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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

#171

Post by rurp »

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…

I have had good luck getting rid of old things by posting them for free on Craigslist and leaving them outside. If it's at all usable someone usually comes by within an hour or two.

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

#172

Post by CobrastanJorji »

Is this not already a thing? I needed an old chair disposed of a few days ago, googled "Seattle Trash Removal", got like 10 results, and the next day somebody came by with a truck and took my chair away. Is this company different because they have an app? Because they offer speedier pickup?

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

#173

Post by ams6110 »

dexterp wrote: post #4

Don't most cities already provide garbage pick-up?

Yes, however for example I live in an unincorporated area and have to either contract my own trash removal, or haul it myself to a county trash site and pay by the bag to throw it away.

I pay about $25/month for weekly pickup. Some weeks I have less trash and could skip the pickup, but that doesn't save me any money. Some weeks I forget to set it out for pickup on the designated day and I have to wait until the next week.

If I could get my trash picked up on demand whenever I have a full bin that would be something I'd seriously look at. I think it's a great idea.

Unfortunately I think it would end up being more expensive. No way ad-hoc pickup out in a rural area is going to be cheaper than a truck sweeping through the area once a week and servicing all the houses on one trip.

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

#174

Post by sabujp »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #172

Is this not already a thing? I needed an old chair disposed of a few days ago, googled "Seattle Trash Removal", got like 10 results, and the next day somebody came by with a truck and took my chair away. Is this company different because they have an app? Because they offer speedier pickup?

because they have an app and are probably going to be using unlicensed "contractors" to dump your garbage in unlicensed locations and call it industry disruption. I can already see the lawsuits.

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

#175

Post by acdha »

sp332 wrote: post #49
acdha wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you want to live next to the guy who either cannot or is unwilling to pay? Nobody else does either.

And that's why the government puts them in jail. Seems harsh actually.

In many cities there are assistance programs for the elderly, etc. who are truly broke but fines do work well for negligent landlords, fallow properties, etc.

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

#176

Post by hammock »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #172

Is this not already a thing? I needed an old chair disposed of a few days ago, googled "Seattle Trash Removal", got like 10 results, and the next day somebody came by with a truck and took my chair away. Is this company different because they have an app? Because they offer speedier pickup?

I needed a ride to the airport, I googled "taxi company," got like 10 results, and the next morning a car was waiting for me. Why do we need Uber? Just because it has an app?

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

#178

Post by 1123581321 »

enraged_camel wrote: post #159
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…

>>I pay roughly a 50% income tax, and in spite of that municipal garbage collection is, well, garbage. No one pays 50% of their income as tax. That is not how tax brackets work. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of income tax goes to the federal government.

Effective federal plus effective state plus payroll plus effective local (income plus property) can approach 50% in the US. Average sales tax paid on post-tax income to state and local can push it over. But yes, only a fraction of it is municipal.

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

#179

Post by Retric »

dyim wrote: post #75
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…

30% doesn't sound crazy, based on this first-order-approximative data: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=E...

That ignores taxes which make up ~30% of retail price depending on the price of oil at the time.

Further, gas stations generally need to pay quite a bit to get gas shipped to them as it's heavy (12 gallons is over 75 pounds), dangerous, and often very far away.

So, cost at the refinery is very misleading.

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

#180

Post by santaclaus »

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.

No need for wifi -- install a 3G modem. Very little data to transmit. The super cans could also signal the garbage people if the batteries are running low.
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