New TA parking policies being put in place...

Exactly right.
Roll in, park.
Get my stuff out of the cooler and walk in to use a free microwave.
Take a pee, wash up a bit
Stuff in the microwave is done.
Go back to the truck.

Get up in the morning, make coffee in my own pot, and haul tail.

Never spend a dime

The reason TA, PFJ, and Petro do this is because of this.

Paying for the sins of others.

 

Some truckers like to spend money at the truck stops , they pull up to a pump at 1100 and say , well I'll fuel real quick before going on my break. Hope out the truck fill it up , clean the windows , mirrors, pop the hood. Then hope in the truck switch to off duty and grab their shower bag. Walk from the fuel pump in the store and use their rewards for a free shower. Then after a nice hot shower they'll go over to Subway buy a meal then grab some treats from the truck stop and go back to the truck and it that subway. After they've been off duty for about an hour they leave the fuel island and hit the road. Few hours later they say dang im tired of driving they pull over to pilot and say , nope all I want is a straight line back. They go in pay for parking and grab some food , and the process repeats by starting with a pilot coffee. These drivers are cool with spending money in a truck stop and truck stops love it.

 

You must turn it very frequently, beans and such in a can make sure you poke a hole in it or you end up with one mell of a hess

 

Loves is the worse when it comes to that. There is nothing more annoying than a parking lot that is half empty and a fuel island 4 deep and the fat boys come out with their mcdonalds

 

Their is a new Love's in Slippery Rock PA and the manager was saying he was the manager on the TA in Brookville PA. He switched jobs because he said TA corporation would not give him money to do basics maintenance on the building. He said Love's is much better on stuff like that. TA sounds like they don't want to spend any money on truck stops. The Brookville PA TA has been their longer then I have been driving. It probably was 76 truck stop at one time. A lot of the TA are the old 76 truck stops

 

This is the a new Love's in Ohio. Probably their most expensive truck stop setup. TA/Petro don't have anything like this, they do have that one with a Bowling alley

 

It’s in South Carolina. I came across it randomly doing OTR. It’s even got a pretty decent sports bar. It’s definitely an anomaly when it comes to T/A.

 

T/A's parent company purchased a bankrupt chain of sport themed restaurants in the midwest and northeast called Quaker Steak and Lube. Their original intention was to put them in many Travel Centers they own, in addition to subcontracting the restaurant space to IHOP, Bob Evans etc.
I think they are having 2nd thoughts after near riots broke out in the Columbia SC location during Sunday afternoon football games. The wisdom is having a full on bar in a truckstop probably should be revisited.

 

Company Driver Here...

I used to be a P/FJ guy as that was the preferred fuel stop for the Company...

When it became an option, I switched to Loves and now I fuel/shower there almost exclusively..

TA/P is now a Fuel Option (... but with a HUGE list of locations that don’t honor our Contracts) but there is literally nothing there that is appealing to me...

ya, Fridge, Instant Pot, Microwave, Internet in the Truck... no need to “hang out” at Truck Stops... Rarely will I ever park at one unless it’s a no other option...

I stop now and then for their buffet but after paying $15-$18, I normally end up with buyers remorse and wonder why did I even want to stop there...

In the rare occasion that I park there, seems like 1/3 to 1/2 of all the spaces are blind side backs... I mean seriously, why so many Blind Side Back parking spots???

I’m a second career guy in my 50s... driving for only a few years... and really find no need to ever stop at a TA/P...

It’s just not an option for me.

Now I do stop at their newer Petro Express in Columbia, SC for the Quaker Steak & Lube... it’s a nice clean place... with a good traffic flow... but even then, I’m basically stopping for the restaurant and only parking there for an hour or so.

Love’s (... on their points program) gives me free drink refills, free ice to go, free showers, Easy Fueling from my iPhone, points to buy fast food or other items, and if I park, they rarely if ever make me back to my blind side.

some business models don’t meet current needs.

 

Yeah, TA/Petro has this inexplicable fetish obsession with forced blind angle parking. I don't get it.