Parking

[Kazper1008]

Just thinking out loud. Why the heck do people get so angry when you park in a huge fairly empty parking lot to sleep eat watch a movie you know just kill some time? I try to park at truck stops most of the time but its kinda nice to park where its a little more quiet and peaceful. They come beat on the door like a mad man and are usually pretty upset like you just ran over their dog. We are not hurting anyone get over it! Does anyone else feel at least a little discriminated against?

 

[Poorboy]

In a Way I Kinda Side with Them Because they don't want the Parking Lots Reeking of Urine and Garbage! And this is Only Created By a "Few" and "Not" the Majority as Only "Some" of Us Are Pigs! I can Honestly Say that I Have Never Urinated on the Parking Lot of Any Place That's what the Restrooms are There For! Or thrown my Garbage out the Window! Wellllll Maybe a Cigarette Butt every once in a While But Not my Trash..I am Not That Lazy Where I Can't walk my Garbage to a Trash Container or Dumpster! I Know that I am Far From Perfect, But I Will Not Litter, And I sure Don't want to be Taking a Leak in any Place where Someone or Someone's Child can or Could See what I was Doing, That's Just Lazy, Wrong, And Stupid..Then Some of those Parking Lots are Not Designed for Heavy Vehicles (So They Say) and they Don't want them Damaged by the Heavy Truck(s).. My only question is if they aren't Built to Hold the Weight then How do they get their Inventory??

 

[Desperado]

around back and there's a truck route to get there

 

[ebsprintin]

For one it is more than likely private property. And every parking lot can have a different story. If the people you encountered are coming out angry it's probably because this is a reoccurring problem for them. Many lots are only designed for car traffic. If you are a small business barely getting by can you afford to repave a parking lot? Look at the pavement at so many crossdocks and truckstops--trucks destroy the pavement. Look at the Walmart parking lot and see where trucks run over the curb rutting the grass and breaking the curb. At a military base I worked at it cost them $200,000 to repair the grass and dirt that got churned up in places where trucks cut the corners. And you know how it works--when one truck sees another truck they think it's okay to congregate and next thing you know, it's a huge gathering of trucks. The list goes on. It's why we have to take care in the few places that we can get away with staying.

eb

 

[bubblehead]

Just thinking out loud. Why the heck do people get so angry when you park in a huge fairly empty parking lot to sleep eat watch a movie you know just kill some time? I try to park at truck stops most of the time but its kinda nice to park where its a little more quiet and peaceful. They come beat on the door like a mad man and are usually pretty upset like you just ran over their dog. We are not hurting anyone get over it! Does anyone else feel at least a little discriminated against?

Timely subject 1008 as we have just been kicked out of the Flying J RV parking lot in Laredo Tx. Our truck is a 40' st with shower, toilet, shore power, grey and black water tanks etc.... We have a Good Sams Club Membership, and a Camping World Presidents Club Membership. We are welcomed all over the country in RV campgrounds and have never had any trouble with any of them. But the Flying J in Laredo Tx has decided that I must park and take up a space in the 18 wheeler parking area and all my RV credentials wasn't good enough. They are happy to take my money but then I must park in the back or leave. So we went to the Pilot. After I write this I am going back to the Flying J in Laredo Tx. I am going to pull up to the RV pumps, fill my fresh water tank, empty my grey and black water tanks at the RV dump located next to the fuel pumps and then just leave. I will no longer buy fuel, food or other products from this location.

 

[greg334]

Bubble,
Don't take this the wrong way but I have been kicked out of the bobtail lot because I wasn't a bobtail. If you are self-contained, and a truck, you are a truck not an RV. I too am self-contained even have shower facilities somewhere in the truck but I am still a truck.

 

[highway star]

The thing about Laredo is that there's hardly ever anything parked there, RV or otherwise. Some Js have a lot of RVs in that lot and I can understand them kicking us out of them, but in Laredo it seems like a good place for us to be.

