Showers for Professional Drivers:
Options and
Money Saving Tips to Consider

Every professional practices good personal hygiene by taking showers or baths. When they are on the road in their trucks, however, most professional truck drivers lack the standard home bathroom facilities that most of us take for granted.

Depending on the lengths of their runs, truckers can be separated from these facilities for days, weeks or months at a time –- however long it takes for them to return home. What options do you have as a driver and how can you save money in the process? On this page, we discuss truck stop showers and other cleaning options.

The Need for Cleanliness

Since your personal appearance depends on good grooming and cleanliness -- and since the way you present yourself can leave a long-lasting impression on customers -- it behooves you to make arrangements for getting clean.

In trucking, the driver is often the only physical representation of his trucking company that the shipper or consignee will ever see. Personal presentation is important. Contracts for hauling freight can be won or lost based on "little things" like this. Don't blow your chances for more business through slovenly personal appearance.

Who Can Use Them?

Many of the larger travel centers and stopping centers have what is known as "truck stop showers." Being as how anyone who shows up with the cash can buy these services, their use is not limited to professional drivers. Once, when we lived in another state -- before we entered the trucking industry -- we woke to find no running water in our residence; Mike traveled up the road to a local truckstop and freshened there before going to work.

Maximum Benefit

To get the maximum benefit from the information on this page, you as a professional driver must

• allow your fuel purchases to be tracked and
• have your own individual driver rewards card for each truckstop chain from which you buy fuel.

What's Included?

From an objective standpoint, a person who wants to buy a shower would expect access to a clean room with a stall and sink, both with plenty of clean, hot running water and good drainage; a working toilet; a mirror positioned for seeing oneself when shaving or grooming; and a working electrical outlet for AC-powered razors, blow dryers, etc.

Depending on the truckstop, a key or PIN number may be issued by which the user accesses the assigned room. The user is given a towel and washcloth -- and sometimes a paper bath mat and a small bar of soap. Users need to return the key, towel and washcloth when they finish cleaning up, depending on the protocol at the facility. Some truckstops prefer for towels to be left in the rooms; others like towels to be dropped in a centralized bin usually near the cashier.

Occasionally, truck stop showers have a blow dryer in each room. We're finding this situation less frequently. We take our blow dryer with us, as our personal packing list shows. Some facilities have installed a fan in each wash room to prevent or reduce mirror fogging, or have a heater unit which users can set to warm the room.

Some truckstops have two different sizes of showers, a standard size and a larger size either for handicapped users or teams (such as where a husband and wife professional truck driving team can wash up together). Depending on the truck stop, some shower rooms are extremely small while others appear gigantic.

When Mike and Vicki drove as a team, we got a "team shower." We also do this now whenever Vicki rides with Mike. Because Mike is tall, he gets an extra towel; when Vicki is with him, we get a total of three. A solo driver should never request a larger wash room unless a family member is riding with him/her.

If you find that the room to which you're assigned is not up to that business's usual standard of cleanliness, bring it to management's attention. We're sure that they would appreciate knowing. They have employees whose jobs it is to make sure that the wash rooms are clean. Depending on usage by others, the facilities may be available right away or there may be a waiting list. You will want to plan to clean up around time-sensitive loads and times when the facilities are in heavy demand. While we have never found a time limit on the use of a shower room, it is best to take care of one's washing up as quickly as possible, because others may be waiting. Some of us enjoy the relaxation of standing under a stream of hot water after a hard day at work.

Credits

All of the larger truck stops issue a "shower credit" when a driver purchases a minimum amount of fuel (most commonly 50 gallons). This credit is good from the date of fueling until the expiration date (usually about 5 days). If the credit is not used during that time, it expires and can no longer be used.

Mike keeps up with his credits in a small notepad in his truck. He writes down the name of the truckstop where he got fuel, the date when the credit was issued and when it will expire. When he does route planning, he can also plan out where he will stop to wash up.

