Flying J charging to dump tanks?

[5B Steve]

    I was reading on another site that Flying J was charging $5 to dump your tanks.  Has anyone on here  no of this?

    Steve 5B.....

[Sean]

Only a couple of locations so far. Read about it here:

http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=82422

We dumped at the Flying-J in Eloy a couple days ago; still no charge there.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[gumpy]

Only a couple of locations so far. Read about it here:

http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=82422

Wow! Tough crowd on that other board.  I wouldn't fit in there.

Incidentally, I very seldom buy fuel at Flying J, and the one time I tried to dump at one it was plugged up.

[buswarrior]

I use the Frequent Fueler card at Flying J, not the RV club one.

Shower is free with fuel, can be banked for a week, and all purchases go towards flying J money coupons that come in the mail to spend again. I think you have to be spending above a certain amount per month for these.

the RV club "discount" on fuel doesn't come close to equaling the value of the shower, and that's filling a coach tank.

And I'll be happy to pay for the dump, if that becomes the standard.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[desi arnaz]

ok  i am the cheapest s.o.b on earth,but it's only $5 stop complaining.
although i think they should give it to you free with a 50 or 75 gallons.

[cody]

I've been told that flying J doesn't work well with Visa, don't know if it's true but there was a major thread and rant om another forum that said they were having a pissing match with visa and decided to stop allowing visa, don't know tho.

[Sean]

Wow! Tough crowd on that other board.  I wouldn't fit in there.

You will notice I don't post over there.  But there are lots of full-timers and boondockers in the SKPs, so it's a good place to monitor for information on those topics, such as ever-increasing restrictions on where we can park.

... it's only $5 stop complaining.

I don't know that anyone here is complaining, just remarking.  But now that you've brought it up, I will say that "only $5" is expensive, for what you are getting.

Municipal water costs anywhere from $0.20 to $0.50 per ton, and that generally includes sewer rates.  So even at the high end of the scale, to fill up my ~200 gallons of tanks is half a buck, including the disposal fees for that much waste.  So if I dump and fill at FJ (or anywhere else), it costs them perhaps $0.50.  That would make $5 for the privilege ten times their cost, or, put another way, a markup of 900%.  That puts it right up there with ice and those little half-liter bottles of water for the highest markup in the C-store.

I have no qualms with merchants doing this; it is called "charging what the market will bear."  But I won't buy ice or bottled water at those rates, and I'm not going to pay that to dump or fill, either.  That's called "voting with my feet."  I won't cut off my nose to spite my face:  if FJ has the cheapest diesel in an area, I will still buy my fuel there.  But all else being equal, I will give my business to those vendors who demonstrate that they want it with less mercenary tactics.  A 100% markup, or about $1 to dump and fill, would be more reasonable, and I would not hesitate to pay such a fee nor would it drive me away in search of other alternatives.

As a side note, I will point out that more and more places are closing their dumps outright, including some FJ outlets, so I suppose that there will come a time when supply and demand is such that $5 will seem like a bargain.  For example, the Love's across the highway from here has turned their dump into a nice decorative rock garden, and we've been to several Petros and TAs that have closed theirs with concrete.

The reasons for the closures, and probably some of the justification for the $5 fees, are the sins of the few being visited on the many.  We've all heard dump station horror stories and many of us have seen plugged dumps.  Just like the ever-tightening overnight parking situation, all it takes is one or two bad apples in a parking lot or at a dump station to get the place closed for the rest of us.

FWIW.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[Sean]

I've been told that flying J doesn't work well with Visa, don't know if it's true but there was a major thread and rant om another forum that said they were having a pissing match with visa and decided to stop allowing visa, don't know tho.

No longer true.  Old news.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[Busted Knuckle]

I've been told that flying J doesn't work well with Visa, don't know if it's true but there was a major thread and rant om another forum that said they were having a pissing match with visa and decided to stop allowing visa, don't know tho.

