On this page
Should a city fleet use a frame or a wrap?
If the message on your collection trucks will never change, a wrap or decal set fits. If your recycling, organics or community-event message changes by season, a frame with changeable panels fits better. The aluminum frame is riveted to the truck once and stays there. Only the printed panel changes, and an authorized member of your own crew changes it at the yard in under 30 seconds. See the seasonal campaigns city fleets run.
How do a frame and a wrap compare?
| Wrap or permanent decal | Roadway Quick-Change Frame System | |
|---|---|---|
| How the message changes | Old graphics come off and new graphics go on, truck by truck | Open the frame, lift out the panel, drop in the new one |
| Who makes the change | A graphics installer | An authorized member of your own crew, at the yard |
| What a new campaign needs | New graphics for every truck | A new printed panel; the frame stays |
| A four-week holiday notice or a one-day event | Hard to justify | Practical: print the panels, swap them, swap back |
| What stays on the truck | The wrap, until it is removed | An aluminum frame, riveted on once |
| Panel area | Set by the truck body | 91 in x 27 in live area per panel |
| Warranty | Set by the wrap vendor | Frame warranted indefinitely against mechanical failure (damage from trees, buildings or driving excluded) |
| Minimum order | Set by the wrap vendor | No minimum order |
| Design | Set by the wrap vendor | Free design with unlimited proof rounds |
When is a wrap the right call?
Permanent fleet livery (a city seal, a department name, a phone number that won't change) belongs on the truck for good. Wraps and decals do that job well. A fleet can run both: permanent livery on the body, and a frame for the message that changes.
How does the frame hold the panel?
The frame is aluminum, fabricated in Temecula, California, and riveted to the truck body with twelve to sixteen rivets. The panel is held by spring tension on all four sides, with a cam-over stainless spring and a tamper-proof design. Each standard panel has a 91 in x 27 in live area and is 3 mm corrugated plastic (standard), with alternate substrates available depending on climate.
See how the frame works.
Who builds the frame?
Roadway Displays, Inc. has manufactured the Quick-Change Frame System in Temecula, California since May 1987. San Diego, Roadway's first customer, still runs the frames, and Burbank, Los Angeles (LA Sanitation), Sacramento and Long Beach have put Roadway panels into service on their collection trucks. As Dennis Barrett puts it: "Roadway is a sign company. We put signs on the side of refuse and recycling trucks." See frames in service on city trucks.