I mark used oil and put a line on the barcode using a permanent marker on my oil jugs that get returned for proper disposal.
Fell for the Old Used Oil in the New Jug....
- Thread starter wings&wheels
- Start date
I found two gallons of opened antifreeze at walmart, too. I check everything, now
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I bought some brake fluid at Walmart..... I got home and found the seal was opened and perhaps 1/4 of it was missing. Someone probably topped up their reservoir in the parking lot and returned what was left!
I only buy oil at Walmart and I open every one of them before I go to the register. I compare the level to others on the shelf, then pull the cap. If the foil seal is intact, I check to see if its been glued back, and on brands that dont use the seal, I shake it up then open it and give it the sniff test and look under the cap. I've only had one that was suspiciously dark and didnt find that out until I was already home, so all my paranoia inspections are now done at the store.
As someone else mentioned, I firmly believe not all but most of these used oil incidents are where people legitimately returned used oil to the store intending it to be recycled and some unsuspecting clerk interpreted it as a regular return and simply put it back on the shelf. Maybe I'm naive but I worked in a big box retail store in the high school years and saw way too much of this kind of thing happening, mostly with food and clothing. Mostly clothing with missing buttons or broken zippers or whatever, or food that had specks of mold visible, or a bug got in the package, and you go to take the cart to the dumpster only to learn one of the stocking clerks put it all back on the shelves.
As someone else mentioned, I firmly believe not all but most of these used oil incidents are where people legitimately returned used oil to the store intending it to be recycled and some unsuspecting clerk interpreted it as a regular return and simply put it back on the shelf. Maybe I'm naive but I worked in a big box retail store in the high school years and saw way too much of this kind of thing happening, mostly with food and clothing. Mostly clothing with missing buttons or broken zippers or whatever, or food that had specks of mold visible, or a bug got in the package, and you go to take the cart to the dumpster only to learn one of the stocking clerks put it all back on the shelves.
Just Tuesday I helped a pal do the (his) "first oil change" on a 2012 Xterra.
I laughed when I realized I automatically inspected the Mobil1 jug's contents
"Look at what I'm doing", I thought.
It's a pure necessity now. I like Skyactiv's idea of obscuring the bar code on jugs dropped off for recycling.
I laughed when I realized I automatically inspected the Mobil1 jug's contents
"Look at what I'm doing", I thought.
It's a pure necessity now. I like Skyactiv's idea of obscuring the bar code on jugs dropped off for recycling.
If it was Oreillys theres no telling what might have happened. Its possible that someone brought that jug in for recycle and dropped it off and an enterprising person cleaned it up. put it back on the shelf and refunded themselves the money. In this society almost anything is possible, humans are sketchy.
Lately I've been buying these Havoline smart change boxes, mainly because they are 6qt and that's exactly what my minivan needs, but I just realized they are much harder to fill back up with used oil and return.
Well yeh. You don't want to store opened brake fluid on your shelf.
Oil has a foil seal or the cap is attached to a sealing ring that un-snaps
At Walmart used oil goes to automotive and return of new goes to customer service.
Unless automotive is closed.
I've always thought the exact same thing! It happened to me once and I didn't want to go back to the store and look like I was the one pulling the scam. Now I open them right in the store before I leave.
Different product but same "good" job on the worker when I returned carpet shampoo. My wife and I both ended up buying some, and I was going to be near Walmart so I returned one of the bottles. These bottles only have the plastic cap, no foil, seal, etc but the employee opened the bottle and sniffed it. I had never really heard of or thought of people filling these with water or dish soap or something but I immediately realized what she was doing and asked her, "do people actually refill these and return them?" and she said it happens a lot.
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I always take a magic marker to disable tag UPC tag on any return containers.
wemay
Site Donor 2023
...and not even slightly used. That looks like a full blown 5,000+ miles on that oil. Sorry this happened to you, OP. It really sux
I really want to use Havoline Pro DS. American company. Good oil at a good price. And less plastic in the world. But man, it’s the hassle that always stops me. All the vehicles take less than 5 quarts so I’ll have leftovers ever time. I keep thinking maybe keep a few old jugs around for new and used oil to make things easier. But I never end up doing it. I don’t know maybe one day.
I was being funny (remember Maxwell Smart's old line), and I am in violent agreement with you. No FB or whatever, good old local O'Reillys and they were as surprised as I was. The jugs were impeccably cleaned though...someone put a bit of effort into this.
it cracks me up how much effort people put into scamming businesses like this. I catch a bunch of stuff like this, sometimes they're quite clever, cleaned off the package nicely, etc. I know a few regulars who try this stuff over and over again and we all know to check their returns VERY carefully. Those people I think would be better served by taking their time to work instead of rip us off, but I guess I'm the moron making almost minimum wage dealing with them, so who really knows who's winning haha.
Don't get me started on how many people try to return used gas cans. After all, they only needed it for their emergency and they think they can get a refund after they're done.
