Welcome to Year 3 of the Burning Man Houston Community Truck! Need to get gear from Houston to Burning Man and back? We’re here to help!
See below for key information on the program. Have additional questions? Feel free to contact admin@houstonartcollective.org or come to one of our Thermal Thursday weekly gatherings.
Changes for 2019
This year, we will once again be running a 26′ box truck driven by volunteers from Houston to Houpla’s camp location at Burning Man and back. However, we’re moving the Houston loading and unloading location to our new Burning Man Houston Warehouse located at:
1815 Cleburne St
Houston, TX 77004
Also, we’ve begun a two-year transition from a box truck rental to our own full semi-trailer. To make the trailer work efficiently, we need to standardize the containers we use. These standardized containers will be optional this year, and we’re incentivizing you to use them by given them our best pricing. Please join us in making the switch, as these standardized containers will become crucial for making the semi-trailer manageable next year.
Key Dates and Times
- Houston Load-In–Saturday 8/17 from 11AM to 2PM at the Burning Man Houston Warehouse (1815 Cleburne St, Houston, TX 77004)
- On-Playa Gear Check-Out/Check-In–Houpla Theme Camp (9:15 and D)
- Saturday 8/24–10AM to 6PM
- Sunday 8/25–10AM to 6PM
- Monday 8/26–1PM to 4PM
- Tuesday 8/27–1PM to 4PM
- Wednesday 8/28–1PM to 4PM
- Thursday 8/29–1PM to 4PM
- Friday 8/30–1PM to 4PM
- Saturday 8/31–1PM to 4PM
- Sunday 9/1–10AM to 6PM
- Houston Load-Out–Friday 9/6 from 6PM to 9PM at the Burning Man Houston Warehouse (1815 Cleburne St, Houston, TX 77004)
How Does It Work?
- Make a reservation–use the links below to add items to your cart and check out/pay. Note, the best pricing comes from using our new standardized containers!
- Prepare your containers–fully seal your containers using locks and/or zipties. Make sure each item has a shipping label with a copy of your driver’s license on it. Fully seal your shipping label with clear plastic tape so that it doesn’t come off. Gear without shipping labels or isn’t sealed either in Houston or on playa doesn’t ride! (Download the shipping label by clicking here.)
- Bring your containers to load-in and load them yourself–come to the Houston load-in on 8/17 and go through our check-in procedure. Our volunteers will inspect your container, weight, label, and seal. They’ll check you off the reservation list. Our private security will sniff your container for contraband (see below). Then, you’ll then load your containers on the truck yourself with the guidance of our volunteer loadmaster.
- Pick up your containers at Burning Man–come to one of the times listed above to check out your containers on playa. You’ll need ID that matches what’s on the labels to collect your things.
- Return your containers to the truck–reverse the process in #4. Please make sure your containers are sealed and labeled.
- Pick up your gear in Houston–pick up your gear at the warehouse on the evening of 9/6. Please note–gear will not be stored at the warehouse for you to pick up later. Anything not picked up on 9/6 will be considered abandoned.
Standardized Containers
We’re offering two standardized containers this year at our best pricing–a footlocker and a bike box. To get the discounted price, you must use the containers described below.
HDX 27 Gallon Tough Tote in Black (available at Home Depot)
These retail for around $9 at Home Depot, sometimes less when a sale is on. They take up just under 5 cubit feet of space and can handle 900lb of distributed weight stacked on the lid.
Some Home Depots offer a variety of lid patterns, though. Please pay attention to which lid pattern you buy as some lids don’t stack well with the standard bins. Please buy lids with this diamond pattern:
Here’s an example of a lid not to buy…there are many incorrect lid types:
Please remember, we can only give you the discounted pricing for using a standardized bin if you use the correct lid.
54″x8″x28″ Corrugated Bike Box (available at The Packaging Company)
We’re standardizing on bike box that offers 7 cubic feet of space. This should be plenty for anything other than the largest of e-bikes, and the 275# test weight should be sturdy enough for several burns if not abused.
The boxes are sold by The Packaging Company in bulk bundles of 5. So, Houston Art Collective will make a bulk purchase of these and sell them to folks participating in the truck project at our cost of approximately $10/box after shipping costs.
