The oil change is just an add-on to its normal business. Wal-Mart doesn't care if it doesn't make a profit in that division, because it makes plenty of profit elsewhere. This is why people like the stores. Drop your car off, shop, then come back out with a fresh oil change, and quite a bit of time and money saved in the process. It's a genius idea, and obviously lots of people wanted it.
Why should I not trust Wal-Mart anymore than the local quick lube place? It's not like there is some sort of labor force that Wal-Mart brings into each store that doesn't know what they are doing. They hire low-income workers in the labor force in each town just like ANY other business with quick lube. Some stores are worse than others, but that's the town's fault, not Wal-Mart. You goto a Wal-Mart in a college town, and some 20-something year old guy is going to come out and care as much about your car as he does his life. Almost every person in their 20s I have met is rude. Wal-Mart is going to hire whoever will work cheap.
I have my oil change done at my private mechanic. I don't let anybody touch my car except for him because he has direct control over anything that goes on. He's in his 50s and knows what he's doing. But it doesn't mean I go and call Wal-Mart the worse place to get oil changes simply because of its name. How silly is that? I just like going to places where people know what they are doing. You will usually only find that at a small indepdent shop owned by some older guy who has done this stuff for years.
