Do you agree with reserved truck stop parking?

Overweight, lazy, in a hurry drivers have to eat too. lol

 

I pay for Prime parking at Flying J and Pilot on occasion.

To me, it is sometimes worth it to know that I will have a place to park at the end of the day instead of potentially having to search for parking when I might be tired and ready to rest.

The downside is when I get there and they have plenty of parking, which happened recently because I forgot that it was a Saturday and lots of drivers were on home time.

 

Super interesting and clearly a hot topic with diverse opinions! As some food for thought, the reality is that there are nearly 1 million Truckload drivers in the industry with roughly 600-700,000 on the road each day. There are 270,000 parking spaces in truck stops and another roughly 30,000 in state funded rest areas. Clearly, the industry is short parking. And it’s getting worse due to States closing down some rest areas due to budget constraints. Truck stops are going to paid parking because their margins on fuel are extremely narrow. Their only path to profit is C-Store sales, Fast Food sales, truck parking and other services. For those that think the truck stops are “killing it financially”, just go online and search TA financial performance - they are a public company and anyone can see their financial results. It’s frankly not very pretty when compared to the economic health of other business sectors.

The truth is that carriers have had the ability to essentially pass the cost of parking to other service providers like Truck Stops for a long time. As someone else said, “times have changed” and that business model no longer works - 25 acres of asphalt is expensive to build and maintain regardless of your ancillary service revenue. Nor, is it the government’s “responsibility” to provide parking for private sector enterprise. The bottom line is that the cost of parking is no different than the cost of the truck, fuel and maintenance - its simply a cost of doing business and no one should expect it to be provided to them for free. Yes, everyone in America values the service truckers provide and there shouldn’t be a movement to boycotting anyone (cities, businesses or consumers) just because of parking regulation or the cost of parking. The reality is that it needs to be built in YOUR business model. As an OO, I’d simply build it in when evaluating my cost of doing business - if the customer (shippers) will pay for it, I do business with them - if they won’t, I’m out. As a company driver, I’d only drive for the companies who care about my well-being on the road - those that are willing to pay a parking per-diem.

The good news is...... there will soon be better options for you as drivers. And the shippers, receivers and carrier executives will also come to recognize this has become a standard operating cost that needs to be factored in with the cost of freight. It is NOT a driver’s responsibility to fund this out of your personal paycheck - period. It’s ultimately people like me, the consumer, who needs to pay for this expense. This is a normal cost of business and, as a driver, you should be able to park in a clean, safe and comfortable environment that allows you to get a good night’s rest free of distractions & noise. It’s coming...... just be patient and do your best to find the carriers that have your personal interests as a top priority. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve already built a proto-type of what’s to come - just ask any Tri-State Motor Transit driver about their new “Legacy Lodge” in Joplin, MO.

 

I disagree on this point. Governments (taxpayers) have paid for airports for a very long time because it's just the way it has to be. It's private air carrier operators who use them, but they're treated as a public transportation use infrastructure.

Handling truck traffic accommodation is no different than making accommodations for commercial air travel. The government has mandated the unworkable HOS rules and created a lot of the problems we're dealing with (parking) so it's up to that same government (taxpayers who consume goods) to provide some relief.

Many states have gone a long way to providing high-capacity truck parking areas, do one degree or another. They simply need to continue doing these projects. Think Wyoming. Think Indiana I-70 Greenfield. These are great examples of projects that need to be extended to other regions and states.

 

Think about how much more efficient trucking companies could be with more sensible and flexible HOS rules? Even a few relatively minor changes could have a huge impact and the argument highway safety would be IMPROVED could easily be made with the proper changes. 15-20% of trucks could come off the road and the "driver shortage forecast" would be much less of a concern. But if government is going to leave HOS rules as is, then government need to step up and pay the piper.

 

Your point is appreciated. The govt has spent a tremendous amount on airport infrastructure for the benefit of the public. They do capture some return on that investment through leasing the gates to the airlines but it’s likely minimal. All that said - they move extremely slow and generally don’t do a good job of solving the real issue. That’s left for the private sector and, in my opinion, this issue is to urgent to ignore.

 

You’re an intelligent guy STexas - I’ve perceived that from virtually all of your posts. I’d imagine we can agree on more than one or two points. My belief is that “safety first” is a priority and the stimulus behind HOS regulation. Personally, I don’t take much issue with it but I’m also not the guy sitting in your seat every day. However, the problem with relying on government to help is that they are notorious for lacking common sense, slow to move and typically only create more hoops to jump through for all business rather than solutions. So, it’s a fallacy for those of us that are passionate about the trucking industry to sit idle and hope they will be the catalyst for change - not likely to happen. We need to figure this out by creating options that create better solutions for drivers on the road while simultaneously reducing overall operating costs - not just adding new expenses.

 

I would argue the private sector is doing everything they realistically can and as fast as they can to build new truck stops with parking. Their main limiting factor is local and state governments denying permits or making permitting EXTREMELY difficult and costly for/to the truck stop industry

 

I paid for parking last night and it worked out well. The lot was full when I pulled in, including all but 1 of the reserved spaces. If I hadn't reserved my spot early in the day I would have been out of luck.

When I woke up this morning there were rigs parked on the shoulder of the highway. I would rather pay the money than resort to that, as I function really well with proper sleep and not that well without it, and potentially being woken up by the authorities or worrying about traffic hitting me will cut into my rest.

Then again, I live in the truck and have no spouse or kids and basically no bills and I'm frugal with no expensive habits so $15 ain't really a big deal to me. In different circumstances, I could see myself being unwilling to pay for parking under any circumstances.

And if I'm showered up and supplied with my basic necessities I'll still hit the rest area if there is a decent one nearby because I would prefer to keep the $15 in my pocket.

 

Just think about LA and Orange and Riverside county and how much truck parking and/or truck stops is desperately needed. But truck stops (and truck parking) are strictly forbidden by government. And even if there was a relaxing of the zoning laws, the property sqft prices would be so high, paid parking would almost have to be imposed from day one, especially considering most who used these locations would purchase little if any fuel or other products. I personally (and my carrier) would have no problem with hourly parking imposed in these cases because it's just where we've come to.

Pilot and Loves can only go in where the city managers and council members will allow them to come in.