Three Categories of Products RVs Need at Your Truckstop Right Now

Now is a good time to promote the RV-friendly products you sell year round, as well as some holiday- and cold-weather specific ones.
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Three Categories of Products RVs Need at Your Truckstop Right Now
 

We typically associate warm summer months with camping and road trips, but you might be surprised at the number of RVs hitting the highways around the holidays.

In addition to those who travel and live in their RVs full-time and the predictable caravan of snowbirds traveling south for the New Year, the holidays also provide a great excuse for more casual users to drag their rig out for vacation or bring their own accommodations when visiting family and friends.

Now is a good time to promote the RV-friendly products you sell year round, as well as some holiday- and cold-weather specific ones: 

Winterizing products
At the end of the camping season and before the first freeze, people who store their RVs in cold climates must winterize their plumbing systems to avoid damage from freezing. Typically this involves flushing an RV-specific anti-freeze solution into the pipes and tanks. Your customers will need to un-winterize by flushing fresh water through the lines and tanks, then at the end of their trip, re-winterize their units if they are originating in and returning home to potentially freezing weather. Promote winterizing products, as well your dump station. fresh water, and bulk propane fill to help get your customers’ RVs ready for a holiday excursion.

Maintenance products
While not cold-weather specific, RVers who may have pulled their rig out of storage for holiday travel may find they must tend to some basic maintenance items before a trip. Automotive and marine batteries, for instance, require topping off with distilled water. Propane tanks will require filling. You might also consider carrying some towing and safety supplies and possibly turn signal and running light bulbs used on many RVs (types 1156 and 1157 are two common bulb sizes).

Year-round products
Some RV supplies never go out of season. Tank treatment is a must-have for RVs. If you carry no other RV-specific SKUs in your location, sell tank treatment. However, because truckstops and travel plazas make such ideal oases for RVers, NATSO urges its members to offer and promote a variety of goods and services for this category of traveler.  Because they tend to have small refrigerators and limited dry storage space, and because RV trips may last only a few days or weeks, RVers appreciate smaller, travel-sized packaging for everyday items like laundry detergent, dish soap, rapid-dissolving toilet paper, condiments, etc. 

// Over the summer I helped Darren out with tips to better serve RV customers at truckstops. You can read the first eight tips to better serve RV customers at your truckstop here and we added six more RV customer tips here

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