FUCK Pilot/Flying J
Posted by LikwidHappiness@reddit | Truckers | View on Reddit | 53 comments
Went to park today at the Flying J on 75 around Vandalia, OH. First time ever going there, as I'm pulling in I see it looks recently remodeled, I get excited that hopefully they did the showers as well and go to find a spot...EVERY single one is paid parking. What a fucking load of bullshit. Luckily I had the time to make it to the Love's on exit 90. I just hate that our company only fuels at Pilot because I have to go bum a shower from someone at the fuel island if I'm at a Love's. Honestly though? I might just start doing this more often, Love's showers are SO much nicer and roomier, lots are always cleaner, usually some grass or whatever to get my cat out of the truck and go for a walk, and lots are usually also in better condition as far as potholes and shit than most Pilots and Flying Js.
Side note related to the first part of the post, noticed the Flying J in Brookville PA also took away some of the free spots and turned them into reserved spots, was up there Monday and looked like they'd been painted in the last couple days. Greedy fucking bastards.
Mechanik_J@reddit
This is all because truckparkingclub broke the golden rule of not charging blue collar workers to park while they rest.
Pretty soon all truckstop spots will be pay to park.
JOliverScott@reddit
I would disagree to the extent that truck parking club is a consequence not the catalyst. Truck stops were already moving in the direction of monetizing their parking lots well before the club reached the mainstream consciousness. TPC simply found a way to monetize land they don't even have to own!
Mechanik_J@reddit
I think tpc exacerbated pay to park. It use to be only a few pay to park at truck stops.
But the problem I see is pay to park never stopping the raise in prices, because trucks have to park. We'll until autonomous trucks...
JOliverScott@reddit
True
Sweet-Case-4896@reddit
I’m guessing your company is Schneider
Fluxus4@reddit
That was my guess too.
LikwidHappiness@reddit (OP)
Nope
Mnemorath@reddit
While paying for parking is not for everyone, I never minded doing it as it guaranteed I would have a parking spot when I got there. No searching for a spot and finding bobtails, hot shooters, or worse in the truck parking.
Really made it less stressful. Plus, you can write off the cost of your job if you itemize your deductions at tax time.
Chillimaniac@reddit
It’s not a problem when you got the option . Soon as it’s forced that’s when they’re fucked in the head
Mnemorath@reddit
Even if every single parking space at a truck stop is paid, you are not forced to use them. You don’t have to park there unless you suck at trip planning.
Always leave a cushion of time for unforeseen circumstances.
Chillimaniac@reddit
Jfc dude
Mnemorath@reddit
It would be the same situation if every spot at the truckstop is full. What would you do then? If you plan well enough, you don’t have to pay for parking regardless.
Chillimaniac@reddit
Wow arent you just the smartest bean around. No one’s ever quite figured it out like you have.
Mnemorath@reddit
I ran OTR for weeks at a time. In order to not have to do a 34 away from home, I tried to keep my on duty time to less than nine hours each day. This meant I planned for stops roughly every 700 or so miles. It also means that I had plenty of time on my clocks at the end of the day to find parking.
If you are not capable of proper trip planning such that you are forced to pay for parking when you don’t have to, that is not the fault of the truckstop.
I suggest you find the tree that is working very hard to produce the oxygen that you breathe, and apologize to it. You are about as sharp as a bowling ball.
HolyOrangeJuice@reddit
I'm glad my company pays for parking. If it wasn't for people hating paid parking I would have been out of luck tonight getting a spot in the middle of an urban area so late. It is what it is I guess. When there is a need and someone can put a dollar sign on it, they will.
PlymouthSea@reddit
If you're a W-2 company driver with a company provided truck, then they have to. Operational costs can't be shifted to employees. Same goes for fuel.
forkystabbyveggie@reddit
I wish you were correct but you're not. They can just say it isn't an operational cost because it's your job to find safe parking. If you decide to pay for it then it's on you 🤷🏼♂️
LikwidHappiness@reddit (OP)
Yeah, mine doesn't and I sure tf ain't gonna pay to park their truck lol. I'll do the most creative of parking jobs before you catch me paying for a spot to park.
