I started putting out bandit signs tonight after taking several years off from REI. I had a very interesting night. I had put out about a dozen signs already when I got to a corner where I wanted to put a sign, but there was no way to park close to the utility pole. I turned the corner and parked a few hundred feet down the road. To get to the pole I was targeting, all I needed to do was either walk on the side walk back up to the intersection and down to the pole, or just cross an empty field and cut straight over to the pole. For some reason I felt quite uneasy about this one, but I proceeded anyway. I was jogging back to my car across the field when I looked at a car pulling up behind mine, and it was a cop. He got out and asked what I was up to. I told him the truth and said I was just putting up a sign on the pole, and pointed to the pole with my sign. I knew this was the moment when I would find out how the police really feel about bandit signs, and whether or not I would have my own horror story to post about. He could see the sign, so he said something about wondering what I was doing running across the field with a step ladder at 11 pm. I said I was running to save time and just get it done and get back home. He accepted my explanation and said good night and left. I was very amazed and felt very blessed to have dodged a bullet, especially considering I was parked right in front of a no parking sign! Can you guess how careful I was about obeying both traffic and pedestrian laws, and not doing anything that could look suspicous the rest of the night?
About 15 signs later I had my second ever experience with police while doing bandit signs. I was up on my step ladder pounding a nail when I just happen to look over at the car at the stop sign. It was another policeman looking right back at me! This time I was caught in the actual act, arm outstretched pounding the nail high above my head. He looked at me, looked away and drove off. I think I am going to put signs in this city more often because the police on patrol are very friendly to me! Now I am hoping the code enforcement people are the same.
This story made me laugh because when I first started, I had the exact same experience. I don’t do signs myself anymore, as I have guys who do it for me, but when I hire new guys I tell them that same cop story so they don’t get freaked out. I personally liked the fact that I had cops checking to see what was going on. Imagine if some drunk person was messing with you late at night. So it’s nice to know the cops are doing their job and inquiring. They just want to be sure not illegal is going on. Besides, bandit signs isn’t really earth shattering in their world. That said, it would be advisable for sure to obey traffic laws, even if it’s late at night. One of my guys found that out the hard way recently when he got ticketed on a traffic type infraction. Now as far as code enforcement, it’s their job to police things like signs. My advice? Get to know the head guy for that town or city personally. Let him know who you are and introduce yourself. Make sure they know you will stay within the rules and that you don’t want to piss him off, but that you will need to do signs. Over the years I’ve found this works best, and even if his guys mistakenly take them down, I call or email this head guy and he gives them back. It pays to make friends at the bi-law office. By the way, I personally think it’s a waste of time to check bi-law regarding signs for your city or town. The better approach is just assume EVERY town or city has such a bi-law, and work accordingly.
Yeah - Yesterday I got the wake-up call too. I got a call from someone who left a message pretending to have a house for sale. I called him back and he works for our power company. He threatened me that if I don’t get my signs off their utility poles they will have our county prosecuter go after me for trespassing. He spewed some garbage about damaging their poles, etc. I added this guy to my auto-reject list on my phone, and will obviously have to find another way to get my signs out. Any ideas since there is snow on the ground? I’d really rather not wait until Spring.
[quote author=tlance link=topic=51594.msg253455#msg253455 Any ideas since there is snow on the ground? I’d really rather not wait until Spring.
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You poke 2 holes in the sign. You put galvantized steel wire through the holes. Now, what that will enable you to do is use this wire which (once you tighten it around a pole) will keep it’s fixed shape, thus holding it firmly to the pole. The great thing about that galvanized wire is that it is cheap (you can get it at the dollar store), and when the weekend is done, if you wish to take the signs down like I do, you simply reverse the way you tightened it on the pole. So my guys recycle signs this way in my area.
Although that sounds like a good way to attach to poles without nailing into them, my problem is that I cannot attach to the utility poles at all.
I have a big metal stake used for concrete forms. I’m probably just going to try to pound that into the ground to make a hole for wooden stakes, and just put up my signs that way. This will probably be quite a workout considering the frozen ground!
if you want to wrap the sign around the pole , why not use plastic tie wraps that you can buy at home depot. The only problem with this as opposed to nails , if there’s a strong wind, your sign could shift .
I dug up this topic because I think it’s worth to talk about more. signs are SO important, it’s absolutely essential whether you buy or sell.
I find that if you tie them up or nail them on poles, they stay up the longest. But you are also most likely to get called by the city guys. So I’ve thought about get some wooden stakes from home depot, and make my own signs. This require some work, but I think worth a try.
Also, I don’t have time to take the signs off on Monday, that’s TOO much work. If you are hiring someone, that’s also a lot of money for putting up signs and taking them down.
And I don’t know how you can convince city people to let you put signs. You bribe them?
It’s a pain, but when I was using bandit signs I’d put them up Friday evening and take them down Sunday night. Most people who would be enforcing city codes are going to be off on the weekend, plus the weekend are when lots of people are out and about. But it is time consuming and a hassle to take them back down.
On the plus side, it gives you quick feedback about how well some of the locations are working. You may think you have all these signs out and you go back and find hardly any are still there. For instance, sometimes you’ll get a lot of wind during the night that damages them. Or maybe your design was flawed and the signs have come loose from the stakes or have gotten wet and curled where the phone number or website is not visible.
I used wooden stakes and large neon paper. I found it was best to make sort of a cross shape by using some thin strips of wood or something so the sign doesn’t fold over. I pounded them in with a rubber mallet. The only problem is pounding the sign in the ground tends to make the staples I used to attach the sign to the stake rip through the paper. So one thing I would do is carry the staple gun with me and re-staple the sign as needed. Or I also tried using screws and an electric screwdriver. I’d pound the stake in and then put in a few screws to attach the sign to the stake. Just be sure to use screws with a large head and put in several so wind won’t rip the sign off, and don’t over-tighten the screws.
Anyway, while I didn’t like taking the signs down at the end of the weekend, it seems to me that it can reduce problems. If you have signs in front of businesses, they’re not going to like having them there during the week because it might make their landscaping look bad. Also, sometimes the signs may blow down and litter the lawns in the area, which will make people upset. If you gather them up before the business day on Monday morning, you can avoid a lot of those problems. On the other hand, if your signs create problems for people, they’re going to report them to the city and then you’ll have trouble using bandit signs.
I’ve had police drive by while putting out side, it’s not their problem and they don’t want to have to do more than what’s necessary. I think some mentalities are let code enforcement deal with that issue.
Guess, in your case it shouldn’t be called “bandit” signs anymore, cause now you don’t really have to act like a bandit in order to put them up. :biggrin