You are correct Greg...Vans are just not worth it....even if someone throws out that there are multitudes of us....Vans are a PIA...and all the programs would stop IF I were a CEO in charge....
Flying J/Pilot gives us the finger
- Thread starter donaddemt
- Start date
You are correct Greg...Vans are just not worth it....even if someone throws out that there are multitudes of us....Vans are a PIA...and all the programs would stop IF I were a CEO in charge....
greg334
Veteran Expediter
Well many here just don't seem to get that there isn't a large amount of expediters like there is rv'ers or truckers. This also brings up a point that the operating margins where chasing pennies to just get by forces people to focus on things that are just a little bonus.
Vanners seem to think they have some sort of purchasing power....LOL.....
And that simplistic thinking might cause a Carrier to choose a different fueling/rewards program and have their trucks of all sizes go elsewhere.
Think they care if a couple hundred trucks go elsewhere? It costs to support the services. Now a carrier with 5,000 or more trucks
So they've cancelled all rewards programs? That's breaking news.
I think it must be a pia to accomodate vans
I don't think anything has changed. This thread seems to get started every 90 days. While the vans are probably not any truckstops sweet spot they should accommodate them in my opinion. A lot of the revenue is generated in the building vs the fuel pump. Vanners spend just as much in the building.
Yeah especially the pizza slices. Lol
chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
I purchase gas at PFJ because thats where the "Company issued" gas card works, and they do give a full shower credit with any gas purchase of 15 or more gallons....i don't and have never asked for the points , as i said there are points on my card that i don't use....If our fuel card worded ay TA , Id be there in a heartbeat...but it is what it is and until it changes...it still is what it is...:}
Yes, they do care. And it costs far less than one would think to support those services. As someone who actually knows someone in marketing at Pilot for 20 years, and someone else in the family who is a part of the every day operations, I know for a fact they do care, but also that they are frustrated with what to do with vans because they've never really thought about them in terms of marketing. We are the exact group that they don't know how to deal with, both from a marketing standpoint, and from a software application standpoint to keep track of it. Their words, not mine. They actually care about every customer, at least at the corporate level, but especially one that will visit their locations on a regular basis, whether it's the local commuter who fills up once a week or a vanner who fills up several times a week. They aren't in the business to turn away or discourage business.
After the merger when then rewards program changed, they saw a "significant drop" in same-store Flying J sales year over year by month. Not significant in terms of fuel, but in terms of convenience store and restaurant sales. Vans have an impact. That's whey they scrambled to get a new, updated rewards program in place, specifically naming one part of it as "Expediter". But, in part because they refuse to listen to the Flying J people about anything business related, they failed with the program. Pilot thinks in terms of the Professional Driver, and to them that means big trucks, so they don't know how to deal with vans. They are still trying to accommodate vans, just they haven't figured out how to do it yet. They understand the impact that any customers, but especially vans, can have on C-store sales. What they should do is create a completely unique expediter card for vans, and the software program to deal with it, which can be incorporated into their current system. But they aren't listening to me.
Even something as simple as "pump start" they can't figure it out. Once you attain pump start, it'll work out back, or out front, but not both. If you attain pump start out back, it will not work out front. "Why would you want to fuel out front at some times, and then out back at other times?" is what I got asked. They couldn't understand that sometimes I'd want to get fuel on the Comdata card, and sometimes I'd want to use a credit or debit card, or pay cash out front, or simply because the line for fuel was shorter in one place or the other.
Their whole thought process is big trucks, where big trucks always do the same thing every time, same with RVs, so they can't understand why vans want to do both.
The Flying J's business, especially early on out west, was supported in large part by RV tourists, so they accommodated and actively courted them. As they moved eastward and into the Midwest, adding in a program for vans was easy, as was seeing the impact it had on their bottom line. But Pilot has never had that mentality. Even their property design and layout shows they only think in terms of big trucks, not RVs or vans.
The notion that Pilot doesn't care about expediters because the number of expediters is small is, in fact, an overly simplistic view of their business model. The fact that they offer showers for expediters should address that well enough. They care about every frequent fueler, be it a local, a vanner or a truck. But while the Flying J operating model could and did accommodate RVs and vans quite easily, Pilot at the corporate level never has, and doesn't know how to do it, despite having a bunch of Flying J locations at their disposal. To them, everything should be done "The Pilot Way", because it's been successful. That's why they wasted little time in converting the insides of nearly every Flying J to look and feel like a Pilot. That's the mentality. They didn't buy Flying J so they could become Flying J, they bought them to turn them into Pilots. And that's exactly what they did.
They now have a loyalty program in place for vans, and it's the best program out there for vans, for gassers, anyway. If you fuel with a Comdata card, then the TA's is pretty good for diesel vans, because you get points, and showers, and 45-50 cetane fuel. Even more so if you are with a carrier that gets large discounts on fuel.
Last edited:
Thanks Turtle.