Flying J doesn't play well with others at all!
Back in the 80's & 90's when the "J" was growing leaps and bounds they were a good thing.
But after they realized there was more $ in selling convenience store style stuff to locals and everyday travelers they turned their backs on the Truckers and RV's who had patronized them for years!
When they started building their own $ card system in the 90's they had it out with COMDATA the largest commercial trucking $ sytem for paying for fuel & repairs on the road. (they had harvest tons if Comdata's customer info and tried to steal the customers )
So when it blew up on them they refused to accept Comdata anymore.
I quit using them on a regular basis long before they stopped accepting VISA, but I figure it's about the same deal. (we do fuel at Flying J's when the price is right and it's convenient to do so, but when hauling people it ain't always best option. Also we are authorized in their system to write checks and receive cash price. But lately their prices are outrageous!) YMMV
 BK  

[belfert]

It may only cost Flying J 50 cents for the water and sewer, but what about their other costs?  That truck stop didn't just build itself.  I bet keeping the dump operational probably costs as much as the water and sewer bill.  Someone has to unclog it when it gets clogged.  Just taking your money costs money although you're probably not buying only a dump.

I would prefer that it be free because most users will buy fuel and/or food and drink in the same stop.  I do understan d why they would charge $5 if they charge anything.

Flying J had quit taking Visa at the truck pumps only due to a dispute over how the credit price for fuel was advertised.  Like Sean said, Flying J is once again taking Visa for everything.  I use the RV pumps and spend the extra 10 minutes at the pump because I don't pay the credit card surcharge then.

[desi arnaz]

$5 is a small price to pay when your wife is complaining that the coach smells like s**t.

[Busted Knuckle]

$5 is a small price to pay when your wife is complaining that the coach smells like s**t.

Cheaper & quieter to tell her to get out!
  BK 

[buswarrior]

It would not surprise me that regulations are tightening all over the place regarding dealing with the waste.

If dumping the RV toilet was an employee job here in Ontario, Health and Safety legislation would put a burden on the employer to train in proper techniques, supply personal protective gear, (with the high chance for sprayed contact, some sort of full suit, face/hand protection and a clean up/change area that meets suitable standards to prevent cross contamination of employee's personal clothing) no doubt some sort of periodic engineering evaluation of the dump and connected systems, same as what they have to do with the fuel tanks now... reporting of every spill or release of waste outside the intended path.

the dump hose and valving would probably be outlawed due to it's easily compromised cheap plastic, unable to properly clean all those ribs, exposing the workers to human waste.

Spilling anything outside the pipe would no doubt be dimly viewed by the authorities.

In short, a compliance nightmare with no direct income!

If the local jurisdiction has some environmental law about these open sewers, letting the public in with no supervision is a growing liability.

I can see why a business would decide that the hassles aren't worth it.

And when campgrounds start being looked at more closely on this topic...

It has only just begun.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[buswarrior]

oh, and if you happen to have a bunch of chemical waste that you want rid of cheap?

Waste oil? Old gasoline? Industrial waste? Horribly toxic goo that will cost more than you are worth to dispose of?

If I had no values and no God, I know where I would have been dumping it for free...

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[bobofthenorth]

The only time we have ever paid for dump services is at Quartzsite and as I recall it was $5 to dump and $2 to reload the water so I guess $5 isn't out of line.  If your goal is to never spend a night in a "real" RV site with your bus then I suppose you might be concerned by the charge but for most of us our holding tanks aren't limiting for reasonable stretches of travel.  We frequently spend 2 or 3 nights on the road between parks and then dump when we get hooked up again.  If your goal is to spend all your time "off the grid" then it seems reasonable that you will have to spend something to get rid of your waste and its more than a little disingenuous to suggest that the only cost to the dump operator is the water tax.  The biggest cost to any business is labour and you just have to glance at most dump sites to see that there is a lot of cleanup involved for the operator.  When we had the acreage east of Nipawin we had dozens of RVs going by our gate every summer day and a septic system that could easily have handled their waste but 5 bucks isn't even close to what I would have wanted to let them dump.