Do Not Ask For Pallets

There is a company very close to my house. I drive by it on an almost daily basis. I don’t know the name of this company. I don’t know what they do. All that I know is that they do not want me to ask for pallets.

As you can see in the picture above, this sign (and the two or three more just like it) are posted on the chain link fence surrounding their property. It’s the only signage you can see from the road and it isn’t a necessarily friendly welcome, you know?

I understand they must have a problem with people coming in asking for pallets. You can see them, stacks and stacks of them, just a little to the left of the drive way and behind the fence. I can also understand the annoyance of constantly answering the same question again and again, but it seems like a missed opportunity. Not just to sell pallets, but to really utilize the most prominent signage they have.

Those little signs are really effective. They are simple. They are to the point. Sometimes the wrong thing gets advertised, but those wrong things can show us very right ways to communicate. I wonder what would happen if they changed those signs to “Pallets $25.”