Just musing

Something I have noticed for quite a while, meant to comment on but haven't.

I do a lot of driving, a lot. Did Luxembourg to Liverpool in 11 hours the other week non stop so yes a lot of driving.

480 miles last weekend and the same this coming weekend.

Now you get to see a lot and read a lot on vehicles, mainly trucks and vans as not may cars are signed.

Trucks are basically advertising hoarding for the company they represent.

P McGinty, Plant and Transport and an Irish phone number

Now vans should be the same. After all it costs from £250 upwards to have a van lettered so why waste it but the companies do.

Spotted these on Wednesday.

Protar.

We are the hub of your company.???

No phone number, no email address ?? what does that tell you ?

Would you want to ring them up [ if they have a phone ] and offer them some business ?

Royal Mail

1 King Street

Nottingham.

Please use the post code.

[ Why you obviously don't bother ]

You can always spot small companies as they have everything splatted on the Donald, lets face it for £250 quid you want value for money.

Are the other an inverse thing ?

If you drive a lot(and I used to do fifty thousand mile p/a for work) you see all sorts of lousy sign writing. As you say; a company name but no way to contact them, or so much crap on the van you can't make out what it's for as it passes you on the motorway are common.

Then there's the graffiti on vans: white with a hint of M25 written in the dirt of the filthiest Transit I've seen amused me.

Another game to play is spot the stupidest slogan. Some of them are clearly the result of a boozy lunch between an incompetent manager and a hapless advertising wonk: specialists in all types of repair was one I saw recently.

.. a large tank, not a single red light or busy junction and boarding the shuttle as it pulls away.. And very good bladder control...

We all accept sloppiness in our use of words. It's probably why some of the mentioned slogans are so poor. My personal hate, locally, is the Spar shop slogan - 'There for you'. They're not 'there for you'. They're here for themselves.

Some of the best graffiti is written in van dirt

I always wonder why people with lorries don't realise that you can't read their phone numbers etc. properly when some of the digits/letters are underneath the locking bars.

Clearly the people who design the wraps have never got out and seen a real lorry...

Neil

.

I've noticed that we only appear to have "High Class" Painters & Decorators

and that every local small Builder, Electrician, etc. claims to cover "All Aspects" of his trade.

MichaelG.

Interesting observation John. I guess the bottom end are aimed at getting individual business contacts and the top end just want to increase market awareness of size. If you are Apple all you need is a logo but if you are Joe Bloggs specialist Gutter cleaner outer, 2 Oil Drum Way you actually want someone to talk to you.

As an aside I always thought NORBERT DENTRESSANGLE had to go in for a transport company running artic's because he couldn't get his name on anything smaller.

Martin

I amazes me how bad, awful, drivers have their names and contact details displayed on their vans.

JA

There are a few boring reasons why vans are often left plain:

• for reliability & tax reasons many companies only run a van for 3 years or so before replacing it. As most people don't want to buy a second-hand vehicle covered with advertising, it loses value.
• many companies find it more economic and flexible to lease vehicles rather than own them. As such they may not be allowed to damage the paintwork.
• Most organisations look hard at the value they get from advertising. Depending on the business, it may be more effective to spend the advertising budget on the web, F1 racing, TV, trade directories, or naughty calendars. Quite a few businesses don't advertise at all.

It's a shame really: what's stuck on the vehicles in old photos is fascinating.

Dave

There is a van comes round my way which is signwritten "HANDYMAN SOLUTIONS". I would love to go to it and write "DISSOLVE YOUR HANDYMAN TODAY" on it, but would probably get arrested,.

Just the other day I contacted a "No Job Too Small" plumber to replace some faucet cartridges only to be told that it wasn't worth doing and he would want to replace the whole faucet.

The other beef with some of these tradesmen is the "Free Estimates" which they are (sort of) as long as he ends up getting the job.

Edited By Bandersnatch on 28/10/2016 16:46:57

One of the best reasons for NOT having a van signwritten is it means one can take their personal trash to the dump without a load of hassle from the operatives.

Regards, Steve

Is that you on the roof Neil?

"Free Estimates"

Aviod estimates like the plague, from a tradesman. Get a quote instead. At least with a quotation (written, of course) you then know how much it will cost you.

spotted this the other week on trhe back of a clapped out old van, and thought it class.........

Motorcyclists Please overtake!

Harleys just do ya best

I was amused by "I wish my wife was this dirty" someone else added "she is". Best number plate was M40 YYY

Mike

:-P

My Dad and my Uncle

One of the most memorable and funny advertising statements I've seen was the licence plate number on a tanker truck that came by to empty the septic system on our ranch. The licence plate read..... SHT2GO.

Having no contact number is psychological. It gets people on their connected devices and searching for that curiousity and somebody somewhere receives revenue from all the clicks.

Ed.