Do truckers actually pay retail diesel prices at major truck stops?

[belfert]

I drove my bus 2,000 miles earlier this week.  I saw major truck stop diesel prices that were 30 cents to $1 more than other truck stops.  I would see lines to fuel at Loves, or Flying J, or other major truck stops while across the street was another truck stop with much lower prices, but no lines.

Do most truckers get discounts at major truck stops?  Why else would they not fuel up at the cheaper truck stop?

I use Mudflap sometimes for fuel discounts, but they are not always cheapest.  I find heading out west on I-80 that Maverik is almost always cheapest.  Mudflap often has five cents off at Maverik, but I have credit cards that will give 5% back at gas stations.

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

I use Open Roads as many Bus Conversion owners do, and get up to 40 cents off per gallon at many truck stops.

https://myopenroads.com/

[richard5933]

Nearly every trucking company (at least the ones that stay in business) have negotiated pricing with the major fuel stop companies. Sometimes these things are negotiated out a year in advance.

The company I drove for had a contract with Loves for years, and then suddenly announced to drivers that we were to buy fuel with Petro. All those coffee and shower points I had saved up at Loves were virtually worthless when that happened as their routing system would ding me for going to a Loves instead of Petro, as they saved a few more pennies with their new contract with Petro.

No - trucker and trucking companies most certainly do not pay the price on the pump.

As mentioned, use the Open Road program to get similar pricing for your bus. It saved me hundreds of dollars quickly.

[somewhereinusa]

I've been retired for a few years now but, as an owner/operator, I paid retail at the pump. If you are leased to a company it depends on the company. Depending on the shipper we sometimes got a fuel surcharge, it was never enough. When fuel was over $5.00 it was costing me about $700 every other day.

[belfert]

I use Open Roads as many Bus Conversion owners do, and get up to 40 cents off per gallon at many truck stops.

Their website claims 40 to 50 cents per gallon savings.  When Love's and other truck stops are often more than 50 cents per gallon higher than the competition it would still make sense to go to the competition.

[dtcerrato]

We followed Richard's lead on the Open Road aka TSD logistics discount fuel App. Ironically Loves with sometimes the highest price fuel advertised were giving the deeper discounts where a station with cheaper pump prices was giving a lesser discount. We use the card for bus diesel all the time saving anywhere from .13/gal to $1/gal. The $1/gal. discount isn't usual but the semi line was very long and we needed more than 100 gal. And yes saved 100s of $$.

[luvrbus]

I could always beat truck stop prices even with a discount card of some kind ,truck stops were not my cup of tea.Gary Hatt always fills up here at the tribes stations the price is always lower than a Pilot or Flying J using a fuel card and cash or credit are the same price,the Am/Pm charges a $.35 a one time fee for debit cards ,here in AZ it's dumb to fill you bus at a truck island it going to cost you 8 cents a gal more because RV's get 8 cents off the road tax from truck pumps,diesel at Loves in Lake Havasu is $3.94 a gal before using a discount card for 40 cents off it is $3.06 at the tribes station do the math on that

[DoubleEagle]

The bigger the trucking company is, the bigger discount they get. When I worked for a national outfit I got free showers, priority seating in the restaurants, and points toward free merchandise in the stores. If I got better fuel mileage and less idle time than the average driver, then the company would give me choices of free merchandise. An owner-operator with one truck did not do as well with fuel prices, but they also potentially made more money on good runs, if they did not break the truck doing it. 

[luvrbus]

Truck Stops are into big money now charging to reserve a spot for a tired trucker to park overnight, I see some of those spaces at Pilot going for $40.00 a night, and some are making RV spots with power want be long before RV's start paying for overnight parking at truck stops,that is probably part of a trucker reward program now a place to park

[windtrader]

My diesel shopping experience is via Open Road and Gas Buddy. We spend the majority of miles on secondary roads and the remainder on interstates. Open Road stations are usually along the major interstates near small towns and not so much in metro areas.

Our best deals are often found at small independent stations and not the big boys (Loves, Petro, Flyers). The main considerations are you will be navigating local streets and often finding space at the stalls are tight often with some obstacles. The savings can be significant and after paying dues during the learning curve, this option is often the best prices.

By far, the biggest savings is to plan fuel ups anywhere outside California, just that one rule is worth around a buck a gallon.

[luvrbus]

You can find Walmart,Sam's and Costco across the US that have plenty of space for RV's towing to fuel,I stop at one in West Texas that has truck pumps with the large nozzles for fueling in a hurry,I use the W/M app for fuel it saves money. Don the difference between fuel in Needles vs Az here is a little over 2 bucks a gallon ,well worth the 3 mile trip across the river ,heck we are getting places selling non ethanol gasoline now 

[DoubleEagle]

The Costco's and Sam's Club's around here in the midwest either don't have diesel, or if they do, have islands that are not roomy enough to handle large vehicles. Chains like Casey's or Circle K can have more room. If the price is good I don't mind waiting to fill with small slow nozzles, but the the lower volume stations have more opportunity for contaminated fuel clogging the filters.

[luvrbus]

The Costco's and Sam's Club's around here in the midwest either don't have diesel, or if they do, have islands that are not roomy enough to handle large vehicles. Chains like Casey's or Circle K can have more room. If the price is good I don't mind waiting to fill with small slow nozzles, but the the lower volume stations have more opportunity for contaminated fuel clogging the filters.

I like filling with small nozzle's ,no foam, time to walk around and do checks and clean the windshields and walk the pets ,plus they are cleaner.I liked the older Flying J's you could get fuel,dump you tanks,fill with water,and buy propane if needed all at the RV island with out moving and there was no dump fees   

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

I like filling with small nozzle's ,no foam, time to walk around and do checks and clean the windshields and walk the pets ,plus they are cleaner.I liked the older Flying J's you could get fuel,dump you tanks,fill with water,and buy propane if needed all at the RV island with out moving and there was no dump fees

I used to use Flying J's all the time when I had my 36' Fleetwood Discovery with a trailer, as everything was right there. However with my 40' bus and toad, I am afraid to use them, as frequently people park in the spaces in front of the RV pumps and I have always been concerned that I would not be able to get out of there due to so many cars in the way and haivng a difficult time backing up with the toad.  But I haven't used Flying J for several years, so maybe they aren't so bad for a 40' bus with a toad.  Not sure.

[DoubleEagle]

Flying J's are not quite the same since Pilot bought them. Out East at least, they did away with the buffet and put in Denny's. They used to have fuel discounts for FMCA members.