I prefer to have mine marked. That's why, when I found the company didn't offer signs for vans, that I went out and had signs made. Funny thing, one reason for having them made is that I want to have a little less problems with LEO. If I'm parked in a van with signs at a rest stop, I'm a little less likely to be bothered while I'm trying to sleep than if I were in a plain gray van. The "who are you, what're you doing here" questions get answered before the cop even gets out of his cruiser.
An open question to owners of unmarked van companies.
- Thread starter xiggi
- Start date
hondaking38
Veteran Expediter
When i drove for the Big Cat for 5 years, i ended up taking those decals off after 2 years, with the signs on i was advertising myself as a target..Hey everyone, I might be carrying $100,000 worth of computer equipment.. The company I driver for now i dont have signs and i like it..Is it less professional??I dont believe so..I would rather see a nice clean well maintained van, then one thats decaled , and the van being dirty and rusty representing a company, and there were many of those.Have a clean vehicle,a neat appearance,be polite...Thats all you need..Not a sign.
No but I do think it would be good for the industry if the carriers terminated the contracts of those with junk looking vans.
I agree. I mean I don't care if van is marked or not. I have never had any issues with cops, or parking or anything of such nature. I think to each his own as long as you are respectful and professional. And please keep van clean,.
While some people are certainly "fly by night" and try to skirt any rules they can, most are not like that. For example, I know one guy who routinely hauls placardable HAZMAT in a van, with no CDL and no placards. I keep telling him it's just a matter of time before someone hits HIM, and then he's screwed. He doesn't care. But examples like that are exceptions rather than the rule. Running unlettered, for the most part, doesn't mean "fly by night" or shady or up to no good. It is, nonetheless, less-than professional, for the simple fact that it lends itself to jumping to those conclusions.
As for the tickets, reasons like that are one of the many reasons people use to not letter their vans. Most of those reasons, the "less tickets" in particular, are self-delusional at best. There are no statistics whatsoever to back up such reasoning as commercial vehicles will be cherry picked out of a pack to be cited for speeding or anything else (it's true of regulated Commercial Motor Vehicles, but it's not true of unregulated commercial vehicles). It sounds good, and makes sense, but it's same reasoning people use to think their out-of-state plated Toyota Camry is what got them a ticket out of all those cars on the road who were also speeding. It's faulty reasoning, regardless of how deeply they believe it. Like I've said, people have all kinds of reasons, and they will staunchly defend them, regardless.
I think so. Not necessarily having the box lettered, but at least signage on the doors. It states purpose and intent, and puts the industry as a whole in a more professional light.
Hey everyone, I might be carrying 2000 pounds of little metal stampings that even the people who stamped them don't know what part of the car they are used for.
That's the same as the "less tickets" rationale. It's based on an irrational fear rather than in fact. How many times during those first two years were you in fact singled out as a target for robbery or highjacking? There are no reports of lettered cargo vans being targeted for their possible high dollar cargo. Large trucks, sure, but not a vehicle that can't carry very much int he first place. I once had to sit for four days on a load of 32 missile warhead assemblies. They included everything except the explosives, but add C-4 and you're good to go. The load was a terrorist's wet dream. But I had exactly the same likelihood of being targeted whether I was lettered or not.
If anything, lettered vans amongst a sea of other lettered vans reduces the chances of being singled out and targeted. An unlettered van amongst a sea of lettered vans is self-singled out for targeting. "What's so special about what that guy is hauling that he doesn't even want to identify his purpose and intent?" Interesting.
BigCat
Expert Expediter
My box isn't lettered but it does have FedEx on the doors and dot/mc numbers on the sleeper sides. I believe when I get this new truck they are speaking of it will be branded with the new Fdcc decals all over. I have seen straight trucks with nothing on them other than a dot number so I write them down and search the number to see who they belong to and find most of them are with small companies with less than satisfactory safety numbers. I'm assuming the don't put names so dot doesn't say there goes "joe schmoe express" get him in the inspection line. By the time they cross scales and pull out dot didn't get dot numbers.
Company signs on your vehicle say absolutely nothing about what might be inside the van. If you're targeted by thieves, it's for other reasons and the signs had nothing to do with it. It may be dumb chance, it may be because somebody knows something but it won't be because you have a company logo on your truck.
