Not Trucker Friendly

We stopped at Walmart in Union City, GA this morning. I went in to get my prescriptions filled. And I bought a DVD. I spent $161. I was in the store for only 20 minutes. I came back to the truck. I read my instruction sheets that came with my meds. It was hot so Put up the window shades. I took my meds and then sat quietly waiting for them to work. Suddenly someone pounded on my door. There was a man there. He told me I wasn't allowed to park there. I told him that I had just shopped in the store and was waiting for my meds to make me feel better. He told me that he had put a lock boot on my wheel. He said he was charging $300 to remove it. I tried to explain to him again that I had just spent a lot of money in the store. He just walked away. I went into the store and asked to speak to the manager. I showed her my receipt and told her what happened. She was rude and not helpful and kept trying to walk away from me. By this time we had only been in that parking lot for 2 hours. And I spent $161. We saw a security person driving around. Why didn't they come over and tell us ? I will NEVER EVER shop at Union City Walmart in GA.

Does anyone know, are all Walmarts in and near Atlanta "protected" from truckers?

There are a lot of Walmarts that do not allow truck parking for various reasons. Some allow it, some don't. There doesn't seem to be a universal policy about it. I don't know if it's a decision made by individual stores or how that works but it's really hit and miss.

There was a man there. He told me I wasn't allowed to park there. I told him that I had just shopped in the store and was waiting for my meds to make me feel better. He told me that he had put a lock boot on my wheel. He said he was charging $300 to remove it.

Charging you to remove a boot that had just been put on there with no authority or notification? That smells of scam...

Noni, I stop at Walmarts and sometimes even put in a 34 hour break in a Walmart parking lot. But, some of them are not trucker friendly. For the most part I have had very good luck with them, but I always go straight into the store and ask to see the manager first thing. I'm honest with them and tell them I've parked my truck out in the lot so I can restock my groceries, I'll just be here for an hour, or I need to spend the night here (whatever the case may be). Usually they will ask me where I'm parked, and if it's not good they will suggest where they would like me to be. The key is to go right inside and ask the manager about it. I've run across a few that don't want us in there, and it's usually because some filthy unprofessional trucker left behind a few "presents" in the parking lot that you and I would never dream of doing.

Just make a point of checking in with the manager first and it will make it much easier to avoid any surprises like you just experienced.

You would think that a company that relies on truckers so much for their business they would be a little more considerate. You should get a group of truckers together and all park in that parking lot! I would love to see the managers face if 50 or so truckers parked in that lot.Lol....

I worked the last two years as security driving around a walmart parking lot, and I've seen truckers come and go. So I can speak from experience, "There is something wrong with Walmart Managers!" well to be honest it's the assistant managers that cause all the problems. But even so most will tolerate a trucker so long as they don't block traffic and they keep to the back of the lot, if it's a small lot or you see a lot of black tire marks on the curbs going in or out of parkinglot they are probably not going to be very friendly. Mostly your just catching the Umbrella Effect from what other bad drivers have done.

What I do before I stop at any Walmart is I call them and ask if they have truck parking. If the answer is no then I look for a different Walmart. If they are not sure I don't take the chance and I go to a different Walmart. My rand McNally GPS gives me the phone # to the Walmart that my cursor is over. When I do go to a Walmart with truck parking I either write it down or I make sure I remember it for the future.

So how did it end up? Did you pay the money? Is that even legal?

Were any signs posted?

It is completely the Store managements discretion to allow or not to allow trucks to park there.

After pulling many a WM load for our dedicated account, and getting a list from our dispatcher of which ones were ok to park at and which ones were not, I finally asked one of the managers about it.

He point blank told me, some managers will allow it, others will not, but usually for different reasons. Reasons he gave me for NOT allowing it:

1. Truckers are pigs and leave the lot filthy(biggest one) 2. SOME towns have a noise ordinance in affect. IF a truck is in the lot idling, and someone calls the cops, the STORE gets fined. 3. Some parking lots were NOT built for the weight of a big truck to be sitting on them for continues amounts of time. These are usually stores with a defined "truck entrance" that stays clear of the parking lot back to the docks. 4. Some managers, well, they are just jerks LOL