This bus is really hard to miss

Want to attract some attention? Buy a retired school bus, paint it bright green and add a set of longhorns above the windshield.

That's what an Austin, Texas-based company called UShip Inc. did a couple of years ago. The company, an auction-style online portal for shipping services, uses the bus for company outings, University of Texas football games and trade shows.

The converted school bus (a 1983 Thomas/International conventional), purchased from Cypress-Fairbank Independent School District in Cypress, Texas, draws some strange looks from people. "Everyone seems to think it is pretty cool, though," says UShip spokesman Adam Greenspan, who assisted in the bus conversion by gutting the interior and laying down some Astroturf.

UShip has been in business for about four years. It's an online marketplace where service providers compete so that users get the best price on shipping. It was recently tagged the "eBay of shipping" in an article that appeared in the Austin American-Statesman. Greenspan says you can even ship giant green buses through UShip's vehicle shipping service.

You might want to start with something smaller, though.

Until next time.

Steve