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An ‘Uber for garbage’ picks up steam, and $11.7M in Series A funding

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Re: An ‘Uber for garbage’ picks up steam, and $11.7M in Series A funding

#61

Post by Consultant32452 »

dullgiulio wrote: post #26
Consultant32452 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In spite of having tax funded garbage collection I often have trouble getting rid of certain things. Large items are collected infrequently and I might not want that sitting in my yard for a week or more awaiting pickup. Similarly, car batteries or other things that have special disposal rules can be difficult to find that information easily when it's something you deal with very infrequently. A service like this cou…

It really is bad government. The city council should make a tender and have the local utility come and collect big items for free. That's how it works in the European city I come from. And the utility taxes are all but high.

But I already do have large item pick-up funded by the city or whatever. I basically never use that service and have no idea when it is. My standard operating procedure is to just put this large eyesore out in my front yard and eventually the government will come pick it up. Either that, or often times private citizens will recycle whatever it is for money.

So if this service rolls out in my area, I can either leave this large piece of garbage in my yard for a week or so waiting for the government to come pick it up, or I can open an app on my phone and have someone pick it up today.

Re: An ‘Uber for garbage’ picks up steam, and $11.7M in Series A funding

#62

Post by BlackjackCF »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #21
jelder wrote: post #5

This is great but what if, hold on, we paid taxes.

In spite of having tax funded garbage collection I often have trouble getting rid of certain things. Large items are collected infrequently and I might not want that sitting in my yard for a week or more awaiting pickup. Similarly, car batteries or other things that have special disposal rules can be difficult to find that information easily when it's something you deal with very infrequently. A service like this cou…

I'm running into this issue right now. I'm moving, but I'm kind of stuck with leaving the couch inside instead of being able to put it out on the curb because it's illegal to leave large items on the curb, but large item pickup also doesn't happen until next Tuesday.

Re: An ‘Uber for garbage’ picks up steam, and $11.7M in Series A funding

#63

Post by MrMember »

jelder wrote: post #5

This is great but what if, hold on, we paid taxes.

I found out first hand that getting my city to dispose of large objects (in my case a box spring) isn't a fun process. I didn't have the means to get it to the dump myself so I had to print off a request for a special collection, mail it in with a check for the fee for said collection, and call at a later time to confirm that they had received my request. More than a week after I decided I wanted to get rid of it they came and picked it up.

Re: An ‘Uber for garbage’ picks up steam, and $11.7M in Series A funding

#64

Post by phdp »

dullgiulio wrote: post #26
Consultant32452 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In spite of having tax funded garbage collection I often have trouble getting rid of certain things. Large items are collected infrequently and I might not want that sitting in my yard for a week or more awaiting pickup. Similarly, car batteries or other things that have special disposal rules can be difficult to find that information easily when it's something you deal with very infrequently. A service like this cou…

It really is bad government. The city council should make a tender and have the local utility come and collect big items for free. That's how it works in the European city I come from. And the utility taxes are all but high.

Why should they? If there are dangerous items to be disposed that 99.99% of the people on a given garbage day don't throw out, should the other people subsidize the disposal? Most residents are not throwing out things that need special care. By making the price more transparent, you can incentivize people to use fewer items that are toxic or bad for the environment.

Re: An ‘Uber for garbage’ picks up steam, and $11.7M in Series A funding

#66

Post by foobaw »

t0mbstone wrote: post #10

Startup ideas inspired by Always Sunny in Philadelphia? http://itsalwayssunny.wikia.com/wiki/The_Gang_Recycles_Their... What's next? An Uber-like service that will deliver gasoline directly to your car that is parked in your driveway? Hmm... Come to think of it, that would actually be pretty sweet. I would never have to stop and fill up my gas tank! It would just always be full! A gas delivery truck would come in the…

It's not a bad idea if the quality of the gas is verifiable.

Re: An ‘Uber for garbage’ picks up steam, and $11.7M in Series A funding

#67

Post by Consultant32452 »

phdp wrote: post #64
dullgiulio wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really is bad government. The city council should make a tender and have the local utility come and collect big items for free. That's how it works in the European city I come from. And the utility taxes are all but high.

Why should they? If there are dangerous items to be disposed that 99.99% of the people on a given garbage day don't throw out, should the other people subsidize the disposal? Most residents are not throwing out things that need special care. By making the price more transparent, you can incentivize people to use fewer items that are toxic or bad for the environment.

The other side of the argument is that people simply won't do it. If you make it difficult to dispose of used motor oil, people will just put it in their regular trash bags and it will wind up in a land fill where it's dangerous.

Re: An ‘Uber for garbage’ picks up steam, and $11.7M in Series A funding

#68

Post by toast0 »

kevinmchugh wrote: post #43
santaclaus wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No need for a button -- add pressure sensors inside the trash can and it can signal the garbage person for you.

Now the trash can needs to be powered on, connected to my wifi network - does my wifi reach to the curb where I leave my cans? - and I'm locked in to the cans provided by the trash company.

> and I'm locked in to the cans provided by the trash company.

Municipal trash contracts are frequently locking you into cans provided by the trash company already -- they do it to ensure compatibility with the side load machinery, and also so they can charge you based on use; if you produce more waste on a weekly basis, you need to order a larger bin; if you produce less, you can request a smaller bin.

Re: An ‘Uber for garbage’ picks up steam, and $11.7M in Series A funding

#69

Post by joatmon-snoo »

nilkn wrote: post #56
pdelbarba wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not paying the gas station price. They're likely paying bulk prices then just using the local prices as your price. Edit: $3 for delivery generally and they're using F250 trucks. Call it 1.5t in the bed or about 400 gallons plus tank. They probably have a contract with the local bulk terminal so if you're paying 2.55, they might be paying 30% (no idea what this margin is) less or so. @400 us-gal if they make…

Gas is actually a loss leader at many/most gas stations. My parents owned a gas station about 10 years ago and one of the reasons they sold it and got out of that business was because competition was so fierce that they had to sell gas at or below the bulk price they paid for it. In other words, they effectively lost a few pennies every time someone bought gas. All profit came from in-store sales of other items.

Where in (presumably) the US was this?
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