TA RoadKing Club News
More deals, new membership level to come

Fueling at TA during July gives you twice the bang for your buck, because you’ll get two points instead of one for every gallon you buy.

Here’s how it works: From July 1 through July 31, every gallon of diesel you buy earns one regular TA RoadMile™ as well as one RoadKing Club ExtraMile(SM).

Use your ExtraMiles(SM) for discounts on purchases at TA locations of food, snacks, parts, accessories – almost everything! The ExtraMiles(SM) will be listed separately on your account so you can easily track them. Remember, ExtraMiles(SM) can be redeemed through Aug. 31, 2002.

Cash acceptors at kiosks

To further reduce waiting in line for showers, TA is installing cash acceptors at all of its RoadMile Marker kiosks, so drivers who have to buy a shower can do so there instead of at the fuel desk.

Just put $7 into the device and it prints a receipt with your code number. Use the code to open the electronic lock, or, better yet, swipe your RoadKing Club™ card, and the shower’s all yours.

Phone Minute Redemption Ends

Effective Sept. 1, 2002, TA RoadMiles™ will no longer be redeemable for telephone time.

Best Service at a TA Restaurant?

From July 1 through Aug. 31, you can vote on which TA restaurant has the best service. There are two ways to vote. The first step for both is to hold on to your receipts from the restaurants. Each receipt has a unique code number that will serve as a password.

If you want to vote online, go to www.tcsurveys.com and fill out the online survey. Or, you can call TA’s toll-free customer service line, 1-800-961-2961. Just let the representative know that you want to vote and then you'll be asked for the 5-digit code on your receipt. You can vote more than once, but you must have a separate receipt code for each vote. Results will be announced in September.

The Lodi, Ohio, TA Country Pride Restaurant won the first TravelCenters of America Service Cup, based on on-line customer votes during November 2001.

Besides having the most votes, the winning location had to meet other criteria. Part of the criteria was achieving a score of 87 or higher on TCSurveys.com, TA’s on-line guest satisfaction survey. Questions on the survey range from the appearance, hospitality and attitude of the staff to the cleanliness of the restaurant and taste of food.

Not only did the staff at Lodi have the most votes (89), they also had the most completed surveys (127) and a score of 96% in overall customer service.

For their outstanding effort, Lodi received a plaque and the Service Cup Trophy, which stands over three feet tall and will be passed on to the new winner each year. The staff received special watches, service pins, and a party to celebrate.

Runners-up were Candler, N.C., Brookville, Pa., and Fort Bridger, Wyo., TAs.

Trucking Matters

by Ed Kuhn, Chairman, President & CEO, TravelCenters of America

Thirty years ago, a new sign appeared at Interstate exits. "Truckstops of America" signaled a new era in truckstops, a move toward providing you with reliable, consistent quality and service at the red-white-and-blue "TA" sign. Since then, trucks have gotten bigger, more powerful, more comfortable and more complex. Trucking has been deregulated. You do business completely differently today – with computers, e-mail and cell phones – and the pace keeps accelerating.

You’ve told me that the business has gotten harder. Rates remain low and competition is fierce. You’re under tremendous pressure to make tighter deadlines and stay on the road longer. For 30 years, TA has been there, trying to make your job easier.

The "face" of trucking has also altered in the past three decades. Males once dominated trucking, but a growing number of women now sit behind the wheel. That trend will likely continue, and you’ll see us adapt to it in the products and services we provide.

As you read this, we are finishing a major market survey of hundreds of truckers who told us how their jobs and needs are changing, and what we can do to help them.

TA’s business has changed, too. Over the years, we have expanded, merged, remodeled and added new products and services that you have told us you need – data ports, Internet access, electronics, greater variety and brand-name products, healthier food choices.

However, in the midst of these changes, the fundamentals we started with in 1972 remain the same – offer quality fuel, good hearty food, reliable repairs and maintenance, and quality merchandise at fair prices. Provide a safe place to rest from the road and listen when you have a suggestion, complaint or compliment. Do it all with friendly, personable service.

Do we slip up sometimes? Sure. And if we do, we want to know about it, not only to make it right for you, but also to prevent it from happening again. So in addition to our managers, we also have a toll-free hotline (800) 961-2961, as well as our Web site, www.tatravelcenters.com, for complaints – and compliments. Our employees love to hear when they are doing well.

Our challenge today – as it was 30 years ago and will be 30 years in the future – remains doing the fundamentals well. The more things change, the more this will remain the same.

I’d like to hear your thoughts about any aspect of our operations. Please write me at Road King, 3322 West End Ave., Suite 700, Nashville, TN 37203, or e-mail edkuhn@roadking.com. Until next time, truck safe.

Feelin’ at Home at Lafayette, La.

by Shannon Scully

Most anyone can feel at home in a Travel Centers of America location – even a busload of French tourists. When the group pulled into the Lafayette, La., TA in late May, they immediately noticed the heavy French influence on the region known as the Heart of Acadiana.

"Half the population in this parish speaks Cajun-French," says Joey Burton, general manager, who recently relocated from the Brunswick, Ga., TA.

After picking up on the accents, the foreign tourists noticed the newly renovated TA offers more lagniappes, or little extras, than other truckstops they had visited on their journey.

"Everything is new," says Burton, "the showers, restaurant, travel store, even the coolers that hold the soft drinks."

Located at exit 101 on busy busy I-10, the TA didn’t close for even a day during the six-month remodeling period.

"We just hung tarps from the ceiling to control the dust," says Shirley Borland, who has worked as a bookkeeper at the Lafayette TA for 20 years.

A major new service is front-end alignment (see article on opposite page). "The front-end alignment machine and the new pit will allow us to service busy drivers even better," Burton says.

The Country Pride restaurant got a makeover with brighter colors and a more comfortable atmosphere. Hungry travelers can also choose from a new Arby’s and a Pizza Hut.

"The fast food is a good alternative for someone who is not looking for a huge meal," Borland says. "Plus the Arby’s Marketplace sandwiches are good for people trying to watch their weight."

You can check your e-mail or log on to the Internet in the new media center, which also has several arcade-style games.

If you want to shop, the travel center is stocked with state souvenirs, including several brands of hot sauce.

4 TAs Now Offer Alignments B