Here is another point. Mobil 1, Pennzoil, Valvoline, etc, have their warranties for using their oils. Do you see a different or lesser warranty for their Wal Mart product than what you'd buy at Napa? No. Same warranty. Same old BS from folks who don't know how free market economics work.
oil quality
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Think of it this way. IF Walmart could get a major manufacturer to formulate a lower cost version, think of the hassles involved. They would have to shut down their lines for a special run and segregate product. It's just not worth the possible cost savings. Secondly, think of the backlash if they were discovered. Not happening in a major oil brand for sure.
Originally Posted by claluja
Was in an Advanced AP yesterday in WV and bought a 5 quart jug of PP 0w20. Was in a Walmart 5 minutes later a half mile away, and same jug was $5 cheaper. Made me cringe.
Also made we wonder whether Walmarts still accept oil returns . . . . which is why I tend to avoid buying oil at Walmart.
Paranoid much?
Was in an Advanced AP yesterday in WV and bought a 5 quart jug of PP 0w20. Was in a Walmart 5 minutes later a half mile away, and same jug was $5 cheaper. Made me cringe.
Also made we wonder whether Walmarts still accept oil returns . . . . which is why I tend to avoid buying oil at Walmart.
Paranoid much?
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Same product. Everyone has a right to be sceptical but no one was the right to be wrong.
My wife used to be a sales support person for Nintendo they got the same product as everyone else and they got it cheaper than anyone else just based on volume along with a few other perks.
Form what I understand Walmart has their own jug size that is not sold in other stores, but the product inside is the same. They do this so people cannot price match with them. Price match requires for the products to be identical, by having a difference in quantity, they don't have to honour their price matching policy.
Originally Posted by KrisZ
Form what I understand Walmart has their own jug size that is not sold in other stores, but the product inside is the same. They do this so people cannot price match with them. Price match requires for the products to be identical, by having a difference in quantity, they don't have to honour their price matching policy.
I'd don't find this to be true they carry oil in five quart Jugs, gallon Jugs and quarts just like every one else?????
Form what I understand Walmart has their own jug size that is not sold in other stores, but the product inside is the same. They do this so people cannot price match with them. Price match requires for the products to be identical, by having a difference in quantity, they don't have to honour their price matching policy.
I'd don't find this to be true they carry oil in five quart Jugs, gallon Jugs and quarts just like every one else?????
When Wal Mart have their rollbacks, prices are cheaper there than sales at O'Reilly's, Autozone, NAPA, etc. Wal Mart is even on the label sometimes which makes me wonder if the manufacture lighten up on the add pack to make prices fit into WM's costs when compared to regular prices oils at an auto parts store. Just being suspicious.
Just look at car guys in general. What they know about oil can generally be written on the head of a pin. Really, though, it's not them, we're the OCD ones.
How do we know walmart buys the oil significantly cheaper than Advanced auto? The difference could be $1 per jug. The autoplaces typically have way higher markup on most of the things the sell. Volume is lower, operating cost is higher so they need higher margins to survive.
Simple as that.
Simple as that.
Certain products could potentially have lesser quantities. Fuel in the Bic lighters, less alkiline in the Aa,9v batteries even a couple of less ounces in oil jugs. And yes manufacturers could do a special run for WM, why not, they order large enough quantities. What WM wants WM gets.
I think all this talk about oils being sold at Walmart being lesser quality sounds a bit silly. The GM Dexos website makes it easy to see that it's the same oil. Most major manufacturer's synthetic 5w30 or 5/0w20 meet D1G2 spec and you can buy those at WM no problem. If for some reason WM was selling a lesser oil that still meets this spec the dexos site would have a separate entry with a different license number in the database, but there isn't, which means, at the very least, dexos oil at Walmart is the same stuff you find at other stores.
I can think of a number of items that are specially made for large big box stores - lawntractors being one of them. They look the same, they usually differ in model number by one letter/number but the components (transmissions/gauge of steel used for deck, etc) of a John Deere bought at Lowes differs significantly from the equivant model purchased at the John Deere dealership. The Lowes models are typically $150-200 less but also inferior in build quality and to people not looking carefully they never see the difference and conclude they are getting the same product at a $150-200 discount.
All that said, I do not believe this is the case with oil. In the above case if you compare the published specs between the two models they are transparent about the differences. There is no indication there's any difference in the oil specs.
