Is it safe to say, based on Paullud's response, that van business isn't welcome at TA/Petro?
It's probably safe to state that, but I don't think it's accurate. I think van business is more than welcome at the TA, it's just that they aren't actively and intelligently soliciting and courting the van business.
Like I said, their program for van expediters works very well, as long as you use diesel and you get fuel at the big pumps. It works even better if you are in a van that uses diesel and you are with a carrier that gets you the big fuel discounts. The 50 accumulated gallons over a 5-day period is a really nice accommodation for vans, considering how their program has always worked. The problem, of course, is when gas vans enter the program and the UltraONE card isn't accepted at the gas pumps, and the required effort (hoops to jump through) necessary to get the transaction credited on the card. It's an incredibly aggravating waste of time for gas vanners to participate in the program, and any loyalty program must by definition be quick, simple and easy to use.
When you run the numbers you can quickly see why there is no reason to worry about a few vans. 75,000miles/18mpg=4167 gallons * 3.30 a gallon is $13,751 The total revenue would be under $16k if you throw in $2k for food/drink but that is only if they did 100% of their fill ups there. A TT at 110,000 miles/ 6mpg= 18333gallons * 3.92 a gallon is $71865 then throw in $2k for food/drink, plus another $3k for PM's, plus another $5k for other repairs and that is over over $81k.
Using your own numbers, the van business represents 20% of their revenue. Of course there are many more big trucks than vans on the road, so it's probably more like 4-5% of revenue, but 5% of revenue is nothing to sneeze at times thousands of vans.
When the Pilot and Flying J merged, and Pilot quickly converted the Flying J card into a Pilot card, with none of the expedite van benefits of the Flying J card remaining, they ran the numbers, too, and found, in the words of someone I know who works at Pilot corporate in Knoxville, "significant drops in same-store fuel and convenience store revenue" due to the vans moving elsewhere. The revenue drops were significant enough that they quickly revamped their loyalty program to actively seek out and court the van business. And it worked.
As an added note, FWIW, I've never been kicked out of a Loves parking lot. I've also had several free showers there. I'm buying something at the convenience store.... "Do you have a Loves card?" "No, I'm in a cargo van, and I'll never buy enough fuel to get a free shower." (poor, poor, pitiful me, but I am shopping here anyway). "Oh, I can give you a free shower. Do you want a shower?" (noting that it looks like I need one). "Sure! Thanks!" LOL