Motorway Services

[Mr_White]

They are located there because they are trying to attract my custom, while I travel on the MWay - it is NOT a prime location otherwise really.

You either want to use them or you don't, if you want to use them, you pay the premium for the service they offer, as there is no competition, they can afford this luxury.

Why should they be as cheap as everyone else, when everyone else can't provide the same service.

 

[Hedge]

Eh, I'm with the AA and have never heard anything about this. Is this at all BK's?

Think its just the service station ones, never tried it elsewhere. I use my forces discount otherwise

 

[Hedge]

just found this

http://www.theaa.com/membersclub/benefits/moto.html

I coulda sworn it was 30%, but i dunno if this is the same discount jobby. either way i defo get something off for showing card

 

[mjt]

You either want to use them or you don't, if you want to use them, you pay the premium for the service they offer, as there is no competition, they can afford this luxury.

Why should they be as cheap as everyone else, when everyone else can't provide the same service.

this.

the only time i ever use motorway services is if i'm starving, thirsty, need a wee or have run out of fuel
which i guess are the reasons most people use them

but they have a monopoly. if you don't want to buy anything, don't. turn off the motorway and go and find a shop in a village somewhere.
the same can be said about the fuel. fuel on the motorway will always be 10-15% more expensive than elswhere

 

[Janesy B]

There seems to the a logic failure somewhere here. The fact that it's on the motorway junction makes it a prime location.

Prime for who? No one but service stations, so there's no competition. They don't have to compete with big retail chains or shopping centre developments so it's about the only bloody use for it.

 

[cheets64]

Plenty of places just off junctions for you to eat and refuel, fail to prepare, prepare to pay.

 

[Lum]

All you are doing is proving my point, it's like when people are late for an appointment they blame traffic, trains whatever, but simple fact is, had they left early enough, got out of bed early enough to allow contingency time, they would not be late.

Ok, let me give you an actual example of how it works in my case.

I'm on site at, say, a customer based in an out of town business park in Plymouth doing a routine planned software upgrade and expecting to be finished by about 2PM, so I haven't taken any evening meal with me because I'll be home by about 5 or 6 PM (I live in South Wales)

Just as I'm about to walk out the door, the phone rings, another job has come in, our kit at a customer in Bradford is not working and they are screaming blue murder, losing money blah blah blah you know what users are like but they have next day response in their contract so I have to deal with it, I nip back to a desk and book a hotel in Bradford and then just as i'm about to leave the boss at my current location has found a few things that aren't working right after the upgrade, usually these will be things that they were told about in advance with instructions on how to deal with it but I still end up having to show them manually, it's now 3:30 and I'm finally leaving Plymouth.

I have to get to Bradford by 9 if I want to be able to eat at the hotel (on the company hotel card) so I have to get a shift on, can't really afford any stops or detours ideally, but I should just have time to stop at a services and grab a sandwich so I'm not starving for the entire duration of the trip.

Unless you're expecting me to set off on Monday with a weeks worth of packed lunches (and evening meals) in the car and throw out the ones I didn't eat on Friday I'm going to end up having to eat at a services at some point.

 

[Janesy B]

Ok, let me give you an actual example of how it works in my case.

I'm on site at, say, a customer based in an out of town business park in Plymouth doing a routine planned software upgrade and expecting to be finished by about 2PM, so I haven't taken any evening meal with me because I'll be home by about 5 or 6 PM (I live in South Wales)

Just as I'm about to walk out the door, the phone rings, another job has come in, our kit at a customer in Bradford is not working and they are screaming blue murder, losing money blah blah blah you know what users are like but they have next day response in their contract so I have to deal with it, I nip back to a desk and book a hotel in Bradford and then just as i'm about to leave the boss at my current location has found a few things that aren't working right after the upgrade, usually these will be things that they were told about in advance with instructions on how to deal with it but I still end up having to show them manually, it's now 3:30 and I'm finally leaving Plymouth.

I have to get to Bradford by 9 if I want to be able to eat at the hotel (on the company hotel card) so I have to get a shift on, can't really afford any stops or detours ideally, but I should just have time to stop at a services and grab a sandwich so I'm not starving for the entire duration of the trip.

Unless you're expecting me to set off on Monday with a weeks worth of packed lunches (and evening meals) in the car and throw out the ones I didn't eat on Friday I'm going to end up having to eat at a services at some point.

YOU should have PACKED EXTRA JAM SANDWICHES IN A SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS LUNCHBOX AND A THERMOS YOU BLITHERING IDIOT!!!111ONE!

 

[Participant]

if you pull off for a coffee you'll get raped

That would never happen in Oz!

Tbh quit yer whinging and either

- emmigrate (please do this)
- stop using service stations

 

[Locky]

It's not as if delivery costs more to service stations, after all they are on the motorway.

 

[merlin]

I eat and/or drink at the services probably four or five times a month, I know it's a rip off but frankly it's quick and convenient and tbh time is money, I can't be doing with going off the beaten track.

Often I need fuel, cash, food/drink, internet access, pee/poo in something clean - you can get all of these at the services in one quick and easy stop.

 

[Dr Who]

It almost sounds like you are defending the stupid prices? Would it not be fair to expect a vital service like a service station to have reasonable prices so people don't have to spend £10 on a crap coffee and a stale tuna roll?

Sorry, last time I checked a service station was not a vital service, and as far as I can tell, people who operate these places do it for a profit. The rents charged and the licences for motorway services are very expensive.

You pay for ther priveledge of their convenience.

 

[Dr Who]

Ok, let me give you an actual example of how it works in my case.

