Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

Back more years ago than I care to remember I’d pull into just about any truckstop, and pull into the fuel island.  Normally anywhere from two to three guys, sometimes more, would walk out and meet me.  THEY would take care of fueling the truck, and usually other courtesy items such as checking tires and  cleaning my lights and windows, some would even “pop the hood” and check my oil and other fluids.  All I had to do was walk in to the Fuel Desk and pay.

All TruckStops back then had diners or at least a cafe.  I’d sit down and the waitress would walk up and we’d chat a bit and I’d order food.

When it came time to wash up I’d go back to the fuel desk, (or a customer service desk at the huge truckstops) and chat with an attendant while I was assigned a shower.

If I broke down on the road I’d call up the nearest truckstop and they’d send out a service truck.

Times were good.

Times pretty much suck now.

Just today I walked into the Petro in Weatherford Texas.  I wanted a shower.  It was over a hundred outside and I’d been working some and I needed to clean up.  The lady at the convenience store check out (where I’d been getting showers there for years) said that showers were no longer available here, not from her.  TA, having bought out Petro, had changed things.  I had to go to a machine.

Machines.

I drive a machine.  I tell IT what to do.  Something inside me rebels when Machines tell ME what to do.

I don’t like it.

More years ago than I care to remember I pulled into a Flying J and there was nobody to come “get my fueling information”.  Instead there was a new fangled thing called a card reader.  You all know what that is.

A machine.

Gone were the friendly attendants who’d joke and cut up and make me feel welcome.  Flying J began the dehumanization process.  Rather than have fuel attendents they had a machine.  They pioneered the automated shower assignment system, although you can still buy them from a person. Flying J began the dehumanization of truckstops.  Flying J began journey down Damnation Alley.

Back then I began avoiding Flying J.

Because of Machines.

Today if I break down on the road I call a number and most likely talk to a machine.  TA’s service center central, for example,  is located in Ohio.  When the machine decides it’s ok I get to talk to a person, in Ohio, who calls the TA just down the road from me to send out a service truck.  It’s insane, time consuming too.

Machines.

Pilots, Loves, some TA’s and other’s no longer have restaurants.  They’ve dehumanized to the point of having “fast food”. Watching the cash register attendant at a Fast Food place chew gum, talk on the phone and just incidentally take my order and money somehow just isnt the same as it used to be.

Some places don’t even have Fast Food.  They have a “food mart” meaning some chips and dips and maybe a vending machine.

Machines again.

At least at those places you can talk to a clerk  if you want a shower.  Not at TA or Petro.  Nope.  If you don’t have one of their pieces of plastic you go talk to a vending machine.

Machines again.

I HATE it when machines tell me what to do.  Big Corporate TruckStops are heading the full length of Damnation Alley, at least the Flying J had the sense to stop, once it got on the slippery slope.

Resistance is futile….you WILL be assimilated.