UHaul "Venture Across America Series"
July 19, 2002 10:00 AM   Subscribe

UHaul "Venture Across America Series" - surprisingly compelling content for a moving company. There are about twenty-five features about various states and provinces.
posted by SilentSalamander (9 comments total)
 
So very cool. Tho' it does take the challenge out of U-Haul Spotting: guess I'll throw away my little notebook and anorak.

And Michigan gets giant mushrooms! Duuuuuuude....
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:31 AM on July 19, 2002


This is a really wonderful site. What possible commercial justification could it have? How did they convince the company brass that this was worth doing? What kind of ROI do they expect? From my point of view, doing a beautiful thing like this is its own ROI. But I don't expect managers who have to answer to shareholders to be as swooningly aesthetic as I am. This gorgeous site like the Great Serpent Mound: A mysterious artifact whose actual function may never be known.
posted by Faze at 11:18 AM on July 19, 2002


I dunno, Faze. It certainly makes me feel like using U-Haul. The old "giving something back" always works, I'd like to think. Perhaps it does. Thanks, SilentSalamander!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:23 AM on July 19, 2002


Our loca u-haul is so crappy they have forever tainted the brand for me. This would be Louisville, KY on Preston. Glad to see that someone in the company has a clue besides Goober and Jughead at our local shop. My wife went to buy some boxes there, and nobody was in. She stuck her head out back and the guy is washing his car. When we bought some rope, he asked if it was so she could tie me up. MMMmmmmm....ok.
posted by mecran01 at 12:07 PM on July 19, 2002


[thread jack]
Speaking of moving, I'm moving from Kentucky to Utah soon. Anything to do in Kansas/Missouri other than drive through as fast as possible?
posted by mecran01 at 12:09 PM on July 19, 2002


I would never give Uhaul my business again, and this is why.
posted by bryanzera at 12:40 PM on July 19, 2002


There's a great true-crime book called "Birthright: Murder, Greed and Power in the U-Haul Family Dynasty" by Ronald Watkins. Fascinating story of a man who built up his business and raised spoiled kids who pretty much tried to wreck it--and their dad. It's like "Dallas" if JR and Bobby had conspired to toss out Jock and wreck Ewing Oil.

Anyway, the book discusses how one of the kids decided he wanted to put the different state art on the trailers, and his dad objected vehemently, feeling it would interfere with the orange trademark trailers he'd worked so hard to develop as a brand. I dunno, I like the state art. It's always kind of fun to see one go by and see what state it displays.
posted by GaelFC at 1:51 PM on July 19, 2002


Are the cities listed the same ones that are painted on the sides of their trucks? I had no idea there was a Hawaii one. I would've never thought so, given that "U" can't "go" in a U-Haul truck to or from the islands...

I can't believe the energy invested in each destinations' Flash presentation. Plus wallpaper and a coloring book too? Like Faze, I'm surprised and impressed.
posted by pzarquon at 7:06 PM on July 19, 2002


I've had variable U-Haul experiences. One bad one was an emergency sojourn in Pennsylvania picking up the drug-addicted, HIV-infected brother of a friend, who was technically subject to arrest for violating an order to vacate his apartment. We had a specific truck confirmed rented right in that town, yet when we got there it was inoperable. We ended up going to two more U-Haul locations -- and in PA the next town over is usually twice as far by road as the bird flies -- until we found a sufficiently large truck that was available and working, losing half the day for loading. In the end this truck had some problem like it wouldn't go into 2nd gear, which made driving through the mountains a little interesting.
posted by dhartung at 9:28 PM on July 19, 2002


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