Repecat

About a month ago I bought 5 qts of Motorcraft 5w-20 semisyn oil at Wally Mart for $1.42 a quart. Two weeks ago I noticed that they had increased the price to $1.52 per quart. This morning I was again at their store and all of the Motorcraft oil was gone; replaced by an unfamiliar generic brand. The salesman. of course, was clueless. Additionally, I noticed that Mobil 1 is now marketing an "extended service" oil. New product, or same old stuff in a new package?

alvonchui

The new M1 EP is new stuff (with additional additives). M1 advertise it as "extended drain" and good for 15,000 miles between oil change.

alvonchui

The new M1 EP is new stuff (with additional additives). M1 advertise it as "extended drain" and good for 15,000 miles between oil change.

The new M1 will consists of 3 different catagories of oil: Clean 5000, Clean 7500, and EP. See here for detail: http://www.mobil1.com/USA-English/Mo.../Homepage.aspx

I have read reports that Walmart will no longer carry the MotorCraft brand oil and oil filters.

EleVatE

I dont know why you would buy it from wal-mart in the first place. First of all i wouldn't trust anything from there for my car...

It has been proven that products shipped to wal-mart from the exact same manufactuers are different. such as: cookies sent to walmart from nabisco ARE different. from ones sent to other places.

There are hundreds of products that are this way. I read a book about it and saw some preview for it on i think frontline.

Not much, but they have to cut price of the product sent there or walmart would be big bad mean walmart and not sell them, and i dont think thats soemthing any company who sells products at wal mart can afford.. its like half thier business.

EleVatE

Oh and its just dirty and cheap. haha.

DarkWraith33

I'm CONFIDENT that Walmart oil is indeed the same oil that they have at the Taj Mahal of Autocare (i.e. Pep Boys)...

Walmart is cheap due to VOLUME buying (in most cases)... I'm sure some things are "different" as you suggest... But I'm sure most things aren't. It wouldn't make sense for Motorcraft... Or anyone else for that matter.

alvonchui

Hard to believe that the motor oil is different than other places. In fact, their prices are not always the cheapest. For example, Mobil 1 at Costco is cheaper than at Walmart. Should I be worried that the oil at Costco is different too ? I don't think so.

But feel free to believe what you believe, I don't

subinf

Walmart is cheap because they dont have unions...and costco is cheap because you pay for a membership there. again, only stating the obvious...and as the familiar southern saying goes "walmart walmart thats our store, we shop walmart cause we're poor"....without a union give you dirt cheap prices but shitty labor conditions. i avoid walmart.


also about walmart getting different products by the same manufacturer....could be true, but with limited items. dr. pepper, for example, uses two different kinds of sweetner, sugar cane and then the sugar syrup...the distributors in the south generally carry one version, while elsewhere its anyones guess about the sweetening agent. while this isnt a huge deal to anyone there is variation in products.

Moosh

Volume buying, price gouging, virtual monopoly

insmanblue

Oh really? I worked at Nabisco for 8 years and never heard that one. Can you provide specific examples? I would be most interested.

Snowwolfe

Time to put up or shut up. What items going to Walmart are made differently than the similar items going to other stores? Back it up with facts and not your opinion.

pettydw

I've read Walmart is the number one retailer of motor oil in the USA. It is unlikely oil manufacturer's would risk the bad rap of selling inferior products in the best market.

EleVatE

Wow everybody can just cool on down here... is saying something negative about wal mart russle that many feathers??

Ok, I dont specifically remember it being nabisco. I guess my "such as:" didn't really come across with the message of "for example" like it did when i thought it. And mentioning an actual brand name might not have been good. I do remember cookies being one of the many they listed though! A lot of them were like tools and appliances. Computers from Compaq I am pretty sure were on there. Oh and lots of seasonal or gardening stuff.

And I bet you guys are right, that the oil is the same. I am just saying there are plenty of products like this.

And as you might have guessed, i just HATE wal-mart. First it has a lot of economic power it abuses. And mostly, I am studying to be an architect and I have learned a lot about urban planning, and wal mart is the death of urban planning and any architectural signifigence.

i will try and find that book i read about it, but I dont have it anymore, and dont remember the exact name... but how many wal mart hater books can possibly be out there?? I am kidding cuz there are actually a ton.

But until then all you guys who might post replies saying how you "delivered something to a nursery and went straight to wal mart with the same stuff" I dont really care. I didnt' write the book, and I know it happens. Specific examples aren't going to mean much when your talking about a store who sells everything.

Slinks

I doubt companies sell "inferior" products at Walmart with the same sku/model# as the higher quality products at other retailers.

Take the example of Compaq computers. Maybe you can get Compaq computers cheaper at Walmart, but I bet those computers have a different model # to them.

No company is going to shoot themselves in the foot by purposely varying quality of the same product.

So if the motor oil has the same barcode at walmart that it does at autozone, i would be shocked if they weren't identical. And if they weren't, then you have a great story that would be on the front page of the ny times.

ndabunka

Are you guys trying to tell us that you didn't read about how they are dumping bad oil at bargain prices? It was on 20/20 just last night... I personally wouldn't buy oil from wallmart until they get this all straightened out

EleVatE

Are you serious? or just makin fun.

Cuz even I didn't think the oil would be different.
I took a quick look on 20/20's website and didn't find anything.

This thread sorta got jacked. This guy just wanted to knwo about his oil, and we went off on some walmart war.

jazzpicker

It's the same here in Tallahassee. I went to WM and there was no more motocraft on the shelves.
I read a post on the forum about good deals on M-1 at Pep Boy's with a coupon from a MADD calendar. I bought 2 cases at a cheap price and will use M-1 5W-20 in both cars.

Road Rage

"Wow everybody can just cool on down here... is saying something negative about wal mart russle that many feathers??"


Well, no, but that is not the point. Repecat made intimations of wrongdoing and outright fraud by a retailer, and suggesting they sell "B-spec" products, are serious, and you have shown nothing re: the oil topic to back you up. I can only say that i have done oil analyses on Motorcraft 5w20 synblend from various sources, including Wal-Mart, and they were all in the range of variance one would expect. Repeating what someone else is spouting, with who knows what bias (they could be Global economy paranoia types who smash Starbucks) makes you part of it, whether that was your intent or not. Personally, I do not like to "pass on" facts which are easily disputed unless I can vouch for them. I also have absolutely no concern buying MC 5w20 at Wal-Mart, based on the facts as I have produced them. But since I can buy wholesale from Ford, it works out for me that the dealership is my best cost savings on MC 5w20.

Now, whether the new Mobil1 products are anything special, or they have merely down-performanced their other products, remains to be seen. When UOA or VOA's start to appear, we will know for sure. But consider that every few years, Mobil "re-invents" its products to keep their market appeal fresh - no harm in that, as long as we know what we are buying, and the oil analyses will tell the tale. The current Mobil1 has been factory-endorsed by companies such as Mercedes-Benz as allowing 15k intervals and often higher, which is why I wonder of a "5000" or "7500" appellation merely means they have reduced the performance, in the way Amsoil did with its XL-7500 series. Unless the cost spreads are large, I cannot imagine why anyone would go syn, and not use the premium product.

Time will tell.

RR.