Friday afternoon is the expensive breakdown
A lake region runs on deliveries that land before the weekend. Food, fuel, building supplies and rental equipment all head toward the water late in the week, because that is when the businesses around it fill up.
That makes timing part of every roadside call here. A tire that fails on a Tuesday morning is an inconvenience. The same failure on a Friday afternoon, with a load somebody is waiting on and the store about to close at 5:00 PM, is a lost weekend for a customer further down the line.
Three habits take most of the sting out of it.
Check tires on the units that run the Friday loads first. Pressures cold, sidewalls, anything carrying a nail. A ten minute look on Thursday is cheaper than a call on Friday.
Know who answers after 5:00 PM. Roadside assistance covers commercial units outside store hours. Put (573) 348-4010 in every cab, and settle in advance who in your business is allowed to authorize the work.
Say what the load is and when it is due. A driver who tells the store that the trailer is loaded and expected somewhere in two hours has given the most useful fact on the call.
What is covered
Commercial units: tractors, trailers, straight trucks and equipment. Authorization moves quickly when it is already settled on a fleet account. A unit brought back afterwards can be dealt with here, from tire and wheel balancing to brakes on the lighter vehicles.
The national roadside assistance page lists what any call needs.
Nearest other roadside stores
Springfield to the southwest and Washington to the east also run roadside assistance.
About this store
The Osage Beach store is open Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and is managed by Brett Turner.
See the national roadside assistance page for all 48 locations.