 

[dieseldiva]

The flip side of Laredo is Phoenix. Parking is so tight at that J that if you park in the back in a straight truck, they will ask you to move to the front lot! Go figure.

 

[chefdennis]

When I get into a smal town at night for a morning drop or after a 3rd ship drop and there is no Walmart close, I try to find the local LEO'er cruising the strees and i tell him what i am up to and ask him if he can tell be a place that i can stay at for 5-8 hrs and not create an issue...i have never been told to leave town...well not yet...guess they don't read here in the soapbox....

 

[Kazper1008]

Ive been kicked out of many parking lots but Walmart here in Hot Springs AR is where this event took place and is what promted me to write about it. the sign says no over night parking for Trucks or RVs I rented 2 movies out of the redbox and was going to leave after watching the movies needless to say he wasnt havin it. I was in the store buying food for about an hour. 2 to 3 hours hardly adds up to over night right! Any way I still have the movies with me I guess I can turn them in else where. I know truck drivers do dumb stuff but im human just like the guy driving the car or pick up truck in the parking lot I just happen to drive a truck for a livin. I see these people in cars littering and also urineating in the parking lot but its us truck drivers that always get the blame. Bye the way Thanks for all the comments and posts I love this site

 

[chefdennis]

While Walmart is normally the place I'll be if there is no TS close, there are more then a few that have "posted" parking lots for one reason or another...when I see a sign , I will go look for the "store manager" and thank them for taking the time to talk to me, offer up that most Walmarts are frinedly to expediters and ask if that while their lot is posted, wuld they mind if i parked as far away from the main traffic on their lot as possible if i might stay there for the amount of time i need..only been told once no...but have been told not to idle at more then a few.....St Louis comes to mind right of the top of my head....now if i 'd just spent money in the grocery store as you said you had just done, and the person telling me to move was doing do in a manner that id consider good customer service...you can bet, there would be a cashier ringing up refunds on everything i just bought and id be moving AFTER that.....

 

[RLENT]

Couple of things:

As eb says, it is laregely a private property issue .... it's someone else's property, not mine - they can tell me what to do or not to do .... at best, I'm only a guest.

Second, sometimes it's a zoning issue - the owner may not really care one way or the other - other than the fact that he/she may get a load of crap from the locals (public or private) He/she has to live there, I don't.

Third, supposedly the front lot at the J in Laredo was not designed for heavy trucks (something that would clearly be an oversight, considering the size of some RV's) - still ya can't fault the management for doing something to try and care of property which they don't personally own - that's being responsible. Doing something to make truckstops a nicer environment is something to be admired, not condemned.

 

[jj214]

For many years I have stopped at the local Police Department and told them I was not familar with their City. Could I park in there lot overnight? I have only been turned down once and that was because the lot was being striped that night. I have told fellow drivers with straight trucks about this and found they also have had good luck.

 

[spacer]

I gotta wonder how it is that some people get the idea that cigarette butts aren't trash. I mean, it ain't like they'll disappear or that they'll be eaten by birds.
C'mon, it's GARBAGE!!!

(/rant)

 

[Poorboy]

I gotta wonder how it is that some people get the idea that cigarette butts aren't trash. I mean, it ain't like they'll disappear or that they'll be eaten by birds.
C'mon, it's GARBAGE!!!

(/rant)

Now your Nit Picking, What I was Referring to in my Earlier Post was that a Cigarette Butt Isn't Nothing Compared to Mcdonalds Bags and Containers, Coffee Cups, Drink Containers and Yes Even Some Crap Filled Diapers, Urine Bottles That Sometimes Split Open and Leak all Over the Parking Lot!! I Never said That I Emptied My Ash Tray on the Ground because I Don't..So if you want to Consider a Cigarette Butt Trash Instead of the REAL Trash then You just Go Right Ahead---Ok? Oh One more thing, The Cigarettes I Smoke are Non-Filters so They Burn Up and Do Disappear!!