You Gotta Love (NOT) Advertising

[dhalltoyo]

Taken verbatim from the Pilot/Flying J brochure:

You drive hard, work hard.
You're a pro.
It's payback time!

http://www.pilotflyingj.com/Documents/driver payback brochure.pdf

How appropriate!

Every expediter who happens to own a gas powered truck is going to get a payback from Pilot/Flying J.

For your efforts in proving a valuable service to your country by transporting the freight that keeps trains running, an x-ray machine operating, an assembly line from shutting down, power plants on line, etc....you get the shaft.

Based upon the collective wisdom of the bean counters at Pilot/Flying J corporate, you are NOT a PRO as so stated in their brochure. No more showers for you! No more free drinks for you either!

I will continue write letters to Pilot/Flying J voicing my opinion regarding their decision to eliminate the 1/2 shower credit program and their pathetic advertising.

Maybe folks should request a "Shower Surcharge" from their individual carriers. Considering the discount fuel programs offered to these carriers maybe they can influence Pilot/Flying J to reverse their decision.

 

[rikd57]

Van drivers might want to check TA's Expediter King program. When you buy 20 gallons of gas and spend $10 in their restaurant within a 24 hour period, they give you a shower credit. They do require that you take the receipt for the gas to the FUEL DESK and have it applied as "second chance" points. The Shower credit is posted the following day.

 

[dhalltoyo]

Thank you for the suggestion, but I don't like their food and buying fuel should be all that is required. IMHO

 

[Dynamite 1]

its an ultraone card at the T/A now. very good deal for, all even vans. read the posts already made about the program or go to the website and read about it.

 

[greg334]

Well like it or not, it is not like there isn't anywhere else to get gas.

Most if not all vans are capable of moving to Muphy's or Speedway or the mom and pop BP station or Ahmed's Velero station on the corner.

Average 'fillups' seem to be in the range of 15 gallons, not 25 so ...

IF you feel that they are misrepresenting the program, there is something called the state AG's office who will gladly take your complaint and if more complain, they may actually investigate.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

There is a lot of corner stations 10-15 cents cheaper then a truckstop...over 50 G's is like $5/7.50 in savings...just whip out 2-3 bucks a get a tax deductible receipt for $10 and get over it....

Obviously they don't want your business as appears by their program and are not going to reward you....well within their rights...

Btw...how much did them "free" showers really cost with most of the J fuel being minimum octane/cetane...your loss of mpg? Free..I think not...

 

[CharlesD]

I'm with OVM on that one. You can save enough money fueling at other locations to pay for your showers.

With that said, I still fired off a strongly worded message to Pilot, just to notify them of their sheer stupidity. Think about the financial impact of this decision. I know that cargo vans don't make up anywhere near the majority of trucks, but I got to thinking about the money that vans spend at Flying J. We're a small company, just 13 vehicles, but when you consider what each van can spend in fuel in a year, a company my size can spend half a million in fuel just for the cargo vans. Throw in all the extra money spent when someone is hanging out there and that's a lot of money. Throw in all the other expediter vans out there with companies a lot larger than mine and you have a potential revenue loss in the millions. How can that be a good decision?

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I'm with OVM on that one. You can save enough money fueling at other locations to pay for your showers.

With that said, I still fired off a strongly worded message to Pilot, just to notify them of their sheer stupidity. Think about the financial impact of this decision. I know that cargo vans don't make up anywhere near the majority of trucks, but I got to thinking about the money that vans spend at Flying J. We're a small company, just 13 vehicles, but when you consider what each van can spend in fuel in a year, a company my size can spend half a million in fuel just for the cargo vans. Throw in all the extra money spent when someone is hanging out there and that's a lot of money. Throw in all the other expediter vans out there with companies a lot larger than mine and you have a potential revenue loss in the millions. How can that be a good decision?

Well I am sure they discussed the gas issue and for some reason known only to them...maybe program the card scanners out front, who knows, what lead to this decision...
So be it..we'll make do with what we are given...we will adapt...always do and always will...

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Charles?? what the heck ya doing? That is 3x's with the same post...you got a stuttering issue? *LOL*

 

[transporter]

to the pilot/ j lurkers on this web site do to your recent policies regarding no showers being earned for gas purchases i will no longer purchase anything at pilot or j anymore. i will only stop to use restroom and leave trash.

