Walmart gas stations

[wxfree]

A lot of people don't realize that the "Walmart" gas stations are actually Murphy USA gas stations, although the signs clearly show this.  In Fort Stockton, Texas outside of a Walmart Supercenter I saw an actual Walmart branded gas station.  How common are these?  I've noticed only one.

https://goo.gl/maps/E6VXuXXu13txTBSq5

[Max Rockatansky]

I've only ever seen them in Florida. 

[Scott5114]

Murphy Oil is actually an independent company that had a deal to operate gas stations in Walmart outparcels. They are not owned by Walmart. Within the last few years, the agreement between Walmart and Murphy was ended, so new Walmarts have Walmart-branded stations.

[-- US 175 --]

A lot of people don't realize that the "Walmart" gas stations are actually Murphy USA gas stations, although the signs clearly show this.  In Fort Stockton, Texas outside of a Walmart Supercenter I saw an actual Walmart branded gas station.  How common are these?  I've noticed only one.

https://goo.gl/maps/E6VXuXXu13txTBSq5

Actually,
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/02/04/walmart-to-operate-own-gas-stations-going-forward/79809480/
https://consumerist.com/2016/02/04/walmart-ditching-murphy-usa-after-20-years-will-run-its-own-gas-stations-going-forward/

All the new ones I've seen in my area have since been Walmart-branded only, but the Murphy ones from before that deal ended are still on-site and branded as Murphy.  I've seen 1 or 2 post-Walmart new Murphy locations and neither are anywhere near a Walmart store.

[wriddle082]

I have seen (2) Walmart branded gas stations built alongside Neighborhood Market stores in my area recently.  There are also several standalone Murphy Express stations in my area, one being across the street from a Walmart.  So even though Murphy is no longer partnering with Walmart to build new stations on their immediate outparcels, they are definitely not losing business as a result.  Their Express stations are pretty nice on the inside, much like a Circle K or 7-11, but no fresh food offerings a la Sheetz or Wawa.

[LM117]

Yeah, a lot of the Walmart Neighborhood Market stores (including the one in my area) have Walmart-branded gas stations. Here, they often have the cheapest gas.

The Walmart Express stores also had Walmart-branded gas stations before they all closed. Dollar General took over most of the Express stores, including the gas pumps. Dollar General gas stations was something I never thought I'd see.

[jeffandnicole]

Whatever the brand, it's all the same has unless it's a tier 1 brand (Sunoco, Exxon, etc).

[Brandon]

Whatever the brand, it's all the same has unless it's a tier 1 brand (Sunoco, Exxon, etc).

Even then, it's the same.  It come from the same refinery and some "additives" of dubious quality are added.  All you really need is the EPA mandated amount of detergent in the fuel.  Anything else is extra crap that doesn't make your vehicle move.

[Buck87]

Murphy Oil is actually an independent company that had a deal to operate gas stations in Walmart outparcels.

and they have two different brands: "Murphy USA" which are located in Walmart outparcels and accept Walmart gift cards & "Murphy Express" which are independent locations that do not accept Walmart gift cards.

I first learned of this distinction when I tried to use a Walmart gift card at a Murphy station across from the Walmart in Norton, VA. Turns out it was actually one of the Murphy Expresses, and just happened to be located right across from Walmart. 
 

[jeffandnicole]

Whatever the brand, it's all the same has unless it's a tier 1 brand (Sunoco, Exxon, etc).

Even then, it's the same.  It come from the same refinery and some "additives" of dubious quality are added.  All you really need is the EPA mandated amount of detergent in the fuel.  Anything else is extra crap that doesn't make your vehicle move.

Yep.  Until it "shut down", we lived a mile away from a Sunoco Refinery, and while a lot of the trucks were Sunoco trucks, you'd see unbranded trucks enter and exit all the time.

"Shut down" is in quotes because while it was widely reported it was shutting down, some of the tanks in the tank farm are still used for holding some sort of fuel/oil, and there is some trucking activity going in and out.  But clearly nowhere near the activity that it used to have.

[-- US 175 --]

The Walmart Express stores also had Walmart-branded gas stations before they all closed. Dollar General took over most of the Express stores, including the gas pumps. Dollar General gas stations was something I never thought I'd see.

