I know ... that's what they told us at Landstar. I fueled this morning at the Flying J in NE and the posted CASH price was $3.29. There was a Love's across the road - same price. I then passed a TA while driving on 80 thru NE and the CASH price posted on the sign was $3.34!

Too bad there's nothing like "location" service on thsi board. Then we could post our location at the end of the day and may be it can be tracked automatically -when you log on to classadrivers. I know Facebook has something like this, when you can see where all your friends are. I deleted my Facebook account after someone applied for a credit card in my name in Edmonton, Alberta!

Remember those useless subjects we wasted time on in school? I think basic math plus maybe some physics plus chemistry ... okay ... some biology (to know how things work around us) were at least somewhat useful. When I stopped in Sydney NE for breakfast this morning I used those basic math skills - well, kind of... I took out my cell phone, opened the 'Calculator' application and punched in my hours for the past 7 days It turned out I have only 7.5 hours to work today! What's worse - I"ll have only 4.5 hours for tomorrow! That throws a big monkeywrench in my plans... I thought I'd deliver the load early on Tuesday but now that's moot (especially since the consignee stops receiving at 3 pm Mountain Time). I'm going to have to take it easy for now and just try to be in Golconda NV before 3 pm on Wednesday, Jan-05th.

What ever happended with your trailer tire?

Well, luckily for you, Landstar uses paper logs....... just go back a few days and "find some lost time"

As they say, "three times is the charm". The guy in Newfoundland was Mechanic #3 who worked on it and he found the tire had been 'pinched' in a pothole. So, it had 2 (TWO!) holes on both side walls. The holes were tiny but they were loosing air. Mechanic #1 and Mechanic #2 failed to diagnose the problem and fixed only 1 hole. After Guy #3 fixed both holes, the tire keeps air like there's no tomorrow. I just have to watch for potholes: the tire is 245/75R17.5 so it's much more narrow than a regular 22.5 tire on a truck. The truck tire will just roll over a pothole, while the trailer tire will go right in and damage its sidewalls.

From Laramie, WY
Pilot, x. 310 off I-80

I called our LCAPP department - the one that deals with discount programs on tires, fuel etc - and now I finally know how to find out the "Landstar Price" I'd pay per gallon BEFORE I fuel. The LCAPP rep on the phone said the only way to do that is to call the 1-800 number listed in our LCAPP fuel directory (an orange thin booklet) and it only works for TA and Petro truck stops. The service is fully automatic and when you call you choose what price you'd like to know, "retail" or "base plus". I chose the "base plus" and then I punched in the 4-digit code for the truck stop location in Rawlings, WY (the codes are listed in the booklet). The computer told me the 'base price' today at that TA truck stop is the unbelievable ... $3.049!!! According to the orange booklet, it's cost plus $0.025', so as a Landstar driver I'd pay $3.049 + $0.025 or only $3.07 per gallon!

They kept telling us to fuel at TA and Petro for best savings but I never bothered to compare the prices at 'cost plus' locations with regular Pilots and Flying Js. Now I'm a big believer, and here's why:

The Pilot truck stop in Laramie, WY where I'm now shows $3.259 as cash price per gallon, and I could fuel here too. According to my orange booklet, I'd get 4 cents off the cash price at this location, so my "Landstar price per gallon' would be $3.219. That's all nice and dandy, but that's still 14 cents MORE per gallon than I'd pay at the TA in Rawlings, WY!

TA and Petro are the only two truck stop chains that offer this 'cost plus' discount program to Landstar drivers. The 'plus' part varies from 2 to 3 cents and is only available in US. All other truck stops have the 'cash minus cents per gallon" deal.

Your fuel ticket from the TA or Petro will show the pump price, but if you check your card balance you will see they only deducted the discounted amount. The truck stop don't know how much you pay

I have a link for your mobile phone so you can see all the TA prices and it also gives you the customer location number you will need to enter into the system to get the price.

It's called a "Cost Plus Price" and other companies besides Landstar uses it too. I can't believe they didn't tell you this at the orientation!!!! The cost plus price at the TA in Porter, IN is currently $.31 less than the posted price. You could have saved a ton when you came thru

They did tell us about it. But I wish they'd use some real-life examples to demonstrate the REAL difference. Because TA fuel desks never know what the discounts are, right. You have to look closely at your Comdata Statement. When I was with Challenger and then MacKinnon, I always tried to fuel at the Flying J, because I got used to dealing with them. But at Landstar TA and Petro is the only way to go, that's for sure. Now when I know how much money I can save, I'll be definitely fueling only at TA and Petro. I just need to apply for that UltraOne card, so that you use only one bonus card at both Petro and TA.