To our knowledge, using this automatically-issued credit is the most common way that professional drivers clean up on the road.

Driver Reward Points

Most truckstop chains also have a driver reward point system that gives drivers a "point" (which is equivalent to one penny) for every gallon of fuel purchased at that truck stop. These points may be used like cash to buy things within the truckstop or businesses operating therein (like a fast food restaurant). Although there may be more, we are aware of these truck stop chains that have driver reward systems in place (listed here alphabetically): Love's; Petro Stopping Centers; Pilot; TravelCenters of America or TA (formerly Truckstops of America); and Wilco Hess. If you do not have a credit at your disposal, you may pay for one with your points. Of course, using your points on getting clean reduces the amount you can spend on other goods or services.

The availability of showers is comprehensively summarized in the 2011 National Truck Stop Directory, aka "The Trucker's Friend."

Cash

As we pointed out above, drivers can freshen up out-of-pocket with cash; but if at all possible, we recommend against it. Truck stop showers generally cost (in U.S. dollars) about $7 to $10 apiece. The cost may increase over time. The other options are much more affordable.

Combination Payment

If you're in a rush, don't have a credit, and don't have enough points on your card, you may be able to pay to clean up with a combination of the remainder of your points and cash. We don't figure that this option is used much, but it can be, depending on the facility.

Company Terminals

If a professional truck driver drives for a trucking company that has one or more terminals with such facilities, another great cost-saving measure is to shower there. Some companies take better care of their washroom facilities than others. You must personally weigh the cost and convenience of using a shower at your company's terminals with the cleanliness thereof.

Between Washings

Not showering every day may seem repulsive to those who are used to it, but for OTR drivers who do not thoroughly clean up in their trucks, it is part of a way of life. Mike's policy is that he washes up no less often than every third day, no matter what a load's time constraints are. He prefers to clean up frequently, but that is not always possible.

Some drivers wear their "outside clothes" for two or three days running (until the next time they wash up). We did it when we teamed; Mike regularly does it now as a solo; and Vicki does it when she rides with him. Depending on how dirty Mike's outside shirt has gotten in the course of his work, he may change that daily, too.

Our practice on the road is to change underwear and socks daily. In between showers, we can freshen up with baby wipes. We like using a "thicker" baby wipe.

"Sink Bath"

It's possible to use soap, water and a washcloth for freshening up between showers, but depending on the driver's in-truck set-up there may be issues with warming up the clean water and disposing of the dirty water. Select a bowl that you don't mind "bathing" from. Pour in either cold water or water you've warmed up in your hot pot, electric skillet or microwave oven.

Dip your washcloth in the water, wring it out, wipe it lightly over the soap, and wash yourself. You may need to experiment with the amounts of soap and water you use for washing and rinsing.

Assuming that you have room in the waste tank, a portable toilet can serve nicely as a disposal unit for your waste "sink bath" water.

In-Truck Bathroom

Some owner-operators may have fancy trucks with stalls built in. This can be very convenient. Since we're not familiar with how these units work, we wonder:

• where the clean water is stored;
• how the clean water is heated;
• where the used water is stored (assuming it is); and
• how the used water is removed (perhaps at a dumping station like RVs use?).

Shower Reviews

We have begun the process of reviewing showers at truck stops based on some objective observations and our own set of expectations. Just as we expect that 12-volt appliances should be manufactured to the same level of quality that 120-volt household appliances are, so we believe that truck stop showers should be built, cleaned and maintained to the same quality that a household bathroom is. After all, their use is being paid for and drivers deserve good quality facilities and amenities.

For a list of the showers we have reviewed so far, please see our truck stop page.

Money saving tip: Assuming that you shower on the road at least twice a week and that the cost of the service is $10, you can save $20 a week by using the shower credit or driver reward points. Over the course of a year, you would save over $1,000. As stated above, there can be an actual cost to not being clean and presentable before customers –- in the form of freight you never haul. Present yourself before your customers as the professional that you are and you won't go wrong.