Questions to Help Improve a Small Truck Stop

Hmmm...

My guys haul big loads. From a couple hundred feet long to a quarter million pounds. We look for BIG parking lots, with big entrances and exits, a full service restaurant (with a bar would be a major plus) and a nearby motel with CDL rates (try to keep it under $70/night, okay? My pilot cars run a tight budget)

Our situation is a little different, because of the regulations around the loads, we may sit there for a week or so at a time. There's normally 9 people in my crew, 3 drivers and 6 pilot cars. I've seen good waitresses make $150 tip on my table. We don't mind spending the money, but we want good service and good food.

Because of the nature of the beast, we have trailers break. Hydraulic lines, metal fatigue...etc. The best stops will have techs that can make hydraulic lines and weld trailers

I fuel where I stop. If you have a place for me to park, and a restaurant for me to sit in and eat with a fork, you have my business. 100%. So, the motel stays packed, your restaurant makes money and usually the GM will open the door and welcome us in.

 

Free coffee with fuel.

 

free WIFI & cold beer
on bilboard 10miles upfront

 

I use the trucker path app, and billboards to find my spot. I fuel where the company tells me to, but park Wenger I want to. Usually that's a place with WiFi. If odd free that's a plus. A walking track with some without stations around the outside of the lot would be cool. I'm really trying to be more active and that would help.

A used book exchange, leave take one, for .50 is fun.

I like things I don't see every where else.

 

I'm an old school trucker who loves the old independent, home-cooked meals type restaurant and breakfast served anytime. If the area can't support that type of restaurant, look at some type of sit-down restaurant. Canuck was right when he said that "we're getting tired of all the fast food joints" becoming so common at truck stops. IF it has to be a fast food joint, then consider a Boston Market, Moe's southwestern grille or maybe invite a Crackel Barrel to put up a place close by. The Crackel Barrels never have any truck parking and they are one of the closest things to a home-cooked meal restaurant we can find.

The showers are always a big plus for where I stop since I'm a flatbedder. We can't get pretty dirty and sweaty tying down and tarping loads. Household movers and other guys who have to do physical labor for unloading will also be searching for a truck stop with showers. An affordable motel nearby (walking distance preferred) would be helpful also.

If they can stay open 24 hrs that's great because having to use a bathroom has no time schedule. And please have at least 2 or 3 stalls and 2 or 3 urinals in the men's room. Nothing worse than having to sneak into the women's room when you can't hold it.

I"d also recommend having adequate lighting and security cameras put up, especially in the parking areas.
First, it helps find any thugs or burglars.
Second, it can help find any of the unprofessional drivers who hit another truck and then leave without telling anyone. Or, hit a light pole or do some other damage to your property.
Third, if any of the low class truckers among us does a dirty deed, you hopefully can catch him. We had a really nice truck stop in our town and the two brothers who owned it and cooked all the meals (and they were great cooks), finally closed down. I asked them why and one of the brothers said,"We used to be open 24 hrs and the late night was when most of our thefts occurred. We also had low life drivers leaving their dirty trash, chicken bones, food garbage and urine bottles out in the parking lot. We were always cleaning up after them. One night someone dumped a whole load of broken up asphalt in the back. It cost us a lot of money to clean that up. And then they did it again. We're just got fed up with it and are selling the place. We don't need this" They ended up opening their own restaurant up somewhere.

That was so sad to hear, but we have to admit, there are some low-lifes driving truck (I can't even call them truckers, cuz they're not) that make things bad for all of us.
I understand that the prices in the truck stops have to be higher to maintain the parking lot, have someone cleaning the showers, cleaning up after the pigs in the parking lot, repairing damage from trucks. It's not a pretty picture. There's a lot of overhead.

I'm a NASTC member, so I use the FleetOne fuel card. If your client decides to go with AMBEST he can still do a deal with NASTC to give us discounts. I usually fuel now at TA/Petro since that's where I get my biggest discount on fuel, but they are not always around. I stay away from Pilot/Flying J as much as possible. Don't like their business practices and never did like most Pilots. When they bought most of the Speedways (which was my main fuel stop), it broke my heart. The Pilot business plan is "make the truck stop as uncomfortable as you can so the drivers come in, fuel, buy stuff and leave". I heard that from someone who worked in mgt. and knew the original owner. It shows.

Wish your client well.

 

Billboards that are a few minutes out help give me enough time to think if I'm going to stop there.

 

cleanliness and good service. did I say good service? and what the other post suggested.

 

This.

A thousand times this.

My old company's preferred fuel stop was always Pilot/Flying J, and I guess they have a deal with a couple of the major fast-food chains. Don't get me wrong, I never actually hated Wendy's or Subway; but, when that's pretty much the only dang thing you see - well, you can get real sick of them without even eating there. It took me nearly two years being off long-haul before I'd even set foot in either restaurant again.

Another thing that would seriously bring some business your way would be parking, and plenty of it. Everyone in this forum knows there is a seriously nationwide, no-joke parking shortage for semis. I guess that's what happens when you pass a bunch of regulations restricting driving hours without thinking about where the #@%! all these trucks are supposed to sit, but that's another topic of discussion all it's own. A truck stop with a large parking lot is a testament to the old saying, "build it and they will come..." Put in a few more acres of asphalt and they will come, indeed.

 

I agree with the above post that mentions Trucker Path, it's an app on my iPhone that I use as well to monitor parking availability. Interstate signage that specifies truck parking (there are thousands of small businesses with truck diesel that do not allow parking or charge for it).

If there's a restaurant, use a site like Yelp! Or a Facebook page and include the menu, hours, prices, etc. It's amazing driving down the road trying to find a place to stop how little info many truck stops post. I have no idea if I can park there, if the restaurant is open at night, what kind of food they serve there, if it's a truck stop with showers or just a gas station with a dirt lot in the back.

 

I recently had to replace my phone due to an unfortunate accident (with the phone, not the truck), and this was one of the first apps the salesgirl suggested I should install (her dad was OTR). Trucker Path does indeed work as advertised and it even saved me some time a couple of nights ago in Louisiana (running out of hours, went to the first place with available parking according to the app, worked like a charm).