All that said, I do not believe this is the case with oil. In the above case if you compare the published specs between the two models they are transparent about the differences. There is no indication there's any difference in the oil specs.
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
I can think of a number of items that are specially made for large big box stores - lawntractors being one of them. They look the same, they usually differ in model number by one letter/number but the components (transmissions/gauge of steel used for deck, etc) of a John Deere bought at Lowes differs significantly from the equivant model purchased at the John Deere dealership. The Lowes models are typically $150-200 less but also inferior in build quality and to people not looking carefully they never see the difference and conclude they are getting the same product at a $150-200 discount.
I worked on the production line at John Deere building those lawn tractors, did the inventory and QC on individual parts, assembled thousands of them, and I can assure you that is absolutely 100% false.
I can think of a number of items that are specially made for large big box stores - lawntractors being one of them. They look the same, they usually differ in model number by one letter/number but the components (transmissions/gauge of steel used for deck, etc) of a John Deere bought at Lowes differs significantly from the equivant model purchased at the John Deere dealership. The Lowes models are typically $150-200 less but also inferior in build quality and to people not looking carefully they never see the difference and conclude they are getting the same product at a $150-200 discount.
I worked on the production line at John Deere building those lawn tractors, did the inventory and QC on individual parts, assembled thousands of them, and I can assure you that is absolutely 100% false.
Originally Posted by RDY4WAR
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
I can think of a number of items that are specially made for large big box stores - lawntractors being one of them. They look the same, they usually differ in model number by one letter/number but the components (transmissions/gauge of steel used for deck, etc) of a John Deere bought at Lowes differs significantly from the equivant model purchased at the John Deere dealership. The Lowes models are typically $150-200 less but also inferior in build quality and to people not looking carefully they never see the difference and conclude they are getting the same product at a $150-200 discount.
I worked on the production line at John Deere building those lawn tractors, did the inventory and QC on individual parts, assembled thousands of them, and I can assure you that is absolutely 100% false.
Substitute John Deere with Husqvarna then which I the dealer told me was true - Lowes gets the all plastic CVT transmission while my local dealer gets the metal hydrostatic transmission. When I had a problem with the plastic CVT he didn't know that transmission existed let alone know how to fix it. His comment was he can't even order that model from Husqvarna because it's a Lowes/Home Depot only model.
My point is these kinds of things exist in the world - models made specifically for large high-volume clients. Or at least that's what the dealer said...to be clear I don't really care...maybe he lied to me.
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
I can think of a number of items that are specially made for large big box stores - lawntractors being one of them. They look the same, they usually differ in model number by one letter/number but the components (transmissions/gauge of steel used for deck, etc) of a John Deere bought at Lowes differs significantly from the equivant model purchased at the John Deere dealership. The Lowes models are typically $150-200 less but also inferior in build quality and to people not looking carefully they never see the difference and conclude they are getting the same product at a $150-200 discount.
I worked on the production line at John Deere building those lawn tractors, did the inventory and QC on individual parts, assembled thousands of them, and I can assure you that is absolutely 100% false.
Substitute John Deere with Husqvarna then which I the dealer told me was true - Lowes gets the all plastic CVT transmission while my local dealer gets the metal hydrostatic transmission. When I had a problem with the plastic CVT he didn't know that transmission existed let alone know how to fix it. His comment was he can't even order that model from Husqvarna because it's a Lowes/Home Depot only model.
My point is these kinds of things exist in the world - models made specifically for large high-volume clients. Or at least that's what the dealer said...to be clear I don't really care...maybe he lied to me.
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So now it looks like Lowe's does sell the same model as the dealer. Three years ago you could not buy a plastic CVT transmission at the dealer and it was not even listed on the Husqvarna website. The model number of my mower is one letter different from the hydrostatic metal transmission unit that was listed on their website and was sold by my local dealer. It seems now Husqvarna has ditched the plastic CVTs in favor of the hydrostatic on both their website/dealers and at the big box stores.
It was the YTA22v46 (Lowes) vs YTH22v46 - both the same price at the time with identical appearances but some significant differences under the hood.
The only point is it's not a crazy idea that large stores would get specific models/products - again I don't see this for oil.
It was the YTA22v46 (Lowes) vs YTH22v46 - both the same price at the time with identical appearances but some significant differences under the hood.
The only point is it's not a crazy idea that large stores would get specific models/products - again I don't see this for oil.
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