The title pretty much says it all, as a CDL driver I hate truck stops and I have a very strong feeling I am not alone. Unfortunately truck stops are a necessary evil when you are driving either Over The Road or Local or Regional as you have to get fuel somewhere and most companies do not have the option of fueling up at their terminals or drop yards. There are a variety of reasons of why I hate truck stops which I will cover during this article
Truck Stops Are Expensive
The truck stop owners know that the average driver is basically stuck when it comes to purchasing supplies especially if they are driving Over The Road so they drastically mark up their prices on everything.
From ten dollar cases of water to five dollars for a loaf of bread to everything else in the store being overpriced. Yes you can use points to use against the high prices but receiving a single point for a gallon of gas means you are going to be stuck paying out of pocket for most things. Since showers are nearly twenty dollars its a good thing you can get a free shower after fifty gallons of fuel or else there would be a lot more stinky CDL drivers out there
Truck Stops Are Accidents Waiting To Happen
I can not even guess at the number of accidents I have seen over the last nine years at truck stops however the number is pretty high. Truck stops are designed to get the most transports into a small space meaning the parking lots tend to be very tight which leads to drivers clipping the vehicle beside them while parking or leaving. Throw into the mix that some drivers use the truck stop parking lot as a place to audition for NASCAR its just a matter of time before an accident will take place.
Of course over the last few years there has been an explosion of new CDL drivers that decide they can park absolutely anywhere inside of the confines of the truck stop parking lot, sure that sign says no parking but its not like the truck stop staff are going to enforce it
Other CDL Drivers At Truck Stop
This section is going to be lengthy so I am going to have to break it up into subsections. At one time there was a certain code of behavior that was encouraged at truck stops however that seems to be a thing of the past. I am not going to use the term driver in the following as driver is a term of respect in the trucking community so I will call these CDL drivers steering wheel holders.
A) Taking Thirty Minute Breaks At The Fuel Island – So instead of getting their fuel and then finding a place to park in order to take their thirty minute break there are a group of steering wheel holders who see nothing wrong in taking their break while sitting at the fuel island. This use to be a rarity however now I see it on a nightly basis
B) Doing Their Pretrip At The Fuel Island – Not sure when I began to notice this but I have been seeing more and more steering wheel holders creep across the parking lot and then performing their pretrip at the fuel island. The reason they are creeping is to keep their ELD in On Duty mode.
C) Washing Their Truck At The Fuel Island – I actually saw this last night but it was not the first time. The steering wheel holder was using the squeegee meant to wash the windows and mirrors on the truck was actually using it to wash down his truck. So not only is he monopolizing the fuel lane the squeegee is now covered in grease which the next driver will end up spreading across his/her windows
D) Some Drivers Are Pigs – Some people who hold a CDL are just plain disgusting. Whether it is throwing out garbage onto the parking lot instead of walking the twenty feet to the garbage can or disposing of their piss jugs on the on/off ramp to the truck stop or Interstate to a whole lot more. It is no surprise that so many shopping areas will no longer allow transport trucks to park overnight on their property
E) Complete Lack Of Respect – I don’t know if the CDL truck schools are telling their students that certain behaviors are admissible at a truck stop or the new CDL drivers were not taught by their mentors but the new wave of drivers have no respect for other drivers. It seems to be all about them. I see them speeding through construction areas to make better time however they spend forever at the fuel island. Unfortunately for a lot of them they are going to find out the hard way what happens when they hog a fuel island. I have seen other drivers pull the fifth wheel pin and even threaten another driver for this type of behavior
What the general public probably does not understand is most trucking companies have relationships with truck stop providers. Whether it is Pilot/Flying J or Loves or what have you the company will tell their drivers they can only fill up at a specific truck stop brand for they get a discount off of fuel which means huge savings for the company. If drivers actually had a choice of where to fuel we would probably see a lot more mom and pops truck stops than what we see now
When I was with my last company I would stop for the night at a company terminal or a rest area. When it came to fuel I would plan it around a company terminal so I could avoid truck stops. The company I am driving for now I have to get fuel at a specific truck stop and most nights it is the most aggravating part of my night due to other drivers. Six fuel pumps and four of them are occupied by people who are not getting fuel is a common occurrence
I hate truck stops.
