posted July 21, 2004 09:14 PM
I need help understanding this...or do I...
A customer of mine called today...tells me that one of our larger local companies told them they can no longer go thru their guarded gate if their truck does not have their name "hand lettered" on it.
If a vehicle has vinyl lettering and/or magnetics they won't be allowed thru.
I understand the magnetic issue to a degree...but first off...no offense to "all" guard shack personnel...but I don't think most of them that I have had contact with can read the lettering job let alone be able to tell if it's hand lettered or not. I know...that's not nice...hope there's not too many guards reading this.
Do you suppose they send them to lettering id classes?...do ya get a certificate?...is the certificate hand done in calligraphy?...or printed?...could a terrorist fake one of those and get a lettering id position?
Second...you mean to tell me a terrorist can't get a hand lettering job done.
Have you possibly lettered something for a terrorist lately?
I don't mean to make light of the security issues we face in our world...but I just find it ridiculous to think this rule is going to make the world a safer place.
If I'm missing something...please help me.
Jeff
-------------------- Jeff's Lettering Lisa,Luke,Dara, and Jeff Spradling 5742 Shattuck Rd. Belvidere, Il. 61008 815-544-0167
Surviving another day. Posts: 626 | From: Belvidere, IL USA | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted July 21, 2004 09:20 PM
Yes, it seems silly on the surface.
However, hand lettering is pretty hard to remove in a hurry. Magnetics take seconds. Vinyl takes just a few mins. Paint takes a lot longer.
We have DISA (defence information systems activity) here. Very secure secrete military stuff. And they demand the same thing here too. We cannot walk in. We must have a paint type lettered vehicle with the name and phone on it to enter.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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Magnetics are understandable, but if the security folks would use their cognitive ability they could call in the tag for info - therefore allowing vinyl lettering. If there's a concern - check it out. --- DUH
-------------------- Jeff Poitevint Sign-A-Rama Augusta 4015-M Washington Rd. Martinez, Ga. 30907 706-364-6393 augustasigns@comcast.net www.augustasigns.com Posts: 102 | From: Augusta, Ga. | Registered: May 2004
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posted July 21, 2004 09:54 PM
Finally....a "fringe benefit" of terrorism. Someone actually WANTS a hand-job for once! Love...Jill
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted July 21, 2004 09:59 PM
I don't know of any place around here going to that yet, just that trucks HAVE to be lettered.
Hmmm... considering most of the 'signshops' around here don't know which end of a brush is suppost to have paint on it... I see a golden opportunity happening.
Jeff, don't people steal license plates in Georgia?
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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KYou can buy thils internest name?? make me an offer!
-------------------- John Lennig / Big Top Sign Arts 5668 Ewart Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada bigtopya@hotmail.com 604.451.0006 Posts: 2184 | From: Burnaby, British Columbia,Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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posted July 21, 2004 10:37 PM
I agree Jeff...If terrorists can orchestrate and do what they have already done.."hand painting" a "sign" on a vehicle seems pretty simple to me.
They didn't have or need time to remove anything when they flew the planes into the buildings..they don't care.
If a painted logo is more durable and less easy to remove, it doesn't matter to them..they will already have the mission accomplished and will probably be dead themselves anyway.
Seems like a kinda silly rule to me...(except, as mentioned above about the magnetic signs)
Just my thoughts as a person who is not a resident of the USA.
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
posted July 21, 2004 10:38 PM
Maybe this is the start of a national trend. Boy, I certainly hope so! It would sure separate the pros from the wanna-be's in the sign business!
-------------------- Frisby Signs, Inc. El Dorado, Arkansas Posts: 902 | From: El Dorado, Arkansas, USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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posted July 22, 2004 01:55 AM
Ahchem, (throat clearing)
"If in terror or in doubt,
Run in circles, scream and shout!"
Words to live by?
-------------------- Mike Pulskamp Pulskamp Arts Sacramento, CA mpulskamp@earthlink.net Posts: 165 | From: Sacramento, CA | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted July 22, 2004 06:04 AM
Whst alarms me more than anything on this is that in the UK hand job means a totally different thing by the sounds of it! I don't think I would like to do that even if I did get paid for it!!!!
