BOXCARS WITH ADVERTISING

[Anonymous]

Not too long ago I read a short piece (on-line or print?) on the old wooden boxcars (or refeers) that had advertising on theirs sides. The story explained the reasons for the removal of the advertising. Some sorta unfair advantage by the larger manufacturers or somthing like that. Can anybody give me the full story or send me in the right direction?
Thank-you,
Rich

[mersenne6]

"In July 1934 the ICC outlawed the painting of billboards as an illegal rebate to the leassee. After that, the leassee name could be no taller than 12"

The restriction was for cars used in interchange - that is cars owned by general shipping companies who leased thier space to all comers. If it was your car and it carried only your product there were and are exceptions allowed.

The reason the ICC did this is because of unfair competition. Lets say we have Rich's Relish and Mersenne's Mustard. I, having more money to play with, go over to someone like ART and pay to have a splashy ad extolling the virtues of Mersenne's Mustard painted on both sides. Rich's Relish can't afford to do this but they need to ship so the call ART and the railroad drops off an ART reefer with the Mersenne's Mustard ad on the side. Rich's Relish gets shipped but while this is going on Rich's Relish, in transit, is advertising Mersenne's Mustard instead of the product being carried.

[lionelsoni]

Mmmm...mustard and relish.

[Anonymous]

It's really a shame that this form of advertising dried-up in the U.S. (due, as has been noted, to government interference). Railroad advertising--on both locomotives and rolling stock--is very plentiful in Europe, and it results not only in attractive, eye-catching livery, but it also helps to assure that these billboards-on-wheels are maintained in pristine condition. After all, the party paying for the advertising expects the presentation to be up to par.

American railroads, with their generally shabby and dirty rolling stock, could sure benefit from a rethinking of that earlier policy.

[Anonymous]

Alan, although I am a big opponent of government interference in the lives and commerce of us Americans, I do feel that one thing needs to be pointed out:

The Interstate Commerce Commission, which regulated the advertising reefers out of existence, was welcomed by the large railroads when it was proposed in Congress. It may seem to be counter-intuitive, but the large rrailroads of the day were happy to see the ICC created and welcomed the insuing regulation of the industry by the Federal Government. Large corporations do not oppose government regulation because they can afford the cost and they know that smaller competitors can not.

[Anonymous]

Well, I certainly agree with the points you made, Dan. However, times have changed, and I'm kind of surprised that the railroads themselves haven't sought a loosening-up of regulations relating to boxcar (or other rail car) billboard advertising. After all, it could provide a profitable revenue source for them, and we all know they're hungry for all the revenue they can get (witness the UP and CSX efforts to go after the model train makers for a few dollars).

Today, just about every major metropolitan bus line has their fleet adorned with advertising, inside and out. Railroads operate many thousands of boxcars across the nation every day--with far more visibility than a city bus--and most of them are downright ugly and dirty unless they've just come out of the shop. Who knows how many millions of people see these cars each and every day while driving the highways or, best of all, stopped at a railroad crossing where they become something of a captive audience?

Now, I will be the first to acknowledge that my solution is probably far too simplistic, and doesn't take into account the myriad of potential problems involved. For one thing, I imagine that the majority of boxcars today are in LCL service, and one firm may not want their merchandise housed in a car adorned with a competitor's marks. I don't see how it makes much difference, since nobody but the shipper and his agent (and the railroad) knows what's actually inside the car, but I'm sure there are similarly thorny issues that I've overlooked.

I'm just saying that it's really kind of a waste to see strings of bland and often downright ugly and beat-up boxcars plying the rails of this nation, when there's a revenue-generating alternative out there that seems to work very well in numerous other nations. What do they know that we don't?