“Sixteen million visual impressions per year,” the Web site boasts. “Six hundred visual impressions for every mile driven.” This Web site belongs to On The Move, Inc., a company that, since 1992, has been providing storage businesses and others with a means of increasing profits by leasing moving trucks from them.
“It’s a one-stop-shop,” says Sylvain Mallaise, sales associate and insurance specialist for On The Move, based in Boerne, Texas. Storage companies get a brand new truck, ample insurance coverage for it, and the truck comes complete with the company’s logo and advertising message visibly displayed. The truck also comes with a five-year, 1,000 mile warranty, though the general day-to-day maintenance is the responsibility of the storage facility. Mallaise believes that his company’s program offers a great tool for storage facilities just starting out. “It will increase their business just through notoriety within the community,” Mallaise says.
Obviously, for self-storage owners, the motivation for keeping a moving truck (or trucks) on site is profitability. The vehicle can become a roaming billboard of sorts when the storage facility lends out the truck as a free, local, move-in service to its customers (those carrying a valid driver’s license and insurance). While the truck is being driven through area neighborhoods it’s conveying the storage company’s logo, address, phone number, and “free move-in” message to the general public.
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