But on a more business like note, more work for us brush people seems good to me. love to all Barb
-------------------- Barbara Murrell 4 Elements (Global)Ltd Ware Herts England barbara@4elementsglobal.com Posts: 87 | From: England | Registered: May 2003
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posted July 22, 2004 06:37 AM
14 years ago I worked for a local (upstate) cabinetmaker that had a lot of clients in New York City. At THAT time he couldn't have a magnetic sign on the truck- had to be painted - for making deliveries in the City. He painted it himself (in a fit of pique, no doubt) with house paint & similar brush. Got the job done...
-------------------- Catharine C. Kennedy CCK Graphics 1511 Route 28 Chatham Center, NY 12184 cck1620@taconic.net "Look at me, Look at me, Look at me now! I't's fun to have fun, But you have to know how!" Posts: 2173 | From: downtown Chatham Center, NY | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted July 22, 2004 07:17 AM
Barbara, It means the same thing here too. Both can be fun! But I think I prefer hand-painting. Si, that truck looks so nifty & cool! When did you do it? Love...Jill
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted July 22, 2004 08:41 AM
I hope the security guard has a brother in law that letters trucks and was complaining at a family dinner that the sticky back shops were getting all the jobs.
Sounds like they're asking for paint rather than vinyl. Simple enough.....
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6720 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted July 22, 2004 09:47 AM
Probably a little off topic but my neighbor works for DOT and says that those truckers who wear towels for hats have immunity of some kind as their cargo cannot be opened unless its leaking or there is danger to surrounding areas. Makes ya wonder what the heck their doing driving the corridors of I-5. Last week, one of these semi drivers took a curve a little too fast just north of Roseburg Oregon went off road killing 4 people, no citations were given or filed, some kind of immunity, nice huh...
Parking is a huge problem in NYC so it was and probably still is mandatory for hand painted signage on trucks there, I see the point. I also understand why a signshop must be versatile in order to complete its voyage while in business.
Oh well, some will never get it
-------------------- HotLines Joey Madden - pinstriping since 1952 'Perfection, its what I look for and what I live for'
posted July 22, 2004 10:03 AM
I'm sure vinyl lettering would be just as good and possibly what the company really means as opposed to the temporary nature of magnetics.
I wouldn't comply for such a request for only one company. The state of Michigan requires trucks of a certain size/weight to have permanent markings etc. instead of magnetics.
-------------------- Wright Signs Wyandotte, Michigan Posts: 2785 | From: Wyandotte, MI USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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posted July 22, 2004 12:10 PM
Bob, I meant if I was that trucker. Why if everyone else I have to deal with says vinyl lettering is ok but this one company wants it hand lettered. Now from the standpoint of my sign business, I will do it anyway you want. One shot with a mask, hand lettered, vinyl, maybe even sharpies.
As far as the Hoover dam project, I would bid high.
-------------------- Wright Signs Wyandotte, Michigan Posts: 2785 | From: Wyandotte, MI USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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posted July 22, 2004 03:49 PM
I agree that any criminal can circumvent most security measures given enough time & resources. Of course, not all threats to whatever is behind an entry gate would be terrorists... but the appearance of semi-permanent vehicle identification lends a small measure of credibility to get through a low-security gate where the guard is probably just needing to document "who" goes in and out.
anyone could slap a magnet on with their foot... but all my vinyl truck doors are "hand letered"
posted July 22, 2004 06:49 PM
Yes Wayne....that truck went to Egypt, and that is Arabic in gold leaf!
Did many of those that went to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Venezuela, England, Canada, China, etc. Unfortunately for me, the company that produced them was bought by a rival, and moved back east....too far to commute!
-------------------- Si Allen #562 La Mirada, CA. USA
(714) 521-4810
si.allen on Skype
siallen@dslextreme.com
"SignPainters do It with Longer Strokes!"
Never mess with your profile while in a drunken stupor!!!
Brushasaurus on Chat Posts: 8831 | From: La Mirada, CA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I don't think I would like to do that even if I did get paid for it!!!!![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
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