RV Etiquette – Putting Your Slides Out at Walmart

Posted in Full Time RV Living on May 6, 2018 Last Updated on May 6, 2018

Facebook. Where all the debates seem to happen. One thing we see discussed a lot, is whether or not you should put your slides out at Walmart. One side says you shouldn’t, because you’re not camping. The other side says who cares, as long as they’re not in the way. What it comes down to, really, is what does Walmart says.

It’s time to settle this.

Corporate

We started off by contacting Walmart Corporate, through their website, with the following question:

Hello,
As some of your stores allow overnight RV parking, as per Walmart corporate policy, I have a question.
For RVs with slide outs, is there any issue with extending them, as long as they are not obstructing traffic?

Thank you for your time.

We received back a basic response of:

Dear Alan,

Thank you for contacting Walmart where we are happy to help. For information regarding your inquiry, please contact your local store and speak with a salaried member of management.

To find the phone number for your local Walmart store, please visit the www.walmart.com website and select “Store Finder” from the options under “Stores” at the top of the page.

Thank you,
Walmart Customer Care

Being we wanted an answer from the corporate level, we pressed a bit further:

Hello, and thank you for responding.

I understand that different stores have policies on whether or not RV parking is allowed – as per your company policy https://corporate.walmart.com/frequently-asked-questions.
However, I am interested in this one aspect, for those that do allow it. I do not need to know from a local store, but if in general, having the slide out on an RV is an issue for Walmart.

Thanks!

Alan Cook

That’s when we received back the response we were looking for:

Dear Allen,

If the store allows rv parking I don’t think having the slide out will be an issue.

Thanks
Walmart Customer care.

There you have it, Walmart customer care says it shouldn’t be an issue. We also asked through Facebook, but have yet to receive a response.

Individual Stores

You may be thinking, what about the store level? Lucky for you, we’re in the process of planning a trip right now! We’re going to call ahead for some overnight stops, and see what they say. Heck, better yet, we’ll call some in other parts of the country too.

Four Walmarts were called, two answered and the questions were asked ‘Do you allow overnight parking’ and ‘Is it ok to extend slides, as long as they are not blocking any traffic areas’. Below is what we were told. Once we hit the road again, we’re going to update this post with a few more responses from other stores.

Store 1283
14500 US Highway 301 South
Starke, Florida
32091

They believe it is fine to put the slide out. If we wanted, we could come in and check with a manager, but as long as it is not obstructing anything, they believe it is fine.

Store 770
3503 Tenth Street
Great Bend, Kansas
67530

Extending slides, or “whatever we need” should not be a problem, as long as we are not blocking traffic and parked back in the back parking area, near the trucks. I was also given a few other options of places to park, where we would be fine to park, and extend as needed.

There you have it, Walmart’s stance on having slides out while overnighting in their parking lot. Have you asked about slides? Post the answer you were given in the comments and let us know!