Sweet Catastrophe

How many times have you seen this logo and thought, “But it’s orange…”?

Well, I’ve done it too many times to count so today’s the day I solve the mystery! And believe it or not, I’ve only even found one place on the web with the answer. There are quite a few places questioning, but only the company’s website has the answer:

…1924, when A.J. Harrell, an Oklahoma City entrepreneur, founded a bus and taxi service that he named Yellow Cab Transit Co. He shortened the name to Yellow Transit Co. in 1926.

Back in those early days, Harrell hired chemists at E.I. DuPontTM to determine the safest color on the road. Their research led to Swamp Holly Orange, the natural color of berries on the Swamp Holly shrub. When he was told Swamp Holly Orange was the color most visible from the greatest distance, Harrell didn’t miss a beat. “All right,” he said. “Then that’s the color for Yellow.”

Mystery solved! Still seems silly to me, but I suppose they certainly created a buzz for themselves.

Now, seems the logo has changed to show some subtle yellow shading, which is much less perplexing, but recently Yellow and Roadway merged and will soon have a whole new logo for the new company.

Seems odd to think of a time when you’ll no longer see orange Yellow trucks on the interstate!