WHAT is with WalMart?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Dec 5, 2005
Messages
2,724
Location
Herndon, Virginia
Went by last night for aspirin, and of course, took that long hike to the back of the store looking for a deal on my next OCI, and...Nothing!

Stocked shelves, fully and completely, and in the whole section, exactly TWO bottles of PP 5W20. There was NO other 5W20 in any brand.

Straight-weight 30 and 40, every brand had 20W50, and primarily, 10W30 and 40. Fact is, there were hardly any 5W30 oils there, either. Motorcraft, M1, and ST had 5W30, but not Havoline, Castrol or Valvoline. I doubt 5W30 was even 10 percent of the stock there. And I'm not talking picked over, under-stocked shelves, they were loaded to the edges of the shelves, but except for the Pennzoil Platinum, 2 bottles, 5W20 at 5.80/qt. there was NO 5W20.

What gives?
dunno.gif
 
Warmer weather on the way maybe? WalMart buyers may know something about their own customers, meaning, that when the summer is on the way, it's time to stock the shelves with heaver weight oil especially in VA. Alot more trucks doing construction possibly? More road and building construction will be going on especially with the smaller businesses. Landscaping, concrete/brick work, tile, roofing, etc...The privetely owned business where guys do alot of their own maintenance to save cost. Just a guess!
 
Maybe..
It's a turnaround, though. All the Syn brands had an 0W20, and every brand had a 5W20 in Dino just a month or so ago, and now they're simply not stocking the stuff. I bet the stock of straight-weights was three times that of 5W30.

Seriously, how many people could possibly using straight-weight oil in their cars?

Maybe they're catering to the lawn-mower trade?
 
I have given up on Wal-Mart. The store in my area rarely has anything (oil or other products) that i'm looking for. IMO Wal-Mart does a VERY poor job of stocking their shelves.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Gilitar:
I have given up on Wal-Mart. The store in my area rarely has anything (oil or other products) that i'm looking for. IMO Wal-Mart does a VERY poor job of stocking their shelves.

I agree, unfornately the masses disagree.
 
They're expending the labor, shelves were full, and the place was neat and clean (same broken down electronic filter guide for Frams they've had since last fall, so at least they can't sell Fram), but the selection of oil grades and viscosities is rather vexxing. Would be cool if one of their jobbers was reading here. It would be interesting to hear how they develop their purchasing and stocking strategies. They're deserting a rather large slice of their market.
 
I agree Wal Mart in my area does a terrible job of stocking oil.

They rarely have enough Mobil 1 0W-40 or 0W-20 / 5W-20, or PP 5W-20, Motorcraft 5W-20/ 5W-30, or Delo 400 to do an oil change.

I just stock up whenever I see a deal or enough inventory.

I used to think that they simply sold that much, but after asking the T&L manager to reorder and watching the shelves over time, I realized that they fail to restock.

I think maybe the inventory reflects whatever 'deals' the Wal Mart buyers and the oil companies strike.
 
Plain and simple, walmart stocks what people buy...In theory anyway. If they have a lazy automotive manager, then that's another story.

My WalMart stocks a great deal of 5w30 and 10w30 and 5w30 sells out of stock before 10w30.

Even though this is hot hot Texas, I see very little 20w50 on the shelf.

I'm happy to report though that on my last several trips to Walmart they have had TropArtic in stock in both 5w30 and 10w30. They also had several havoline 5 qt jugs in 10w30 and 5w30 and several 5qt jugs of Castrol in every flavor possible. SuperTech filters also appeared to be in full-stock.

They also had one opened bottle of SuperTech (perhaps a tester like in the lotion aisle??) so i took a wiff. Not too bad...

One thing i did notice, they were completely sold out of quarts of SuperTech Dexron III. They had shelf space for prolly 3 or 4 cases, but it was all gone. They did have a few gallon jugs left of it though.
 
