Truckers what do you want from Truck Stops?

mjd4277 · Jun 6, 2024

Ex-Trucker Alex said: ↑

Back when I was driving OTR, on the days when i could set my schedule, I liked getting up at about 03:00, and having a GOOD breakfast. Can you even GET a Mexicali omelet, hash browns and coffee at that hour in any truckstop today??
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Maybe at a Mom and Pop truckstop in Texas..

TurkeyCreekJackJohnson · Jun 7, 2024

I remember reading something on Freightwaves that stated there was only 1 parking spot (suitable for +10hr breaks) for every 10-11 trucks on American highways. Seems to me that is major hurdle.

silverspur · Jun 7, 2024

Pull up bars so we can stretch ourselves out.

TurkeyCreekJackJohnson · Jun 7, 2024

Take a look at Jubitz up in Portland, OR. Probably one of the best truck stops I've been to. Spent a week there moving cars from the port up to dealers along the WA coast. Movie theater, barber, deli, restaurant with a real bar, self service and drop off laundry, hotel, etc. Been in business forever.

Jubitz - Portland, Oregon

Studebaker Hawk · Jun 8, 2024

GM CEO Thomas Murphy (1974-1980) was famous for this quote:

"General Motors is not in the business of making cars. It is in the business of making money."

Substitute any operator of any truck related service today, truck stops, dealers, repair shops etc.

Deere hunter · Jun 8, 2024

Stage stop. Boise ID love that place..

50WT · Jun 8, 2024

Grumppy said: ↑

My friend, I honestly don't mean to come across rude. I really don't. But I see a huge problem here.
The fortune 500 company wants you to engage in a project so you can gather information... that they cant (wont) implement????

This is exactly what's wrong with corporate America & economics being taught in universities today.
Clean showers & healthier food choices is the best they can do??

Wait... we have to tell Pilot & Loves that we need clean showers??? I mean ain't that common sense? I mean that's part of a basic truck stop business plan. You put showers in & want people to take showers & you know you have 100 spaces out there that's going to fill up by dark 30 & they dont know that people need clean showers? I mean, we have to tell the board of directors of major truck stop that? A basic, fundamental service & you have to come here, then report THAT back to corporate??? Jeeesus Christ!

Want better & healthier food choices? Yes, like a sit down restaurant with quality food choices. A roller dog rack & a Whopper ain't better & healthier food. Relaxing with a good glass of cold sweet tea after 600 miles on bumpy roads & wrestling crazy drivers all day. I am ready to get out of that truck, relax for a minute & sit down at a table and unwind over a couple of fresh grilled pork chops, and a couple of sides... on a plate. Not sitting on the side of my bed with a roller dog & a bag of chips on a pull out 8" X 8" block of simulated wood for a dining table.

It's not feasible to provide sit down restaurants...
Sit down restaurants are not feasible because no one comes there when they want those amenities. They go to your competitors. They go to the mom & pop truck stops. The smaller chain truck stops. If they want a roller dog & a honey bun, they stop at Loves & Pilot.... cause that's what you serve. I/we go to mom & pops because they have an actual chair & table... not a roller dog stand or a heat tray with stale 5 hour old grilled cheese & chicken wings in it.

I am a firm believer in: If you provide the service that your customers want, they will come. Chick-fil-a is the ONLY corporation in today's modern America that understand that. You can't find one Chick-fil-a where customers are not lined up out to the road. Its called customer service & friendly employees. They make sure of it!
And you know what? I have never walked into a Chick-fil-a & had 3 employees scream across the dining room.... "WELCOME TO CHICK-FIL-A!
And in case some haven't noticed, you can actually go in Chick-fil-a and sit down & have a meal. A sit down restaurant that is actually profitable. Imagine that!
Why? A basic, simple, common sense business plan that caters to their customer base's want's, needs & desires.

Universities are teaching "bottom line" for economics today. They teach finance...the bottom line. End of story. They don't teach business. They don't teach value & customer service. There's not a company out there except Chick-fil-a that understands customer service. They actually put a brand out there for the customer. They implemented customer service & customers bring their money...simple as that. When the customers come, the money comes. But you got to get your customer base there. When you provide your customers with a service, they come. When they come, the money comes. When the money comes, your bottom line comes.

With corporations like Pilot & Loves (fortune 500's) it's all about the bottom line. When you focus on the bottom line, instead of your customer base's needs, you cut customer service. That's why consumers aren't happy with business anymore. Its why truckers aren't happy with Pilot & Loves anymore. You're too focused on your bottom line. Yall dont cater to the customer. The less you cater to your customer base, the more your bottom line depletes. The more your bottom line depletes, the more you cut customer service. Now, we don't have sit down restaurants & clean showers.... because there ain't no customer service. Because there ain't no bottom line, because there ain't no customer service, because there ain't no customers.
YOU gotta provide a product/service before your customer has a reason or desire to spend money there.

Back years ago, we had good truck stops. Had everything we needed.
We had sit down restaurants, we had clean showers, we had plenty of parking.
Now we have roller dogs and a bag of chips, reduced parking & always waiting for showers.

Let me give you an example of how bass-ackwards corporate is now.
Showers for example. You have one employee at the fuel desk (which is another big issue) & generally speaking, you have that one employee that is "supposed to be" at the fuel desk, off in the showers because you don't have anyone to clean showers. Now there is a line 8 drivers deep waiting on fuel receipts, scale tickets and an air line. And 8 more waiting on showers.
Why?
Cause you cut customer service. Now, fewer drivers come in because........ they cant get waited on. So, the bottom line diminishes.... because nobody is coming in. So you cut customer service.
Why, cause the fuel desk personnel is cleaning the shower.

When you start providing a service for your customers, they'll start utilizing those services ....... and your bottom line will start going in the right direction. If you provide the services we need, we'll come.

You can go back through this thread & look at EVERY suggestion made & its a service that we used to have that we needed.... and its no longer there. Cause you cut services, so we don't come... and your bottom line shrinks & you cut services.

Corporate is so focused on percentages, that they get tunnel vision. They see one thing.
A 18% payroll cost & a 21% sales cost. If that ain't in line, you cut customer services. Like blinders on a plow mule. One direction, straight ahead. Cant see anything else.

It's not feasible.

It's not feasible because we can't utilize or spend money for a product that don't exist.

..
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Very good explanation of what's wrong with lots of corporations. My wife gets mad at me for this , if we go somewhere to eat and they start off saying sorry for the long wait or we don't have something on the menu anymore because we're short staffed , can't find anyone that wants to work anymore. I just leave and tell them Chic-fil -a doesn't have trouble finding employees.

drivingmissdaisy · Jun 8, 2024

Ex-Trucker Alex said: ↑

Back when I was driving OTR, on the days when i could set my schedule, I liked getting up at about 03:00, and having a GOOD breakfast. Can you even GET a Mexicali omelet, hash browns and coffee at that hour in any truckstop today??
Click to expand...

I thought you said a good breakfast.

Pigdude · Jun 12, 2024

This is easy. Go look at the new Mt. Vernon, MO TA. Replace the Wendy’s with a proper sit-down, full service, 24 hour restaurant. Copy it everywhere.

Flat Earth Trucker · Jun 13, 2024

tryingtohelptruckers said: ↑

what would make the showers more clean?
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Bleach. Truck stops refuse, just absolutely refuse, to use bleach as a cleaner.

Gone would be that nasty orange mold appearing in the grout between the wall tiles.

Vanished would be that black build up on floor tiles caused by an inadequate scrubbing without an effective cleaning surfactant.

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