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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

#111

Post by antisthenes »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #88
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.

> The city council should...have the local utility come and collect big items for free I don't produce lots of big trash. Not sure why I--nor anybody else--should subsidise people who produce lots of big trash.

Don't worry, he's willing to pay a few bucks for it.

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

#112

Post by usrusr »

pdelbarba wrote: post #57
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could anyone run the numbers on whether this model is profitable, or whether it's another "use VC money to acquire users" type deal? EDIT: Looks like they pay anywhere from $18/hr to $22/hr for their delivery people: https://www.comeet.co/jobs/filld/42.00E Also health, dental, and vision benefits + PTO, FSA, and free lunches. Wow.

Just did, check my comment above

I don't think that "(no idea what the margin is)" is what OP meant by running the numbers.

Mostly a "pamper early adopters with VC money" operation I think, possibly with a profitability story (that may or may not turn out to be realistic) centered around high real estate value areas: in those places where the ground occupied by a gas pump and its accompanying infrastructure plays a significant role in the local fuel price, using public rights of way for mobile pumps is effectively a value transfer from the public to the pump operator.

Back during the original dotcom, when all anybody could think of was basically a mailorder shop with a website, I joked with friends how a "fuel.com" could be a great parody of contemporary startups and/or a fine participant in the hype wave.

I still think that sending pickup trucks to fill individual cars is stupid, but it's leaps and bounds less stupid than "mailorder fuel" would have been. A nice illustration of the difference between the current breed of VC money sinks and the dotcoms of old.

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

#113

Post by sergiotapia »

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…

The boys are back in town!

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

#114

Post by skylark »

jordache wrote: post #65

how is garbage pickup fit with the on-demand model? How many people's garbage generation rate vary so much from cycle to cycle to make an on demand model worth while?

> A high-tech garbage service may sound ridiculous to the uninitiated. But it’s no joke to customers like WeWork, Whole Foods and SoulCycle that have signed multi-year contracts in exchange for RTS’s flexible pricing options, along with notifications about when a truck has arrived and reports about exactly where their waste is being sent.

Their target seems to be commercial waste removal, which seems like a better play than residential.

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

#115

Post by vanadium »

pmalynin wrote: post #17
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…

http://www.filld.com/

Yeah, this was on NPR Marketplace the other day. First I'd heard of it.

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

#116

Post by pdelbarba »

deelowe wrote: post #89
pdelbarba wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just did, check my comment above

There's a lot of speculation in your comment about things that are critical: The price they pay for gas and distribution costs.

Yea, based on the eia data it should all be ballpark but the calculation is there mostly just to serve as an example. You could shave a little off gas-per-fillup in retrospect because very few people will use 15gal exactly and few new car gas tanks are over 15gal but the $3 service charge balances that out somewhat. Based on the map on their site, it looks like their margins might be slimmer than what I calculated but they succeed by having a lot of customers in a very small area that they serve.

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

#117

Post by warent »

degenerate wrote: post #103
Tharkun wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay roughly a 50% income tax, and in spite of that municipal garbage collection is, well, garbage. Regular waste is easy enough: weekly collection is OK. Larger items which can be incinerated are OK-ish: need to make an appointment two weeks in advance, and pay by weight. Anything else and I'm screwed. I'd like to get rid of a metal ladder, but it can't be incinerated. I'm supposed to take it to a municipal recycli…

You do, it's called throw it in the front yard. Anything metal will be picked up and melted down for $ by junk seekers. Used motor oil, insulation, car batteries, and other toxic stuff, I could see a door service being useful.

There are plenty of neighborhoods where you'll be fined by the HOA for doing that. Just "tossing in the front yard" isn't a feasible sustainable solution. Anyway if he's paying 50% in income taxes then it's unlikely he even lives in a neighborhood where junk collectors drive around

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

#118

Post by stephengillie »

rubicon33 wrote: post #110
pmalynin wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.filld.com/

I swear business materialize out of thin air, when someone literally just thinks of them. How else can you explain that it seems like EVERY idea already has an app + business!

It's all been done; everything that is new is old already. Our culture-space has been mined dry.

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

#119

Post by leovander »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #61
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.

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…

Check with your city, if Waste Management pickups up your garbage you might have three free pickups a year on top of the yearly large item pickup. For the scheduled ones, we usually get a mailer a few weeks before they come up.

Here's the description from a random city:

For items that are too large to fit into the trash cart, residents may request the free pick up of household bulky goods three times per year. We will retrieve up to four large items such as furniture, appliances or up to 20 plastic bags of refuse or bundles of yard waste (less than 50 pounds each) for each request. Advance notice is required. To schedule a free bulky goods pick up, please contact Waste Management...

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

#120

Post by warent »

degenerate wrote: post #103
Tharkun wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay roughly a 50% income tax, and in spite of that municipal garbage collection is, well, garbage. Regular waste is easy enough: weekly collection is OK. Larger items which can be incinerated are OK-ish: need to make an appointment two weeks in advance, and pay by weight. Anything else and I'm screwed. I'd like to get rid of a metal ladder, but it can't be incinerated. I'm supposed to take it to a municipal recycli…

You do, it's called throw it in the front yard. Anything metal will be picked up and melted down for $ by junk seekers. Used motor oil, insulation, car batteries, and other toxic stuff, I could see a door service being useful.

Although posting an ad on Craigslist under "free" could work
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