In TX, many of the Express (which used the Neighborhood Market label instead) locations that closed got snapped up by a regional grocery chain from east TX, and they were renamed Spring Market.  The fuel areas were retained in the transition, but the pharmacy sections were not.  Most towns that had the small-format Walmarts which became Spring Market stores were relieved to see that the locations were acquired and reopened.  They were mostly in areas that had either no grocery store, or previously had a local grocery that was pressured to the point of closing, due to the effect of Walmart's presence at the time.

[hbelkins]

Whatever the brand, it's all the same has unless it's a tier 1 brand (Sunoco, Exxon, etc).

Even then, it's the same.  It come from the same refinery and some "additives" of dubious quality are added.  All you really need is the EPA mandated amount of detergent in the fuel.  Anything else is extra crap that doesn't make your vehicle move.

A few years ago, I followed a Sheetz gas tanker truck out of the Marathon Ashland refinery in Catlettsburg, Ky., across the river into West Virginia. I guess it's cheaper or more economical for Sheetz to buy gas for its stations in the I-64 corridor there, rather than transport it from Pennsylvania or wherever else they usually bring it from.

[Brandon]

Whatever the brand, it's all the same has unless it's a tier 1 brand (Sunoco, Exxon, etc).

Even then, it's the same.  It come from the same refinery and some "additives" of dubious quality are added.  All you really need is the EPA mandated amount of detergent in the fuel.  Anything else is extra crap that doesn't make your vehicle move.

A few years ago, I followed a Sheetz gas tanker truck out of the Marathon Ashland refinery in Catlettsburg, Ky., across the river into West Virginia. I guess it's cheaper or more economical for Sheetz to buy gas for its stations in the I-64 corridor there, rather than transport it from Pennsylvania or wherever else they usually bring it from.

Not uncommon at all.  Transportation costs can eat a lot into bringing refined fuel to a station.  It's why some of the most expensive stations in the US are along the Dalton Highway in spite of the pipeline nearby.  It's refined in southern Alaska and trucked back north.  Around Chicago, your fuel is coming one of three sources typically: BP Whiting, Citgo Romeoville/Lemont, or ExxonMobil Joliet.  Out of those, you'll see trucks for ExxonMobil, Shell, Thornton's, Pilot/Flying J, Love's, Kenan Advantage, etc.

[ErmineNotyours]

That's strange, because I thought the USA station outside the Renton WalMart has been a USA for decades back when it was a Gov-Mart Bazaar.  Both Renton and Burien had Gov-Marts, and both had similar USA stations, and both have now been rebranded as Mobil.  Here's the Renton location, still with ghost USA lettering visible, and here is the Burien location with similar architecture.  Maybe my memory is faulty and the Renton station was another brand before WalMart went up across the parking lot.

[Road Hog]

Murphy Oil is headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas, so the relationship smacks of in-state backscratching that harkens back to the pre-David Glass days.

[roadman65]

The one on Goldenrod Road is just a Walmart Station and no Murphy Brand.  I believe the Old Lake Wilson Road Walmart has a Walmart Station in Kissimmee, FL too.

[roadman65]

In Kokomo, IN the Sams Club and Walmart there share the same station. 

Most Sam's have members only activation at the pump, though the one in Kissimmee, FL does allow non members at a higher price due to it being in the tourists area, but this one sharing it with the Walmart next door is rather odd, but practical though.

I like how if you want to save even more money at the pump, you purchase a Walmart gift card before you buy gas and you get 2 cents off on every gallon.  So if you shop first, pay for your gas inside the store when you load the card up.  In fact on my road trip later this week, I plan to get a gift card loaded with at least $30 or more so that my gas is prepaid and all I have to do is go to Walmart and pull up and pump.

[Scott5114]

I like how if you want to save even more money at the pump, you purchase a Walmart gift card before you buy gas and you get 2 cents off on every gallon.  So if you shop first, pay for your gas inside the store when you load the card up.  In fact on my road trip later this week, I plan to get a gift card loaded with at least $30 or more so that my gas is prepaid and all I have to do is go to Walmart and pull up and pump.

