Here in San Diego the clear winners are Boar’s Head Meats and Stanley Steemer (carpet cleaner). Their trucks never have any dings, look like they’re washed every morning, and have been repainted (or replaced) within the past year.

When I lived in the Twin Cities, there was a tree service company with equally clean vehicles (cherry pickers and shredders). Don’t recall the name, but their vehicles were orange with black lettering.

It’s comforting to see such clean vehicles – shows that they care.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

When I lived in the Twin Cities, there was a tree service company with equally clean vehicles (cherry pickers and shredders). Don’t recall the name, but their vehicles were orange with black lettering.

These guys?



Around here, their trucks seldom look this good.

My dad worked for UPS for 32 years and retired from them almost 30 years ago. He still can't resist telling the drivers their trucks look like crap. When he worked there, the trucks were washed every night and were always clean.

My vote for currently always clean vehicles goes to Truly Nolen in Florida.

I'm lazy, I rarely wash mine. I do take it in spring and fall to have it waxed. Wash it quarterly.

quote:

Originally posted by tk13:

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

When I lived in the Twin Cities, there was a tree service company with equally clean vehicles (cherry pickers and shredders). Don’t recall the name, but their vehicles were orange with black lettering.

These guys?



Around here, their trucks seldom look this good.

That’s them! Thank you. It’s been many years since I lived in the Twin Cities – maybe things have changed.

Asplundh is a nationwide company. It specializes in cutting trees and other growth back from power lines and other "vegetation management."

As for clean trucks or vans, nothing says "I'm a perfeshnul, durr, durr, durr" like a ragged-out old POS truck or van.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,

When I go to my son's house , I pass this company that does some kind of oilfield work . They have a large fenced yard with all of their trucks lined up perfectly against the fence . The trucks are spotless and the gravel lot is as smooth as a sheet of glass . Sometimes you can see into the open shop doors and it appears immaculate inside as well . The whole operation is impressive .

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
My dad worked for UPS for 32 years and retired from them almost 30 years ago. He still can't resist telling the drivers their trucks look like crap. When he worked there, the trucks were washed every night and were always clean.

I work at UPS, we wash our trucks every night. I can only speak for my hub of course.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
When I go to my son's house , I pass this company that does some kind of oilfield work . They have a large fenced yard with all of their trucks lined up perfectly against the fence . The trucks are spotless and the gravel lot is as smooth as a sheet of glass . Sometimes you can see into the open shop doors and it appears immaculate inside as well . The whole operation is impressive .

Definitely not us. Can't imagine our guys (W TX & S TX) keeping their trucks clean.
Dusty or muddy, depending on the weather.

Two types of people:

Those that think... "Oh what nice trucks, they must be a good company."

Those that think... "Oh what nice trucks, they must charge a lot of money."


I tend to be the latter. Some people like a show. lol



(semi thread drift... people like "the show" and don't mind paying for it. I learned that way back. You could kill yourself doing a job by hand with a shovel for eight, ten hours. When you're done the yard would look so good you could barely tell any work was done. Charge them $500 and they would baulk at the price.

Do the same job with a piece of heavy equipment, totally destroy the yard and charge them $1500 and they happily pay it.

Because 1, they didn't think they could have done it themselves. And 2. people love a show.)

I worked for UPS for 18 years, 1978-1996.

We ran 16 trucks in the Summer and 24 during peak.

While working in a small center in Madisonville (Cincinnati), our trucks, or package cars as they were called back then, received an A, B or C wash. A was the exterior, B was the exterior and the cab interior, C was the exterior, cab and cargo area. Every pkg. car (truck) received at least an A wash every day, B's and C's were on a rotating schedule. We were too small a center for a drive through wash, we used a wand.

We even experimented with waxing them 2 Summers in a row. One truck per night. I was glad when that experiment ended.

Guess it would also depend on who drives the truck. Usually when I see one with a library on the dashboard and a big pile of shit in the back, the first thing that comes to mind is:

I wonder what that guy's house looks like...

My nephew drives for TMC, and I think they are required to stop at regular intervals (like every 1000 miles or something) and have the truck and flat bed washed. They do drive some nice looking Peterbilts.

I have noticed the Stanley Steemer type vans are extra clean. That makes sense if you are going to hire workmen to come in your house and clean the truck ought to look clean.

We have a tow company here that always have super clean trucks.
Their motto is “Class is a clean truck” and has the motto on each truck

Can’t ever recall seeing a UPS truck dented or dirty.

quote:

Can’t ever recall seeing a UPS truck dented or dirty.

^^^
Come visit us. Here they are also poorly maintained. Ragged out, no AC, have to be towed on a regular basis. FEDEX Air is here daily, spotless clean trucks.

Here in the Pittsburgh area two come to mind. The first are the Sheetz gas tankers. I've never seen a dirty one. The other are the buses of Anderson Tours. The company is owned by a friend of mines family. He said that his grandfather, the founder, always stressed that the bus was the main thing customers see. That being the case the buses must always be well maintained and clean. I'm sure anyone in the western Pennsylvania area will agree with me on these two companies.

[QUOTE]semi thread drift... people like "the show" and don't mind paying for it. I learned that way back. You could kill yourself doing a job by hand with a shovel for eight, ten hours. When you're done the yard would look so good you could barely tell any work was done. Charge them $500 and they would baulk at the price.



Not me. I prefer a lower price, no heavy equipment. I still have issues with the douchebags who destroyed my yard after Katrina getting trees off the house and driving heavy equipment all over the place. Of course, there is not a lot of choice after a storm.

Years later I had five trees removed and stumps ground, all done by hand and the yard was fine. The crew was polite, and efficient. The price was actually a little more because they used no heavy equipment.

During the brief period I drove a dump truck, the owner was REALLY picky about keeping them clean.

Drivers were expected to keep the cab cleaned out, the floor swept and the glass cleaned daily. We didn't work weekends, but if you wanted a little OT you could show up at the garage on Saturday and help wash trucks.

His thinking was you were a lot less likely to get pulled over by DOT if you were driving an obviously well-maintained truck. Seemed to work, I don't recall ever seeing one of his trucks pulled over.