Flying J Inc. filed Chapter 11

[bs4104]

Ogden-based Flying J Inc. filed Chapter 11 protection this morning. The company says it was unable to pay a significant debt that was due today and was also unable to obtain credit to cover the difference.

More at:    http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=5145149

[John316]

That's too bad. We use them a ton. I hope that it works out for them

Merry Christmas,

God bless,

John

[JackConrad]

Looks like they bought a lot of oil futures when the price was high.  Jack

[TomC]

They'll just have to heat their Diesel fuel even hotter then they do now to make even more money off of the expanded Diesel fuel to cover their debts.  Good Luck, TomC

[rv_safetyman]

Since they changed their policy on credit cards, we vowed not to use them again.

While I detest their treatment of the RV market they worked so hard to develop, I do not take joy in their financial problem.

However, if they were a part of the financial manipulation of the oil future market, then I hope they suffer financially as much as we did with the fuel prices we had to pay this year!!!

Jim

[belfert]

What truck stops are any of you using that don't charge a credit card surcharge on the truck pumps?  I haven't found a full sized truck stop yet that doesn't charge a credit card surcharge.

As far as heating the fuel, I thought this had pretty well been debunked?  The amount of energy required to heat vast quantities of fuel would likely cost more than any extra money they would make.

[Jriddle]

Well that is what I am here from the wife. They bought a lot of Hundred dollar Oil and now the price is considerably lower. Sometimes you win sometimes you don't.

John

[rv_safetyman]

Brian, since we have started our boycott, we have found at least one independent that did not charge more for credit card.  You have to make sure they are a place that moves lots of fuel, so that you don't get bad fuel.  I guess more importantly, I have found that almost all of the others (TA, Loves, etc.) are easier to get in, have more pleasant folks at the register, and in general it has been a better experience.  Their prices are about the same (some less).

I guess my anger is the result of the WAY that FJ handled the whole change.  They are forcing you to use their card if you want the discount.  That makes perfect business sense, but is kind of a slap to folks who don't want to take on another card and have been loyal customers.  Some folks have mentioned that the card that FJ dictates has less than favorable benefits/rates.  I don't know that for sure, but I also chose not to find out. 

Since I have had the bus on the road, I have traveled almost 48K miles and used more than 6,000 gallons of fuel (not fun to look at that number ).  That is between $12K and $18K, perhaps more.  Small potatoes for a truck, but quite a bit for an RV.  Until the boycott, I would guess that 80% of the fuel was purchased at FJ.  I did this because they clearly welcomed our business. 

Sorry about the soapbox dialog.

Jim

[BG6]

They are forcing you to use their card if you want the discount. 

The discount is miniscule.  What, a penny per gallon?  So if I rolled in there on fumes, I could save a whole, whopping $1.65 on a fill-up?  Be still, my beating heart!

However, if you compare their NORMAL price with the other guys, they generally come out best (or tied for best) in any particular area.

I avoid TA.  The only two that I will go into are the one in eastern Iowa and the one in Breezewood, PA.  The others are toxic waste dumps.

[Dreamscape]

They will probably ask the government to bail them out like everyone else, not sure if they can do that now though. They got themselves into this mess because of buying futures. What a mess the world is in! All because of black gold. Oh well, life goes on and on and on! This is just the begining of a long and tedious problem for all of us, it will get worse before it gets better. But wait, someone said he's gonna fix it. I feel better now, hee hee.

[belfert]

I have been using the RV lanes at Flying J.  The ones I have been at all have new pumps with pay at pump.  The pumps at each side are now seperate so I can use two pumps to fill faster if I want.  (I have fillers on both sides.)  I haven't had problems getting out of the RV lanes even with the poor designs.

The Loves at Fernley, Nevada has enough room at the auto pumps to get the bus in and out easily.  I don't go out back with the trucks because of the credit card surcharge.  I still have a credit card that gives 5% back on fuel purchases.  I got $100 back on one trip last year when prices were still close to $4.

[John316]

Jim,

Remember, there is a fee that they have to pay for proccesing the credit cards. That is probably why the little bit extra. They probably got their credit card company to waive the fee.

JMHO

Merry Christmas,

God bless,

John

[JackConrad]

We also found that the Pilot truck stops, (and maybe others) treat a debit card as a credit card and even though they get the cash immediately from a debit card, still charge you the credit card price.  On a big fill up, it is cheaper to walk over the to ATM and withdraw cash to pay for the fuel.  Jack

[cody]

We haven't hit very many flying J's for fuel, we have very few of them up here and it has seemed that when we did find any on the road, for some reason we just didn't go in, now and then we did but not very often because i had heard that they just don't like Visa and we use a Visa debit card for all our fueling, I feel badly anytime a company sufferes from a financial problem regardless of the reason for several reasons, lately it seems that companies seem to feel that it's up to the government to bail them out if they make some wrong choices, the problem comes in when they use my money to bail them out, I'm just not sure the guys in washington are passing the hat among themselves to line these companies pockets with gold from their own personal accounts. I kinda feel that in this great land of opportunity we not only have the ability to succeed, we also have the ability to fail, the government seems to have the idea that they will pick and choose who will succeed or not, I'm thinking that may reflect back on campaign contributions, maybe, maybe not, just a wild thought there for a moment lol.  But I'm becoming increasingly resentful over the government piling up hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to just give away to whoever moans the loudest when our educational system is faltering and our highways are crumbling and children are hungry, I currently have 2 grown daughters going back to college after christmas to complete work on degree's that, now that the ecomomic climate has tighted up, the job market will help them out down the road, that money is coming out of my pocket and when I saw just how much compared to just a couple of years ago, I flinched but bit the bullet, everything is going up but why is that, I don't know, all I do know is i resent AIG throwing a party that cost a half million just to celebrate getting bailed out, and i'm sure they are no exception.  Sorry for hijacking the thread to rant about a bailout that may never be asked for by flying j.

[Le Mirage]

and this one...

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705272371,00.html