Truck Stops

There are tons of reasons why truck drivers stop or don't stop at certain truckstops. Most drivers want to stop only once for everything (fuel,food, shower etc) Company drivers are dictated as to what fuel stops to use. O/O's have a choice. After you've been out here for awhile, you get to know what stops you like or dislike. You might like Loves in Houston, but hate Loves in OKC for whatever reason. If you run a consistent lane, you will probably use the same fuel stops most everytime, since you know how often you need fuel.

But I can tell you drivers want convienence, parking, clean showers, good food, fast fuel lanes, friendly faces and decent prices and security. We don't want 2 fuel lanes closed for cleaning at 9 am or the main restrooms closed for cleaning at 8 am (Flying "J"). We don't want 3 cashiers shooting the breeze while one is trying to keep up with customer demand. (Pilots).We love 4 wheeler fuel desks separate from diesel fuel desks. (Loves). We don't like pandhandlers/working girls/jewelry salesmen/wheel polishers bothering us in the parking lot. We have somewhere to go and not a lot of time (usually) to get there, so, any help is appreciated along the way.

 

I am a company driver who's company gets fuel with a Comdata card. I can get fuel any place I choose as long as they take Comdata. I run pretty much the same area everyday. I am out of north Louisiana & I run northeast TX daily & home every night. Personally, I fuel every afternoon at the end of my route so I will have fuel for the entire next day's route. So, I fuel close to home. The nearest truck stop is a Loves. Thats the one reason I fuel there. The main reason is, with the Comdata I can swipe & enter my info at the pump & I dont have to park, go inside, wait in line, get the pump turned on, go back out, pump, come back inside, wait in line & pay for the fuel. Also, by swiping at the pump, when I hang up the nozzel & the transaction is finished, my fuel ticket automaticly prints out inside & they place in in a numbered ticket tray. So I just walk in & take my ticket from the pump number slot I was at & walk back out. No wait. At least thats the idea & it works MOST of the time... not always.
The next reason is because I started there, they know me & I use thier rewards card. They pay a penny per gallon. I dont know what Pilot, FJ or T/A pay in rewards.
When my wife & I had a hotshot & was otr, we used Flying J (or the place with the Iron Skillet resturant) most of the time because it has a sit down resturant. We would hardly ever stop anywhere that had a fast food joint inside. Another reason we liked FJ was, with the hot shot, we could use thier fuel island out front for RV's & bus's etc. There, we could use our company debit card at the pump. We didnt have to park, go inside, wait in line, get the pump turned on, go back out, pump, come back in side, wait in line & pay for the fuel. Personally, I wont stop where I have to do it that way. I have tried Pilots in some unusual cases so I could pay at the pump but, I have found that MOST Pilots dont keep thier equipment at the pump working so, you have to park, go inside, wait in line, get the pump turned on......... you know the drill. So, I wont use them.