I knew a guy who had his rig stolen while he was in a McDonald's making a phone call. That was "somebody knows something" going on there, they found the rig later with no freight. He had a trailer load of sports equipment at the time. The signs he had were the same as all the other trucks by the same company that no one bothered. But, this guy pulled into the same McDonald's every day, and it's not too big of a stretch to figure that either somebody at the warehouse where the trailer was loaded or someone at one of his regular stops planned the "hit".
The signs I have only tell you who I drive for. They don't tell you if I have a load of computers or a load of post holes. So, hitting my truck in an attempted theft of cargo would be a pure chance event-- unless someone talks, or unless someone at the shipper plans something.
Well, having the FedEx name on the doors is what "lettered" means, so you're lettered. DOT/MC numbers is a DOT requirement for Commercial Motor vehicles, which most cargo vans are not. Box lettering is brand advertising.
I was lettered at panther, with the lettering on the doors. The big black cats on the box, no.
hondaking38
Veteran Expediter
All i am saying.is if you want lettering.. so be it, personally i dont...my van, my choice, does it make me less of a professional ? nope, does my freight get delivered the same as yours ? yepp.. do i stick with the old panther rule of driving 16 hours take a 5 hour break ? yess for safety reasons..its the same game, nothings changed, just not lettered.
It is already a requirement for some customers. You can't get into GM Plants unless you have magnetic signs on your truck. I think magnetic signs do just fine. I used to run magnetic signs all of the time. I also agree with trucks having decals on them as long as the cargo insurance is being paid by the carrier. If a contractor has his own authority, or pays for his own primary insurance, I don't think any carrier should be able to tell that driver they have to use permanent lettering on their trucks other than a magnetic sign on the doors when they are picking up and delivering freight.
It's not about going rogue and getting away with stuff. It's about a different way of performing the same service. I have seen unmarked vans picking up NLM loads and other loads at the same time the marked vans are picking up for at least 7 years now. This is not necessarily a new form of doing business. But as far as large and small straight trucks and tractor trailers go - they should be placed on the companies primary insurance policy and decals should be on both the tractor and the trailer.
The cargo vans are still a gray area. Like not being a part of the Unified Carrier Registration program due to being under 10k pounds. The vans are not DOT regulated because they are under 10k GVWR. I do feel that vans need to be regulated more. I think a lot of cargo van drivers do a lot of risky things with regards to the miles they drive. I used to be one of them. When I book my cargo van drivers on loads I always try and get them a a 50 MPH average so that they can get some sleep along the way. As a company owner I look back and see the way I used to run and I wonder how some companies can put a driver through that kind of stress.
I don't look at cargo van drivers like numbers on a computer screen. I know how it is to pull 950 miles in 16 hours. But as far as markings on the vans it has nothing to do with the level of service provided. Two of the top rated carriers on Sylectus - the two carriers who won the award for handling the most brokered freight last year are both companies that do not require sineage on their cargo vans. And I can tell you this much - at least one of those two companies gets my drivers loads out of Laredo for 95 cents a mile. So the notion that unmarked vans are driving down the rates and giving the industry a bad name is not a valid argument. I'm not even gonna get into what some of the bigger more established carriers do to the rates when they double and triple broker out loads from various 3PL's, and some how the unmarked cargo vans trying to make a living are the one's who are blamed for the problems within our industry. That is my take on this matter!
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Give me the information I need, and I'll have magnetic signs made for my van. I would rather have signs than not, it saves a bit of grief if I am pulled over for any reason. Because of having to live in apartment complexes where permanent signs could create problems, I favor magnetics.
wvcourier
Expert Expediter
They need to come up with a system that has every van equipped with qualcom, and make it to where shippers can contact the closest vehicle directly...getting rid of all the brokers and carriers and the rest of the middlemen that is what brings the rates down.
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So then you have every truck competing against every other truck for price? Talk about rates going down that method would drive the rates into the dirt.
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Agreed Xiggi....I could run for .65 a mile and make money...wanna compete against me?.....wanna outbid me?....I think not....
As soon as you did someone would go 55 cents.
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wvcourier
Expert Expediter
Whats wrong with the drivers competing instead of the carrier or broker?
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tknight
Veteran Expediter
I take loads for an outfit that has a 90%csa score ,the last thing I want is their name and numbers on my truck ,I run my own authority have all my own ,pulling in for a dot inspection with their track record is asking for a full blown inspection I think it's called "intervention"
Didn't you read the last two posts. Its simple math the more people competing the lower the price will go.
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So you're in a straight truck, and lettered. If you're running under your own authority, you're running under your lettering, no one else's, regardless of where you get your loads.