reserved parking at TA and petro?

What I think a lot of people are missing, is that this began as call-ahead reserve parking. A typical TA or Petro might have ten or so spaces set aside for drivers who had the need to call ahead and reserve a spot.

That was a good thing!

Now, however, truck stops have discovered what a cash cow this is. You see more and more regular parking spaces being turned into 'Reserve Parking'. On top of that, the price for them keeps going up. I paid $18 for a spot tonight at the TA in Mt. Vernon Illinois. That truck stop looks like it has over half of its parking spaces setup as 'Reserve Parking'. It is the same for the brand in Effingham Illinois - near about half of their spots turned over to 'Reserve Parking'.

Or let's call it what it is: 'Pay Parking'. What this amounts to is a company forcing its monopoly power upon a helpless customer base. Moreover, truck stops are the only business model in the world that would even dare do this. What do you think would happen to movie theaters if they did this in their parking lots? Or grocery stores? Those companies would get to stand and watch in horror as all of their customers went to businesses who weren't doing it. But not truck stops. They know we truckers have to have a place to park. We don't have a choice. They know we will pay because we have no choice but to pay.

In fact, I had no more than come out of the TA tonight and back to my truck, and I find a 'Parking Officer' approaching my truck. They are enforcing it, aggressively. I shoved my receipt at him and told him to get away from my truck.

Because you're dang right. I resent it. I resent the hell out of it. I told the lady at the cash register tonight, that TA is begging for a class-action lawsuit, and when they got one, I was going to be one of the first to jump on the bandwagon.

This is greed, pure and simple. It is the power of monopoly in action. It is stealing money from people who have no choice but to pay.

 

And what time was it when you needed a spot? Do you think you'd have gotten one if you wouldn't pay? It's helpful for those times when the schedule lines up wrong in a busy area. Also this thread is from 2013.

 

The Mt Vernon TA seems to be an odd exception for whatever reason but I suspect driver call-ahead demand drove them to allocate that huge amount of spaces.

 

Stop!Stop! No more anger please! Now come over here and let me show you what I think of your parking woes...(t/s management)

 

This thread may be from 2013, but it is still an issue. And a growing one. Also, like I said in the beginning of my statement, it started out as a good thing, but is now being used as a way to mercilessly fleece drivers.

And this is why this can happen. Instead of drivers getting together to try to change what is happening, we get people like this making fun of other drivers for speaking out about it.

This pay-to-park thing is turning into a real problem. If it is to change, we need to work together to try to change it.

 

Here we go again. If we only stick together yada yada yada.
Total old fart talking here. In my 43 years out here strikes have never worked. In 1979 during the Iranian Oil Embargo the price of fuel doubled in a matter of weeks, shortages were the norm and you were limited to 50 gallon purchase. The various strikes were totally ineffective. And you think this issue is going to get someone off the dime?
Put the blame where it belongs, on the trucking companies themselves, who have been shifting the cost of terminals to 3rd parties since deregulation in 1980. And the fact that they all use fuel optimization fuel programs/contracts that have put thousands of smaller truckstops out of business, and their sorely needed parking spaces. Panther Trucking in Medina OH, a well known expediting outfit won't even let their own drivers park overnight on their terminal property, as an example.
You are under no obligation whatever to park at a truckstop. But because the industry is so reviled by the general public, you can't park anywhere else, even on shipper or consignee properties, which used to be commonplace.
No, it is the management in this industry that brought this on. They will have to deal with it. And that is not going happen anytime soon.

 

I've always suspected a good many of the people parked in those spots paid nothing.
They just pulled in and said if they want money they can come out and get it.
I've done that a time or two, rather than ''make my own spot'' blocking access to entry, exit, pumps, spaces etc as others routinely do.

 

If you do that in a spot that I have paid for you are getting moved.

 

All righty then. I'll start planning for that move now.

 

That’s life and I have reserved spots before ever getting to the truck stop. It’s just needed and it’s called being prepared and planning. Not going to be one of those drivers that park on the side of the road or a ramp or create a spot. $12 or however much it is it’s not that much and if you can’t afford that like 2 - 3 times a week you’re doing a horrible job being a driver.