I'm on site at, say, a customer based in an out of town business park in Plymouth doing a routine planned software upgrade and expecting to be finished by about 2PM, so I haven't taken any evening meal with me because I'll be home by about 5 or 6 PM (I live in South Wales)

Just as I'm about to walk out the door, the phone rings, another job has come in, our kit at a customer in Bradford is not working and they are screaming blue murder, losing money blah blah blah you know what users are like but they have next day response in their contract so I have to deal with it, I nip back to a desk and book a hotel in Bradford and then just as i'm about to leave the boss at my current location has found a few things that aren't working right after the upgrade, usually these will be things that they were told about in advance with instructions on how to deal with it but I still end up having to show them manually, it's now 3:30 and I'm finally leaving Plymouth.

I have to get to Bradford by 9 if I want to be able to eat at the hotel (on the company hotel card) so I have to get a shift on, can't really afford any stops or detours ideally, but I should just have time to stop at a services and grab a sandwich so I'm not starving for the entire duration of the trip.

Unless you're expecting me to set off on Monday with a weeks worth of packed lunches (and evening meals) in the car and throw out the ones I didn't eat on Friday I'm going to end up having to eat at a services at some point.

The simple point is, and the point you are failing to acknowledge you can buy a sandwich before you even get to the motorway. You are working on an out of town business park, are you telling me that all the people on that business park take own sandwiches etc during the day? You skipped lunch and then you say all you are left with is m'way sandwiches so you don't starve before 9pm? Eat at lunchtime, from whatever place is available on the business park, the sandwich delivery guy whatever... There will be options if you take them.

Sure you can come up with scenarios where you might have to use services, but it all comes back to unprepared, you weren't prepared for the call to travel (even though it seems a part of your everyday working life the way you are talking) so you were forced into a m'way sandwich. If that scenario IS your everyday life, then by now, if you feel strongly about m'way services, you should be planning your eating to work around it. Clearly you are not doing that, and choose to blame m'way services for their prices...

So either this means you are not willing to change your habits to save some money, or you think m'way services should change to accomodate you. Either option is fine by me, but lets not pretend that there are no options available to you and you are dealt a fait acomplis every day to buy sandwiches from a m'way service station.

Packed lunch is just one option about being prepared, there are many others.

 

[el_dazza]

In all fairness M&S as services and train stations are fairly priced in that they are the same price as the high street.

Sandwich and a drink for less than a fiver.

I had a sandwich, drink and crisps at one for £3 the other day, I thought that was pretty decent.

 

[Dr Who]

I eat and/or drink at the services probably four or five times a month, I know it's a rip off but frankly it's quick and convenient and tbh time is money, I can't be doing with going off the beaten track.

Often I need fuel, cash, food/drink, internet access, pee/poo in something clean - you can get all of these at the services in one quick and easy stop.

And that is why you pay thru the nose, so either accept it or change yourself.

I still use m'way services (rarely if poss) and it is almost always because I am too lazy to do the alternative.

 

[Hatter The Mad]

Food sold at motorway services is notoriously expensive. This is often attributed to the fact that many regulations apply to the areas, which would not be viable to run while charging cheaper prices. Another factor may be that, unlike in other countries, the companies must pay the full cost of constructing the entry and exit slip roads and all other required features for safe access to motorway services, as well as the motorway services facility itself. In other countries, the authority responsible for the highway tends to subsidise these costs on the grounds that these areas are partly a public service to drivers. The leases provide that motorway services must operate 24 hours a day, and the costs of providing utilities and services are high.[11] With very few customers in the early morning, they need to earn the money in other ways.

Under the terms of the lease, motorway services must provide free short-term parking, toilet facilities and adequate provision for the sale of food and fuel 24 hours a day.[11]

 

[starfighter]

I have to agree with Fox. If it was a puerly open market competition would stop these stupid prices but although I don't know how it works they seemed to be linked to the government somehow and not anyone can just open one so they essentially have an unchallenged monopoly provided by the government to rape us.

yes we still have free choice but it isn't much of one. prepare in advance, die at the wheel of tierdness, pay over the odds or get lost.

It is almost 2010, we were supposed to have a base on the moon by 1999 and we can't even get decent priced coffee. Damn you Labour!


(Doh, after reading the above Wiki article it seems I might be wrong, if indeed anyone can build a service station and they are obliged to pay these extras then it is all good, if it is such a easy money making scam we would all open up our own service station. unless of course the fee the government charges for this road construction is totally outrageous and this essentially just another tax. )

 

[Scuzi]

PPPPPP

Prior Planning Prevents **** Poor Performance.

If you don't want to pay the premium at motorway service stations, plan around it. If you get caught it, suck it up and learn your lesson. I don't mind paying 50p more for a coffee of a few pence more per litre of fuel at a motorway service station. I have more important things to worry about.

What worries me is the amout of disabled people you see if a service station. Do they ****ing congregate around them or something?

 

[Lum]

Maybe it's because the local shop 5 minutes down the road from the junction only has on-street parking and when you need to unload a wheelchair and extract yourself from the drivers seat into said wheelchair the services suddenly seem like a much better idea than trying to do it at the side of the road.

Means the most vulnerable get ripped off on prices though.

 

[Scania]

Think yourself lucky Fox, you had the option of going elsewhere.

If your in an HGV and said roadworks, for example, have eaten into your driving hours, you are left with little choice but to park up there (and pay around £20 for the joy of a urine smelling truck park thats totally insecure) and then pay the inflated prices for your evening meal.

I watched somebody steal a Ginsters Pie (£2 ish from the shop, £1 in most supermarkets) from an MSA shop a few weeks back(!) and can honestly - and somewhat shamefully - say I thought "Good on him" - I don't mind a thief getting robbed......