MMO & Wal-Mart

[ZiTS]

I was in my local Wal-Mart the other day (6/18) and was going to buy a bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil. When I got up to the counter, it rang up as "Do Net Sell This Item", and the cashier took it away from me. She had no idea why (no suprise there

), but simply said she couldn't sell it to me.

I decided to go back yesterday and try again (just for the heck of it), only to find that all of the bottles of MMO had been removed from the shelf. I also noticed that every bottle of Chevron-brand cleaners had been removed. So maybe the problem doesn't have anything to do with MMO. There were plenty of bottles of STP, Gumout, and other brands still out.

I'm wondering - is Wal-Mart pulling another "Fram" style take-over of fuel/oil additives? Are they cutting back on their choices due to pricing or some other marketing pressure? Has anybody heard anything or experienced anything like this elsewhere?

 

[Schmoe]

Hmmmmmmm, news to me, I'll have to check our Walmart. Maybe MMO ?issed them off.

 

[mburnickas]

at least it did not ask is customer over 18! LOL

 

[stumpman]

I had the same thing happen to at Walmart 3 weeks ago. Only I was buying Power Service Diesel Additive. It rung-up as " CANNOT SELL THIS ITEM". I left Walmart vowing not to go back- again.

 

[unDummy]

If it can't be sold, where does it go?????????

 

[ebaker]

They are probably returning it to the manufacturer for credit.

 

[kang]

I had the same thing happen with Regane. I complained "Why are they still on the shelf if you cannot sell them?"

I went back a couple days later and tried again. I wanted to see if they had resolved the problem, but no, I got the same result. They gave me some lame excuse as to why they are still on the shelf.

They told me it was a recall, but now, if you had the same thing with MMO, I doubt that.

 

[John Hilmer]

Hum, intersting isn't it.

Maybe keep an eye on the local BigLots and Dollar stores to see if there is a correlation though that would be a wild stretch owing to the corporate structures. Then again ...????

 

[Gary Allan]

Hmmm...lessee here. Maybe it's a WallMart "wildcat". Instead of an embargo. WallMart just entered into a new realm of retail terrorism.

First they enslave the producer to gear up production to make money on the slave prices that they insist on selling the stuff for. The producer submits to it ..or loses market share to their competitor who does it too.


Then instead of closing the tap ..they plug the drain. In a very short time the producer is swimming in product with no outlet to get rid of it.

Kinda like MasterBlaster in Thunder Dome ...'cept in reverse.

 

[NorthIL]

The Wally World style of Retail Terrorism is not new. Sears did the same things years ago to suppliers. They would start off buying, for example, 10% of the suppliers output. No qualms about price. Year after year, increase purchases from supplier until large majority is being purchased by Sears..then the terrorism begins. "We will only pay $xx or we won't buy anymore."

By then the supplier has no other outlet for their product and must submit..and of course, Sears would offer to buy out their company for pennies on the dollar or drive them into bankruptcy.

Ain't capitalism great?!

 

[wagsg]

Something is definitely afoot. On my most recent trip to WW, I noticed the fluid/additive selection was greatly diminished but chalked it up to the "makeover" that this particular store was going through (rearranging, new color scheme, etc). At the time I hadn't put much thought into it, but after reading this post I remember that there were alot of "same brand products" lining the shelves.

Luckily we have Mill's Fleet Farm which has a very good selection and competitive/sometimes lower prices on many products. They also have employees that are actually helpful.

 

[techie]

How odd. About a week or two ago I was in WM looking around and saw MMO on the shelves and thinking about buying some, but I didn't. Later that week I went back to buy some, but they had none. I stood there for awhile scratching my head trying to figure out what was going on.

 

[wagsg]

I forgot to add to my previous post, and seeing how this thread was about MMO, that Fleet Farm sells MMO for $2.44/qt. Cheap as I've found anywhere.

 

[road_rascal]

Too bad the Fleet Farm in Lakeville doesn't sell Motorcraft filters and Pennzoil Platinum oil.

 

[SirEager]

How is tracter suply store for oil?

Let the walmart bashing begain.

 

[dwendt44]

One of the W/W area managers told me it was a label problem.
Other products were pulled as well, all Lucas products were pulled, and a couple of others as well.

Still, the local Fleet & Farm had both MMO and Lucas still on the shelves.

 

[methusaleh]

I couldn't resist, so I price-scanned one bottle of each size...sure enough, the message read "please see an associate." I didn't bother bringing them up to the register...

 

[Thatwouldbegreat]

Maybe a label issue with the new EPA labeling about sulfur and 2007 model diesel engines?

 

[80caprice]

Crud....if wally won't sell MMO, I'll have to resort to $general or napa.

 

[-SyN-]

Hmmm! glad I use FP60.