WHY ARE MOST EXPEDITER TRUCKS WHITE ???

[cliffn]

We have all heard the old joke that goes something like this..."you can find me at the truck stop in one of the expediter trucks... the white one."

Sure, sure I know there are LOTS of expediter trucks that are not white and we have all seen them, either on the road or in nice pictures. But you have to agree.. most are WHITE.

Actually, about three years ago I was just ready to have a class 8 truck stretched (it was red) when a truck became available that I thought would work for my wife and me (it had the right equipment)and, of course, it was ...white.

So, my question is: Why are MOST expediter trucks (and vans) WHITE??

Any theories on this? Or am I missing something really obvious?

Funny the things you think about when you are moving freight at 3 AM.

Have a great day and I hope you get that high dollar load you are looking for...

Cliff

 

[greg334]

From experience, when we ordered cars/pickups for the lab, the price for a vehicle other than white was increased substantly enough to just order white.

I was told that fleet vehicles are more or less ordered as a standard package and white was the easiest and cheapest color for company to spray with a large order.

 

[Turtle]

Other than white being a cooler color insofar as keeping the interior of the vehicle cool versus a dark color, mainly it has to do with the lettering color schemes of the businesses that put their logos on the side of the vehicles. White is very neutral and is more easily adapted to the wide variety of logo and lettering colors available. It does not distract from the logos as another color would. As a result, that's what most businesses look for in a vehicle color, which is why they make 'em white at the factory, cause that's what sells the most.

Some business of more than a handful of trucks may choose to order their trucks in very specific colors, but they do so in order to match or compliment their logos, indeed to make the truck color a part of their signature. Schneider, Yellow, Werner, you've seen 'em.

Also, as the paint ages and oxidizes, and older white trucks still tends to look the same color as a new one. Not so much with trucks of color.

 

[terryandrene]

I'd say Greg is right one one count, economy. A second reason was provided by FedEx.

When FedEx bought Caliber, Roberts Express, the Expedite Carrier within that corporation, was included in the deal. FedEx had something in the neighborhood of 40,000 pieces of over the road rolling stock, plus all their aircraft and off-road vehicles; all of it was painted white. It was soon after that FedEx renamed Roberts Express as FedEx Cusom Critical and ordered all vehicle additions to its subsidiaries be White. Cabs of straight trucks and tractors could be in color but all boxes and trailors were to be white. Color painted trucks were granfathered in until the expiration of their leases.

I don't know of any other expedite carrier that specifies white vehicles. Many of them don't object to different colored expedite trucks. Anyone contemplating getting into expediting would be wise to consider the purchase of a white vehicle so as not to limit their options to which carrier they might eventually lease.

 

[Turtle]

FedEx is a case in particular where the background color is part of the logo and signature (UPS is another). When they first started out they chose specifically orange and purple on a white background. Orange and purple are a clashing combination and in rather unpleasing to the eye, especially when combined with a white contrasting background. But, it's also extremely eye-catching. The goal of a FedEx package is to be noticed, to be seen immediately, and to be given special, urgent treatment. You can always see a FedEx colored package amongst a pile of things on your desk. Take a picture of a busy street and the person two blocks away carrying the FedEx package is what stands out. Same thing is true with their trucks, they stand out. Put a FedEx logo on a red truck and you see the red truck first, logo second, if at all.

Today they have several logos, and several color combinations, including two-color reversed, and one-color standard and reversed, but they always specify a certain background color or color type to use with a given logo in a given application to ensure enough contrast the between the background color and the logo. Did you know that the distance between the top and bottom of the "x" in the logo is the absolute minimum clear space that you must leave around the entire logo on all sides when printing something along with the logo? No text or other graphics can be in that space, and they recommend as much clear space around it as possible. They don't want it crowded or overwhelmed. You'll never see the logo in a sentence as a replacement for a word, like "FedEx" for example. It diminishes the value of the logo.

FedEx has a whole "FedEx Identity" department that keeps track of such things. They leave very little to chance.

 

[greg334]

Turtle,
I should have added the branding thing, but didn’t think of it. I have seen only a couple trucks outside of white driving with the FedEx logos on them.

Turtle, did you work for the same company I did? I had to go through a few brand training sessions (that made more sense than the team working training I went through) when I worked at the big Pharma company. The marketing department at the company university was chocked full of psychology of persuasion and packaging courses, which is in step with the marketing department is twice as big as any other part of the company.

I wondered about the color itself and I looked in my Psychology of color manual (a gift from the big pharma company and 300 pages) – white is referred as an honest color, like blue and has an attraction quality, like some shades of green. Just looking at brown which is referred to as “an earth color and not conducive to businessâ€.

