The Un-Bucket Truck

Are you old enough to remember when 7-UP advertised itself as the Un-Cola? It was sold as a refreshing change in the cola-cluttered beverage world. That’s kind of how we view the new Van Ladder—a refreshing change for a sign industry that’s cluttered with large installation trucks.

It’s fun to watch people who have never seen a Van Ladder before when they approach at a tradeshow. They tend to stand back about fifty feet, looking perplexed. We understand. At first glance, it doesn’t look like anything they’ve ever seen install a sign. Sometimes, their paralysis forces us to make the fifty-foot journey to them. Here’s how the ensuing conversation typically plays out:

Visitor: Why the ladder? Doesn’t your bucket go to the ground?

Me: Sure, it goes to the ground.

Visitor: Then why the ladder?

Me: Think of the ladder as a truss, making it possible to use aluminum rather than steel. Because the Van Ladder is both strong and lightweight, we can offer 45’ of working height and 31’ of side reach on a chassis that fits into a single parking stall.

Visitor: So we wouldn’t use the ladder?

Me: Not unless you need an emergency exit. Then, it’s far better than sliding down a steel post!

Visitor: Ugh, I’ve had to do that! Okay. . . but why use a van chassis? Why not a truck chassis?

Me: Because a van chassis offers the advantage of fitting into a single parking stall. Truck chassis are too long for that. Think of the work you do at strip malls with perpendicular parking. A longer vehicle requires you to park parallel, taking four adjacent parking stalls. So then you must cone-off those stalls the night prior to your installation, which is time-consuming, and it doesn’t please the adjacent businesses at the strip mall.

Visitor: Sure, but what if there’s no open parking in front of the store where the sign goes?

Me: That’s when you need the Van Ladder’s 31’ of side reach. You can reach the wall from a couple of stalls over.

Visitor: Do you make a truck with a two-man bucket?

Me: No, just the single-man bucket.

Visitor: But we use two guys—one to run the bucket and operate the tools, and the other to hold the sign.

Me: This is where we can save you some serious man-hours. We’ve created the Chariot Bucket with accessories designed to do what the second person would be doing in a two-man bucket.

Visitor: What kind of accessories?

Me: We have a material handling system that rotates around the bucket with three different platform heights. We also have clamps to hold the sign securely while approaching the wall. We have pattern arms, a face bar, a banner spindle, and a project bag. We even have a jib attachment with an elevated lifting eye to hold the sign from its top rather than support it from the bottom.

Visitor: What is the lifting capacity?

Me: 400 lbs.

Visitor: Including the installer? That’s not very much…

Me: True, but if your installer weighs 200 bls., that still leaves you 200 lbs. for a sign.

Visitor: Well, we install heavier signs than that.

Me: No doubt…but as a percentage, how many of your signs weighs less than 200 lbs.?

Visitor: (He thinks for a while) I guess most of them weigh less than 200 lbs.—probably 70% (then, after thinking a little more). Actually, probably more than 70%. Signs don’t weigh that much these days.

Me: The way we see it, no truck can install EVERYTHING. But our niche is helping sign companies tackle 70% of their work in the most efficient manner possible. Many of our customer use two-man crews, but there’s always plenty of work for the second guy on the ground or behind the wall. With the Van Ladder, they can divide and conquer.

Visitor: Why the enclosed box? Our trucks have open service bodies. Where do you put the signs? Would I need to pull a trailer?

Me: You can pull a trailer with our truck—we have a 5,000 lb. towing package. But most of the time, our customers haul the signage inside the enclosed box, in what I call the project area. It’s 12’-2” long and 50” wide. The ceiling height is 66”, so you can haul most of your signage back there, where it’s not exposed to the elements or road grime. Then you have all those individual compartments that open to the outside for your tools, fasteners, and inventory. There’s enough storage on this truck to stock everything needed for any type of installation, so you don’t have to load your truck from a checklist every morning or run back to the shop for missing parts. Everything you need is in the truck. Customers tell us that being fully stocked saves a minimum of hour-and-a-half per day. That really adds up, and those savings all go to the bottom line.

Visitor: I can see the advantage—if my guys would KEEP it organized. It really doesn’t matter if they have everything onboard if they can’t find it.

Me: True. That’s why having all the individual compartments is critical. Then they know where everything goes. The fasteners can be in one compartment, the electrical stuff in another, the hand tools over there, and so on. We’ve taken photos of how various customers have thoughtfully set up these six compartments, and those pictures are on our website.

Visitor: Does the lift run off a PTO?

Me: No, it’s all electric. It’s powered by three deep-cell marine batteries that the alternator charges when you drive down the road.

visitor: You mean you don’t need to have the vehicle running?

Me: That’s right. You can run this lift all day without running the vehicle. That means your installers can talk to each other using their indoor voices. There are no stinky fumes to deal with in front of the customer’s door. And you’re not burning fuel at the jobsite. Plus, it’s easy to work on. There’s a lot of advantages to being all-electric.

Visitor: So, no hydraulics?

Me: The up and down function is hydraulic, but the hydraulic pump is powered by an electric motor. The hoses are only about 3’ long and sit on top of the box. Replacing them is inexpensive—a couple hundred bucks. Compare that to a hose kit for a typical bucket truck with internal hydraulic hoses.

Visitor: You don’t need to tell me what those cost. I paid $8,000 for a hose kit last year.

Me: So, are you ready for a truck tour?

Visitor: Yeah, let’s take a closer look.