I went there yesterday to get some 5W30 and had a hard time finding it. I needed 7 qts and the only oil to get me a jug of 5 Qts and 2 single qts was Castrol FS 5W30. Was hoping for some QSUD or SuperTech, but they had none. Valvoline and Pennzoil was very low too. Next time I may just order online with free shipping.
Walmart low on oil
- Thread starter Matagonka
- Start date
Went to tractor supply last night. The oil shelves were bare.
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
Was at WalMart yesterday. Only oil that was very thin was Mobil 1 products. Of course they just came off of rollback. Saw that they stock OEM Toyota oil filters. Not cheap though.
MolaKule
Staff member
Same here.
One of our members here delivers Walmart trailers to stores all over the midwest and he related he and other drivers are extremely busy delivering goods to Walmart stores.
You were where ? There are LOTS of Walmarts in NC, not to mention the entire country.
I'm just going to post a link to a another post where I posted two other links to two other threads that talked about the exact same thing.
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/mobil-0w-30-walmart.347490/post-5927406
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/mobil-0w-30-walmart.347490/post-5927406
I know it's not 100% accurate, but looking at the online info for my nearby Walmart and at the brand I buy, they have multiple viscosities and 'versions' available for in-store pickup today. These so-called "shortages" are almost always just a local issue. Next week or two, my local store may not look the same but the OP's will probably be fully re-stocked. I also have 5+ Walmarts within a 20-minute or so drive from home.To all those that laugh at oil hording, Who's Laughing Now!
The several WMs nearby have oil on the shelves. I would not say it's a lot. I would fairly say that the typical WM has about 25% capacity on the shelves. Some, like diesel, are almost entirely empty. For gas vehicles, big empty spots, and for the full spots, about 1-3 deep out of the possible 5-deep rows. There's probably not more than a few weeks of motor oil product.
It wouldn't take much to be cleaned out, maybe a week of non-delivery IMO. Or a oil price shock, say it jumps to >$100 barrel.
Having said that, there's probably 6 WMs in short driving distance. Plus there's at least 3 or 4 major auto parts retailers with probably 3-5 shops all within 20 miles, and they have nearly full shelves (because their prices are about 30% more than WM). So it would take a lot to clean out WM, and then clean out the ~15 nearby auto parts stores (which charge a premium). Plus, there's 50 auto shops in the area which all have bulk oil.
So, I sorta go back and forth on this. I'm sitting on thousands of quarts of oil that I've been having difficulty selling at 3/4 of what WM charges. So the demand is surprisingly soft, to be blunt.
It wouldn't take much to be cleaned out, maybe a week of non-delivery IMO. Or a oil price shock, say it jumps to >$100 barrel.
Having said that, there's probably 6 WMs in short driving distance. Plus there's at least 3 or 4 major auto parts retailers with probably 3-5 shops all within 20 miles, and they have nearly full shelves (because their prices are about 30% more than WM). So it would take a lot to clean out WM, and then clean out the ~15 nearby auto parts stores (which charge a premium). Plus, there's 50 auto shops in the area which all have bulk oil.
So, I sorta go back and forth on this. I'm sitting on thousands of quarts of oil that I've been having difficulty selling at 3/4 of what WM charges. So the demand is surprisingly soft, to be blunt.
When I see entire 'slots' gone, it makes me suspect that smaller auto repair shops go in and buy all that's available. Techs, shop owners, etc here have said that they have done this themselves since WM's price is still lower than they can buy from their parts suppliers or oil distributor (or they don't do enough volume to justify buying by the tank).
This ^^ is a substantial factor. In fact, I doubt they have "a few weeks" worth of oil, but more like 1-2 weeks. The get deliveries 7 days a week, 24 hours a day so product is always flowing in.
I rarely buy motor oil in person. My guess is one 5 quart jug in the last year. And I have 10 to 20 in the garage right now.
I service numerous friends' cars. I can't pass up a sale...
I just got back from my trash (WM) run, and the shelves were pretty low here as well. And some of the prices were higher. The Stupertech 10w-40 Motorcycle oil was $9.00 a quart!
I went on Thursday and the oil shelves were full. The filters were all there, and now they have car batteries with no locks on the battery shelf thing. Full of batteries. They were out of Great Value bread except for a few loaves, but at $1.88 for any kind it’s easy to see why it all gone. Cheapest prices in town, went out with a lot of mostly food items.
My local wm has been low for months. Shelves 3/4 empty. Almost never any supertech.
Similar threads
