Why are new LCO's using tailgate ramps & no trailers??

[casey]

I've seen 4 new LCO's in my area this year with new full size Chevy's or Fords with tailgate ramps & no trailers. They all carry a WB & 1 or 2 21"s in the truck bed. If they can afford a shiny new truck & a WB why arn't they pulling a trailer??? Anyone have a clue? I'm baffled.

[fivestarlawnken]

there is couple of new ramp systems that are fairly inexpensive.Poss they cant afford a trailer after making there 400-500 month payment.i dont know, i currently have a tilt trailer and some days i want just throw the mower in the back of the truck(somedays).Or maybe they are driving 40 miles to cut a yard for 20.00 bucks??????:rolleyes:

[mdb landscaping]

trailers are a dime a dozen too. you can pick up a new 7 by 14 trailer here for like 1,200. if i spent the money on a new truck, i wouldnt want to ding it all up. id spend a little more for a trailer. if its an older truck, thats a different story.

[Evan528]

I know I have turned down quite a few new accounts this year do to the fact that there is no room to park my truck and 16ft trailer! There is nothing wrong with using the back of your truck if you can fit all the equipment you need in there! It sure is nice and maneverable! When i started out I used to put my 36inch gravely walkbehind in the back of my then f-150..... I only did very small residentials at that time.... I didnt have or need a ztr and several walk behinds like now so i had no reason to have a trailer.

[bubble boy]

i use ramps. run a 2000 chev, i could be one youve seen. just tryin to save money, but every day find i want more room. often leave things like grass catcher behind for lack of space.

have already picked and priced out a trailer. will probably get it in the spring.

basically, always tryin to cut expenses. sometimes make the right choice, sometimes not so much.

[SLC1]

It reminds me of a story back quite a few years ago, me and my crew were haveing breakfast at a local diner when we saw a small beat up old isuzu pickup drive by with a beat up walk behind in the back , me and the crew all laughed about how scrub looking that his set up looked like because we never saw him before, there were signs on the side of the truck and we knew that he was from out of town, well about 10 minutes later about six of his trucks drove by all nice trucks, huge trailers, big international with a 40hp leaf vac trailer, this guy was huge and he was set up right, he is no longer in business but he was around for a long time and it just goes to show you that looks arent everything, MDB you might now who I am talking about he was not far from where you are

[crazygator]

2 things, first if you have very small account you might not need much equipment, second they might not have enough money for a trailer. I do have some account where I wish I could just bring the truck, hard to park and busy street. So these guys may be getting into the niche of hard to access area's or very small accounts. I still think if your a true LCO you have to have a trailer, no other way around it. Could be they are just starting out and testing the water's too, who know's.

[Grapevine]

I've seen plenty of brand new trucks and trailers with Craftsmen or some other piece of crap mowers on them, It's called putting the cart before the horse, it makes you wonder.

[awm]

i have done that in the past . 999 times you alright but sooner or later that lawnmower going to end up on top of you .
a walk behind might not be so bad ,a z would be a different story. afraid theyed be singing for you that night.:) later TM

[Got Grass?]

How about a Walker on a about 6ft long trailer being bulled by a Caddy? Or a Turf Tiger pulled by a Jimmy. Or 2 pushmowers pulled by an older Tracker. How about a Crapsman pulled by a Firebird. I even saw a 21 puch, edger, blower and trimmer haning out the trunk of a BMW. Sad sights this season.

[lawnboy82]

i wound up buying my 16' trailer about 1 year ago. before that i was using the ramps for the back of the truck. i have a friend who has been doing this much longer than i have been. he cuts about 30 lawns or something like that, and refuses to use a trailer for his 2 walk behinds. just sticks them on the back of the truck. that guy is by no means a scrub. i have my trailer and only 1 walk behind because i dont cut many lawns this year as opposed to last year. i still use it though for my landscaping jobs. i could think of at least 2 reasons why a new person might not have a trailer. 1) cost of trailer 2) finding yard to put trailer at

[jcoat]

Are you referring to the landscaper bed from www.supremeind.com ? If so, I think it would benefit over the trailer configuration for maintenance-only since you would have a better chance of getting it into tight places and since its primary use is maintenance you would only be carrying a wb / ztr, or a couple of 21"s and handtools anyway.
The only downfall I can see is a sole-owned lmo wouldn't want to have this as his daily driver since it's pretty inconvenient to have the beavertail on dates and runs around town.

[powerreel]

In the city trailers don't work.......you'll orbit the block with high hopes. Ramp-Gates work great and I'll never go back. Less drag and better time around town sells me on it.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1472735&a=11463577&p=46360112

[lsylvain]

as for me I don't have a trailer because I't easier to get around on the narrow mountain roads of WV and as long i as I can fit everything on my truck I don't really want one. I am getting to where I will need one next year. The other reason I don't have a trailer is that I don't want to get a small trailler and then have to turn around in a year or so and have to get a bigger one. It just seems silly to me to spend the $ and go through the hassle just to be able to feel special because I have a trailer.

[awm]

hauling in trailers would indicate less ztr s out there.
im all for that around here.think ill suggest it to jr. up
here. he hauls a lazer and a tiger in his trailer.
he outa get him a couple craftsmans.:D

[AltaLawnCare]

I wish I could get by without a trailer!!

[Remsen1]

Got Grass, Most of those sound like home owners. Probably looked funny though.

[BerksLawn]

We use to do it until we got a trailer this year. Lots of companies around here do it just saw a steiner in the back of a truck today and im still trying to think how he got it in backwords with just little ramps. Theres also a big company that has 3 trucks al1 with 2 48" inch walks and a push mower. But i saw the worst of all Thursday i do wish i had a camera. A guy wit a buick.....had a crapsmen tractor in the trunk lol im still cracking up thinking about it.
Later
Steve

[Evan528]

:D A tractor in the trunk? How is that possible? lol

[dmk395]

I can see the evolution of lawncare starting now. One man mower teams!

[Allyn]

I got you all beat here.

I saw a f=350 with a dump bed. It must have had 15 21" walk behinds in it. They did have a trailer, but I was not sure what was in it. There must have been a van behind with the crew. I don't know how some of these companies do it. There payroll has got to be very high.


How ever there are lots of lawns were ztr won't go.

Allyn

[gusbuster]

Now with 95% of my customer clientele, I have no need to have a bigger machine than a 21" mower. I use to use a trailer to do my clients, but got tired of always have to move my rig because I was blocking somebody’s driveway. (see pic)The set up I now use, great for both the maintenance and the type of landscaping I do. Not for everyone, but for people that work in the dense housing area like I do, a trailer does make your life hard. Would I use a big walk behind and NOT use a trailer, heck no. Would be a pain all the time to roll up the ramps all the time.
John

[vipermanz]

Nice NeighborHood!

Yea, a ztr would be done in under 15 seconds!