Financial Statement Information Receivables (Policies)	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Receivables [Abstract]
Receivable [Policy Text Block]	Allowance for Credit Losses Management evaluates the aging of customer receivable balances, the financial condition of our customers, historical trends, and macroeconomic factors to estimate the amount of customer receivables that may not be collected in the future and records a provision it believes is appropriate. Our reserve for expected lifetime credit losses was $68 million and $53 million at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. Bad debt expense totaled $23 million and $10 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively. The increase in our allowance for credit losses since December 31, 2019 is attributable to an increase in expected lifetime losses, primarily attributable to the downturn in the global economy related to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the $3 million effect of the adoption of ASU No. 2016-13, "Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments" ("ASU 2016-13") in the first quarter of 2020 (see the Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements section below for further details).
Government Assistance	Government Assistance During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, we recorded $12 million and $45 million, respectively, in financial assistance from foreign governments, primarily in the form of grants to offset personnel expenses in Europe and Canada. For each of the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, $1 million was recorded as a reduction to Cost of goods sold, and $12 million and $44 million were reductions to Selling, general and administrative expenses, respectively, in our Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Income. Financial assistance received from governments is recorded during the period in which we incur the costs that the assistance is intended to offset (and only if it is probable that we will meet the conditions required under the terms of the assistance). On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act") was enacted in the U.S. to provide economic relief to individuals and businesses facing economic hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar legislation was enacted in many of the Company’s international jurisdictions. Tax measures in these legislative actions did not have a material impact on the Company’s results of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. Those initiatives did provide the Company with the opportunity to defer the timing of certain income tax, indirect tax and payroll tax payments in various jurisdictions. As of September 30, 2020, approximately $33 million of payments otherwise due by the third quarter of 2020 were deferred, of which we estimate approximately $30 million will be paid in 2021 or later.
Lessee, Leases	Leases We lease certain warehouses, distribution centers, retail stores, office space, land, vehicles and equipment. We determine if an arrangement is a lease at inception. Operating and finance lease right-of-use ("ROU") assets and lease liabilities are recognized based on the present value of the future minimum lease payments over the lease term at the commencement date. As the implicit rate for most of our leases is not readily determinable, we use our incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the commencement date in determining the present value of future payments. We determine our incremental borrowing rate by analyzing yield curves with consideration of lease term, country and company specific factors. The ROU asset also includes any lease prepayments and excludes lease incentives. Many of our leases include one or more options to renew, with renewal terms that can extend the lease term from 1 year to 40 years or more. For each lease, we consider whether we are reasonably certain to exercise these options to extend. Other contracts may contain termination options that we assess to determine whether we are reasonably certain not to exercise those options. Certain leases also include options to purchase the leased property. The depreciable lives of assets and leasehold improvements are limited by the expected lease term, unless there is a transfer of title or purchase option reasonably certain of exercise. Some of our lease agreements include rental payments adjusted periodically for inflation. Most of these adjustments are considered variable lease costs. Other variable lease costs consist of certain non-lease components that are disclosed as lease costs due to our election of the practical expedient to combine lease and non-lease components and include items such as variable payments for utilities, property taxes, common area maintenance, sales taxes, and insurance. For leases with an initial term of 12 months or less, we have not recognized an ROU asset or lease liability on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets; we recognize lease expense for these leases on a straight-line basis over the lease terms. In response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, we secured rent relief from some of our lessors during the second quarter of 2020. The rent relief offered was primarily in the form of rent payment deferrals for one or more months to be paid back over a specified period of time ranging from one month to the remaining term of the lease. As of September 30, 2020, most of the deferrals recognized in the prior quarter were repaid. Any remaining payment deferrals were immaterial and were recorded in Other current liabilities on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. During the second quarter of 2020, we also received other concessions consisting of abated rent or discounted rent, with payback not required, from various landlords, which resulted in reductions to Selling, general and administrative expenses of $2 million in our Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income. We received additional concessions of less than $1 million during the third quarter of 2020.
