U-Haul & Their "Green Gang"

by Daniel E. Walsh  Author of Our Sunday "History & Reflections" Series

People say politics makes strange bedfellows. Though the green movement may appear to be political to some (but not necessarily so to others), the associations are getting odder all the time. It seems everyone is trumpeting greenness in ads and literature.

One of the seemingly stranger boasts comes from U-Haul, the truck rental company. To some, only some and unfairly perhaps, this firm has the reputation of putting out gas guzzling, foul smelling dented beasts whose calling card were the large left-behind oil spots. Lately they have cleaned up their act tremendously.

To be fair: upon reflection, this company has always been green. What could be greener than an organization dedicated to sharing vehicles throughout a vast continent?

Do-it-your-selfers and cash-strapped families have availed themselves of this service for almost 70 years. U-Haul is one of those pieces of déclassé Americana, like bowling and Wal-Mart – things that everyone loves but is afraid to admit. The familiar orange and white trucks and trailers dot the landscape in student dwellings, apartment complexes, and trailer parks. With efficiency fueled by a profit motive U-Haul developed and refined a system of keeping rented vehicles on the road while reducing down time. Unwittingly, they caused their customers to practice sustainable values.

The profit motive also fueled bad habits in the area of equipment maintenance. Trucks and other equipment were given scant maintenance. A strip of duct tape and a swift kick on the fender sometimes was good enough to squeeze another few bucks out of an unit. Thus evolved the scarred and smoking hulks that prowled the highways of the late 1990s.

Common sense and good business principles finally dawned on the company managers. A realization that good maintenance turned into profit caused sweeping changes in the attitude about the fleet. Stringent maintenance guidelines were drawn up and enforced with stepped up inspections. The patch and pray it makes it off the lot mentality was replaced with a concern for putting the best product on the road. Customers and dealers both benefited - not to mention the environment. Well-maintained vehicles burn less fuel more efficiently. Also, those oil spots disappeared – oil gets washed into the water system or absorbed into the ground where it may end up in all sorts of places, including back into the water system.

‘The Green Gang’ is a group of writers for U-Haul’s newspaper who are devoted to chronicling ongoing sustainability efforts. Articles extolling the virtues of ceiling fans, recycling, and even solar panels appear in the paper, which is sent to dealers. Always the profitability angle is promoted - they are a business, after all. That these values are being bandied about by a company with its roots deep in the bedrock of Bible Belt America may be on the surface ironic and a little disconcerting, but the green movement is a very welcoming broad tent. Rednecks, greennecks - who cares? Let’s keep the good ideas keep rolling! You know you like it!

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