The Wal Mart masses find it difficult to ignore arguments such as this:

Yesterday... Mt. Airy, MD...
Maxlife Syn oil at Wal Mart $4.48/qt
same oil at Advance Auto in the same shopping center (four doors down), $5.48/qt
 
quote:

Originally posted by Gilitar:
I have given up on Wal-Mart. The store in my area rarely has anything (oil or other products) that i'm looking for. IMO Wal-Mart does a VERY poor job of stocking their shelves.

You need to have a very polite conversation with the General Manager concerning his selection of oils. Be sure to direct him to BITOG for inspiration. Remember to note that we just don't go to Wal-Mart for Oil. Poor selection in the automotive section and we don't even pull into the parking lot. Now go get him Tiger.
 
I'm with you ALS
cheers.gif


My Walmarts are too horrible at providing me with much selection unless I like Castrol or Mobil. The Valvoline selection is so small for me in the 5qt jugs... I try to run Synpower but I've about given up. Oil is too expensive at AZ to bother with. (Im not paying $5.50-6/qt for normal syn)
 
quote:

Originally posted by kkat:
Believe it or not walmart can tell you in advance for any given day of the year as to what will be the biggest seller in any particular location. Pick 8/15/06 for example--They can look back at previous years sales for that day and see the item's or item that sold well for that day and supply the nessesary product to each store or area for sale. I worked at walmart for 2 years stocking shelves at night while I was getting my business up and running and was able to learn some of the ways Sam operated. Its not just walmart Im sure every big box store in existance must know what is going on to be able to survive. When you think about its kinda funny and kinda sad, that being the public can be so predictable and so alike in their purchasing that a company can tell you what will be the biggest seller of the day before it happens. and then again maybe they were just trying to get rid of old stock.

That is very true. Wal-mart probably has the best inventory system on the planet. They were the first ones to use bar codes, ect. You prolly saw the rise of sprawl-mart too. They do not however keep oil stock. I had to email wal-mart to get 5w-30 ST syn in stock. Oil is one thing they might not be able to track as well. I know their are others like me who HATE even going in to wal-mart. I sneek in by the oil f*&k up your car lube part of the store, stock up on oil and filters so I don't have to see the ugly white floors, the lazy fat people in rascles trying to run over my feet, the 85 year old greeter, ect. Wal-mart should ship from a warehouse to replace something as soon as you buy it. The warehouse knows within a few seconds that a store needs a new item. They also use software to track how much gets sold in each month and even weather conditions. It's kind of cool what Wal-mart has done, but they also scare me too. They are like a little mini country or something. They are way too big and at least the oil and filters I buy are made in the US of freaken A.
 
Mine has M1 0W20, M1 5W20, Motor Craft 5W20, etc.... What I want is TSUV 5W40 or what ever they are calling it now!
 
quote:

Originally posted by hominid7:

quote:

Originally posted by memo:
at least the oil and filters I buy are made in the US of freaken A.

Yes, they are made in Puerto Rico by slave child labor.

American Pride!
wink.gif


I'm not sure if your trying to be funny or not, but the ST filter is made by champion labs in the US. The oil is made in the US too.
 
...and as a US territory, I don't think there is much child slave labor going on in Puerto Rico...

maybe it's time to take a trip out of the county.
 
I just visited the largest Wal-Mart in the world (one of two built like it) outside Cincinnati, in Erlanger, KY. This monstrosity was over 200K sq ft and had a front facade built on it to look like a small-town street scene of shops, stores, etc. Was probably a qtr mile long!

Anyway, it was very nicely stocked with everything, included the beloved TA 5W-30, MC 5W-20 (including in 5 qt jugs), and Havoline 5W-30.

Ahhh, a thing of beauty is a joy forever!
 
quote:

Originally posted by LouDawg:
This monstrosity was over 200K sq ft and had a front facade built on it to look like a small-town street scene of shops, stores, etc. Was probably a qtr mile long!


Actually, it is about 1/8 mile wide, about 725 feet.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top