Phantom Walmart horn blower

[boondockdad]

Here's a new one for me.

Boondocked overnight in a Dalton, GA Walmart

It's about 0600, fam's back in the truck, ready to roll, and I see this red Honda? SUV driving past all the boondocked motorhomes blaring his horn. He's getting right up next to them, driving real slow, and wailing the horn.

I Just drove 650 miles, and got about 5 hours of interrupted sleep, so I was a little foggy. My first thought was something was wrong, so I get out of the truck, and start jogging over to him, when he turns and exits around the back of the building. At this point it dawns on me he's just being an inconsiderate jackhole for whatever reason.

Figure he's either:

- a reprobate who gets his kicks annoying tired campers

- a proactive CG owner, looking to dissuade folks from boondocking

Anybody ever had this experience?

[rehoppe]

Just for clarity's sake: It's bad enough that there is/was a Walmart there.... and then this horn blower has to show up too.

Sorry; I'm all about Small Business, and Waly World doesn't even come close to qualifying.

[down_home]

westernrvparkowner wrote:

Dog Folks wrote:

big whitey wrote:

greenrvgreen wrote:
We all know that many Walmarts allow overnight parking in their lots. But are we really to the point where people who come there to shop need to be more considerate of the people sleeping there?

actually we are at the point where " EVERYONE " needs to be more considerate "PERIOD".

I would venture a guess that 90% or more of the overnighters at WMT are also customers.

Walmart stated a few years ago, that the average overnighter spends $87.00 in their store.

WalMart marketing revolves around getting you in the store and keeping you there. Why do you think that many Wal-Mart’s have nice bus stops in their parking lot?

In area of high Amish population they have an areas to tie up and water horses.

Why are some of the isles inside at a different angle? To keep you walking and looking at merchandise.

Why are there no clocks in Wal-Mart’s?

I am not knocking WalMart, I admire their marketing efforts. They know how to market.

The average Walmart store Grosses around $250,000 per day.($400 billion annual sales, 4200 stores) If there are 10 rigs overnighting (a high number) that is $870.00 of that quarter of a million per day. Doesn't exactly move the needle. The odds are very great that the average run of the mill Ford Taurus in the parking lot for 30 minutes is generating much more in sales than that Million Dollar Prevost taking up 10 parking spaces all night does. It is a great perk that Walmart offers RVers by allowing overnighting, but it is hardly material to their success or failure.

Every time we stop at Wal Mart for supplies we end up spending several hundred dollars. It takes a lot to stock up refrigerator and pantry and then there are soft drinks etc and toiletries and so on. There are many many campgrounds and other places we stop that there are no opportunities to do so. We also end up eating at some place nearby, or even unhooking and going to eat if neccesary. And it is nobody else's business if we have permission to park there for a fewh ours or overnight. I would never stay, knowingly at a campground where the Owner or Operator that thought it his business and tried to get local governments to legislate his profits. Have never stayed overnight at Wal Mart but would in a a heart beat if I decided I needed to without consulting park owners in the area.

[bearvy]

We have never experienced a Walmart horn blower, but one overnight stay at a Bakersfield, Ca. WM was rather exciting. We were parked very near the fence separating the on-ramp to I-5 from the Wal-Mart parking lot - our bedroom on the on-ramp side of the coach. Around 1 am I was awakened by a terrific loud screeching noise. I jumped up, looked out the window, and was surprised to see a fireball up against the fence about 30 feet from our bedroom window. A motorcyclist had lost control of his bike while accelerating on the curve of the on-ramp. He laid the bike down and it burst into flames. Thankfully, he was unhurt, but his bike ended up being a molten mess. Thank goodness for that fence that stopped the forward motion of his bike.

[bucky]

My favorite one was a dude skate boarding at 2AM in the Harrisburg PA lot back when the show was still there. Took me a while to figure out what the noise was. Oh well, maybe he worked second shift.

[Gau_8]

In the Air Force we called it RON. Remain Over Night. In the airline business we called it a layover. Questions?

[Gau_8]

gbopp wrote:
You can't fix rude/stupid.

An attitude adjustment will fix rude. Stupid goes to the bone!

[magicmantx]

If we are on a trip that requires an overnight stop between our destination and home we always make our first stop at a walmart. We usually stop around 9 or 10 pm and then go into the walmart and buy our groceries or whatever we need for our trip. Last stop we spent over 200 on groceries and stuff for the New TH we just picked up. Only had a problem a couple of times. first was AH in bigrig parked right next to us and idled all night. next time we stoped about 1 am and were awakened by trash trucks emptying dumpsters at 4 am. Other than that we use walmarts as a shot stop along the road. Why would I pay 30+ to stop for 4-5 hrs.

[fireman93514]

rv2go wrote:
I have had similar instances also, only not at 6am. More like 1 or 2 in the morning. Waking me up from a sound sleep. Then there is that tractor trailer driver that has almost a whole parking lot to park in, yet gets as close to you as he can and runs the engine all night.

Oh... the price we pay for free overnite stays.

I had that happen in Moses Lake WA. Finally got up and went to walmart.

[bukhrn]

boondockdad wrote:
Here's a new one for me.

