Logos that prevent parking tickets
Image copyright: Bryan Ledgard
I’ve received my fair share of parking tickets. The traffic wardens where I used to live were dubbed ‘little Hitlers’ due to their aggressive tactics, and it was painful to see those bright red warnings slapped on my windscreen.
Banish those ticket fears with this cunning plan, from Florentijn Hofman.
Back in 2003 / 04, Florentijn questionned the power of a logo in public space by carrying out a vehicle-wrap experiment. Put simply, he dressed his vans with the designs used by courier companies, to see if traffic wardens were any more lenient.
Image from designboom
“I transformed my first van into a courier van, by copying the fleet marking of TNT logistics & mail. Using the van was a performance on an almost daily basis, which started when I went on the road.
I greeted my ‘colleagues’, and parked the car as real couriers do, although I never payed any parking fee and didn’t have a parking licence. I never got fined…”
Image from designboom
Copyright issues aside, the courier firms get some free advertising, and the traffic wardens cut you a little slack. Good work, Florentijn.
Similarly, Telstar Logistics was born to keep parking tickets at bay.
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30 appreciated comments, click here to add one
Brandless Blog
Ha,
That’s cunning!
In my country, we would leave a note at the dash board saying “National Environment Agency at work, sorry for inconvenience – Will be back in 15 min”
Rendell
Brandless Blog’s last blog post…Personal Financial Planning Lesson 5 – Freedom
Jan 19th, 2009
JonSel
Let me tell you, that gets you nowhere in New York City. Every FedEx or UPS truck I’ve ever seen double-parked on the street has a stack of tickets stuck in their wiper. It’s a tough town.
Jan 19th, 2009
Gareth Coxon - Dot Design
Just goes to show the ‘Power’ of logos and branding in general! Now off to print some graphics for our car…..
Jan 19th, 2009
Richard
Great idea – though don’t think it would work here – I’ve seen parking wardens waiting 20 minutes for a car’s ticket to expire before giving it a ticket. I guess courier vans wouldn’t get special treatment!
Jan 19th, 2009
Mark
Lets hope no traffic wardens see this post. Otherwise the cunning plan will fail.
Jan 19th, 2009
Clement
Hah! Yes, those damn designer/wardens are a menace!
Jan 19th, 2009
BRiAN
That would never work in Philly. Even the Philadelphia Parking Authority trucks get tickets in this town!
Jan 19th, 2009
Andrew Kelsall
Great article David.
Maybe the hidden Fedex arrow points the Traffic Warden away from the vehicle…is this Landor Associates’ cunning plan? ;)
Andrew Kelsall’s last blog post…10 Excellent Fractal Images for Inspiration
Jan 19th, 2009
Abbas Arezoo
Reminds me of the old Delboy trick, ‘awaiting repair’ note over the old parking meter.
Abbas Arezoo’s last blog post…Create your own home screen icon for iPhone and iPod Touch
Jan 19th, 2009
lawrence berezin
Great idea. Wouldn’t work in NYC. Plus bad for my business, which is helping you fight your New York City parking tickets.
I understand that UPS has an arrangement with NYC to pay $1M per month in exchange for not contesting their parking tickets. In the last fiscal year, NYC issued almost 10M tickets. Revenue generated was approximately $650M.
Mayor Bloomberg has a thriving business in these terrible economic times. Taxpayer beware when you park in NYC
Jan 20th, 2009
Russ
Krispy Kreme logo anyone?
Jan 20th, 2009
Catherine
Ditto on the great idea for some western countries!
But it wouldn’t work in Brunei. When I lived there, they had little ladies who went around putting parking tickets on all cars. Before you leave, you are supposed to pay for how many tickets you’ve collected. If they are off eating (which is often) then you are SO out of luck and will need to go to the main office / police station to pay. Ditto in Malaysia (Borneo, not mainland).
In Thailand you can get around most rules by slipping the cops a few baht on the spot… so no worries.
