Tell me what yout think about IdleAire

[the 48th ronin]

If you don't know me, that is not my fault...LOL

I have been driving for 35 years and no one ever has too much time on thier hands..

As to being an insider...LOL I doubt if the I A people like me very much!( which makes us even!)

[the 48th ronin]

insiders?

HMMM

The company drew support from some well-connected backers over the years, but the support didn't translate into profits. Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale bought $10,000 worth of company stock in 2004, while one of the company's directors is Thomas "Mack" McLarty III, a boyhood friend and one-time chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton.

From
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/may/14/idle...

ps also the following whch is NOT a misprint.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of local investors hoped to cash out in an initial public stock offering, but those dreams were dashed with the company's Chapter 11 filing Monday.

[the 48th ronin]

from that same article...proof that they STILL DON"T GET IT!

But company officials recently have acknowledged that use of the devices has been slow to gain widespread support, citing a difficulty in changing truck drivers' attitudes toward idling their engines.

As I have stated several yimes the problem was UNSAFE DESIGNE LACKING UNDERSTANDING OF TRUCK STOP DRIVING AND PARKING ...

as a matter of fact the number of iling trucks has reduced dramaticly DUE TO THE PRICE OF FUEL.

[A Sane Reader]

the 48th ronin wrote:

<quoted text>
The point for me is that it is almost criminal and surely at least fascist to think the government has the right to spend everyones money to promote a poor solution to a problem that is neigher worth having nor even cost effective. If 1/2 the year is too hot to shut off your engine, the average team truck spend less than 4 hours a day stopped, and the average single driver truck 10 hours a day which is usually at night when the temps are mitigated. The cost of fuel is proving my point that the individual driver can without multi millions of dollars of PUBLIC investment and pressure of excessive gvernment intervention in private business solve the problem of stopped time cost. I spent the time documenting the NON USE of the dinasaur I A is promoting, you have no answer to the bad design,, nor the wasted effort except a nebulas future savings that price alnoe is making a bad guess.
The entire operation os a sham to promote a wider reach of internet ISP and for hire services that no one needs or wants. Movies can be rented from a red box for a dollar, Internet access existed and will continue to exist without I A and the anti idle sham is exposed from day one as just that a sham.

Dude, you have GOT to keep taking your meds before you do something truly crazy.

[just so]

Can we say "PARANOID?"

Tuvok wrote:

Being a former driver of 25 years but I still have my CDL I was with a friend of mine last year the only thing he did not like about it,and I was not realy impressed also because of the following reasons. If someone wanted to cut the tubing and inject something into it to-(1)Stink your cab up (2) A Flammable then strike a match and then you have problem.(3)Something that might put you to sleep then break into your cab and do you harm/or worse, But in saying that it dose have it plus's also. If you could us a more tougher material and still be light weight to ensure safety. You see after being off the road for a few years That was test ride to see if I wanted to come back on the road again.

[Tuvok]

just so wrote:

Can we say "PARANOID?"
<quoted text>

Can YOu say 25 years of driving over the road? I have seen so much crap that nothing can surpirse me anymore, I saw people tearing the side of my trailer apart in Dallas on time while backed up to warehousr so they could steal a washer out of it, I have seen people trying to use a blow touch trying to up threw my trailer floors before. I could go on and and on, I saw some one broke a drivers windows out and threw gasoline in the window while the driver was asleep,(PARANOID?) Nope I just understand that there are some sick people out there in the world.

[the 48th ronin]

Tuvok wrote:

<quoted text>Can YOu say 25 years of driving over the road? I have seen so much crap that nothing can surpirse me anymore, I saw people tearing the side of my trailer apart in Dallas on time while backed up to warehousr so they could steal a washer out of it, I have seen people trying to use a blow touch trying to up threw my trailer floors before. I could go on and and on, I saw some one broke a drivers windows out and threw gasoline in the window while the driver was asleep,(PARANOID?) Nope I just understand that there are some sick people out there in the world.