 

[greg334]

You know Van traffic is nil for them. I can understand their position, they care about Trucks, RVs and then everyone else and out of million of customers a day, vans may make up .3% of all the purchases at any given truck stop. RVs don't have to use showers and one truck can purchase 100 gallons so that's an easy 20 to 30 bucks in their pocket which means if there is a fill up every day of a 100 gallons, then a few showers is nothing for them.

 

[Poorboy]

Van/Sprinter Drivers ARE Professional drivers and should be Treated as Such. What Pilot/Flying J are doing to them is an Embarassment to them and Totally UnCalled for!
Right now I'm driving for a Farmer and I managed to talk him into Cancelling his Accounts with Pilot/Flying J.. He wasn't getting a Discount anyway! We Now Use T/As and Sunoco for Fuel!

 

[greg334]

YOU CAN HAVE IT BOTH WAYS

Either you are a commercial driver (professional) or you are not. If a van is consider a CMV, then yes there is a need for this to be fought but if it is not, well it seems ...

 

[aristotle]

Here's a radical thought: just pay for the darn shower. It is a service worth paying for.

 

[Turtle]

Here's a radical thought: just pay for the darn shower. It is a service worth paying for.

Yes it is, and if I'm someplace where I have no shower credits and need a shower, I'll pay for it. But why pay for a shower when you can get one for free?

Before, because Flying J gave me free showers, I bought the vast majority of my fuel there. If there was ever an immediate choice between the J and some other chain, it was always the J. Sometimes I drove out of my way to get to a J. And because I bought the vast majority of my fuel there, I tended to hang out there a lot and buy a lot of food and drinks, and electronics and other merchandise.

Most of that changed with the announcement of the UltraONE card and when Pilot stated that the Pilot and Flying J loyalty programs would be merged into a single problem, and I knew that that meant the Frequent Fueler card would be absorbed into the Driver payback Card (and said as much in an earlier thread).

Now I buy my fuel at TA and Petro, actively seek them out, and any convenience store and restaurant dollars I spend at a truck stop gets spent at these two locations. I haven't called or written Pilot, I've simply stopped giving them my business.

The only business they've gotten from me recently is me trying to use up all my e-coupons for pizza and deli food at the J, before they become worthless on September 1. Frequent Fueler points will automatically transfer to the Driver Payback card, but they have not mentioned the Flying J e-coupons. They say that all accrued but unredeemed benefits will transfer over, yet the keep failing to mention the e-coupons, and I also noticed about 4 weeks ago that when you buy anything deli-related (wings, salad, whatever) that the cashiers make it a point to tell me how many dollars I have in e-coupons, and ask if I want to use any of them, as if they're trying to get them off as many cards as possible (that's the "Pilot Way").

I've got a single $5 coupon left, and I'll use that up soon. I'll transfer all my Frequent Fueler points over to my Driver Payback card after the September 1, and will then use the Pilot card at both locations, but only if there's not a TA or Petro nearby.

 

[highway star]

The shower credit going from 7 days to 5 really sux some fat posterior.

 

[Dakota]

Just stop taking showers and when they complain about the smell, maybe they will change there minds
Remember in the 1800's a bath a year was all that was needed!!!

 

[xiggi]

YOU CAN HAVE IT BOTH WAYS

Either you are a commercial driver (professional) or you are not. If a van is consider a CMV, then yes there is a need for this to be fought but if it is not, well it seems ...

Give me a break. A little letter on your license decides if your a professional or not? Getting paid for driving as a job defines it much more than your license.

 

[skyraider]

Just stop taking showers and when they complain about the smell, maybe they will change there minds
Remember in the 1800's a bath a year was all that was needed!!!

Once a week for me now,,,im getting better at it.lol

 

[blizzard2014]

I take two showers a week now. It works very well for keeping undesirable people away. It also gets you past border crossings a lot faster as no agent will even dare try a physical search on you when you smell like a chicken farmer. lol

I get one shower from Bolt, a friends house, etc, and one shower from a layover in a hotel room on saturdays. Just two showers a week with one or two full clothe changes in between and a clean-up in a truck stop sink.