Catherine’s last blog post…Free E-book: How to Motivate Creative People
Jan 20th, 2009
Donna Auxter
I adore the simplicity and the common sense. Too funny!! Now, let’s see, if we all did that, where would we end up parking???
hahahahahaha
Jan 20th, 2009
Panasit Ch
I used to work as courier, delivering blood and documents from clinics and labs in Washington DC to diagnostic station in Virginia and Baltimore. The car I used did not have any marking, and boy was it hell to park in DC. Should have sprayed some paint on that car of mine.
Jan 20th, 2009
Kevin Burr
What’s the cost per parking ticket? How much does it cost to dress your car up with these graphics. Hmm, it’s funny and amusing, but doesn’t seem very practical. And posing as another business to avoid parking tickets could get you in even bigger trouble. Very funny though!
Jan 20th, 2009
Mike Sr.
@ Kevin Burr
I work for a company that does vehicle wraps and it’s not cheap. To wrap the whole vehicle (depending on size, obviously) can cost as little as $5,000 on up to $10,000 or more.
Just a roll of the media to print on, for the good stuff, costs upwards of $1,000 + ink + wear on the machine…etc.
Jan 20th, 2009
David Airey
Great to read how this idea would go down in your localities.
Richard,
I’ve also seen traffic wardens wait for tickets to expire. Some of them are buggers, eh? When I first moved to Edinburgh, I asked a warden what time in the morning the tickets became necessary, “9am”. The next day, I walked out to my car at 8.45, only to find I’d been given a ticket. They were actually needed after 8.30!
£30 down the pan. £60 if you don’t pay within two weeks.
Catherine,
I bet you don’t miss parking in Brunei!
I don’t actually believe you’ll save yourself money by splashing out on a vehicle wrap, but thanks for the concern, Kevin. ;)
The idea amused me, and I thought it’d amuse you too. Glad it did.
Jan 20th, 2009
Dainis Graveris
So funny and great idea :D I’ll remember this when I’ll be really desperate :)
Dainis Graveris’s last blog post…45 Sites, Free Icons And PSD Resources For Web-Design
Jan 20th, 2009
Kevin Burr
Thanks for the tip, Mike. And thanks again for the amusing post, David. Cheers!
Jan 21st, 2009
Steve Brown
It is great to know there are people who are willing to invest time and money in this kind of experiment. Maybe it requires further investment to exhaust all scenarios, testing different logos in different locations around the world and several analysts to assess the resulting data. Are traffic wardens being lenient with delivery drivers? are they frightened of the delivery drivers? and so on
Steve Brown’s last blog post…More Cheerleaders T shirts
Jan 21st, 2009
Fabian
Right my car of to the painters:P
Fabian’s last blog post…Precision Networking, final
Jan 23rd, 2009
Stuart
I’d like to see him try that in London! Ambulances and even hearses have been given tickets in the past. Courier drivers have no immunity whatsoever.
Jan 23rd, 2009
Roy Nottage
Such a good idea, since where I am, you don’t park – you park and ride. And that ride starts a mile out of town and costs £1.
Amusing article, cheers!
Roy Nottage’s last blog post…What is the Uncanny Valley?
Jan 24th, 2009
Chaitanya VRK
No problem in India, coz more vehicles are always parked on the road rather than parking slots…
Feb 2nd, 2009
Chaitanya VRK
Hey what about the cost of repainting the truck, when compared with the parking tickets…!!!
Chaitanya VRK’s last blog post…BrandPirate got new looks!
Feb 2nd, 2009
David Airey
Steve,
I’m sure there are a ton of variables, absolutely. As for fear, that’d also depend upon the warden, and if they’d previously been exposed to violence etc.
Chaitanya,
Yep, I made reference to the vehicle wrap cost in my previous comment.
Feb 3rd, 2009
Kiwi
This wouldn’t work in Auckland. Parking wardens clamp and ticket their own cars. A couple of years back even the Mayor had his official chauffeured car towed.
Feb 15th, 2009
April
Thought this was Funny!!!
Apr 1st, 2009
Reiser
Try parking your fake DHL van in a major city, and you might find yourself getting dragged out of bed by uniformed representatives of some other three-letter organization (FBI, CIA, DHS, ATF) in the middle of the night.
Apr 19th, 2009
Jessica Sideways
Nice, I wonder how well that would work here in Denver. ^_^
Apr 21st, 2009
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