Ireland’s Tiny Work Vans
(If you are an electrician in Ireland, this is the work “van” that you will use)
While living in Ireland I noticed something interesting, there was always at least one vehicle on the road or in one of the UCD parking lots which had all the windows behind the driver window painted body colour. I say vehicle because there was no set type, they ranged from Land Rover’s (which is the largest SUV you can buy in Ireland) to a Ford Fiesta (see picture) to the smallest European two door hatchbacks which we would never even consider driving in Canada because it is just too tiny. One day curiosity got the better of me and I went and looked a back window which was not painted on that particular car and was surprised to see that there was no interior apart from a driver and passenger seat. I thought maybe this person must have ripped theirs out for some reason and the next time I saw a different one I saw the same thing no interior but there was a tool box then it dawned on me, these are work vehicles. Being that in North America I always associate work vehicles with either a pickup truck or a panel van (which there were many of too) and so therefore when I saw a VW Golf with no side windows it was logical that I wouldn’t think it was actually a plumbers work car. Then I thought about it more and since the cost of gas is so expensive in Ireland and many of the roads are from the medieval days, a large pickup truck would not make sense as a work truck since the cost would be massive and often times they would not fit in different areas. This got me thinking if all of the contractors in Ireland can make do with using cars, tiny SUV’s and vans to do anything work related in the country, why can’t we in Canada? This is actually a concept that is not foreign to us in North America. Up until the late 1950’s we had something called a “sedan delivery” that all domestic manufactures made. These were basically station wagons with no side windows or interior and were designed for trades people and delivery and where hugely successful until they were replaces by trucks and vans. It occurred to me how much cost could be saved by switching to these European work cars not only would the cost be far less per unit but the gas savings alone would be astronomical. Not to mention the bigger benefit for everyone else and that is that far less gas would be used thereby producing less pollution and green house gasses. While these types of vehicles may not be embraced with open arms on a Canadian work site I wonder how they would feel if shown the cost savings over a 5 year period.