Today's New York Times has an article on how advertisers are paying car and SUV owners hundreds of dollars a month to wrap their vehicles in advertising banners. Truly vehicle advertising is an idea whose time has come.

The more I think about it the more I like it. It's not that I like the vehicle advertising idea for my own self. Rather I appreciate the economics and the basic business dynamic at work here. Let's examine the idea of advertising on cars and SUVs from the points of view of the market participants.

The ad buyer

A while back I went on about how volunteering was a great way to invest in your own self. [see Investing in yourself by giving back] One aspect I didn't cover in that article was that there are real, tangible, benefits to volunteering. Tangible, as in things you can touch and even put in your pocket. Things like nickels and dimes. Dollars even.

Yes, hard currency.

You can reap monetary benefits from your volunteer activities. Every mile you drive your car doing volunteer work is tax deductible:

Charitable services. The standard mileage rate allowed for use of your car when you use your car to provide charitable services to a charitable organization is 14 cents a mile.

So add that to the list of benefits, or return on your "give something back" investment.

• You get that good feeling that only donating your time and energies can bring
• You get opportunities to find your passion and develop skills to help you pursue it
• It's a great networking opportunity
• While your time isn't deductible, your mileage is