Wal Mart NOT Trucker Friendly

I deliver in Quakertown about every 10 days or so, and always go grocery shopping there. I normally end up taking my ten there, and nobody says anything. The Walmart in Bethlehem is also tolerant of trucks. Not so much for the York PA Wal-Mart.

I parked a Lowes pretty often, they have never said anything.

I have a funny parking at Wal-Mart story. My first 8 months driving a truck, I'd always park at the Wal-Mart about 5 minutes from the house. In those 8 months, nothing was ever said until I showed up for home time, and noticed no other trucks parked there which was odd. Normally there would be 2-4 trucks parked there. Keep in mind, the closest truck stop to my house is about 45 miles, so normally the OTR drivers in my area would park there a couple of days a month while on home time. I ended up parking at Wal-Mart that morning (4am), especially since I had dropped my trailer. I called my GF to come and pick me up. As I got into her car, I noticed a BBQ vending van and ribbon on the light polls. I should have known then to move the truck.

Whenever I'm home, I normally go to check on the truck once a day. Well, I showed up at about 1pm to check on the truck, and an antique car show was in progress, and in the middle of the car show was my 2011 Prostar. I sat there for a minute trying to figure out what to do. I wasn't sure if people thought it was part of the show, or if it was in the way. I was scared of it getting towed, so I went to find the person in charge. He said that Wal-Mart had called someone to have it towed, they just hadn't shown up. Luckily they moved a couple of cars, and opened up the fence to let me and my truck out of the car show. Since then, I pay someone where I live to let me park on their property. That's the only time I've come close to getting towed.

 

As another driver posted, it all depends which Walmart you're at. Up here in the Northeast the Walmart's are, for the most part, trucker friendly no matter who you drive for. I don't know of any stores that will let you park your truck in their lot while you go home for the weekend, but if you will or have delivered to a Walmart and need to rest or log off, the Walmart's up in this neck of the woods will usually accommodate you

 

There's a local Walmart with HUGE "No truck signs" that seems to have given up as I see over nighters more and more often.

(I won't say where but it's in the North East, lot of regional truck traffic, not much parking)

Even if the rent a cop goes out and gets into it with once cranky trucker, it's not worth the $8.50/hr because the next night there will be 3 totally different trucks out there. And so it goes.

(BTW I got a "note" in my door at a mall in Oklahoma City from a rent a cop. I was only stopped for dinner, but it really pissed me off.)

 

I'm gonna call bs on the EPA giving Walmart a fine for trucks at idle on their lots. They may have tried to sue them but in court Walmart would have won b/c the case would have been very hard to prove fault against Walmart. The EPA case would be based mostly on hearsay unless they did a control study of how many trucks park at a given Walmart each night and find the amount of emissions released over a specific time frame and done in multiple locations over a certain period of time all of which would be very costly and not woth the time or money. Considering the EPA only won 1 million dollar settlement for a EPA suit against walmarts in several states over storm drain pollution your idea of a suit against trucks idling on Walmart lots seems very far fetched. Plus there is no such suit as having been filled on public record

 

Ok so I'm gonna eat my words on this one a little. Had to do a little more digging and found that the case settled out of court for 50, 000 dollars and only applies to walmarts in states with existing idle regulations. The suit also had to do with Walmart drivers idling on Walmart lots in Massachusetts and Connecticut both of which have existing idle laws. EPA however cannot bring suit in a state with no idle regulations.

 

The Walmart stores in Rockford IL do not allow semi truck parking by city ordinance. I suspect that being disallowed from parking to sleep may contribute to truckers falling asleep at the wheel due to being unable to find parking.

 

And so I'm not a hypocrite - I don't even throw my cig butts on the ground at truck stops or shippers / receivers. I'll unroll the tobacco (cherry), but I don't leave behind the filter.
You don't #### where you eat.
Even a dog knows that.

 

I've avoided Walmart for years, just because what they've done with killing American jobs by bringing Chinese junk in here. #racetothebottom

 

It might also be a matter of *where* you park at a walmart.
I probably stopped at walmarts more often then truck stops when I was driving (quieter, cleaner, could do some shopping) and never had any issues, even with places that said no overnight parking or no truck parking. But, I always parked behind the store and made sure I wouldn't be in the way of anything or anybody. If there was any trailers dropped in an open area behind the store, I'd park next to them.