Idea I have about retreiving Trash Cans

[s0me_kid]

I have this idea where I can charge a monthly fee, $20 for example, to take out people's garbage cans and then return them after they have been picked up. Initially I would start small by offering this service to my immediate neighborhood, and then growing out to a larger area. I live in a fairly small community of only around 30,000, however I think I would try and keep cap my clientele at 200 earning around 4,000 a month ideally. The only overhead I can think of is gas if I needed to drive.


I have no knowledge of taxes or any other misc fees I might need to pay in order to start up, if anyone could guide me in the right direction.

Also if anyone could think of potential problems (I have already considered the winter time and it does snow plenty here, possibly it could only be seasonal?) and please comment on the originality.


UPDATE: I have established that $10 will be the monthly fee for 1 container, and $12 for 2 containers. I have also ordered 1000 flyers to advertise my service. I plan to tape these flyers to containers the last Trash Day of July, wish me good luck.

[crayonberry]

I think its very original.
This would be an excellent service for the elderly or disabled.
I do not know much about taxes or anything like that, but it is a cool concept.
Best of luck to you!

[pboychuk]

Honestly, I think there are way too many barriers for this to be successful.
There are so many items which 1.) minimize your target market and 2.) minimize your profit..

Since you asked, I will list what comes to mind
1)
- Who under the age of 50 is going to pay someone to move their trash to the curb, we can walk can't we?
- People may find it invasive
- Does someone require a service like this to the point where they will actually respond to a request to "sign up"
- Cost, does it make sense to pay $5 for someone to carry your trash to the curb, that is more than it costs to have your garbage picked up?
- I think the winter would be the best time to offer the service, who wants to take their trash to the curb when its snowing?
- Logistics, would you do it the night before? In the morning? Either way there is sorta a time crunch to when one would need to "put out" their garbage



In volume, you could turn a good profit, but otherwise, you would be wasting money due to the cost of labor, and if you were doing this yourself, is it worth the time to take the better part of a day off every week? I guess if you don't have anything else to do it couldn't hurt.

The only way I can see this working is if it was offered by the trash pickup company or if a 13 year old kid went door to door trying to sell the service

[sdavis2702]

I agree with just about everything stated above. The thing that really popped out was the time crunch. You don't have much time at all. You can't take their trash too early, ofcourse. If you get too close to the pick up time, they'll lose faith that you're coming and take it out themselves. I see this time crunch being a HUGE problem. Keep the amount of clients low to control it and now you're not making any money.

[inle]

how about doing a market research to test the feasibity & its potential profits, say from start up, 2nd year, 3rd year & Sth year?

it is better to get measurable datas to justify your business..

i think that ANY IDEAS can be turn into business..
it is HOW that makes it interesting..

[pboychuk]

Here is my advice, if you believe that this idea can work.. Than I think you can think of something similar but better.. I personally have a "problem" that if I don't see a good chance of the business succeeding I can't start it.. But, if you are really looking to provide some type of service and feel you have the time and motivation needed to both execute and acquire customers.. there are plenty of active businesses that you could copy-cat in your town.

[LSnyder]

I dont' know how far you will succeed in garbage can retrieval, but i do however, agree with the other person stating that if you directed this service toward the elderly or individuals that are physically challenged or handicapped you may have something there. On the other hand, if you were going to do a service and appeal to those people you may want to give them a "complete service" such as yard care/upkeep, checking on them on a regular basis, etc.

Just a thought. Good luck.

[s0me_kid]

Honestly, I think there are way too many barriers for this to be successful.
There are so many items which 1.) minimize your target market and 2.) minimize your profit..

Since you asked, I will list what comes to mind
1)
- Who under the age of 50 is going to pay someone to move their trash to the curb, we can walk can't we?
- People may find it invasive
- Does someone require a service like this to the point where they will actually respond to a request to "sign up"
- Cost, does it make sense to pay $5 for someone to carry your trash to the curb, that is more than it costs to have your garbage picked up?
- I think the winter would be the best time to offer the service, who wants to take their trash to the curb when its snowing?
- Logistics, would you do it the night before? In the morning? Either way there is sorta a time crunch to when one would need to "put out" their garbage



In volume, you could turn a good profit, but otherwise, you would be wasting money due to the cost of labor, and if you were doing this yourself, is it worth the time to take the better part of a day off every week? I guess if you don't have anything else to do it couldn't hurt.

The only way I can see this working is if it was offered by the trash pickup company or if a 13 year old kid went door to door trying to sell the service

Thank you for your reply. I see your "barriers" as challenges and am thankful for your opinions.

I am banking on the laziness of people in that they will pay about only two dollars each Trash Day to assure that they do not miss it. Good ole fashion customer service will implemented to assure that any awkwardness, or invasiveness, will not exist. I have decided that I will do it in the winter time, however the cost may go up. I have thought about the logistics and I will make it clear to the customer that there is an approximate time on the eve of Trash Day that their container will be on the street.

[bizdev]

Maybe in your area it's different, but in my area and the surrounding suburbs, most people keep their trash cans in their locked garage. If your clients need to take the cans out of the garage to leave outside for you to retrieve why wouldn't they just keep walking it to the street?

Pboychuck hit all the points that stuck out as potential pitfalls for me. Believe me I HATE taking out the trash and have forgotten garbage day in August and ended up with maggots (sorry to be so gross and believe me it never happened again!)....but I would never pay somebody to walk my cans to the curb. I'm sure somebody would, but probably not the 200 that you're projecting.

You have a great imagination though. Keep trying till you hit on something more viable.

[rpermana]

for me, i will just open up a recycling business. Collecting all the trash, split them up... carton 1 side, can 1 side, newspaper the other side....

then sell them to recycling factory, if im not wrong, $50 / 1 ton newspapers.

or even you can ship overseas...

i can even offer free service to collect them because i earn from selling them...

[FiredUpNetwork]

That sounds like a really interesting business idea, and I definitely encourage you to pursue it. I actually have a website called FiredUpNetwork.com, with a whole section devoted to helping entrepreneurs advancing their ideas. The entrepreneurship resources on the site might help you in getting started and potentially expanding your business in the future. Also, please feel free to post your garbage can service idea in the entrepreneurship discussion board to gain feedback from the members on the site.
Best of luck!

[BusinessAdviser]

I don't see the value in this. Now, cleaning garages, absolutely. I'd pay for that. But not for someone to take my trash out.

[2gould]

My cousin ran a service cleaning out people's trashcans after trash day (washing them out, drying etc). He stuck to his neighborhood and did quite well with it considering how young he was. Worse case senario - you try it and if it doesn't work you move on to the next idea. Best of luck.

[LSnyder]

I agree with Business Advisor. I do still say though that you may have something if you specifically limit yourself to the elderly and physically challenged and offer them other services as well.