New TA parking policies being put in place...

This is a classic example of “jumping over a dollar to pick up a dime”. It’s the same way gas stations generally work; they don’t hike up the gas prices so they can lure people into the store to buy items at a convenient store price. If they increased their gas price, people wouldn’t stop, and wouldn’t come in the store for snacks, drinks, smokes and etc because competition would keep their pump price low and they would just go there for “cheap gas”

with the convenience of pay at the pump, gas stations still don’t hike the pump price, they just get more clever at advertising and drawing that customer inside. 3 for $5 Red Bull’s, buy one get one half off dip tobacco, tv commercials at the pump etc.

now TA on the other hand lol... will increase the fuel price (like Baltimore south location Jessup,MD), increase the parking price, and still have one of the highest markup percentages in the industry on convenient store items. Idk. The two main leverage points TA/Petro has is their huge lot parking availability, and having the most comprehensive easy access shop network for truckers. If they can find a way to leverage these two factors they won’t have to run away more customers with parking increases or etc. the thing is, loves and PFJ has become way more appealing to mega company truck drivers. So maybe TA Petro just needs to focus on their core market, owner ops. TA Petro is really for the owner op in my opinion. When I get fuel, I need to get straight to a pump and in and out. 90% I do just that at TA Petro. The pumps at PFJ and loves are mayhem on average, frustrating on a decent day, and efficient on a rare day.

Not to be selfish, but I’m glad everyone has such a distaste for the brand, because it’s where I fuel and my favorite place to park. The parking space layouts are bigger, even the new Mega drivers (if they come) can back into these spots. The drivers lounges. The access to parts etc

 

Gee, you know, I'd love to spend money in the store or restaurant, but the store infrequently has anything I want, and increasingly I will walk in to find the restaurants (all of them, not just the CP/IS) closed.

Maybe they could look into that. Naaaah, doubt it, they don't give a ####.

To think, I once preferred TA/Petro over PFJ/Love's. No more.

 

TA has always been a place of last resort for me if I need a place to park for the night. At least where I generally drive, their facilities are old and run down, and the lots are full of large potholes. Their store prices are usually much higher than other places, and other than flat tire repairs, their mechanics are the worst in the business. Over the last few years, every single thing I've tried to have fixed at a TA shop has ended up costing me much more because they screwed it up worse than it was before. My reefer is at a dealership right now being repaired from a screw up at a TA from 6 months ago. It's costing me $1,500 to fix something that shouldn't have happened. Four months ago I had a slight pull on my steer tires and reluctantly decided to get an alignment at a TA. They screwed it up so bad that it destroyed a perfectly good drive tire within 2 weeks and they wouldn't back their work and I had to pay for everything to fix their mistake. I now avoid TA's like the plague.

 

Speaking of prices. I noticed that in they have different prices on the same item in the travel store vs. the shop store. Case in point, the exact same wire brush; $5.49 in the shop store, $2.99 in the travel store.

 

The fuel discount card I use has the best prices at TA/Petro. I utilize the Petro in Corning, CA on the lane I run. Their showers are nice, parking isn't bad. But the best part is that after the fresh doughnuts are delivered at 0300, they sell the day old one's for 0.85

 

Every TA in the country can burn to the ground for all I care....All they are is a magnet for mega fleeters and clueless foreigners.

I have no use for any of the above.

 

That’s why I park side rd but don’t have to deal with east coast probably not an option

 

It's real simple,
The TA/petro truck stops have priced
the truck driver out of there locations.

It's only a matter of time before they're
Swallowed up by loves.

I been out here a long time.
One thing I know for sure from watching it happen
A 1000 times when it comes to truck stops.

Whoever pumps the most fuel wins.
When your diesel pumps are rarely used or
Empty most of the day, it just a matter of time
Before the doors close.

If I don't fuel there then I have no other reason
To stop there.
I'm gonna shower and spend any money on things
I need wherever I fill up at. Which for me is the loves.

Loves gives me every reason to come there,
While the t/a petro give me every reason not to.
There in the Stone Age. They refuse to believe what's
Really happening.

Just like Kmart, when Walmart came along.
We all know what happened to them.
We're watching the same thing happen with
The truck stops right now between the loves
And the t/a petro.

It's just a matter of who is going to swallow
Up all their locations first.
The pilot or loves.
My money is on the loves.

 

I can help you t/a petro.
Turn every one of your restaurants into hooters.
Then I'll actually stop at your locations.
If I'm gonna pay 5 times more anything then I
Would at another truck stop, then at least
I'll get to look a some pretty women while
I'm doing it.

By the way.
Does anybody else remember when there used
To be attractive women that worked in truck stops.
They made terrible food taste good.
Let's get back to that.

 

Not to mention the guys that go in and use the microwave, take napkins and utensils, then throw them on the ground when they leave.