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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

#121

Post by hkmurakami »

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…

I believe many of the refueling companies have shifted to servicing employees of big companies at their corporate parking lots since the economics are way better this way.

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

#122

Post by kornish »

dyim wrote: post #53

I'm rooting for these guys - it looks like their COO has been in waste management since 1999 (and, from the article, his family's been in it for decades). As a casual observer of "non-sexy" startups, I've noticed that these kinds of founding teams do well.

What are some of your favorite "non-sexy" startups that you've casually observed?

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

#123

Post by Broken_Hippo »

austenallred wrote: post #73
jelder wrote: post #5

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

Why is that inherently better than having it available as a service for a small fee?

Yes, actually, at least for basic pickup. I'd support it for big/dangerous items as well. It is really easy to let that trash bill go if you get poor, and folks tend to dump things when convenient or burn things that shouldn't really be burned to get rid of their trash. They leave large items in rentals they are moving out of and put dangerous items in with the regular trash.

Sure, communal pickup is flawed - but so far, it seems to be the better solution.

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

#124

Post by hkmurakami »

warent wrote: post #117
degenerate wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

typically you'll need to call a "junk collector service" which will charge you about $50/item to get rid of it for you.

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

#125

Post by zitterbewegung »

Out of all the Uber for X things I have heard about this actually sounds viable. Having to go out and buy garbage stickers for random things is annoying. If I just have an app on my phone to do this not only would the experience would be better but I would have better feedback to assess if the thing I am throwing out would be accepted.

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

#126

Post by koolba »

This is an awesome idea and if I had known about it would have used it last month. My garbage creation varies widely from next to nothing (default state) to significantly more than fits in a single pickup (lots of guests, back to back parties, etc). I'd pay a premium to get rid of the extra trash the next day rather than waiting till the next local pickup or spacing it out myself. Ditto for paying less for less often pickups.

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

#127

Post by Broken_Hippo »

sp332 wrote: post #97
nebabyte wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume they give warnings first.

Right, but the punishment for not paying taxes is a lot harsher than seems reasonable for someone who just doesn't pay their garbage-pickup bill. It feels weird for those to be the same thing.

I'm gonna guess it'll be treated much like water bills (when the city owns the water processing, anyway). Threaten to call the health authority and child protective services if you don't pay the bill (after all, living in a home full of waste is a health hazard). Put liens on your house and/or car, eventually taking you to court and possibly garnishing your wages. In the meantime, no water service and they'll probably alert other utilities to your lack of payment so you'll either not get turned on or have to pay a deposit.

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

#128

Post by criddell »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #98
criddell wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You really don't want Uber-level drivers driving fuel trucks. I bet if it were three cents per fill up cheaper, people would choose Uber-level drivers.

Hence, regulation! Fire marshalls have teeth.

Given Uber's history, I would guess they would find out where everybody associated with the fire department, police department, county, and state regulators live and then block any deliveries to them or their neighbors.

Fire Marshalls have to catch you before they can use their teeth.

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

#129

Post by johnpowell »

blhack wrote: post #12

I can see at least one consumer use for this. When we clean out the garage, my girlfriend and I rent a uhaul truck to take everything to the dump/goodwill/storage. If I could use this service to just have somebody show up with a truck and pick up the things we want to throw away, it would be really helpful.

I just did this at my moms house. But we called the people that do the weekly trash service. For 20 bucks they will drop off a large dumpster and leave it there for a week. And then they will pick it up for 40 dollars.

And this is large dumpster like you find behind grocery stores.

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

#130

Post by phil21 »

mtanski wrote: post #82
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…

There's lots of reasons that you have beyond the normal amount of garbage or difficult to deal with garbage. It's really hard to get it removed if you need it on a short notice. A lot of municipalities have limits refuse. For example in NYC you can no longer get rid of electronics in the regular trash. You're supposed to take them to a place that can deal with it. Fair enough. The problem is that there aren't many pl…

Yup, this is a service that already exists in very informal ways. Check craigslist for "trash and junk removal".

Having had a garage I recently organized and about a pickup load full of trash/recyclables I would have absolutely loved such a service vs. trying to find someone non-flaky on CL to actually show up when they said they would.

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