Why do some towns and cities spend the money to have their names and logos put on their manhole covers?

I think it might reduce theft. It they are well labelled thieves cannot take them to a scrap dealer without being caught.
Since manhole covers are cast, not machined, it is actually quite cheap to have a custom design imprinted.

They don’t pay any extra. The city/county is buying them by the hundred anyway, and additional cost to the manufacturer to have a die that says “Spring County” is minimal, if not zero.

In my area, by the way, there are two (or maybe more) manhole cover types – one that says “Water” one that says “Sewer”, and I think I have seen some that say “Electric” or “Power”

My township has an adopt-a-highway program, which serves a purpose.

You adopt a two-mile stretch of highway for a minimum of two years.

You agree to pickup litter four times per year (more in some areas due to heavy traffic).

Adopt-a-Highway signs will be posted with your group’s name at your adopted section.

Adopt-a-Highway will provide your volunteers with safety vests, litterbags and safety training.

Yes they are prone to theft. I am not sure the scrap metal industry cares too much about the names or logos, high profit and no easy way to track the source. Thieves have scrapped new spools of copper wire (big stuff, not what you find in your house) with no questions asked.

Gotta be a joke in there somewhere about a-holes, but seriously, I think it’s vanity run amok and a complete waste of $$—like a vanity license plate or monogrammed iPod. I guess I feel that way because my own vanity, which too often in my life trumped my better judgement, is now, thankfully, rapidly slipping away.

It is indeed for theft. Some asshole stole all of the iron drain covers in my neighborhood a while back. They at least had the courtesy to put boxes over the open holes. People are actually stealing manhole covers and in my area apparently storm drain covers also.

I like a pretty cover. City name, some palm trees maybe, down here in the sunshine state.

Here are representative prices for different scrap metals, including cast iron. A manhole cover would be worth about $18 at a scrap yard – if a sleazy processor was willing to ignore the fact that they were stolen.