Desperate_Fee_808@reddit
Bro I NEVER pay to park lol..even when my company says they’ll reimburse me and I have 1500 to spent..I will NOT give you 30$ to park in your lot..F you lol
HolyOrangeJuice@reddit
Yeah we fuel at Love's and I always try to end my day early so I can park at one. But sometimes reefer freight says otherwise. So paid parking it is in Baltimore for tonight.
AgapeAnus@reddit
.
Slapnuts213@reddit
I’m so glad I do local now to avoid bullshit like this. The fact the truck stops rake money in hand over fist and want to charge a driver to sleep is ridiculous
theboywthagreenscarf@reddit
Honestly, I get it in places where real estate is super expensive. Like New York or LA. But Jacksonville fucking Florida? Fuck pilots
Slapnuts213@reddit
Right , the route I’m on out by Wilmington NC has one pilot and a few smaller mom/pop truck stops that all close early. The pilot though has maybe 25 spots and they’ve turned them all into paid parking.
Glum_Comfort_3675@reddit
I always stay at the Sheetz a few miles north in when I'm in that area. It has a giant lot that never fills up.
RosehPerson@reddit
Dude that is the most cursed Pilot ever man. Dirty, small, tight, and bullshit. Just like my ex wife
DimensionalAxolotl@reddit
Same. My company doesnt pay for parking, and aside from a couple Love's locations (where they only allow us to get reefer fuel) everything is pilot/flying J. The increase in paid parking spots have really made it rough to get parked on some of my loads.
Recently found out however, the JP in Jackson,GA (exit 205 on i75) will let you take your 10 without paying. Parked there the other night and the lady just handed me a parking pass and wrote "break" on it. They only really charge if you're staying longer than 10hrs
FLATL1N3@reddit
They just put a new Pilot in Chicopee MA right off 90 > 291 exit and the layout sucks theres like 15 spots and they're all reserved spots. The entrance is set up poorly. Looks like theres a ton of space to turn in and then you hit a nice granite curb. Every other time I go there I see the truck ahead of me do this.
lonelytrucker86@reddit
Pilot/FJ got bought up by private equity recently. They're just doing what private equity firms do. They buy up beloved brands, and squeeze all the money they can out of them, ruining everything about them that made them beloved in the first place. Peak enshitification.
qaf0v4vc0lj6@reddit
PFJ hasn’t had any private equity ownership in over a decade. Even then it was minority ownership that the original PFJ owners bought out. Now it’s owned by Berkshire Hathaway.
TruckerBiscuit@reddit
Warren Buffett strikes again.
The greed of the donor class is unfathomable. Just when you think they're done soaking working- and middle-class people you find their hand in your pocket yet again.
Like it or not they see us as an exploitable resource, not as human beings. They couldn't care less about us provided there's a dime to be extracted.
External_Result_8560@reddit
You don’t have to go “bum a shower”. You can pay for one like everyone else
JOliverScott@reddit
Almost no one is paying for showers. Showers are designed to build brand loyalty. And ever since company drivers lost the ability to claim per diem on their taxes the very method of compensating for the costs of the travel lifestyle has disappeared.
Danny4278@reddit
I have unlimited showers, id happily give one to another driver. Even if I didnt I would still give someone a shower. I burn through enough fuel ive only paid for a shower 3 or 4 times in the last year.
LikwidHappiness@reddit (OP)
Who tf pays $20 to take a shower? If anyone ever asked me to do the same at a Pilot I'd give them one in a heartbeat. I get a free one every day plus whatever I get for fueling as well. I've never had an issue bumming one at a Loves.
ju5tjame5@reddit
I'm to shy to ask someone for a shower so I just loudly ask the cashier how much it costs for a shower and someone always offers to give me one of theirs
HolyOrangeJuice@reddit
I have diamond status at Love's each month. I'd give anyone a shower that asked.
