Walmart parking

[paul65k]

Originally Posted by kcdogger

I owned RV parks for many years. I agree 100% with your position that a Walmart Parker is not a lost customer for the RV Park. An RV park cannot compete with "free", but they can, and successfully do, compete based on amenities, ambiance, convenience and service. If the overwhelming reason someone has chosen to stay in a Walmart Parking lot is price, that is not a customer the RV park will ever capture. But most RVers do not make the price trade off versus amenities. The fact is the local campground almost assuredly has many more paying guests than the parking lot of Walmart has people staying overnight in an RV for free.
However, I really hate the additional argument that many Walmartians make that spending money at that Walmart somehow is the equivalent to spending money at an RV park. I don't believe for a second that those Walmart purchases are for anything other than what they would buy regardless of where they are staying. You are going to buy food, paper products and everything else Walmart sells at Walmart (or an equivalent alternative such as a grocery store or hardware store). You would still need and buy those items if you were staying in an RV park. They are purchases that are completely independent of where you are staying. Nobody staying at Walmart goes in a buys a $40.00 item and deposits it in the trash on the way out of the store because they somehow feel the need to patronize the store because they are staying in the parking lot.

So let me start out by saying that I have never spent a night in a Wal-mart parking lot, sure we've stopped for 4-6 hours in a rest area for sleep when we have gotten messed up on a schedule for mechanical reasons but never a wal-mart!

That being said I think the earlier point was for someone who's just "On the road" and transitioning from point A to point B a quick overnight stop does not require many of the amenities that a full service park has to offer, it would be nice if there was something that was just a nice place to pull into for the night (call it overflow) that was simply a safe place to quickly put the jacks out, catch some sleep and then be on the road again in the morning......I'm fully self contained so for me that would easily be worth $15-20 but $40-60 is just too much for a quick "Wham - Bam - Thankyou M'am" stop and then on our way again.

I completely understand the financial needs of a full service park, I'm not talking about that. I am talking about an underserved portion of the population (which is growing BTW) and wondering if quick overnight site with very little amenities may have a place in the future, maybe available in 8 hour blocks of time?????........Hmmmmm

[Jim.B1]

We do use Walmarts on travel days, and in contrast to a previous poster's comments on purchasing groceries there, we make a point of doing our groceries at the Walmart where we stay versus potentially at any other retail grocer later.
We also purchase fuel and propane from the Flying J's that we stay at rather than from any other place even though they may be lower priced.
One of the other things is Walmart's large lots which make maneuvering easier than a lot of typical grocery stores that are also usually in urban areas versus along the main hi-ways.
It is our way of saying thank you for providing a place to stop for the night.
I agree with others who would support a campground with no services, max 8-9 hour stays at $10-$15, but on travel days, would never search out a typical campground with all the amenities @ +$60/night when I absolutely know I would never use.
Then you get the RV parks that advertise a minimum 3 night stay and that just doesn't work on travel days.
With the current surge in RV sales and limited, or non-existent growth in new RV parks, the existing park owners should have no problem filling their sites nightly without the Wallydockers.

[RV Vagabond]

Originally Posted by kcdogger

I owned RV parks for many years. I agree 100% with your position that a Walmart Parker is not a lost customer for the RV Park. An RV park cannot compete with "free", but they can, and successfully do, compete based on amenities, ambiance, convenience and service. If the overwhelming reason someone has chosen to stay in a Walmart Parking lot is price, that is not a customer the RV park will ever capture. But most RVers do not make the price trade off versus amenities. The fact is the local campground almost assuredly has many more paying guests than the parking lot of Walmart has people staying overnight in an RV for free.
However, I really hate the additional argument that many Walmartians make that spending money at that Walmart somehow is the equivalent to spending money at an RV park. I don't believe for a second that those Walmart purchases are for anything other than what they would buy regardless of where they are staying. You are going to buy food, paper products and everything else Walmart sells at Walmart (or an equivalent alternative such as a grocery store or hardware store). You would still need and buy those items if you were staying in an RV park. They are purchases that are completely independent of where you are staying. Nobody staying at Walmart goes in a buys a $40.00 item and deposits it in the trash on the way out of the store because they somehow feel the need to patronize the store because they are staying in the parking lot.

