# Why are Yellow Freight trucks orange?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-yellow-freight-trucks-orange/246880>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 24, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-yellow-freight-trucks-orange/246880 "2004-05-24T22:57:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Weeks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbce88/32.png) [@Weeks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeks)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-yellow-freight-trucks-orange/246880/1 "2004-05-24T22:57:49Z")

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[Yellow Freight](http://www.myyellow.com/dynamic/services/content/index.jsp)

their trucks are de facto orange.

What gives?

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-yellow-freight-trucks-orange/246880/2 "2004-05-24T23:05:31Z")

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From their own [website:](http://www.myyellow.com/dynamic/services/content/aboutyellow/brandyellow/yelltrans.jsp)

> [@](#):
>
> Yellow Roadway Corp. traces its origins to 1924 when A.J. Harrell, an Oklahoma City entrepreneur, founded a bus and taxi company and named it Yellow Cab Transit Co. In 1926, he shortened the name to Yellow Transit Co.
> 
> In 1929, AJ was concerned about road safety, so he commissioned the E.I. DuPont Co. to determine the color that would be most visible on the tractors from the greatest distance on the nation’s highways. DuPont’s research found the color **Swamp Holly Orange**. We still use this color on Yellow trucks today.

(bolding mine)

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**Author:** ![Weeks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbce88/32.png) [@Weeks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeks)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-yellow-freight-trucks-orange/246880/3 "2004-05-25T00:24:23Z")

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Oh (D’oh) !

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**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-yellow-freight-trucks-orange/246880/4 "2004-05-25T03:20:07Z")

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They have shirts that say “Color Blind Since (whenever)”. I don’t remember which date is on them.

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**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-yellow-freight-trucks-orange/246880/5 "2004-05-25T21:24:13Z")

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[Here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_192.html) the enlightened master speaks a little on the Yellow Trucks. Is this the same company? The facts don’t match the facts from **gotpasswords’** quote.