Chain truck stops in the USA have their own branded rewards program through which professional truck drivers can earn points good toward selected products or services.

We have researched the programs and provided the links so you can see the details of each one.

We have also provided some information and asked some questions so that you know what to look for before and when using them.

You drive an average of 2400 miles per week commercially and your truck's fuel consumption is 6 miles per gallon. That comes to 400 gallons of fuel used per week.

Your company routes you through one of its own terminals -- or you stop there to take care of business -- 40% of the time that you need to get fuel, meaning that you get 60% of your fuel at truck stops.

And having calculated that, how long would it take you to get, say, a sub sandwich for free with rewards program points?

Professional driver Mike Simons waits his turn to order a meal for him and Vicki at a Subway fast food restaurant at a truck stop with rewards program points.

In order to get two $5.00 subs plus tax "for free," Mike has to get over 1,000 gallons of fuel to get over 1,000 rewards points.

• AMBEST,
• Love's,
• Pilot,
• WilcoHess,
• Petro and
• TA (TravelCenters of America).

Money saving tip: You will need to read the fine print to understand what each specific rewards program offers, such as:

• What minimum number of points (if any) do you have to have to redeem them?
• Must driver rewards points be redeemed in batches or can any amount of points -- up to the total and even if the amount is odd -- be put toward a purchase?
• Do the points ever expire?
• If a truck stop chain merges with another, what changes will be made to their respective loyalty programs and cards? At what point will the old cards no longer be accepted?
• What products or services can you put rewards points toward? (For example, review our truck wash page for an example of one service offered on a truck stop lot that may or may not be paid for with driver reward points.)
• What other complications might you run into, such as buying something electronic with points that you need to get a refund for because it didn't work right? Whereas you might ordinarily get a refund if you paid with cash or credit (or an exchange only, depending on the truck stop), if you bought the merchandise with points, will the points be put back on your card?
• How do some truck stop locations go about letting a driver redeem points? (For example, at one restaurant we visited, in order to use his rewards points to help pay for the meal, Mike had to go get a "voucher" from the kiosk and then return to the cashier. It would have been much simpler had the restaurant been able to accept the points directly off the rewards program card.)
• Can you get a similar item in a different (non-truck stop) store for significantly less and save your points toward something else? (For example, read what we had to say about the costs of heavy duty scissors in a truck stop compared with three other vendors.)
• Can you combine other discounts with your driver rewards points redemption? For example:

  Mike strongly encourages you as a driver to set goals and save up your rewards points toward something you really want as a discipline. In his case, for a truck he used to drive, he wanted chrome lug nut and hub wheel covers. The estimate price for the total set was (at the time) about $100. Not only did he use his driver rewards points (which took a considerable amount of time to accumulate) to pay for them, but he waited until they came on sale until he made his purchase. By timing his purchase, he was able to buy about $100 worth of chrome for $40 (a 60% savings). The combined discount and use of driver rewards made the purchase that much sweeter.

• Monitor your rewards program points periodically and use them selectively.
• Work out with a co-driver whose rewards card will be used when during fueling. Don't let this become a bone of contention between you and your co-driver.