Yes I would be spending that $40 on groceries anyway, but I spend it only at Walmarts that allow me to park overnight. So a store with a no overnight parking policy does not get my business.

[kcdogger]

Originally Posted by RV Vagabond

Yes I would be spending that $40 on groceries anyway, but I spend it only at Walmarts that allow me to park overnight. So a store with a no overnight parking policy does not get my business.

Groceries have a profit margin of around 2.2%. Your $40 of groceries is 88 cents to Walmart's bottom line. They probably wouldn't go bankrupt if they didn't get your business.

[grldst]

According to google the average profit margin on groceries ranges from 25 to 40 percent.

Produce being the highest and dry goods the lowest.

[aether_one]

Originally Posted by kcdogger

Groceries have a profit margin of around 2.2%. Your $40 of groceries is 88 cents to Walmart's bottom line. They probably wouldn't go bankrupt if they didn't get your business.

Wow, that must be why Walmart expanded into the grocery market across the nation as well into stand-alone Walmart Marketplace stores.

Think about it: 2.2%? No store can survive with that margin. You need to re-evaluate your research sources.

[RVRon]

Originally Posted by tfryman

Wow, that must be why Walmart expanded into the grocery market across the nation as well into stand-alone Walmart Marketplace stores.



Think about it: 2.2%? No store can survive with that margin. You need to re-evaluate your research sources.

What we have here is gross profit 30-40% vs net profit 2-2.5% after expenses, like warehousing, payroll, taxes, rents and so on.

[kcdogger]

Originally Posted by tfryman

Wow, that must be why Walmart expanded into the grocery market across the nation as well into stand-alone Walmart Marketplace stores.

Think about it: 2.2%? No store can survive with that margin. You need to re-evaluate your research sources.

Try this link: https://www.biz2credit.com/blog/2020...lculate-yours/

or this one: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/prof...ket-22467.html

I didn't just pull the figure out of thin air.

[RVRon]

So, a carton of Honeycrisp apples weighs 42 lbs or so. Costs chain store $50-$60. Typically retail those apples for 2.99-3.99 lb.
If you do the math...It’s definitely not 2.5% “gross”profit.

[richard5933]

Originally Posted by RVRon

So, a carton of Honeycrisp apples weighs 42 lbs or so. Costs chain store $50-$60. Typically retail those apples for 2.99-3.99 lb.
If you do the math...It’s definitely not 2.5% “gross”profit.

To start, you assume that there is no waste and that every apple gets sold.

Grocery stores typically make their biggest net profits on non food items or cooked foods.

Regardless, it's not the point of the thread.

[Spk64]

Let’s get back to the topic as posted by the OP.

Time to move on from the profit discussions.

[TexasJeff]

Free market and capitalism is the name of the game. I'm sure if the RV parks were more numerous they'd make up a constituency that lawmakers would listen to. Until then, instead of whining they should be thinking about what they can do to attract more business. Resorting to legislation to compete is certainly a tactic, but never a winning strategy. I'm happy to patronize Wal-Mart, Flying-J (and any other truck stop that accommodates me), as well as Cracker Barrel.

What I hate: going up to a counter and ordering a meal and being presented with a bill that includes space for a tip. Now that's one I need to write my congressman about.

[Jim.B1]

Originally Posted by Spk64

Let’s get back to the topic as posted by the OP.

Time to move on from the profit discussions.

To the Administrator ..... Thank you!

It's simple folks, if you don't like staying at Walmart, then don't.
For those who do enjoy, and choose Walmarts for an overnight stay, continue doing so.
If you like to reciprocate and shop at Walmart, do so.
If you are a Campground owner, then read some of the comments posted here and look at them as a new opportunity to attract more RV's!
The original topic did not warrant a big debate!

[creativepart]

I know this is counter to the typical opinion here, but for the life of me I cannot figure out why any RVer thinks that they are doing something acceptable spending the night in any businesses parking lot... for free, regardless of them shopping at the business.

RVs are meant to be spending their overnights in designated camping spaces/ areas. Not on the street, in a vacant lot, or some businesses parking lot that happens to be available. And it doesn’t matter if you’re “transiting” across the country or region or not.

If you were driving your car across country with your family would you sleep in your car or stop and stay in hotels? Would you expect it to be okay to stay for free anywhere that had space available?

Surely you already know this.