DrillTheThirdHole@reddit
most drivers dont pay for a shower, if you regularly fuel there you get more than enough credits to use the shower for free, and enough to hand them out like candy
Kruten10@reddit
I’m linehaul driver I get fuel everyday day and I sleep at the hotel. I never use the shower so I’m happy if people want a free shower
SufficientWhile5450@reddit
Just park there anyway
Ain’t no one checking the lot for who pays
SouthHuckleberry2187@reddit
Also, the truck parking club app is hella helpful and often cheaper than the going rates at several truck stops.
Safe_Fail_568@reddit
Find a better company, one that lets you fuel when and where you want and also your fuel card lets you buy the things you need for the truck including parking
tryn2stayhumble@reddit
I never pay
genocyde26008219@reddit
I hope you shit in their parking lot before you left. That’s maddening on a serious note.
Scotts-@reddit
Whats even worse is getting to a pilot with no time on your clock because its the closest option, squeezing into the last paid spot, going inside to pay, and being told the spot that your truck is sitting in is reserved.
Pilot is the greasiest shit stain of a company
OsBaculum@reddit
The PFJ in Kansas City (the little one, by the caves) only had about ten spaces to begin with. They just made half of them paid...
SkribbyCakes33@reddit
There’s a Wawa with fuel lanes and parking in Lima, OH now
trucksarekewl@reddit
Supply and demand hard at work
Significant-Date-799@reddit
lol I live right by this pilot and go there sometimes cause my companies right around the corner. They must’ve changed because it was a few spots that you didn’t have to pay for in the back, but they all were usually taken by the time 3 o clock rolled around. They only remodeled the pumps because they were always broken so they were forced to get new ones. That place is always dirty trash everywhere and overcrowded for the only pilot in a 50 mile radius.
Alkanfel@reddit
Yeah, Pilot is getting absurd about reserved parking. I feel like most of them now are 50-80% reserved, and I've seen a couple that only had like 20ish free spots which is weird because word on the street a couple months ago was they weren't enforcing paid parking anymore because employees were having guns pulled on them.
I think there is a sort of unspoken agreement between drivers that we just won't pay for them. Most locations won't enforce it unless they're full and a customer can't find a spot, I've only been kicked out like two or three times in my 3 years of driving and I've parked in a reserved spot probably over a dozen times without paying. My system is I'll get on the app and see how many spots are left when I park, and check again before I go to sleep. If people are actually buying them and I think they will fill up before my 10 is finished, I'll use points to snag one of the last ones if I'm in a reserved spot. I've only had to do this maybe 4 or 5 times, meaning I accumulate points faster than I actually spend them on parking reservations. The only time I'll reserve one ahead of time is if I know I will be running out of clock near a major metro after 6 or 7pm.
I agree with you that they are getting annoying about reserving more spots, but I have literally never had to pay cash for one yet and don't plan on it in the future either.
slyguy929229@reddit
I agree all paid parking sucks, but I enjoy the reserved parking. Why? Because unlike most jackasses out here I won’t shut down just because it’s getting dark out. Half you fuckers are terrified of the dark or a little rain and it makes parking a bitch.
I don’t do creative parking. I’ve been hit three fucking times while parked legally and gotten bitched at by the dumb ass pigs “hurr you should have pulled farther forward” hey dumb fuck if I do that the guy next to me will take my hood off “hurr pull further back” yo dick head my tandems are against the curb. The other guy didn’t even want to write a report and just sat there like a knot on a log for forty fucking minutes.
Unfair_Fisherman_605@reddit
100% agree. I’ll never park or give them another dime of my money because of this. May they all go bankrupt!
StealthyNoctowl@reddit
Im so grateful my company had us fuel at Loves. The few times I would park at a PFJ it was always a mess with the tighter lots and the few free spaces left