Bank Signs

I was riding down Hwy 31 this morning and noticed that there was a sign crew changing the sign in front of the Wachovia bank to a Wells Fargo sign. Seems like it was only a couple of years ago that the same sign was a Southtrust sign and they were changing it to a Wachovia sign. Maybe that is because it really was only a couple of years ago.

Back in the late 1940's or early 1950's, my parents went over to Alexander City and opened an account with the Alexander City Bank. At the time, Rockford did not have a bank. The two that were there before the depression, folded during the depression and no one bothered to open a new one after the depression ended. Even when a new bank opened in Rockford in the late 1960's my folks kept their account with the Alexander City Bank. By that time they had a really good working relationship with the Alexander City Bank folks and saw no reason to change. Some time in the 1990's, I think, bank deregulation came along an big banks started buying little banks. Southtrust bought the Alexander City Bank and made it a Southtrust branch. Along with the change came a big new expensive looking sign. Then a few years back, Southtrust went toes up and Wachovia took them over compliments of the FDIC or some such. Voilà, up pops a new expensive looking sign with Wachovia's name on it. Now all the Wachovias are becoming Wells Fargos with more new expensive looking signs.

I've got an idea. I know that banks are kinda stretched for funds right now so maybe rather that spending all that money for fancy new signs, maybe they should just get one of those rent-a-signs. You know the kind, arrow across the top with flashing lights, white plastic panels with black moveable letters. I am sure that the monthly rental on one of those would be a lot cheaper than these fancy new signs they are putting in place. Especially here in central Alabama where there used to be a beaucoup of them until the law closed all the bingo parlors down. Those signs are probably languishing in someones storage yard and they would likely rent them real cheap. Who knows, the banks might even be able to come up with enough money to buy them outright.

Yep, put up the portable sign, then, in six months when Citi or Bank of America or whoever the hell else it is that buys them out or takes over their failed assests comes along, all they will have to do is re-arrange the black plastic letters to the new banks name. Save themselves and their investors a lot of money. I realize that it will hurt the sign companies a little bit, but there are enough other businesses failing and new ones taking their place that I think the sign companies will have enough business to get by.