I most frequently get gas at a 7-Eleven across the street from a Walmart Neighborhood Market. 7-Eleven's posted prices are usually the same or a few cents more, but Oklahoma 7-Elevens (no relation to 7-Elevens in the rest of the observable universe) allow you to sign up for a payment card that pulls payment from your bank account using ACH rather than the debit card system. Since ACH is free and debit/credit cards require the merchant to pay a payment processor, 7-Eleven knocks 5¢ off the price if you use the payment card. This usually makes the price lower than even Walmart's gift card pricing, and you don't have to keep getting new cards.

[SP Cook]

A few years ago, I followed a Sheetz gas tanker truck out of the Marathon Ashland refinery in Catlettsburg, Ky., across the river into West Virginia. I guess it's cheaper or more economical for Sheetz to buy gas for its stations in the I-64 corridor there, rather than transport it from Pennsylvania or wherever else they usually bring it from.

AFAIK, E V E R Y drop of fuel sold within 150 miles or so of the Catlettsburg refinery is made at the Catlettsburg refinery, regardless of the brand or alleged status as "tier 1".    The sole exception is GO-Mart, which plays the "spot market" where it buys its own crude and buys rental time at independent refineries in Louisiana.  They used to own their own small refinery, but the workers unionized and GO-Mart padlocked it the next day.

[hotdogPi]

I like how if you want to save even more money at the pump, you purchase a Walmart gift card before you buy gas and you get 2 cents off on every gallon.  So if you shop first, pay for your gas inside the store when you load the card up.  In fact on my road trip later this week, I plan to get a gift card loaded with at least $30 or more so that my gas is prepaid and all I have to do is go to Walmart and pull up and pump.

I most frequently get gas at a 7-Eleven across the street from a Walmart Neighborhood Market. 7-Eleven's posted prices are usually the same or a few cents more, but Oklahoma 7-Elevens (no relation to 7-Elevens in the rest of the observable universe) allow you to sign up for a payment card that pulls payment from your bank account using ACH rather than the debit card system. Since ACH is free and debit/credit cards require the merchant to pay a payment processor, 7-Eleven knocks 5¢ off the price if you use the payment card. This usually makes the price lower than even Walmart's gift card pricing, and you don't have to keep getting new cards.

Why don't they give the same 5¢ discount for cash?

[doorknob60]

I like how if you want to save even more money at the pump, you purchase a Walmart gift card before you buy gas and you get 2 cents off on every gallon.  So if you shop first, pay for your gas inside the store when you load the card up.  In fact on my road trip later this week, I plan to get a gift card loaded with at least $30 or more so that my gas is prepaid and all I have to do is go to Walmart and pull up and pump.

I most frequently get gas at a 7-Eleven across the street from a Walmart Neighborhood Market. 7-Eleven's posted prices are usually the same or a few cents more, but Oklahoma 7-Elevens (no relation to 7-Elevens in the rest of the observable universe) allow you to sign up for a payment card that pulls payment from your bank account using ACH rather than the debit card system. Since ACH is free and debit/credit cards require the merchant to pay a payment processor, 7-Eleven knocks 5¢ off the price if you use the payment card. This usually makes the price lower than even Walmart's gift card pricing, and you don't have to keep getting new cards.

A chain in Boise (Stinker) has the same thing, except it's $0.10 off per gallon. But it's kind of pointless to me, since with my Citi Costco Visa, I can get 4% cash back on gas at any station (usually excludes supermarkets like Fred Meyer, Safeway, and Walmart, but any other gas station, including Costco of course, is fair game). So if gas is $2.50 or more (it usually is), then I'm already doing better than a 10 cent discount.

For this reason, I prefer the discount cards that are not a substitute payment card. For example, Fuel Rewards at Shell I usually get $0.03 off (though for a while it was $0.05), and Maverik's is $0.02 off. Neither of those require a physical card, just a phone number. And I can use my Visa so the discounts stack. I wish Chevron and Sinclair or Stinker had a similar program (these are the other prominent chains around Boise). I tend to prefer Shell, Maverik, and Costco (this one just because they have the cheapest base prices) over other stations due to the extra discounts.

[GenExpwy]

A good one for gas discounts is BJ's Wholesale Club. I was in there last week, and they had two gas promos:
- 10¢/gallon off after each purchase of specially-signed items.
- 25¢/gallon off after purchase of two items from a select list of Proctor & Gamble and Clorox Co. items.

The discounts can be stacked, so I got 45¢/gallon off (from $2.759 to $2.309) for a 15-gallon fill.