Went today to two different Super Walmarts, 30+? miles apart in my travels, one store had zero typical blue Walmart 5 qt oil on the shelf, but plenty of Walmart Blends and synethics, the other store had some containers of Walmart lighter oils.

Is this just a one time fluke, or is Walmart thinning out the selection?

I was looking for 20-50W which is not common in the name brands.

I got high mileage vehicles in Fla use, and the thinner oils are not of my liking.

I just bought two of these a few days ago at Walmart: 12 quarts in a plastic bladder inside a cardboard box.

Cheaper per quart than the jugs. Twelve quarts costs less than 2 x 5 quarts.

Valvoline has been playing the same kind of game. I've used 5W-30 conventional in wifey's 2012 Subaru since we bought it new. Two oil changes ago all NAPA had was a synthetic 5W-30 "blend". Said I wanted straight conventional and gave them the Valvoline number from a quart that I still had. Same number on the "blend". NAPA contacted Valvoline and they claimed that the 5W-30 had always been a blend to get the viscosity range. OK, I buy a case of oil and change oil. This last week it was time to change oil again, go to NAPA, the old 5W-30 (not the "blend") is back on the shelf, same part number.

Bought a case of that and left shaking my head.

The term "blend" covers a lot of ground. What percentage is dino oil and what percentage is synthetic?

It can vary wildly and due to the proprietary nature of these oils, good luck finding out unless you actually analyze it.

our local WM hasn't had any 10x30 or 40 regular for a few months. All they have is synthetic or high mileage, and not a lot of those.

Saw this same phenomenon winter 2019/20 at Advance and O'Rielly's. I bit the bullet and bought all of the conventional that I could. Gotta shop around. Never did see an official staement on this.

More likely related to refinery or transit issues - like the storm-related shutdown in TX a while back - or the common items that are still spotty to find in grocery stores.

i have been buying 15-40 at tractor supply in the 5 gallon buckets. the last one was $46 and change.
seems to be working good for me.

Its all semantics designed to make them more money, they can charge more for a "blend" than conventional but the trick is that there is no exact standard of what exactly is synthetic, what is a blend and what is conventional... full synthetic can just be highly refined dino oil or it can be made from natural gas (dino molecules?) , also if you put 1% of whatever you arbitrarily define as synthetic into whatever you define as conventional then it is a blend. Straight 30 weight non detergent "conventional" is the easiest one to make but costs as much as synthetic because it is "special" for lawn mowers and model T ferds. It's all just a name game. Pick the cheapest one that comes in the weight you need and change it when it gets contaminated, they all get contaminated at the same rate.

Find a truck/hd equipment jobber that sells oil in bulk. Cheaper than Walmart when you buy it by the box.

I stopped buying oil at auto parts stores a few years ago when they decided lowly Valvoline 10w-40 should sell for $6 a bottle.

I was talking to a guy at one of the parts stores here where I buy oil and mentioned I was buying 55 gallon drums on fleabay under $2 qt, said he would match it with his generic oil and has been doing so for several years now. Might be worth talking to some parts store managers if you find yourself buying very much. My conversation with him started because they occasionally give out special flyers for oil at $1.99 qt, now I always just walk in and buy it for that price, my price on generic synthetic is $3.99 and blend is $2.99 but I only buy them when a customer specifically requests it or their specific weight is not available in conventional.