You left out the drivers killed in south dallas last year by thieves, the driver killed for $1.39 by the crack head prostitute in oklahoma seversl years ago, the driver who had gasoline thorown on him and was it on fire by the thief in Amarillo, and the people who have had ether sprayed into thier windows sleeping with those pasic screens or vents open.. Paranoid... Yeah right.

Trailers with tops cut open trailers with doors cut off etc.

As a high value hauler, I seldom sleep in truck stops in certain parts of the country,( no I am not talking New york).

There is a reason some van lines companies insurance does not cover them if they are parked in certain truck stops ( yes they do have idle air there) in the Dallas area and el paso Tx.

When people do not know what you are talking about, they never seem to admit they might not be all knowing, you have to be wrong.

The backing out blind is enough reason to stay away from I A, the other reasons just added to the problems they failed to address when they designed their dinasaures.

"After all diver, you just have to change the way you do things to acomodate OUR ideas, If you don't want to do that you are obviously stupid."

[the 48th ronin]

Repeating

"Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of local investors hoped to cash out in an initial public stock offering, but those dreams were dashed with the company's Chapter 11 filing Monday. "

Poor babys, thier gravy train from the government trough is leaking... Maybe they should have noticed it was made of screen....

[Howard V Miller]

Have been off the road for LO these many years, but, back in the fifties and early sixties we didn't have the niceties in our trucks you guys have today.  I would have killed for 1- a cell phone.  2-a sleeper (that came later) 3- engines that would start at 0 deg. or lower. 4-AIR CONDITIONING except what we had, 2 X 50 Air.  Two windows at 50 MPH. My daughter and son inlaw are now driving for a southern based outfit, who I feel have a  bad case of the cheaps.  They were just notified that IDLEAIRE was now allowed, and the company would be picking up the lions share of it. They have seen dramatic lowering of idleing time these past months, but it has been getting progressively warmer country wide.(spring you know)  When the sun starts melting the asphalt, things may change. I am glad to see this service come in, and I also have been a  long time proponent of on board aux generators.  Not as good, but, using the engine cooling system, the aux unit keeps the block warm, keeps the batteries up, and also will run an RV type air conditioner.  IdleAire has to be the best, but an aux generator makes the truck more independent. Fuel usage overnight can be measured in pints instead of gallons, and again, As we all well know, idling raises hell with engines. In summary, idling must stop, for many reasons,and I'm not really a greenie head, and feel global warming is one pile of pure bull shit. It just makes sense. In fact, many states have now outlawed overnight idleing, but what is a person to do, when it's 120 in the shade, or -10 F. and one has to spend the night (or day)  in the beast. Use the IdleAire or suffer. Get and aux gen if you can, and use both when the time demands it. Keep the greasy side down, and the shiny side up guys. Have a nice trip!!!!   

[the 48th ronin]

A story appeared on truckinginfo.com claiming Idle Air might have a buyer in the wings...search engines found it for me, but the site is down today.

Funny thing that, among the facts available about idle air is the one about the leadership all signing new contracts last September giving them 18 month salary golden parachutes, and containing a clause that gave each of them a 1 million dollar buy out if the firm changed hands....

So the ex chief of staff for Bill Clinton mentioned in the article from Knoxville news will get a handsome reward for his political pull launching this venture.......

sniff sniff What is that awful smell?