 

[arkjarhead]

a friend of mine's from high school his dad has worked for yellow freight for years. he said their trucks are actually not yellow. the color is called swamp holly orange. yellow trucks used to be yellow until the 30's or 40's. then yellow did a test of some sort to see which color was most easily to spot on the highway, and the answer was swamp holly orange. i know it's useless info but i thought it was interesting. as for i don't care what color a truck is, unless it's blue. i'm color blind and blue is the only color i can see.

 

[Jefferson3000]

I'd have to agree with Greg. Commercial/ Fleet vehicles are generally white. Cheaper to produce, more versatile for company logos. BTW, my truck is.......W H I T E.

Driver for 15 years
O/O for 13 years
OOIDA #829119

Drive Safe!

Jeff

 

[Turtle]

First of all, arkjarhead, thanks very much for that information about Yellow. I have asked three different Yellow drivers why a company named Yellow has orange trucks, instead of yellow. I got, essentially, the same answer from all three, which was...

Before they were a trucking company they were a taxi cab company, and the cabs were orange.

Ah, OK. Got it. That clears it right up. lol


Greg, nope, don't think I worked at that company. I spent a lot of years as a musician (classical and jazz trumpet) and then several years in the restaurant business as a manager and then district and area manager, worked for Olan Mills selling pictures in the Church Directory Division, lots of things. In my youth I was even a bat boy for the Reds in the mid 70's (yeah, then ).

But, in 1984 I bought a Commodore 64 just to see what it would do, I've been a mad computer geek ever since. I have a wide variety of interests, and one of those is whatever a computer can do, which in itself covers a pretty wide area. Since among other things a computer is used in the graphics and printing industry, I've taken the time to study up a little about how computers are used in those industries. When you learn about how something is done, you begin to see how other things fit into everything, like logos, what works, what doesn't, and why. So, ya study up on logos, and marketing, and what colors say to people in certain situations.

Like, brown, and why in the world would UPS pick brown for a signature color, and then actually play it up and advertise, "What can brown do for you?"

When the answer is, of course, go down the toilet without clogging the drain.

But hey, it's worked for them. Go figure.

I haven't done any research on it, but I do have to wonder if they went against the grain on purpose, or if they just got a good deal on a bunch of brown trucks when they started.


For a long time at Olan Mills there was a dress code for the (male) photographers and proof consultants that mandated long sleeve white shirts, to project purity and honesty.

 

[Bruno]

White is just easy for everyone.

Drive safe
Dave Mayfield
FedEx Custom Critical
13 years as an O/O in Expediting.

 

[greg334]

Thanks turtle....

Just FYI, Brown was the color that was used for UPS since I think 1914 when they got a new owner. It was discussed at length one time at a commerical car club meeting a while ago and it was concluded that the color was selected to fit into the customer's delivery needs.

I know that the company claimed that the first vehicles that they bought were Model Ts but in my vast automotive collection I have several letters to and from UPS from Packard about the delivery vehicles and trucks that they purchased arond the time they got the first model Ts.

I feel that the UPS expediters should follow the company lead and get out the paint roller to paint their vans/trucks.

 

[GUNSLINGER]

The fact of the matter is...Since FEDEX wants them white then we order them white because a large number of our sales are to their Owner/Operators.

 

[darkunicorn]

some thing about Hino's
you can get one in any color you want as long as its white unless your name is Roger Pinskie!
got that straght from Hino hot line!
I thought it was kinda funny my self.

Alvin

 

[Moot]

Expediter trucks and vans are white because Henry Ford bought all the black paint.

Con-Way Now required white vans and trucks with a white box, but they did make some exceptions.

 

[simon says]

Dynamex, Fed Ex, etc. will not put on straight trucks that are not white. I ordered mine with a non-white Evergreen Frost (Pete) color. As long as the color was within their listed colors for that model, the upcharge was so minimal that I never noticed.
However, once it is non-white, I could have a problem going elsewhere... Considered Dynamex for more freight on both sides of border, and they wouldn't put me on.

 

[terryandrene]

Simon, et al:

FedEx Custom Critical, to the best of my limited knowledge, allows tractors and cabs of straight trucks to be painted other than white; however, they DO NOT allow vans, boxes of straight trucks, or trailors to be any color but white.

 

[Broompilot]

. Anyone contemplating getting into
>expediting would be wise to consider the purchase of a white
>vehicle so as not to limit their options to which carrier
>they might eventually lease.

Or RESALE............

 

[simon says]

A little dig on BROWN?

 

[simon says]

Actually, to my knowledge, here are the companies who do not care about white (except the box?) TST, TSES, P2, some Canadian ones, and ?? P.S. I have seen some Fed Ex T-600's lately that have red cabs. I think those are fleet-owned trucks ( and I would have a lift-axle at least on those puppies...)

 

[Paul56]

In a word... cost.

Our truck is blue, chrome and lights (at night) from end-to-end. :+