Disclosure of Long Lived Assets Held-for-sale [Table Text Block]	Net Assets Held for Sale During 2019 and the first nine months of 2020, we committed to plans to sell certain businesses in our North America and Europe segments. As a result, these businesses were classified as net assets held for sale and were required to be adjusted to the lower of fair value less cost to sell or carrying value, resulting in a $1 million adjustment to reduce a previously recorded loss on disposal for the three months ended September 30, 2020, and net impairment charges of $2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. As of September 30, 2020, assets and liabilities held for sale were immaterial. In the second quarter of 2020, we completed the sale of one of these businesses, a non-core telecommunications operation in Germany, resulting in an immaterial loss on sale (presented in (Gain) loss on disposal of businesses and impairment of net assets held for sale in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income). The disposed business was immaterial, generating annualized revenue of approximately $78 million during the twelve-month period ended May 31, 2020. In the third quarter of 2019, we completed the sales of two of these businesses, our aviation business in North America and a wholesale business in Bulgaria. The proceeds exceeded our prior fair value estimates, resulting in a net $4 million reduction of previously reported impairment charges for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and a net $45 million impairment charge for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 (presented in (Gain) loss on disposal of businesses and impairment of net assets held for sale in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income). Excluding the Stahlgruber Czech Republic wholesale business discussed in Note 2, "Discontinued Operations," as of December 31, 2019, assets and liabilities held for sale were immaterial, and were recorded within Prepaid expenses and other current assets and Other current liabilities, respectively, on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet. We are required to record net assets of our held for sale businesses at the lower of fair value less cost to sell or carrying value. Fair values were based on projected discounted cash flows and/or estimated selling prices. Management's assumptions for our discounted cash flow analyses of the businesses were based on projected revenues and profits, tax rates, capital expenditures, working capital requirements and discount rates. For businesses for which we utilized estimated selling prices to calculate the fair value, the inputs to our estimates included projected market multiples and any reasonable offers. Due to uncertainties in the estimation process, it is possible that actual results could differ from the estimates used in our analysis. The inputs utilized in the fair value estimates are classified as Level 3 within the fair value hierarchy. The fair values of the net assets were measured on a non-recurring basis as of September 30, 2020.
Equity Method Investments [Policy Text Block]	Investments in Unconsolidated Subsidiaries Our investment in unconsolidated subsidiaries was $148 million and $139 million as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. Europe Segment Our investment in unconsolidated subsidiaries in Europe was $129 million and $122 million as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. We recorded equity in earnings of $4 million and $5 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively, and equity in earnings of $4 million and equity in losses of $35 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, respectively, mainly related to our investment in Mekonomen AB ("Mekonomen"). On December 1, 2016, we acquired a 26.5% equity interest in Mekonomen for an aggregate purchase price of $181 million. In October 2018, we acquired an additional $48 million of equity in Mekonomen at a discounted share price as part of its rights issue, increasing our equity interest to 26.6%. We are accounting for our interest in Mekonomen using the equity method of accounting, as our investment gives us the ability to exercise significant influence, but not control, over the investee. As of September 30, 2020, our share of the book value of Mekonomen's net assets exceeded the book value of our investment in Mekonomen by $6 million; this difference is primarily related to Mekonomen's Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income balance as of our acquisition date in 2016. We are recording our equity in the net earnings of Mekonomen on a one quarter lag. During the three months ended March 31, 2019, we recognized an other-than-temporary impairment charge of $40 million, which represented the difference between the carrying value and the fair value of our investment in Mekonomen. The fair value of our investment in Mekonomen was determined using the Mekonomen share price of SEK 65 as of March 31, 2019. The impairment charge was recorded in Equity in earnings (losses) of unconsolidated subsidiaries in our Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income. Mekonomen announced in March 2020 that it would not make a dividend payment in 2020. The Level 1 fair value of our equity investment in the publicly traded Mekonomen common stock at September 30, 2020 was $151 million (using the Mekonomen share price of SEK 93 as of September 30, 2020) compared to a carrying value of $118 million. North America Segment Our investment in unconsolidated subsidiaries in the North America segment was $19 million and $18 million as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. We recorded equity in earnings of $0.4 million and equity in losses of $3 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively. The equity in earnings for the North America equity investments was $0.4 million and $1 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, respectively.

