Do you agree with reserved truck stop parking?

No even back I the day it was about making money for truck stops. Just as you are out here because of greed.

Or are you claiming you only haul for charity

 

Of course it’s about making money..... unless it is truly a charitable cause - our free world of capitalism is all about making money. I sure wouldn’t expend the time, effort and capital to create a new enterprise unless I was convinced that it provided a valuable service to my market AND had realistic potential of making a fair profit. The truck stops offered free parking back in the day because they figured if they provided you that benefit, it would drive more business to their location to sell you fuel, sandwiches, pizza and beef jerky. That still remains their objective today - over 80% of truck stop profit is driven through ancillary sales and services - not fuel. However, with costs rising and profit margins shrinking, a business periodically has to make changes about how they manage revenue streams or they go out of business. Hence, parking is being converted to a revenue stream. It’s the same for you and your business as a trucker - you have to manage your revenue (pricing), work load (schedule) and operating costs to make a profit. If you don’t or can’t, it forces you out of business and looking for alternatives that will feed your family. The rules of the game, while somewhat more advantageous for some, are generally the same for all of us.

 

Oh, I get it...... I’ve been looking at land out there for the past 3 months and the bottom line is that, based on today’s market assumptions, no one can build a truck stop of any type from an economic perspective along - much less zoning. Land in the Inland Empire is over $35 per square foot. That equates to land cost of over $38 million for a typical truck stop. Then, add another $15-18 million for design, permits, vertical construction and paving. Total cost of roughly $55 million. From an investment return perspective, if you look at the TA/Petro facilities at the I-10 and Milliken in Ontario, they each have roughly 500 parking slips and sell them at a cost of $20 per night. Even if they are 100% occupied (365 days per year), they only generate $3,650,000 in Gross Revenue before considering expenses like property taxes (huge in CA), utility costs, security personnel, parking lot maintenance and a dearth of other operating expenses. Theoretically, if expenses are factored at 50% of revenue (reasonable assumption), it would set their unleveraged return on investment at about 3%. No entrepreneurial company in their right mind would ever consider that viable. However, if parking is priced at $40-50 per space, it changes the landscape. The $64,000 question is “what will the market bear”??

 

I can get a cheap hotel room for $40-50 a night. Would I park in a noisy, stinky truck stop for that price, when I can sleep in perfect peace and quiet in a hotel room? Not just no, but HELL no.

 

I agree but in many places, hotels with truck parking are far and few between and they too can fill up fast, and good luck paying exorbitant premium rates during high demand events if you can even find a place that’s not sold out.

 

A fair response but you’ll never find a $40-50 hotel room in that particular area. Even the marginal hotels are $80+..... all driven by land values. And really, it’s hard to find any hotel in America at that price that doesn’t feel like a friggen roach house. However, you raise an interesting point. I don’t drive a truck and have never professed to think I know anything remotely near the amount veterans like you know the inherent implications of the day of a life in a truck..... BUT, IF I DID.... I can guarantee you that my truck would be decked out to be as comfortable as my current Master Bedroom, at a truck-sized scale. My mattress would be the best, with a memory foam topper, down-lined pad and the best sheets I can buy with a great comforter. Why? Because I’d want the most comfortable sleeping environment I could create right within the walls of my rig..... and then, I’d find the nicest, cleanest and safest place to park and spend a few extra bucks there to have great amenities. To me, that absolutely makes the most sense.

 

Where are the socialist democrats when we need them???

Why aren't there massive parking areas for trucks paid for by tax payers???

I'm ok. You're ok. We're all ok.

 

LOL..... I like that response! Funny stuff! I can certainly appreciate any person’s opinion on public funding relative to this subject. However, my common sense side feels that the reason we (the country) are $16 trillion in debt is due to far too many abuses similar to that concept. Personally, I feel that they are enough benefactors along the supply chain (drivers excluded) that should be held responsible for funding an efficient and productive system. Manufacturers, Shippers, Carriers, Receivers, Wholesalers, Retailers and Consumers - all in the soup together. It’s their collective responsibility to create reasonable working conditions for the people who get the product from Point A to B. Period. And, I further believe, that the smart companies who create that environment for their drivers, will ultimately win by getting the best of class drivers.

 

Debt? Funding? What does that have to do with anything?

 

Small little details I guess...... lack of parking must be caused by something else beyond my understanding of the issue.