Burning Man Houston

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Community Truck

[Note–This page contains 2022 info for reference only. Look for an update for 2023 in the May/June timeframe.]

Welcome to Year 4 of the Burning Man Houston Community Truck! Need to get gear from Houston to Black Rock City and back as cheaply as possible? We’re here to help!

See below for key information on the program. Have additional questions? Feel free to contact admin@burningmanhouston.org or come to one of our Houpla weekend work sessions.

Changes for 2022

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 (9:30 and Cocteau) and back.  However, we’re stretching the load-in of the truck over two days for the first time.

Saturday, 8/20/22 – Houpla Camp Gear Load-In:
Fairfield Mini Storage
20131 Schiel Rd
Cypress, TX 7743
11AM – Finished

Sunday, 8/21/22 – Personal Gear Load-In:
Wanda Ward’s House
8903 Sendera Dr
Magnolia, TX 77354
11AM – 3PM
This personal gear load-in will be followed by a celebration once the truck is packed. Have some cold ones with us. Throw something on the grill. Let’s celebrate being ready to go to Burning Man!

Key Dates and Times

  • Houston Houpla Camp Gear Load-In–Saturday 8/20 from 11AM – Finished at Fairfield Mini Storage (20131 Schiel Rd, Cypress, TX 77433)
  • Personal Gear Load-In–Sunday 8/21 from 11AM – 3PM (celebration afterwards) at Wanda Ward’s House (8903 Sendera Dr, Magnolia, TX 77354)
    On-Playa Gear Check-Out/Check-In–Houpla Theme Camp (9:30 and C)
    • Saturday 8/27–Truck Arrival on Playa (expected Noon) to 6PM
    • Sunday 8/28–10AM to 6PM
    • Monday 8/29–1PM to 4PM
    • Tuesday 8/30–1PM to 4PM
    • Wednesday 8/31–1PM to 4PM
    • Thursday 9/1–1PM to 4PM
    • Friday 9/2–1PM to 4PM
    • Saturday 9/3–1PM to 4PM
    • Sunday 9/4–10AM to 6PM
  • Houston Load-Out–Friday 9/9 from 3PM to 7PM at Fairfield Mini Storage (20131 Schiel Rd, Cypress, TX 77433)

How Does It Work?

  1. Make a reservation–use the survey link below to make your reservation. Note, the best pricing comes from using our standardized containers!
  2. Receive invitation and pay–our volunteers will review all the survey submissions and make sure the overall truck isn’t overweight/overfull. That accomplished, they will send you an email inviting you to pay for your reservation and lock in your spot.
  3. 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.)
  4. Bring your containers to load-in and load them yourself–come to the Houston personal gear load-in on 8/21 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Return your containers to the truck–reverse the process in #4. Please make sure your containers are sealed and labeled.
  7. Pick up your gear in Houston–pick up your gear at the storage location on Friday afternoon 9/9. Please note–gear will not be stored at the mini-storage for you to pick up later. (There’s no room!) Anything not picked up on 9/9 will be considered abandoned and discarded.

Standardized Containers

We’re offering two standardized containers this year at our best pricing–a tote 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 $14 at Home Depot, sometimes less when a sale is on. (These were typically $9 in 2019. Yay inflation!) They take up 6 cubic 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 tote if you use the correct lid.

54″x8″x28″ Corrugated Bike Box (available at The Packaging Company)

UPDATE 8/8/22 – due to price increases on our standardized bike boxes, we’ve relaxed this requirement this year and will not be making a bulk buy of boxes. You will need to supply your own bike box, and any reasonably-sized box you source will be fine. (If you can get close to the dimensions of our standard box, all the better.) Boxes can typically be picked up for free from bike shops, Academy, and Walmart.

We’ve standardized 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 275lb 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, Burning Man Houston will make a bulk purchase of these and provide them as needed to truck participants. Yes, you can still use your standardized box from 2019 from us if you’ve still got it. (It’s the same as this year.)

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 in Wichita County, Texas, in 2017. 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.
  • 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 in 2017 because of Hurricane Harvey. In years past, other Houston-area 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 (2017), we had 5 hits for contraband at load in. In both 2018 and 20198, we had 1 hit each year. 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. (See above for descriptions of the standardized containers.) Other items not in standardized containers will be $9/cuft (with cuft rounded up to whole number).

  • Standardized Totes: $53/each
  • Bikes in Boxes (you supply box): $62/each
  • All Other Items (including Camp Chairs and Bikes in Random Boxes): $9/cuft (rounded up to the whole number cuft)

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.) Round up to the nearest whole number.

Reservations And Deadline

Make your reservation with us by filling out the Google form below:
(Update 8/14/22–reservations are now closed!)