Financial Statement Information Receivables (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Allowance for Credit Losses

Management evaluates the aging of customer receivable balances, the financial condition of our customers, historical trends, and macroeconomic factors to estimate the amount of customer receivables that may not be collected in the future and records a provision it believes is appropriate. Our reserve for expected lifetime credit losses was $68 million and $53 million at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. Bad debt expense totaled $23 million and $10 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively. The increase in our allowance for credit losses since December 31, 2019 is attributable to an increase in expected lifetime losses, primarily attributable to the downturn in the global economy related to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the $3 million effect of the adoption of ASU No. 2016-13, "Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments" ("ASU 2016-13") in the first quarter of 2020 (see the Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements section below for further details).

Government Assistance

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, we recorded $12 million and $45 million, respectively, in financial assistance from foreign governments, primarily in the form of grants to offset personnel expenses in Europe and Canada. For each of the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, $1 million was recorded as a reduction to Cost of goods sold, and $12 million and $44 million were reductions to Selling, general and administrative expenses, respectively, in our Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Income. Financial assistance received from governments is recorded during the period in which we incur the costs that the assistance is intended to offset (and only if it is probable that we will meet the conditions required under the terms of the assistance).

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act") was enacted in the U.S. to provide economic relief to individuals and businesses facing economic hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar legislation was enacted in many of the Company’s international jurisdictions. Tax measures in these legislative actions did not have a material impact on the Company’s results of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. Those initiatives did provide the Company with the opportunity to defer the timing of certain income tax, indirect tax and payroll tax payments in various jurisdictions. As of September 30, 2020, approximately $33 million of payments otherwise due by the third quarter of 2020 were deferred, of which we estimate approximately $30 million will be paid in 2021 or later.

Lessee, Leases

Leases

We lease certain warehouses, distribution centers, retail stores, office space, land, vehicles and equipment. We determine if an arrangement is a lease at inception. Operating and finance lease right-of-use ("ROU") assets and lease liabilities are recognized based on the present value of the future minimum lease payments over the lease term at the commencement date. As the implicit rate for most of our leases is not readily determinable, we use our incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the commencement date in determining the present value of future payments. We determine our incremental borrowing rate by analyzing yield curves with consideration of lease term, country and company specific factors. The ROU asset also includes any lease prepayments and excludes lease incentives.

Many of our leases include one or more options to renew, with renewal terms that can extend the lease term from 1 year to 40 years or more. For each lease, we consider whether we are reasonably certain to exercise these options to extend. Other contracts may contain termination options that we assess to determine whether we are reasonably certain not to exercise those options. Certain leases also include options to purchase the leased property. The depreciable lives of assets and leasehold improvements are limited by the expected lease term, unless there is a transfer of title or purchase option reasonably certain of exercise.

Some of our lease agreements include rental payments adjusted periodically for inflation. Most of these adjustments are considered variable lease costs. Other variable lease costs consist of certain non-lease components that are disclosed as lease costs due to our election of the practical expedient to combine lease and non-lease components and include items such as variable payments for utilities, property taxes, common area maintenance, sales taxes, and insurance.

For leases with an initial term of 12 months or less, we have not recognized an ROU asset or lease liability on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets; we recognize lease expense for these leases on a straight-line basis over the lease terms.

In response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, we secured rent relief from some of our lessors during the second quarter of 2020. The rent relief offered was primarily in the form of rent payment deferrals for one or more months to be paid back over a specified period of time ranging from one month to the remaining term of the lease. As of September 30, 2020, most of the deferrals recognized in the prior quarter were repaid. Any remaining payment deferrals were immaterial and were recorded in Other current liabilities on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. During the second quarter of 2020, we also received other concessions consisting of abated rent or discounted rent, with payback not required, from various landlords, which resulted in reductions to Selling, general and administrative expenses of $2 million in our Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income. We received additional concessions of less than $1 million during the third quarter of 2020.