[the 48th ronin]

apparentl after topix search engine filed the story it was pulled...HMMMM

[big daddy]

you know babbling, crying because you were jaded when you got "let go". REALLY nothing better to do than go on with your life. Hey i know ill post some comments make the unsuspecting new rep who got my job weiry of his newly acquired position. WOW. And you are right there are bad apples who peddle wares not IA authorized, they will get theres. And for you drivers that won't use it good, don't, be miserable because that is what you want. you do not want to conform if you will, you do have a choice and until you need it cause your precious air don't work I WILL SEE YOU THEN. Unless you are not man enough, or open minded enough to try something new so you can suffer so you can bitch some more. It is a vicious circle with you IA haters, spew more mouth crap so when you are proven wrong you can spew about that. If you are who i think you are 4our5ide you were done dirty, if not i must be thinking of someone else. And those 40 you took what do you have tracking on them. you obviously don't work for IA anymore so no way to track them. anyway, ive been around this industry for going on 29 years and until i can kick my little girl out of the house and get back to trucking i will do the one thing i feel can give back to my brothern of the road. What is happening to this industry is just what you people who have nothing better to do than bitch want to happen, because it keeps you talking and you LOOOOVE to hear that.

[4our5idedtrian6l e]

How do you know who I am and how I was done dirty? As for the 40, honestly im just guessing, could be more could be less. I just guessed that from simply talking to the regulars so much and also from people that are or were still employed by IA. Im not knocking IA, well I am but Im knocking the way the company is run, alot of the "higher ups" and idiotic people that get their hands on a little power in the company. I still think the idea and concept are great and if I had the money I would buy IA right now just to keep it going. But this has been coming when you look at the way they serve this industry.

[TAGM12]

Long Haul Driver wrote:

The purpose of Idle-Aire is three fold one it does help cut down on truck exhaust pollution in congested areas like El Paso,TX and heading up to the north east like Newark,DE(Petro just south in Elkton,MD and TC north in Paulsboro,NJ) and into Trenton,NJ (Petro just south of Trenton). the other purpose is to help drivers save fuel, and wear and tear on the motor for 8 to 10 hours that it normally would be idoling. to be able to shut your truck off and plug in the block and fuel tank heaters can be a great benefit in the winter time especially when the weather holds the truck exhaust close to ground level. it also gives drivers the chance to make calls, watch tv, and do things on the net in a bit of peace and quiet without all the noise of game machines and 200 people trying to talk over each other to be heard. while it does have a couple drawbacks for those who can't drive, such as the head first pull in and some of the older setups aren't maintained well. but over all it is a very good service that has benefits that out weigh the bad.
<quoted text>

IdleAire provides Heat/Air, Internet, Television,Electricity, and Telephone services to long haul truck drivers accross the nation. When Fuel is 4.75 a gallon and trucks with over 200 thousand miles on them burn at least one gallon an hour, that is a pretty big price to pay. Say 15 thousand a year in idling costs. IdleAire is just 20 dollars a year and 1.85 an hour plus state taxes, that is all. Only 8 thousand in IdleAire usage costs, and most of that the professional truck driver can claim on HIS TAXES..Hmmm... Sounds like a good deal to me, especailly if the driver puts fuel in the truck by his own income. Every penny counts. Over 1,000 trucking companies in this great nation either pay for the service for thier drivers or they give their drivers a discount as a gift to use the service. If drivers get a fuel bonus, it is obvious they're going to save on fuel and the bonus could very well pay for the service or part of the service they use. Just the other day, Jevic Transportation went bankrupt, and they are shutting down as of the 19th of May. Swift Transportation just filed bankrupcy but they won't pay for IdleAire services, you'd think you'd take all the avenues you could possibly find to get out of doing something so drastic. I hope this helps.

[the 48th ronin]

I just walked the parking lot here.. it is 3 am NO IDLE AIR.... counted 87 trucks shut off, 3 idling...

bogus numbers by promtors trumped by reality...again

for what it is worth, a detroit 60 series with 1.4 million miles on it still only nurns .7 gallons an hour idling, A truck with idle optimized might use .2 gallons an hour.
An apu uses from .2 to .4 a battery bank and inverter .0

[big daddy]

i don't know who you are, but i have heard similar rants from a guy that claimed to love his job but was tired of all the beuarcracy from the front office. How he was overlooked in his complaints when he took the steps the company wanted and actually have a "anonymus" way of documenting said complaints. I used the qoutes because really if you want to know who put the complaint in it is not to hard to find out.

