Diesel prices - truck stops vs regular gas stations

fulltimedaniel wrote:

I think the people who claim to prefer "the convenience" of the big truck stops are just not comfortable driving their rigs in a bit tighter areas like a regular gas station.

What they don't take into account is that a very Big class 8 Truck and trailer delivers the gas and fuel to all these gas stations.

But they don't go up to the pumps. Most of the fill access ports are located on the periphery of the station where they can drive around the pump islands. I can't remember ever seeing any fill tankers drive under the canopy at any stations I've ever seen them at.

From a logistical perspective, truck stops are great in terms of being able to move a larger rig around easily, especially right off of an interstate.

The Pilot Flying J RV Plus Card is the ONLY way to really make them worth it from a financial perspective. They start by lowering the price at the pump to the CASH price, then give you a discount off of that based on your membership level ($0.08/gallon for a life member) - plus they start the pump and you don't have to go in.

We have a toy hauler, so it's easy enough to get fuel at any conventional station when we have the trailer detached, then hitch up and go. A Sinclair card gets you $0.10 off per gallon at the pump, and that works in many of the places we roam.

I live a couple of miles from a Flying J and these days the diesel price is the highest around.

Three years ago it was the opposite, Flying J was usually the cheapest by a few cents per gallon.

It seems to me that Walmart(Murphy) is the most consistent with low prices for diesel. I just wish that more of them had diesel and DEF. The problem is that some can be a real pain to get in and out of. The one near me doesn't have diesel and is a real pain to use with anything bigger than my Kia. Their own trucks have a terrible time getting in their to fill the tanks. Sorry about getting sidetracked. It seems to me that most of us find Walmart to be a better one stop than most truckstops are and they don't engage in deceptive pricing.

ShinerBock wrote:
Funny, I said said the very same thing in a post a while back telling another member that I wouldn't fill up at a truck stop unless I had to if I were him and most people said I was nuts.

I think I was part of that discussion and I got lambasted for claiming the same.

I think the people who claim to prefer "the convenience" of the big truck stops are just not comfortable driving their rigs in a bit tighter areas like a regular gas station.

What they don't take into account is that a very Big class 8 Truck and trailer delivers the gas and fuel to all these gas stations. My truck and trailer are 53 feet overall and I have never been "stuck" in a regular station. I find them easier, truly more convenient, cleaner and far far less crowded than the truck stops.

Indiana truck stops have the "tax exempt" prices posted but private vehicles pay "a bit more". When we're in Indiana I NEVER fuel at a truck stop. I hate not knowing what I'm paying for fuel until AFTER I've fueled. Once off the interstate (or toll road) I use Gas Buddy to find the deals on fuel and get it there, we have a 45 gallon auxiliary bed tank so we have a little more room for choices as to where we fuel.

Dan

trail-explorer wrote:

diftw wrote:
We live in Indiana and have noticed the truck stops (Love's/Pilot/Flying J/etc.) are around $0.30/gallon for auto diesel than gasoline stations.

$.30 per gallon "what"? Higher or lower?

The truck stops are higher.

AND we've noticed some times that when you see their large fuel price signs out of the side of the freeway, that the price you're seeing is only for the price of the fuel, it sometimes does not include taxes. They leave the taxes to be paid by the trucking company. This happened to us at Jubitz truck stop in Portland, OR. Didn't find out about it until I went inside to pay, they asked me for my companies tax ID #. I didn't have one so they added in the taxes which made them higher than almost every place else I could have gone to.

Bill

fulltimedaniel wrote:
It's not really about "Convenience". It is about the fact that class 8 trucks..Tractor Trailers and their drivers have few choices of where they can get fuel. Their payment systems for fuel are different from the usual gas or diesel customer and only truck stops offer to accept those.

Ditto.

Many truck drivers, and even RV Transport drivers are issued a Comdata payment card. THey can use that for fuel, or use their own payment method.
THe Comdata system is a means of getting the money (payment for hauling for a given load) to the driver. It's all electronic, and the card is sort of like an ATM card, but is used in a system at truck stops that have the ability to process those cards.

diftw wrote:
We live in Indiana and have noticed the truck stops (Love's/Pilot/Flying J/etc.) are around $0.30/gallon for auto diesel than gasoline stations.

$.30 per gallon "what"? Higher or lower?

thomasmnile wrote:
...and the diesel pumps were just as messy as the truck islands tend to be. Why is it diesel gets spilled all over but not gasoline?

One reason is (can be) the dispensing nozzles. If they use high flow nozzles, those lead to more overfills in my experience. And the fill openings are unrestricted. Unlike a gasoline opening that is shielded, which can hold back some of a momentary back-up. So I do think that there is more diesel spilled than gas.

Another factor is that a gas spill evaporates within minutes. Diesel is an oil, and it stays there.