Pelican Sinclair, Billlings, MT...Yet another independent KILLED!!!

The nice part about PFJ coming into Montana was that they left all the great stuff about Town Pump intact. I think they just brand the fuel and that's it, but I loves me some Town Pump. Meatloaf sammiches FTW! If we are lucky, TA will keep the restaurant (think Morris, Il and Albert Lea, MN and Coburg, OR) if it has a strong local following. IF not, I will scratch it off my list because I only stop at TA if it's an emergency and in Montana, I know of 18 million other places. TA sucks and I will starve, run out of fuel or stink before I ever give those scumbags my money ever again.

 

I feel your pain, but to be fair I have to imagine the owners of Pelican (technically in Laurel MT) were barely making it and that grease and oil splattered lot was crumbling to pieces the last time I was there ~2005.

The FJ opened in Lockwood, the Town Pump in Columbus, (and the Town Pump in Laurel proper), that little independent couldn't compete with those fuel prices for local drivers, and the lack of amenities couldn't appeal to many OTR drivers more accustomed to the relative luxuries of more modern truck stops.

The "2nd Shift" is next door to the Town Pump at Exit 452, decent little local bar/restaurant.

 

Are we talking about the Sinclair next to the strip club?

 

Well, blame it on the drivers who sit on the lot, don't spend any money and take up parking spaces. Don't blame all of this on the big truck stop chains.

You used to see the restaurants full of drivers, now their 1/2 full at best.

 

Truck stops make their money on fuel, primarily. An independent is going to suffer greatly today in a world where 70% of trucks on the road have a "fuel solution" they must follow, and no independents will ever show up on these fuel plans, and as such 70% of the trucks that pass by/through can't get fuel there, and the other 30% have lots of other choices before they got there.

 

Yep. The company I work for only gets fuel at Loves, Pilot, and Flying J.

Also a lot of the independents don't have DEF at the pump which is way so many go to the mega truck stop companies. At least in Montana the Pilot/Flying J's are run by TownPump and PFJ is only used for their fuel and so drivers can get shower credits.

 

I drive by there all the time and I hated that place the few times I stopped. I prefer to go to Cenex in Park City a few miles down the road. Yeah they don't have the restaurant but they had a more of an independent atmosphere to me. Plus you get a free drink with a fuel and you do not have to go in to get the pump turned on. They just look out the window and turn it on for you. I am there to get fuel and crap for my truck, not clothes.

 

I would eat in a greasy spoon restaurant at least twice a day...if I could afford it. It costs me between 13-15 bucks per meal most places with tip included...roughly $30 a day. I don't make the big bucks enough to justify that. So it's Ramen noodles most nights.