I mean if someone wants an investigation done people have to know the parties involved. Any way looking back on that day, it was probably not a good day to check this place out for the first time. Let's just say not a good day at all. I should have taken a minute to lick that calf again and respond a little different.

I have heard some pretty jaded ex IAers and some of them have a good point. One actually used the company website forum to blast a few he felt worthy of blasting before the comments were deleted, i read them and thought he actually has a point. Any way, honestly no disrespect intended, but if you still worked for IA and some one was bashing it and you loved your job like you said you would probably respond similar.

[employee of IA]

I am an employee of IdleAire. What I see on a daily basis are truckers who value their time and their money. These are the ones who hook up with us. We now have thousands of fleets who have signed up and now provide their drivers this benefit at no cost to the driver. The company saves fuel cost on every truck that signs on to our system. The drivers get to shut down their trucks and rest in a quiet cab; they get to watch tv & movies & access the internet; they get the benefits of a cool or heated cabin as the climate changes from trip to trip. They also are provided 110 power and phone services. Another added benefit is driver training courses that can be applied to the driver's cdl credits. And for those living in the area, cleaner air and government incentives for their community.

What I dont understand is the mentality of the drivers who refuse to even learn about IdleAire and dog it out at ever opportunity.

You will not find Idle Aire at all truckstops and you are more than welcome to park somewhere else and as a matter of fact our drivers would greatly appreciate it. One of our biggest complaints are from our customers who can not park and hookup because someone has parked in a spot and does not use the service. Or the driver who pulls in and idles all night next to a driver who pays for a quiet night. To me it is simply disrespectful. And 85% of truckers coming into our site are very respectful to their fellow drivers. It's that 15% that continue to make life miserable for themselves and their fellow trucker.

For you guys who say this is another way for criminals to get inside your truck. OH please! if someone wants in your truck, they'll get in. As for our sites, we are constantly patrolling the lot and most of our host travel centers say that the rate of criminal activities have overwhelming decreased and drivers feel safer in one of our spots.

I have on several occassions spoken to drivers who refused to EVER use the service and believe it or not, most of these are owner/operators who adamantely hated our company. Many have continued to drive dispite the prices of deisel rising because they joined and are seeing the advantages of spending 2.00 an hour using idleaire instead of 4.00+/hr on fuel not to mention less wear and tear on their trucks.

Several of those drivers are now saving their money and saving their jobs. With the price of fuel going up there are only a couple of options, sign with a fleet and let them control your world, stop driving, or cut expenses by using our services.

I would love to hear more debates on why this service should not be used on a daily basis. And P.S. you can not blame us for the government demanding these new idling laws. We are not here to promote or benefit from these new laws, we are here to assist drivers in need of a better option when they cant idle and they need heat/ac or power to survive on their long and respected journeys.

You need to take into account that this product was invented by a truckers brother-in-law after idling laws had him at a disadvantage and he needed a/c and heat when he was not allowed to idle.

[4our5idedtrian6l e]

I understand big daddy, and I know what and who you are talking about on the company forum and i am not just someone who is simply bashing the company because im upset that i lost my job. After leaving it was then I realized how crooked the company truly is. It still doesnt change the fact that I Loved my job and did well at it tho. I would still Love to do it but working for other people I guess.anyway, some people do have a good point at being mad at IA but beleive that I am one of them, im not someone who lost their job for good reason and is just pissed off b/c I didnt get away with doing something wrong, bad job performance, etc. And employee of IA....the truckers brother in law that invented it, AC Wilson, I heard he just resigned. not sure if its true or not but if it is what kind of sign is that for how much longer this company will last?

[OverLoad]

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/May/15/laws...

Woman claims Idleaire unit killed her husband and totally disabled her....brain damage and all.

[OverLoad]

http://web.knoxnews.com/pdf/051508idlesuit.pd...

Found a copy of the filed lawsuit of the woman who claims was injured by Idleaire. Wow, scary!