An increasing number of Walmart stores are banning overnight RV parking over the last decade

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Over the last decade, the number of Walmart stores that have allowed overnight RV parking has decreased from 78% in 2010 to 58% now, according to data given to CNN from Jim O'Briant, who heads OvernightRVParking.com, a subscription-based database with over 14,500 parking and no parking locations.

Walmart has historically been cited as a popular spot for RV enthusiasts looking for an overnight parking spot.

According to a blog by RVshare.com, Walmart — along with stores like Camping World, Cabelas, and Cracker Barrel — is a "favorite" location for free overnight RV parking, and an article by Brent Rose in Roadtrippers Magazine about finding safe nighttime RV parking even called Walmart the "best-known chain friendly to overnighters."

"I estimate that I've probably spent the night at 70 different Walmarts around the US and Canada over the years," Rose wrote in the Roadtrippers article. "While they aren't glamorous, Walmart parking lots typically have good security and plenty of space to park."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/increasing-number-walmart-stores-banning-120400026.html

Just where I want to stay while on vacation, a Wal-Mart parking lot.

[Laelth]

1. Vacation?

I bet most of those “parkers” live out of their RVs. They’re not looking for a hot vacation spot. They’re looking for free rent.

-Laelth

[Captain Zero]

2. And a clean restroom first thing in the morning.

And wouldn't surprise me if they use storm drains in the parking lots to empty their waste tanks....

[Laelth]

3. Precisely. n/t

-Laelth

[2naSalit]

6. There are

more out there than we might imagine. It's a result the capitalist model run off the rails. At least with RVs they have something more than a shopping cart and a tent. Or just a back pack. The census is going to be a mess and part of it will be due to ineptitude. The homeless probably haven't been counted. With all this hoopla about data they really don't have access to because it isn't collected, it's about only counting "their" people. The count will have to be redone using the original date. But I digress...

Anyway, there's a whole population of roamers in their vehicles who stop at the big box stores because of the room but they are starting to look like truckstops.

[LAS14]

4. Why is Walmart banning them? nt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. Possibly for the reason Laelth is giving. Post #1

Sounds like they're okay with campers who are there one or two nights. They're not okay with those who's RV is their main place of residence.

[2naSalit]

7. There are

a lot of permanent parkers who have no place to go and so they end up at wally werld.

[Laelth]

8. Yep, and they're the lucky ones.

An RV is much better than a tent.

-Laelth

[2naSalit]

10. Indeed...

I was very thankful to have my SUV. Don't quite know how I would have survived without it.

[RockRaven]

9. As more people live in their vehicles permanently, more local govs are banning street parking RVs.

So those people have to look elsewhere.

Walmart probably intended to attract the business and loyalty of vacationing families, retirees, snowbirds, who always move on.

They probably never intended to attract as many frequent/repeat/semi-permanent overnighters as they are now getting.

[Massacure]

11. Sounds like a business opportunity

Maybe Walmart should choose select stores to offer electric hookup and a pumping station for the everyday low price of $9.98 per night.

[Laelth]

12. It would not shock me if they did.

That’s the direction that we’re headed. There’s a market. There’s demand. I don’t see why WalMart shouldn’t consider offering this service.

-Laelth

[Niagara]

13. Boondocking and homeless

I've been watching videos on YouTube on boondocking (free camping). People purchase minivans and related vehicles and they make it so that they can actually live in their vehicle and travel the country. Some are permanent boondockers and others only do so when they want to camp.


Homeless- There are many people who are homeless and the only shelter that they have are their vehicles that are still in their possession. They go to work, eat and "go home" to their vehicle and sleep. There's going to be a lot more of these situations due to pandemic.


When I was a teenager, I had family that lived in an eastern state and they owned a full size RV. As they were traveling through, they would let us know when and where they were going to be so that we could stop by a visit with them. They would pick a Walmart parking lot due to the amount of room that it provided and the flatness of the lot. They would generally call ahead to see if it was alright, stay the night and leave early in the morning before the store got busy.

[Tiger8]

14. Here's my experience with Walmart parking lots...

I've spent overnight in several Walmart lots....

It not just RV's but people living out of their cars and SUV's. Women, seniors, and teens...people struggling to stay one step of ahead of living on the street.

And then there is the push back from local busybodies....I talked to a store manager in Sarasota, FL who told me how a lady gave him heat about it, and got a law passed to outlaw overnight sleeping in cars. She made it her personal crusade, calling the cops, and even driving through the lot in the middle of the night, blasting her horn.

[Niagara]

15. Exactly.

It's like placing spikes on park benches to keep the homeless from sleeping on them.

[Tiger8]

16. That is cruelty. No empathy for others.

This is cultural part of America made worse by the Calvinistic attitudes so prevalent in the Republican Party.

These people are already suffering, and they want to pile on. In Germany, prisoners live better lives than the bottom 25% of Americans.

[Niagara]

18. Cruelty is the point with the R party.

Sadly.

[LeftInTX]

17. There is no security in WalMart parking lots

Have have truckers who stay there.

Last year, after the shooting in El Paso, I filmed a guy sleeping on the pavement, outside his truck.