no business, no parking

good post. maybe it should come out of highway tax $$$
instead of giving it to #### failing mass transit plans?

 

I feel bad for the mom and pops. The larger stops, knowing they have a captive audience, sticks it to the drivers and prices themselves out of the market. The drivers respond with self-sufficiency and then the mom n' pops suffer as well.

Little private restaurants that charge fairly can do well just on customer loyalty. These stops could do that and be guaranteed results because they would still have the captive audience. That would be best. But they still decide to overcharge to their own detriment.

The freight slow-down has to be a killer for them though, since the drivers are spending so much time out in the lot for the amount they could reasonably spend over a day. They wouldn't succeed charging less right now, because the water is stagnant, not enough turnover to keep things moving.

I would also support subsidies. Considering all that go to art and culture, and overseas, an economic cornerstone industry could certainly use it.

 

I will park at a big chain w/o buying anything, but if I'm at a mom-n-pop,I buy something. That's just the way I was taught. It's courtesy. If I'm parking in their lot and using their restroom, I should be contributing to their profit in some way.

I don't worry about it at the big chains because I know they are making enough profit they don't need every little penny they can get. I just buy something when I need it.

I am a huge advocate of public parking. My opinion is that there should be truck parking lots at certain intervals (say, every fifty miles) along the freeways. Just a big lot with a dumpster and restrooms. Showers and vending or snack bar would be nice. Just make it part of the freeway system, like rest areas.

As things are right now, there isn't much alternative to parking at truck stops. Our customers kick us off the lot once they're done with us, rest areas have parking limits in more and more states, retail lots everywhere abound with "no trucks" signs, and we certainly can't park on a freeway ramp without risking an accident or a ticket.

I'm afraid that with so many trucking companies laying off and going out of business creating a lesser volume of trucks on the road, the smaller truck stops are going to go out of business, too. Then when our economy upswings and truck traffic increases, there will be an even more massive parking shortage than there is now. Does anyone else share this fear?

 

Some members here are not happy with the number of four-wheelers that use truck stops and how truck stops now seem to cater to them. Maybe this is how the truck stops survive without having to charge for parking. They encourage the pass-through four-wheelers to purchase the overpriced food and merchandise.

 

if they would all just do what some do and seperate the parking areas ( i mean COMPLETELY) so you dont have joe-blow 4-wheeler zipping through the truck area at 30+
seperate the cashiers (WITH ADEQUATE # of CASHIERS!)
so i dont have to wait 10 minutes to get in and out while GRANNY with 50 #### LOTTO tickets has them all checked because she is to old dumb or lazy to do it herself!!
i have NO problem with it.

 

Flying J , Petro , T/A , and Pilot are TRAVEL CENTERS - not truck stops . Their main interest is volumes of sales . The faster you are in and out the better .

 

I understand what both Pat and Rick are saying. In an ideal world, truck stops could be TRUCK stops... but the economy simply may not allow that. As one poster mentioned, there's not a lot of profit on fuel sales... and truckers, as a rule, simply do not make enough money to otherwise patronize these businesses on a regular basis.

I'm just saying that maybe that's why you see the truck stops more-and-more catering to the four-wheelers. It's a matter of economic survival. While Flying J, Petro, T/A, Pilot, Loves, et al are primarily there to serve truckers, they are above all a BUSINESS whose purpose is to stay afloat and make money.

 

It is way past the time for the feds to license out for profilt service plazas on the interstate highway system. The rights alone could offset the price of the bailouts very quickly.

Make BIG OIL spend some of that heavy profits to offset the transportation parking issues with new and more efficient fuel and parking points.

Who would be an instant player in this market? Walmart Stopping Centers...across the USA they could almost provide enough boost to the economy to make Obama famous. Look to the right and left next time you are on the roads...you will see plenty of places for such ventures.

 

They tried that already.....Pilot's