Wal Mart oil

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: BuickGuy
Wow!!! Thanks for all the replies. Im not a tin foil hat guy, but I am concerned that Valvoline will not give me a direct yes or no answer to that question. You guys do bring up a very valid point about retailers making a subtle change in the ID of the products. The thing that really caused me to wonder about the oil is a previous experience with WalMart. Please understand that I am not "anti WalMart" per se, but a few years back when my daughter was about to graduate college, I replaced the tires on her car with Goodyear tires from WalMart. My thinking at the time was, I had no idea where she would end up, but there would probably be a WalMart near if she needed service. Turned out she was only 60 miles away, but when 3 of the tires had failed within 28000 miles, I complained to my Goodyear retailer who told me that these tires were WalMart specific and he would not service them, nor would he let his daughter drive on them. I took his advice and replaced them with Yokohamas and lived happily ever after (for about 75000 miles anyway). I have used Valvoline oil for over a million miles and currently have a 02 LeSabre approching 300,000 miles and just retired a Dodge truck with 288,000 VERY hard miles. Obviously I really trust Valvoline and was just wondering if I could save some $$ buying my SYN-power at Wally's. Thanks Guys


Napa house brand is valvoline. Use it if your looking for a cheaper version of it the napa house brand is it.
As far as wal-mart getting all of the brands they carry to bottle them a less expensive version of the grades they carry which translates into them less additizing the products they sell.
That is truly an absurd idea. They would have to certify these less additized oils and the msds would also reflect the difference in formulations as well.

 

[kschachn]

Why would they, that makes no sense. Just to sell it cheaper? They can sell M1 cheaper than anyone else without changing the formula.

Besides, Walmart already has a "different formulation of the big brands". It's called Super Tech.

Originally Posted By: y_p_w
However, I don't think even Wal-Mart has the pull to do get some different formulation of the big brands just for themselves.

 

[mark pruett]

There is one sketchy thing Wal-Mart does, and that's to leave oil on the shelves/ship oil that's old and not up to the latest specs.

I accidentally got a 2009/2010 SM bottle of Pennzoil Platinum back a good long while after the SN oils were out; long enough so that I didn't even look at the bottle and assumed it would be SN rated.

Luckily, it says that it already exceeds the 2010 GF-5 standards, which means that it's more or less SN, without the actual SN rating on the bottle, plus my pickup only specs SM anyway.

But if your car is newer than mine, that may cause you to do something that might mess with your warranty if you're not paying attention.

 

[adolan21]

Originally Posted By: R80RS
This is a good question. I purchased a name brand microwave oven at Walmart some years ago. After it was out of warranty the door latch failed, so I called the manufacturer's service number to locate parts. When I gave them the model number the rep told me that that was a model sold only through Walmart, and there is no parts or service support available for it. Must be one of the ways Walmart is able to aggressively control costs. I have never purchased an item of any significance at Walmart since.

I'm glad to hear at least the oil is the same regardless of whether it is sold at Wallyworld or elsewhere.



They also do this so price matching is impossible. It's infuriating when you find something cheaper somewhere but because the model number has an "A" instead of a "B" it's not the same thing in their eyes even though IT IS the same product.

 

[SteveSRT8]

"Private Labeling" is available to anyone who orders enough product. So retailers have been doing this throughout history to keep consumers from price shopping. Nuttin' new here...

We buy spot cleaner for our clients from a national company. As long as we order enough we can have any name we like on it!

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: mark pruett
There is one sketchy thing Wal-Mart does, and that's to leave oil on the shelves/ship oil that's old and not up to the latest specs.

I accidentally got a 2009/2010 SM bottle of Pennzoil Platinum back a good long while after the SN oils were out; long enough so that I didn't even look at the bottle and assumed it would be SN rated.

Luckily, it says that it already exceeds the 2010 GF-5 standards, which means that it's more or less SN, without the actual SN rating on the bottle, plus my pickup only specs SM anyway.

But if your car is newer than mine, that may cause you to do something that might mess with your warranty if you're not paying attention.



You got a local store problem that had a errant case or two stuck in a back corner and then put out for sale when found.

I worked many years back in a Walmart distribution center that feeds the stock to the various stores in a given area, stock in a distribution center flips every 2-4 days on average and does not keep any old product around.

So if you got a store that has old rated stock being sold, it is 99.9% of the time a local store issue and not some corporate decision to sell old rated oil as there turnover does not make it a feasible scenario.

 

[mark pruett]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro

So if you got a store that has old rated stock being sold, it is 99.9% of the time a local store issue and not some corporate decision to sell old rated oil as there turnover does not make it a feasible scenario.


Oh, I wasn't necessarily trying to paint the corporate apparatus in a bad light; I just was pointing out that they'll stick old stuff on the shelves if they find it, and nobody's the wiser unless you actually look at the bottles. Caveat emptor and all that.

 

[mongo161]

Amazon and Royal Purple made me a happy man by sending me a load of "OLD" RP API-SL.

I was quite happy with their generosity, since I was looking for the API-SL oil.


Originally Posted By: mark pruett
Originally Posted By: Hootbro

So if you got a store that has old rated stock being sold, it is 99.9% of the time a local store issue and not some corporate decision to sell old rated oil as there turnover does not make it a feasible scenario.


Oh, I wasn't necessarily trying to paint the corporate apparatus in a bad light; I just was pointing out that they'll stick old stuff on the shelves if they find it, and nobody's the wiser unless you actually look at the bottles. Caveat emptor and all that.

 

[fdcg27]

Brands are too precious for owners to cheapen them by supplying an inferior product for Walmart to sell at a lower price.
For one-off purchases, like flat-screen TVs, tires or microwave ovens, manufacturers are willing to play.
For branded goods purchased on a regular basis, like laundry detergent, motor oil and packaged foods, the brand is worth more than selling to Walmart.
Walmart also likes to point to the name brand goods it sells at low prices as typical of its low margins, even though any informed consumer knows that to be a fable.