When all is said and done, there are two types of people in this world: those who would feel comfortable conducting or taking part in a “business” meeting held in an unmarked van and those who would not. It’s important you know which camp you belong in, because according to the Times, the travelling office is officially a thing.
Steve Kantor admits that he likes to travel in style. He is an affable investment banker, concerned about flaunting his wealth, but he drives around Manhattan in what looks like a simple black delivery van. Of course, most vans do not have chauffeurs, as Mr. Kantor’s has. Or a built-in office, custom installed. “I have two big-screen televisions; I have a couch in the back that goes into a bed,” Mr. Kantor said. “I have four chairs that go back and massage you. It has a desk, a table and an intercom so you can have meetings in there if you want to.”
The most popular model is made by Mercedes: a stripped-down, basic version of the van, the Sprinter, starts at $41,315; Mr. Kantor’s version, which Mercedes-Benz Manhattan arranged to have customized, is fitted with satellite television, a Wi-Fi network and flat-screen monitors, and sells for $189,000. Even that is not quite enough for some New Yorkers, who employ designers to install even pricier custom details that easily drive up the total cost to $500,000…And although the modified Mercedes van is popular in several large cities, Howard Becker, president of Becker Automotive Design in Oxnard, Calif., said New York, with its executives in hedge funds and finance, had become his best market…[some owners request] the installation of a vacuum cleaner so the chauffeur can remove every crumb and grain of sand…the vacuum option could be seen on a recent morning on Park Avenue, when Carmelo Umpierre, a 44-year-old chauffeur, idled the $425,000 van he drives for an executive based in Connecticut.
And these things don’t just appeal to people who are attempting to up the sketch factor of their business dealings by leaps and bounds (“Martin Brass, a 43-year-old former Wall Street executive turned investor…said he simply wanted to “have meetings and presentations in those vehicles”). Apparently 18 years and no pre-nup also means family car/conference room.
A modified black Mercedes van owned by Philip A. Falcone, the chief of Harbinger Capital Partners, has become a fixture on the Upper East Side, idling by the Michael Kors shop on Madison Avenue.
if this vans a rocking……..
I didn't hear if the van came with a refrigerator. But I guess government cheese doesn't need to be refrigerated?
It's in the parking lot at Beaver Stadium?
better have that vacuum, Falcone's van is a pig-sty
Best way to conduct business is a van.
Where are all the customer's vans?
I left a smear on one of those chairs.
Bess, you could crank out a dozen Comments of the Day before lunch, couldn't you?
Plus, pounding your secretary in the ass in the backseat of a van kills two sexual fantasy birds with one stone.
That van needs a red stripe down each side…
what are you, about a size 14?
What?
NKI?
It's "clients." Customers are what a retail bank branch has.
You're going to need a bigger van.
-Knight Rider
Youre now property of the Bang Bus, beyotch!
When are these corporate van owners going to start paying their fair share?
–OWS
Secretary – check
Ass – check
I really don't see what the van has to do with this…
Working from an illegally parked van is the new not being able to afford office space.
Now I know how those AUMs VANished!
Guess this explains the fascination with wireless broadband, no?
So is there a plan to pass equity on to the next generation at the firm? Yes: gas, grass, or ass.
Chauffeurs: Front Office Since 2011.
Does Honda make one?
- UBS MD
Parking brake on and van idling.
This could be a metaphor for how his fund is doing.
I prefer the roof of the van, piker.
-Teen Wolf, GS, MD
I'm here to tell you that if your running your business in a VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER you're probably not going to amount to JACK SQUAT!!"
-Matt Foley
Motivational Speaker
Old news
-Walter White
"Hey, Dad, I can't see real good. Is that Bill Shakespeare over there?"
funny, he asked me if i wanted ice cream when he cruised down Park Avenue on Friday.
Umm thanks but I have my own ride….as if I would ride with her
-W. Falcone
you mean the slam van schmuck
Yeah, and while we're correcting this guy, it's customers' vans. Plural possessive means the apostrophe goes after the "s."
What if your dick gets stuck in the vacuum?
-asking for a friend
"Stacy get what!? Today I got rear ended and got into a car accident"
This is nothing new.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b09cfd76-98dd-11df...
Van + Grass = Jeff Spicoli in a cloud of smoke.
Just Saying
Black Vans spoted hanging around elementry schools since Craig's List rules changed in services for hire section. Just saying…..