Unusual income idea; turn your rig into a drivable billboard.

[u/kingofzdom]

Got this idea back when I was driving for instacart. There was a local HVAC company that would come and park an SUV covered in company branding in a parking spot next to the entrance of Costco where everyone would be forced to see it.

Perhaps a similar service could be offered on a van. It would also give legitimate reason to be parked in parking lots.

[u/Exfiltrate]

Because advertisers totally want some dude living out of his vehicle to be part of the brand image they're pushing.

[u/harleystcool → u/Exfiltrate]

"Hey that van has that pizza place picture on it, let's get pizza there. Wait a minute, is that a guy taking a bath in a wooden barrel in that van?!"

[u/kingofzdom → u/Exfiltrate]

You put two big ass signs on either side of my van and how would you know there's a living space between them?

[u/Exfiltrate → u/kingofzdom]

That could definitely add to the stealth aspect, I just think it would be a hard sell to most potential advertisers once you revealed it was also a person's dwelling. Most marketing and PR people are obsessed about their image and wanting to be perceived in a specific way.

[u/grizzlor_ → u/kingofzdom]

You put two big ass signs on either side of my van and how would you know there's a living space between them it would become instantly undrivable.

In high school, I had to drive a small ‘90s Nissan pickup truck with a billboard rigged in the bed via well-constructed wooden frame around town to sit at various locations. Guess what happened during an extremely mild wind gust during transit

(on the plus side, I found a very old oz of weed under the passenger seat)

[u/culasthewiz → u/grizzlor_]

Wait until this guy hears about vinyl decals!

[u/gcnplover23]

There used to be a company that would wrap your vehicle and pay you a monthly fee. I think they had a hard time with pricing because they couldn't really tell how many eyeballs you reached per month.

[u/Mjr3 → u/gcnplover23]

It was a scam, you had to pay a deposit for the wraps and they paid in mostly gift cards

[u/heyitscory]

Yeah, man.  Most companies won't put their screens on any car.  If you're trying to pitch an idea for an ad network that will pay to put a screen on the short of vehicle that needs the extra income, the only ads will be gambling, porn and tug parlors.

The income will almost certainly cover the extra gas running that alternator. Hey, if you've got solar panels, your margins get a little looser.

This isn't the cyberpunk future I wanted. Electing Biff Tannen TWICE and an ugly ad on the Prius I live and work in?

Can we get a little more Philip K Dick, because I could really use some glowing future drugs.

[u/kingofzdom → u/heyitscory]

I'm thinking;

The city I'm in has a bustling city square with a fuckton of tourists. That's great for the businesses on the square but the tourist traffic basically dies a couple of blocks out. That sucks for the businesses that far out. Im thinking of targeting one of these tourist-centric businesses that are off the square and use my vandwelling as a selling point since I'd have to move the van every couple of hours and couldn't just leave it parked like the HVAC company does. I'm not thinking of going through a network im thinking of offering this to businesses directly.

[u/heyitscory → u/kingofzdom]

With that much rejection and limited upside, you might as well just ask randos for cash.

Is this just an excuse to install a sign on your van?

[u/jasonsuni]

There's a few companies out there that do this to some extent; Wrapify, Carvertise, and Nickelytics came up in a Google search. I know this was a thing back in the 2000s, and if I remember correctly, there were (understandably) rather strict requirements on your vehicle, in terms of age/condition/etc, as well as daily mileage.

[u/planethood4pluto → u/jasonsuni]

I was just about to comment something like this. Remember the ice cream scoop Beetles??

[u/jasonsuni → u/planethood4pluto]

I don't, sorry. I just know a friend had told me to check it out when I bought my first car that wasn't a beater (though it was a lemon) back in like, 2006 or so.

[u/A_britiot_abroad]

It would work in the UK. People already paid to get advertising wraps on their cars (though not much money)

[u/kingofzdom → u/A_britiot_abroad]

I was under the impression those were all scams

[u/A_britiot_abroad → u/kingofzdom]

Well can't say for everywhere but a colleague of mine did it and got paid around £150 a month for it.

[u/stupidfock]

Thought about it but it opens you up to a lot of shit.

You need commercial insurance, DOT registrations, sometimes specific licenses. It ain’t easy and it’s more expensive to keep. Any commercial use of your vehicle is going to cause hell with a regular insurance policy

[u/kdjfsk]

Ads make the world worse, dont be evil.

[u/211logos]

Heh. It would be cool if some company in your town paid for a wrap and in turn allowed you to stay long term in their parking lot, use their facilities, etc.

More practical than being an influencer online :)