Why is oil change at the dealer so much cheaper?

I have a 2011 F150 and have always had my oil changes done at the dealer. Total cost is $60 even. To do it myself would cost the same. I was looking onmy last invoice and the ford dealer charged me $18 for 5.5L of oil. It would cost me $40 to buy the same amount in store. Does the dealer use cheap oil? Reason I'm asking is because I work 6 days a week and only have sundays off. I really don't want to take a day off work just to have my oil changed by the dealer so I want to just do it myself on a sunday

Dealers buy the oil and filters both at the wholesale level and in bulk. They pay a lot less for the parts than you do.

5qts of synthetic Mobil 1 at Walmart is 28 bucks. An extended range filter (needed for synthetic oil) is about $6.

Dealers buy both for less. They'd rather have you come to them for oil changes hoping you'll choose them for service work while the vehicle is in their hands. Same reason grocery stores sell Miracle Whip for less than its cost. Come for the Miracle Whip, but leave with 3 bags of groceries.

Dealers have the ability to buy in bulk and have the right equipment. Where you or I would have to buy quarts individually or a buy a larger jug the dealer buys the stuff in 50 gallon barrels and probably goes through a few a month. Then add in the equipment like a car lift and air tools and people that do this everyday they are still making a profit and get the job done in less than 30 minutes.

40 BUCKS FOR OIL? SYNTHETIC?
Dealers use LOF rack as a loss leader to try to upsell additional work. This way they get first shot at additional repairs.

If you could buy oil by the hundreds of gallons, as dealers do and can; you would see the difference in savings! They also utilize bulkpack filters, which are esentially the same factory filters 12 to a box, instead of each one having a box of their own! Also, the oil they utilize may be the correct weight of oil, however it could be made by one of many producers such as Valvoline, Pennzoil etc; depending on who their distributor is, it may not me the Motorcraft oil your manual calls for; but an equivalent instead! Hope this helped!

I can get 5 qts of full synth at Wally world for 25 bucks and a filter for 5. That's half the cost of a dealer and a whole lot less time. Worth it to me.