Transport
Seize the Chance to Project Environmental Awareness
Do you have company vehicles, even a car for yourself with the name of your business on the door? If not, consider it. The advertising is free, once you pay for the brand signage on the door, and the vehicle becomes tax-deductible as long as you’re using it for business. See your accountant for details.
Not just any vehicle, however: It represents your business and should say positive and accurate things about it and you. For most businesses this means you keep the vehicle in shipshape, washed, and you fix any damage right away. A late-model Ford, Chevy, GMC, or Dodge pickup works for most businesses around here, plus they are handy for hauling stuff. They also say on some level, crisis-ready.
One problem: Pickups don’t signal environmental sensitivity and commitment, which is a large component of any business image these days. On the contrary, a big V8 pickup says “gas-guzzler and polluter”. So do the super sized SUVs. However, there are few alternatives. Only a couple of hybrid trucks are available, and fully electric pickups are both a little in the future and at the luxury end until manufacturing costs start to decline. However the Ford F-150 will be available in the Spring of 2022 for a starting price of $41,669 (and it qualifies for Federal and state EV tax incentives). Other companies (Lordstown, Tesla and Rivian) also have all-electric trucks coming out in the next six months.
Being ahead of the game environmentally shows that you’re forward thinking and take the climate crisis seriously. More often these days, that matters as much to clients and customers as product or service satisfaction.