Flying J no longer taking VISA
 

Howdy Drivers,

I guess Flying J and VISA are having a "pissing match" and effective May 25, Flying J will no longer take VISA cards. I use a VISA rewards card for all my fuel purchases. It gives me 3% back on fuel purchases with no cap on how much I can get back. I've already redeemed like $400 in rebates this year. At current prices, 3% back = about nine cents per gallon. x 200 gallons is $18 rebate per full tank fillup. Ads up in a hurry.

I e-mailed Flying J with my concerns... no reply.

I phoned Flying J this morning and talked to a young man who said apparently Flying J and VISA were in a dispute over some new fuel card J is offering. I asked about this fantastic new card... it sucks, in a word, for an owner operator.

After talking awhile, I just told the kid on the phone thanks. My business is going to their competition. Which is too bad. Maybe if enough independents vote with their feet and fuel elsewhere, J will re-think this "business decision".

Who does NOT take VISA? Nobody... except Flying J! :x

good lord, they just lost about 90 grand a year in fuel revenue.

Yeah, well who doesn't take Comdata...

Though I did see a J that advertised they were taking it. I don't know who is right and who is wrong in these little wars the J keeps having :lol:

Here's my bitch list:

Loves- only three days on the shower
Pilot- 200 gallons of fuel and you only get one shower and then you have to stand around waiting with your gym bag near the cash register until your number comes up
TA- they've got this cost plus discounting scheme and it's just a pain calling the numbers all the time only to find out that the fuel is usually no cheaper
J- Lovers quarrels :lol: They're always the price to beat, shower system is excellent, large parking lots... I've stopped taking company discounts and switched over to them

Interested in that rewards card you have. I just got a high limit Visa at 8.25% but I don't get anything back. That 9 cents per gallon you are talking about is HUGE! That's equal to the 'cash price' and any company discount you might get elsewhere right there.

American Express has a 5% rewards card on purchases. The down side is that you pay the credit price at all of the chains. You still save some money. I find some of the independents have as good a pricing as the chains if you use a credit card. Cam, when I leased to Landstar I did the same thing you do. I got tired of the inflated prices at TA just to show a big discount to the larger carriers such as Landstar, etc., I switched to Flying J back then. I don't use Flying J too much any more since they don't take Fleet One. I also have a TCH card from them. I think all of the chains are in a position where they don't appreciate their customers. I found out that if you want to talk to Flying J you can post a comment on their website, according to a manager I spoke with a few months ago. You need to go to their website. I need to check it out. Unfortunately, I have found that Pilot and Loves seem to have the cleanest showers. Flying J used to be the best. You can use the Flying J PDCA card and get the cash discount on fuel. It is also a Mastercard debit card. They also have their own Mastercard. Their attitude seems to be either play ball their way or take your cards home with you. Perhaps owner operators should take a lesson from Flying J. We need to take our business elsewhere. I have written them on several occasions with no response, not even a form letter. I may try the website. This manager told me that everyone in the company sees what is written.

I thought these card companies only charged the merchants 3%!? How can they give it all back or in the case of American Express, 5%!? At those percentages, like I said, it still gets you below the cash price so that you are on par with company discounts.

I've got the TCH card. The thing I don't like about it is they sweep their money out of my checking account every Friday. The problem with that is I regularly sweep my checking account and pay down debts. I lllooovvveee to drop ordinance on my debts :D I 'd prefer more of a charge card so I don't run into any NSF problems.

Flying J is pushing their fuel card pretty hard. When I was in Aurora, CO last, there was a guy at the J who was stopping EVERYONE who came in the door, and grilling them on how they paid for their fuel. A lot of people were flat out yelling at the guy, but that didn't stop him.

When he got around to me, he asked me, "Do you shop at Flying J much?" I said, "Sure, but I don't buy fuel here." He asked me why. I told him that it was because I use Comdata. He asked me where I fueled at. I told him that I try to always fuel at T/A. He said, "Our prices are just as good as T/A." I explained that I get the cash price at T/A, plus between $0.08 and $0.15 per gallon discount.

He didn't say much after that. :lol:

Rev., how do you get your TA discount? We are on this 'cost plus' system and we never know the discount unless we call. I usually don't use it because most of the time when I call it only reduces their higher price down to about the same price as where everyone else was to start with. The thing is, there are exceptions. The TA on I30 south of Little Rock always give a nice discount. Same here in Aurora, OR, just filled up yesterday at the TA for about .40 below pump price, for real.

Our company is nice enough to send us an Excel file with every T/A station listed, and what the current discount is. I get one each week. T/A's discount is in direct proportion to how much fuel the company buys from T/A. The more you buy, the bigger the discount. For example, the T/A in Portland, OR currently is giving us a $0.398 per gallon discount. Eugene is $0.323, and Troutdale is $0.328. Jackson, TN isn't too shabby either, at $0.312 per gallon.

yeah, I guess I'm going to have to figure out which TAs consistently give a good discount, with rates like this I can't afford to not use them. Aurora is basically Portland, our numbers match.