Walmart bans overnight RV parking
Policy may have resulted from negligent stays, loud music, littering
August 30, 2019
Last week, Walmarts in Pullman and Moscow banned overnight RV parking.
Tiffany Wilson, Walmart’s director of communication, said this decision was decided by the stores’ managers.
“The store decided to discontinue overnight RV parking so that we could focus on the parking needs of customers and maintain a safe and secure environment,” Wilson said.
The Pullman city-run RV Park is already booked out for the entire football season, including graduation, Dad’s Weekend and Mom’s Weekend, according to the city website.
According to a few employees, this decision was determined after incidents of neglectful stays.
“It became a nightmare with no maintenance or people to clean up,” an employee said.
“People were doing things they weren’t supposed to be doing … setting fires and leaving loads of trash behind,” an employee said.
Pullman Fire Chief Mike Heston said he was not aware of any major incidents of fires they were called to. This does not mean there were not smaller corrective actions taken.
He said the fire department did rounds in the parking lot, just like any other RV park: ensuring only wood was being burned, emergency lanes were not blocked, and fires were being burned in safe containers.
Some members of the WSU Parents Facebook page blamed Cougar fans for this policy change.
“I was embarrassed the Cougar fans left it that way,” one man wrote on a post on the WSU Parents Facebook page.
Another parent commented on the same post, writing that she witnessed drunk adults, trash and vomit in the parking lot and heard loud music.
*This article was updated to clarify that The Daily Evergreen Staff did receive emails from Walmart communication staff. A previous version of the article stated that the reporter was unable to reach the Walmart corporate office, but this was only the case for later phone calls that were made shortly before deadline.
Ann • Sep 1, 2019 at 11:58 pm
If what is said is true about the garbage being left…those people involved should volunteer a day to help Walmart out …community service with an apology note..go cougs