Disclosure of Long Lived Assets Held-for-sale [Table Text Block]

Net Assets Held for Sale

During 2019 and the first nine months of 2020, we committed to plans to sell certain businesses in our North America and Europe segments. As a result, these businesses were classified as net assets held for sale and were required to be adjusted to the lower of fair value less cost to sell or carrying value, resulting in a $1 million adjustment to reduce a previously recorded loss on disposal for the three months ended September 30, 2020, and net impairment charges of $2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. As of September 30, 2020, assets and liabilities held for sale were immaterial.

In the second quarter of 2020, we completed the sale of one of these businesses, a non-core telecommunications operation in Germany, resulting in an immaterial loss on sale (presented in (Gain) loss on disposal of businesses and impairment of net assets held for sale in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income). The disposed business was immaterial, generating annualized revenue of approximately $78 million during the twelve-month period ended May 31, 2020.

In the third quarter of 2019, we completed the sales of two of these businesses, our aviation business in North America and a wholesale business in Bulgaria. The proceeds exceeded our prior fair value estimates, resulting in a net $4 million reduction of previously reported impairment charges for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and a net $45 million impairment charge for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 (presented in (Gain) loss on disposal of businesses and impairment of net assets held for sale in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income). Excluding the Stahlgruber Czech Republic wholesale business discussed in Note 2, "Discontinued Operations," as of December 31, 2019, assets and liabilities held for sale were immaterial, and were recorded within Prepaid expenses and other current assets and Other current liabilities, respectively, on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet.

We are required to record net assets of our held for sale businesses at the lower of fair value less cost to sell or carrying value. Fair values were based on projected discounted cash flows and/or estimated selling prices. Management's assumptions for our discounted cash flow analyses of the businesses were based on projected revenues and profits, tax rates, capital expenditures, working capital requirements and discount rates. For businesses for which we utilized estimated selling prices to calculate the fair value, the inputs to our estimates included projected market multiples and any reasonable offers. Due to uncertainties in the estimation process, it is possible that actual results could differ from the estimates used in our analysis. The inputs utilized in the fair value estimates are classified as Level 3 within the fair value hierarchy. The fair values of the net assets were measured on a non-recurring basis as of September 30, 2020.

Equity Method Investments [Policy Text Block]

Investments in Unconsolidated Subsidiaries

Our investment in unconsolidated subsidiaries was $148 million and $139 million as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively.

Europe Segment

Our investment in unconsolidated subsidiaries in Europe was $129 million and $122 million as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. We recorded equity in earnings of $4 million and $5 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively, and equity in earnings of $4 million and equity in losses of $35 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, respectively, mainly related to our investment in Mekonomen AB ("Mekonomen").

On December 1, 2016, we acquired a 26.5% equity interest in Mekonomen for an aggregate purchase price of $181 million. In October 2018, we acquired an additional $48 million of equity in Mekonomen at a discounted share price as part of its rights issue, increasing our equity interest to 26.6%. We are accounting for our interest in Mekonomen using the equity method of accounting, as our investment gives us the ability to exercise significant influence, but not control, over the investee. As of September 30, 2020, our share of the book value of Mekonomen's net assets exceeded the book value of our investment in Mekonomen by $6 million; this difference is primarily related to Mekonomen's Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income balance as of our acquisition date in 2016. We are recording our equity in the net earnings of Mekonomen on a one quarter lag.

During the three months ended March 31, 2019, we recognized an other-than-temporary impairment charge of $40 million, which represented the difference between the carrying value and the fair value of our investment in Mekonomen. The fair value of our investment in Mekonomen was determined using the Mekonomen share price of SEK 65 as of March 31, 2019. The impairment charge was recorded in Equity in earnings (losses) of unconsolidated subsidiaries in our Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income.

Mekonomen announced in March 2020 that it would not make a dividend payment in 2020. The Level 1 fair value of our equity investment in the publicly traded Mekonomen common stock at September 30, 2020 was $151 million (using the Mekonomen share price of SEK 93 as of September 30, 2020) compared to a carrying value of $118 million.

North America Segment

Our investment in unconsolidated subsidiaries in the North America segment was $19 million and $18 million as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. We recorded equity in earnings of $0.4 million and equity in losses of $3 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively. The equity in earnings for the North America equity investments was $0.4 million and $1 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, respectively.