Idle Air

Phroziac,

Not sure if you are still on this blog, but I'm curious if you had any other suggestions for how to fix Idleair (no "e"). I work at the company that bought it out of bankruptcy (Convoy Solutions) in February and we are in the process of relaunching the sites that will still work with us. So far that is mostly Pilot/FJ, Loves, and Sapp Bros.

We are honoring all old credits on member cards and have some other promotions to bring folks back.

We don't intend to hog lots and force drivers to move around, we have tried to shrink the footprint on given sites to make more room for non-Idleair users (website is still idleaire for now) and we have smoke and hose cleaners on each relaunched site.

All feedback welcome as this technology is clearly good for drivers and the environment and we would like it become a profitable self-sufficient business that helps rather than hurts. As you point out in your message, the best thing for Idleair is for the truckstops to operate it rather than Idleair - and we agree. It is a slow process to get them comfortable doing so and therefore we will run most of them initially, but our hope is to hand off that role over time.

All feedback welcome.

Thx,

ConvoySolutions

 

Just about everyone I've seen is being ripped out. One T/A was also taking out the concrete poles and repairing the parking lot.

It was a good concept. Why did it fail? Credit to carriers? Utilities ? Anyone?

 

if they had an option that was just the electrical outlet, no fan, no tv, no internet for around a buck an hour they would have gotten a lot more of my money.

 

Chalupa, what states have you seen it getting torn down. I know texas has been a demolition zone by TA, but nearby Idleair sites will probably take up some of that slack. Any other parts of the country you've seen go down? In my opinion, they failed due to too high of cost structure, not enough sharing of site management with landlord/site operator and an overbuilt footprint (typically 70 spaces per site but only 15 - 20 spaces used). The new owners of Idleair are shrinking footprints to closer to 40 spaces/site to free up non Idleair user slots and they have streamlined their product to keep costs down. We'll see what happens.

 

Keep shrinking it. Give the oversize load trks our parking spots back....

 

So is the 'NEW Idleair' going to be parking lot nazis which has been known to happpen before,and not allow non users to use stalls, in the middle of the night when some one who needs to park before his/ her 11 hrs is up?

 

skibum,

I'm not sure what the directive from corporate mgmt in the past was before that may have led to Idleaire employees making drivers get up out of precious spots. It is the new mgmt's desire to allow non Idleaire users as much freedom on sites as possible - esp when all slots are scarce. If, however, many spaces are open on a site and a driver is idling in an idleaire enabled spot, it makes sense that that driver might be asked to consider an alternate slot so that paying idleaire users can escape idling fumes. If you complain, I'm sure Idleaire staff have nice hats and TShirts and service discounts to try to win you over. do you recommend they staff with cheerleaders to convert drivers over to trying idleaire, or is it too late?

 

So....If I pull into a truckstop with Idleair and there are a bunch of trucks sitting in the spaces that are not Idleair customers....What am I supposed to do?
I used Idleair before they shut down and I really liked the service although I don't think I'll be using it at the high prices that you have posted here.

I guess my old membership that I renewed for 2 years about 2 weeks before they shut down will be honored but the new prices are way to high (I thought the old prices were on the edge of being too high)...I can get a reasonably priced motel room for just a little bit more than using your service for the night and I will have a shower and not have to listen to a truck idleing next to me all night...Which brings me to my next question.

One of the reasons that I found Idleair appealing in the first place is that it was quiet, There were no idiots with their trucks set on high idle parked next to me all night and I was able to sleep in relative peace.
If I'm gonna be parked next to some guy that's gonna idle his truck all night...What's the point?


I can tell you right now that if you don't find a way to get the price down and if you don't figure out how to keep the area quiet....You will not be successful at this venture!

The only good points of using the service seem to be missing from your business plan, The fuel savings are not substantial enough to offset the cost of the service when you take the quiet away from the equation...Not to mention the aggravation of arriving at an Idleair location only to find that the spaces are all taken up by freeloaders and the customer is unable to access the service (that is enough for me to not want to bother with the service)
If you can't serve your customer base because you are trying to please people that are never going to be your customers...

There again...I see a recipe for failure!

What do you consider to be a viable solution to these issues?

 

Look I am not trying to dog out your company so dont take it that way. 10 years ago I could see somewhat the services Idleaire offered were nice to haves. But just like some of the other members on the forum said with most drivers that have laptops, cell service with internet and some with Dish Network on their trucks and with APU's/gensets.... Your company services are outdated and other then some companies that have a contract with you I realy dont see much use of your service. When I was on the road from 98-03 the company I ran for would not pay for Idle aire and I had my own cell and Dish Network and if I needed to I would idle the truck for heat or a/c. So why would I pay out of pocket for your service when I had what I needed in my truck. If I was on the road today I dont see any service that you offer that I would not already have on board. Now as far as heat and A/C goes.... If the company does not install an APU then I have no problem having the truck idle so I can get good rest. The way I look at it is that a operating cost for the company and not my problem. Now on the parking..... The truck stop owns the lot, not Idleair. If a driver needs a place to park and the only spot open is one of yours then that driver should be able to park there even if he/she does not use your service. You guys have no right to refuse parking unless their are open spots in other places of the lots.

 

Man"O"Man....Ask a hard question or two and the Idleair guy dissappears like Jesse Jackson at a KKK rally!