Septic Truck Decals: Door Lettering and Logos for Pumper Trucks

Septic truck decals have one job on a job site: a homeowner, a neighbor or a county inspector should be able to read who you are and how to call you without walking up to the cab. A name, a trade word such as "septic" or "pumping", and a phone number do most of that work. A logo makes the truck recognizable on the second drive-by.

We sell door decals only, not vehicle wraps, so the tank body stays as it is and the doors carry the message.

What a pumper truck door needs to say

Your truck sits at the curb or in a driveway, usually with a hose running across the lawn. People look at it for a few seconds while deciding whether to talk to the driver. Aim for four things, in this order of importance:

• Business name, spelled the way it appears on your invoices.
• The word that tells them what you do: septic pumping, tank cleaning, inspections, repairs.
• Phone number, large enough to read from across a yard.
• Service area, such as a county or a town name, if people ask where you work.

A license number is the one extra to think about. Check with your state licensing board whether it wants a number shown on the vehicle, and do not guess. Whether a truck needs a USDOT number depends on its weight and how it is used, and who needs a USDOT number explains how to find out.

Three sample door layouts

All names and numbers below are made up.

1. Simple: PINEHOLLOW SEPTIC, PUMPING AND INSPECTIONS, (555) 010-0142.
2. With area: MARSH CREEK TANK SERVICE, SERVING HALE COUNTY, (555) 010-0177.
3. Name plus USDOT line: a company name over a USDOT line for trucks that carry one, as in the Custom USDOT Logo.

If you only need your name and number, the Business Name + Phone decal is the simpler choice. If you want to type the lines yourself, the door builder shows a live preview on a truck door.

Septic truck logo: choosing a design

Most septic tank truck logos lean on two pictures: a water drop and a round tank. Our Drop and Tank Septic Logo puts a blue drop over a green tank mark, above dark green capitals. It is a clean look that shows "septic" even before anyone reads the words.

That is the point of the picture. A mark can be read from further away than a line of small text, so the name beneath it can be shorter. Your name is fitted into the design and a proof is sent to you before anything is printed. The logo is $120 per door.

Rectangle or contour cut

By default the logo sits on a rectangle. The optional contour cut (+$10 per door) cuts the decal to the shape of the logo instead. Look at your truck first. The dark green capitals need a light or bright door behind them. On a dark green or black cab, the lettering would sink into the paint, so keep the rectangle there.

Color and contrast on a working vacuum truck

These trucks live in mud, spray and grit, and the lower half of a door gets the worst of it. Two habits help:

• Put lettering on the upper part of the door panel, away from the splash zone.
• Choose strong contrast over subtle colors: dark on a white or yellow door, white on a dark one. Pale tints blur first when a door is dusty.

For more on door sizes, see the truck door decal size guide. Installation is a do-it-yourself job, covered in how to install truck door decals. If your septic company also runs a hauling or plumbing side, the plumbing and dump truck pages show how neighboring trades letter theirs.