# Walmart used to let people camp overnight in their RVs in the parking lot. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 17, 2019, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198 "2019-07-17T06:49:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Garak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@Garak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garak)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/1 "2019-07-17T06:49:33Z")
I have been hearing that they are less tolerant of it these days, because homeless people started using RVs to live there. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/2 "2019-07-17T09:12:34Z")
Where would the homeless get a running RV? Or are these “homeless” in the nomadic sense? Got a link? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/3 "2019-07-17T09:42:57Z")
It (RV based homelessness) is becoming pretty common on the West Coast. [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul8Lfroen8A) a news segment about it. You can find a lot of youtube videos about homeless RV-ers. If you’re interested, [Without Bound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg37Cbx-kak) is about/by a sort of homeless RV guru. He produces quite a few videos with tips about living nearly free in an RV. There’s a really interesting book called [Nomadland](https://www.amazon.com/Nomadland-Surviving-America-Twenty-First-Century/dp/039324931X) about the large numbers of people surviving (sometimes just barely) in their RVs while wandering through a series of gig jobs. Amazon even has a name for them: Workampers. They occasionally provide RV space for their seasonal workforce. Ditto (apparently) for the companies involved in the annual sugar beet harvest. I was surprised by this as well. Anyway, not trying to lecture about it, but it’s apparently a very large, somewhat underground population that are managing within the gig economy. A surprising number are seniors as well. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/4 "2019-07-17T14:46:43Z")
I think our WalMart had a sign on their perimeter fence that said “no overnight camping” or something to that effect. They don’t seem to enforce it, I see campers there all the time. I’m guessing as long as the campers are quiet and don’t cause problems they let them stay. It seems like it’s mostly older people. I’ve never seen families with kids parked there. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/5 "2019-07-17T14:56:22Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Where would the homeless get a running RV? Or are these “homeless” in the nomadic sense? > Got a link? In an insanely expensive real estate market like the SF Bay Area, there are plenty of employed people who can’t really afford to buy a house but could afford a (perhaps used) RV or motor home, particularly if they’re not paying for the real estate it’s on. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/6 "2019-07-17T14:59:31Z")
There’s an online list of Walmarts that do allow RVs [Walmart Locations Store Details & Parking | Walmart Store Locator](https://www.allstays.com/c/wal-mart-locations.htm) ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/7 "2019-07-18T00:52:04Z")
My younger brother has been homeless for 15 years +/- several. My mom supports him. He has PTSD and other issues. He gets junkers and lives in them. If he’s lucky he can stay in the same spot for a while. He shower at the university sports facility, gets food from homeless centers. I can see where people who are marginal could get a beat up RV or camper and live out of that. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/8 "2019-07-18T01:37:54Z")
People living in an RV are considered “homeless”? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/9 "2019-07-18T01:57:22Z")
Well, that explains some of the photos at [People of Walmart](http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/). ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/10 "2019-07-18T01:58:58Z")
I know a few of them. Some are younger vagabond younger hippies. One guy lives in Thailand for nine or ten months a year and comes to California and works construction for to pay for the Thailand time. One is an older retired guy in a very nice RV who gets Social Security a military pension and has a 401k. You kind of have to figure out how to do it and where you can part. There are plenty of resources for that including the RV community of people that you meet along the way. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/11 "2019-07-18T02:07:59Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > People living in an RV are considered “homeless”? People living under bridges are considered “homeless”? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/12 "2019-07-18T02:10:49Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > People living under bridges are considered “homeless”? I would assume so, since they have no protection from the elements, nor a bed, nor a bathroom. You think differently about people living under bridges? ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/13 "2019-07-18T04:22:01Z")
I was watching a show about leisure time on the Smithsonian channel last night. Apparently, during the depression, people were selling their homes and moving into mobile homes so they could look for work. it was seen as a big problem. I don’t think you would call them homeless; rather “of no fixed address.” ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/14 "2019-07-18T04:49:29Z")
I took a trip with a friend in his nice Class A. We overnighted at a couple of Walmarts and also the Iowa 80 Truckstop. Very handy for stocking up and it’s free, but spending the night in a giant parking lot–even with all the comforts of home in a nice big motorhome–is not my idea of fun. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/15 "2019-07-18T10:33:56Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > People living in an RV are considered “homeless”? It depends. The guy working odd jobs and living in an old $5000 motorhome (that he got with his last bit of savings)? He’s homeless. My cousin who sold his water front home in SoCal and travels North America in a $500,000 Tiffin and had his lawyers set up a domicile address in South Dakota for tax reasons? Probably not. Even though he technically doesn’t have a house. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/16 "2019-07-18T11:00:33Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Where would the homeless get a running RV? Or are these “homeless” in the nomadic sense? > Got a link? “Homeless” != “flat-ass broke.” Work a few odd jobs, scrape together a few thousand bucks, and buy a piece-of-shit 30-year-old RV. I’m more wondering about how they get it registered and insured without a permanent address. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/17 "2019-07-18T12:53:06Z")
What kind of mileage would a 30 year old RV get? Heck, what kind of mileage does a 2019 RV get? I mean, if the price of gas goes up by a couple of cents a gallon, then the operating costs go up. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/18 "2019-07-18T13:05:21Z")
Provided the parking lot is big enough, I think Walmart welcomes this. Well, at least they used too. The RV folks are basically captured customers that will be buying a bunch of stuff and restocking. It may become a problem if the RV folks get rowdy, take up too much room, start using the Walmart bathrooms as it they are their own, start dumping trash etc. ---
**Author:** ![LaughingSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/laughingsnowman/32/422_2.png) [@LaughingSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaughingSnowman)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/19 "2019-07-18T13:24:43Z")
I lived in a small RV for about 2 months. Hated every second of it. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198/20 "2019-07-18T13:51:42Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > What kind of mileage would a 30 year old RV get? Heck, what kind of mileage does a 2019 RV get? I mean, if the price of gas goes up by a couple of cents a gallon, then the operating costs go up. So drive it as little as possible. Park it at Walmart, and then walk, bicycle, or take the city bus as much as possible to get wherever you need to go. The alternative is renting an apartment. What’s the cheapest apartment someone’s likely to find? $300/month? Living in an old RV parked in a Walmart lot is probably cheaper, if you can minimize how often you actually drive it anywhere. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walmart-used-to-let-people-camp-overnight-in-their-rvs-in-the-parking-lot/837198.md?page=2)