original download. So given the large number of NOP in Canada plus the Walmarts, Neighbourhood Markets and remaining Super Center NOPs, that sounds about right. If you think there is a problem with the POI, then log into POI-Factory and leave a message with the person who maintains the file.

 

[DonTom]

See this map for where you may and may not park overnight in an RV at Wally*Marts.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Tom_M]

Thanks Don. That's an exceptional resource. I spend winters in Florida and when I head to and from Minneapolis I spend nights at a Walmart. I use Microsoft Streets & Trips to plan my route and import the Walmart POI.

 

[uchu]

See this map for where you may and may not park overnight in an RV at Wally*Marts.

-Don- Auburn, CA

Nice. It would be great if it included Canadian Walmarts.

 

[whiteva]

I prefer a church parking lot. Much quieter, Wednesday night is usually a pot luck dinner and the cops leave you alone. If the pastor stops by they usually offer water and electricity.

 

[LarsMac]

I've never been told 'no' by a manager at WM when I ask with a couple of bags of merchandise in my hands.

 

[LMHS]

I miss Streets & Trips. I have been using Google My Maps as a replacement and editing POI files to suit my requirements. What I like about the My Maps is that if my current computer crashes (either electronically or physically since the dog hates the computer), I haven't lost all my map info.

You do know that you can import POI files into My Maps, don't you? For those who don't know and would like to, here's how....

Import Locations into Google Maps from Excel, CSV or Spreadsheet | IPM Media

In this tutorial, I go over how to import addresses into Google Maps quickly & easily using spreadsheets like Excel or CSV. It's actually a really simple process, that is very powerful.

www.ipmmedia.net

 

[DonTom]

Nice. It would be great if it included Canadian Walmarts.

On September 21, 2009, Tom & I stayed at a Wal*Mart in Hinton, Alberta. There was a sign in the parking a lot that said "RVers welcome to stay overnight" and it went on to say we didn't need to let them know inside.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Onyrlef]

I've never been told 'no' by a manager at WM when I ask with a couple of bags of merchandise in my hands.

Since retiring I’ve done a few temp gigs for WM Corp ( Sam’s Clubs), we’d have a few overnighter’s every morning and no one paid them any mind. Trust me, the mgr. has enough problems without making a few RV’ers an issue.

 

[DonTom]

Trust me, the mgr. has enough problems without making a few RV’ers an issue.

I always assumed they didn't want to be bothered knowing about RVers parking overnight. Even if you let them know, does anybody here think they will pass on the info to the next shift? I kinda doubt it. So IMO, there is no difference in letting them know or not.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[LarsMac]

It's called Courtesy.
They do appreciate knowing who's hanging around their store.