Boondocked overnight in a Dalton, GA Walmart

It's about 0600, fam's back in the truck, ready to roll, and I see this red Honda? SUV driving past all the boondocked motorhomes blaring his horn. He's getting right up next to them, driving real slow, and wailing the horn.

I Just drove 650 miles, and got about 5 hours of interrupted sleep, so I was a little foggy. My first thought was something was wrong, so I get out of the truck, and start jogging over to him, when he turns and exits around the back of the building. At this point it dawns on me he's just being an inconsiderate jackhole for whatever reason.

Figure he's either:

- a reprobate who gets his kicks annoying tired campers

- a proactive CG owner, looking to dissuade folks from boondockingThis gets my vote.

Anybody ever had this experience?

[IdahoRenegade]

Well...I guess now that I'm an RV owner I better stop driving around the local WM at 6:00 on my way to work, honking my horn!

(I kid, I kid)

[big_whitey]

westernrvparkowner wrote:

Dog Folks wrote:

big whitey wrote:

greenrvgreen wrote:
We all know that many Walmarts allow overnight parking in their lots. But are we really to the point where people who come there to shop need to be more considerate of the people sleeping there?

actually we are at the point where " EVERYONE " needs to be more considerate "PERIOD".

I would venture a guess that 90% or more of the overnighters at WMT are also customers.

Walmart stated a few years ago, that the average overnighter spends $87.00 in their store.

WalMart marketing revolves around getting you in the store and keeping you there. Why do you think that many Wal-Mart’s have nice bus stops in their parking lot?

In area of high Amish population they have an areas to tie up and water horses.

Why are some of the isles inside at a different angle? To keep you walking and looking at merchandise.

Why are there no clocks in Wal-Mart’s?

I am not knocking WalMart, I admire their marketing efforts. They know how to market.

The average Walmart store Grosses around $250,000 per day.($400 billion annual sales, 4200 stores) If there are 10 rigs overnighting (a high number) that is $870.00 of that quarter of a million per day. Doesn't exactly move the needle. The odds are very great that the average run of the mill Ford Taurus in the parking lot for 30 minutes is generating much more in sales than that Million Dollar Prevost taking up 10 parking spaces all night does. It is a great perk that Walmart offers RVers by allowing overnighting, but it is hardly material to their success or failure.

in a former life i was director of marketing for a company whose largest account was WMT. i have first hand knowledge of their marketing strategy and i can tell you they have no interest in providing perks to RVers or anyone else for that matter. to them a sale is a sale is a sale be it $87 or 87 cents. they want every dime,whether it moves the needle or not is inmaterial to them. most of their stores have plenty of parking spaces so they could care less about the Prevost taking up empty spaces long as they are spending $$$$. they are all about market share and will do whatever it takes to remain top dog.

[westernrvparkow]

Dog Folks wrote:

big whitey wrote:

greenrvgreen wrote:
We all know that many Walmarts allow overnight parking in their lots. But are we really to the point where people who come there to shop need to be more considerate of the people sleeping there?

actually we are at the point where " EVERYONE " needs to be more considerate "PERIOD".

I would venture a guess that 90% or more of the overnighters at WMT are also customers.

Walmart stated a few years ago, that the average overnighter spends $87.00 in their store.

WalMart marketing revolves around getting you in the store and keeping you there. Why do you think that many Wal-Mart’s have nice bus stops in their parking lot?

In area of high Amish population they have an areas to tie up and water horses.

Why are some of the isles inside at a different angle? To keep you walking and looking at merchandise.

Why are there no clocks in Wal-Mart’s?

I am not knocking WalMart, I admire their marketing efforts. They know how to market.

The average Walmart store Grosses around $250,000 per day.($400 billion annual sales, 4200 stores) If there are 10 rigs overnighting (a high number) that is $870.00 of that quarter of a million per day. Doesn't exactly move the needle. The odds are very great that the average run of the mill Ford Taurus in the parking lot for 30 minutes is generating much more in sales than that Million Dollar Prevost taking up 10 parking spaces all night does. It is a great perk that Walmart offers RVers by allowing overnighting, but it is hardly material to their success or failure.

[DutchmenSport]

ependydad wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
No one blows horns in hospital parking lots!

Heh, my father-in-law would disagree. Years ago, we all found ourselves sleeping at the hospital. His idea was to sleep in his car. It worked great until the 6am shift-change and all of the cars being locked and unlocked w/ chirps of their horns was enough to wake him up and send him inside. 🙂

Oh my gosh! I never thought of that! Arrrrr.....

[Dog_Folks]

big whitey wrote:

greenrvgreen wrote:
We all know that many Walmarts allow overnight parking in their lots. But are we really to the point where people who come there to shop need to be more considerate of the people sleeping there?

actually we are at the point where " EVERYONE " needs to be more considerate "PERIOD".

I would venture a guess that 90% or more of the overnighters at WMT are also customers.

Walmart stated a few years ago, that the average overnighter spends $87.00 in their store.

WalMart marketing revolves around getting you in the store and keeping you there. Why do you think that many Wal-Mart’s have nice bus stops in their parking lot?

In area of high Amish population they have an areas to tie up and water horses.

Why are some of the isles inside at a different angle? To keep you walking and looking at merchandise.

Why are there no clocks in Wal-Mart’s?

I am not knocking WalMart, I admire their marketing efforts. They know how to market.