To get the discounted pricing on bikes, they must be completely broken down and enclosed in one of these boxes. Please don’t pack anything other than bikes and their parts and decorations in the boxes.
Things We Don’t Transport
- Drugs of any kind, prescription or otherwise–our truck was pulled over and inspected by a county sheriff K-9 unit two years ago. These dogs are trained to find a wide variety of illegal and prescription drugs, and transporting them could get our drivers charged with felonies. Please don’t put these on the truck.
- Beer, wine, spirits or any other kind of alcohol–the laws on transporting alcohol vary state by state, county by county. This is why USPS and FedEx don’t transport alcohol, and it’s why we can’t either. Please buy these on your way into Burning Man yourself.
- Gasoline, diesel, propane, or any kind of pressurized containers/canisters or flammable liquids–the cargo area of the truck is not air-conditioned, and it gets very hot back there. A fire in the back of the truck could result in the loss of everyone’s stuff.
- Guns, ammunition, fireworks or other explosives–these aren’t allowed at Burning Man anyway. So, please leave them at home.
Things to Note
- The truck is a gift to the camp and community. No one is paid, and it’s a ton of work by a lot of folks. Please treat our volunteers kindly and with appreciation. We reserve the right to remove anyone and their gear from participating in the truck at any time for any reason.
- Help keep our drivers safe. (Please see the list of things we don’t transport above).
- Please, no refunds or cancellations. Only reserve what you’re sure you need. It takes a lot of work and planning to make sure the truck pays for itself while keeping costs as low as possible.
- Weight is a key factor for our truck and volunteers. Please don’t overpack your containers. No more than 8lb of weight is allowed per cubic foot of gear.
- Please see the pricing description section for what camp chairs get the special $5 pricing. Note, larger chairs should use bulk pricing.
- No unlabeled gear allowed (see form above). Please overtape your label to make sure it survives the trip there and back and have a backup label if needed. Please make sure a copy of your ID is on the label.
- No unboxed, unpacked, or unbound gear – all items must be easy to handle, and all bikes must be in boxes.
- We reserve the right to open and inspect any and all containers.
- We will not pay to replace any lost, stolen, or damaged items.
- You must load and unload your gear yourself at the designated dates and times.
- The truck will get very hot in transit. Don’t put anything perishable on it.
- The playa arrival and warehouse return dates/times are moving targets. The truck opened for unload on playa a day late two years ago because of Hurricane Harvey. In years past, Houston community trucks have been delayed due to mechanical issues. Although we do everything we can to make target days and times, please be prepared for delays. Make sure to check the Burning Man Houston Facebook group for the latest updates on the truck’s schedule.
- Private security will have a canine working at load-in that we pay for by the hour. If you bring a dog to the warehouse during load-in, please keep it away from the working dog so it can focus. In year 1, we had 5 hits for contraband at load in. Last year, we had 1 hit. Let’s have no hits this year.
- We love you. We’re sympathetic. We can’t make exceptions to the above, though, or we won’t have any drivers or other volunteers.
Pricing
As mentioned above, this year we’re offering our best pricing on standardized containers. This best pricing is approximately $7/cuft for standardized totes and standardized bike boxes. See above for descriptions of the standardized containers. Other items not in standardized containers will be approximately $8/cuft.
- Standardized Totes: $35/each
- Bikes in Standardized Boxes (you buy box yourself): $50/each
- Bikes in Standardized Boxes (we supply box): $60/each
- Camp Chairs: $5/each
- All Other Items: $8/cuft
Please note, the special $5 chair pricing is intended for simple camp chairs that fold and fit into a tubular shape. (Here’s an example.) We have this pricing to encourage everyone to bring a chair, and we use these chairs to fill holes in the walls of totes and bikes we build in the truck. Larger, more complex chairs should use bulk pricing.
Confused about how to calculate the cubic feet of your non-standardized item? Take a tape measure and measure the length, width, and height of your item at its largest/widest points. Multiply these measurements together to get cubic feet. (If you take your measurements in inches, don’t forget to divide each by 12 before multiplying together to get an outcome in cubic feet.)
Reservations
(Please note–you must be logged in to complete transaction / return to this page as often as you’d like to add items to your cart)
Looking for the buttons to add gear to your cart? Well, the truck is SOLD OUT and reservations are CLOSED! Thank you for all the support!