My business idea
 

Myself, and a few associates have come up with a business idea:

Two local towns (Little Compton Rhode Island, and Wesport Massachusetts) do not have regular refuse pick-up from house to house. Instead, individual families must take the trash to the dump. Many affluent families don't enjoy doing this at all. So, myself and some friends some school have concocted an idea:

For a fee of 40 dollars a month, or ten dollars per week, we come by on a Sunday, pick up the trash of our clients (60-100 residents) and take it to the dump.

The problem is, the current vehicle we have in mind is a friend's old Toyota pickup truck, which would fill after ten loads or so, meaning we would have to make ten trips to the dump and back.

My question is, what is a good large capacity truck for this job? We would prefer a diesel, but it is not totally necessary. We would like something with the 6-13 MPG range with a full load to do our duties. I suggested an old Mercedes diesel commercial truck that is for sale for 1000 dollars in a local town, but alas it seems to big for our operation.

Our truck can be any brand, any type, the only stipulation is that it must carry a good load of garbage, be beatable, and get the gas mileage listed. Any suggestions?

This business has not been put in to practice, and right now is a bit of a pie in the sky easy money scheme, but what do you guys think? The price would be split three ways. One driver, and two loaders/unloaders.

Be careful! What if a family puts out 15 huge bags of trash? Same price? You might think about a flat weekly fee, and then charging per bag over a certain limit.

Also, you should think about applying a little math in the form of linear problem solving if your truck must make runs to the dump before reaching every house. You'll want to minimize the mileage variable. Sometimes you don't wait for the truck to be full, depending on the shape and size of the route. LPS software is kicking around, see if you know someone that has some. It can be done by hand, but it's a bit of a bear.

It might be okay for the truck to be too big than too small. Even if it gets worse fuel economy, you might be spared runs to the dump, therefore meaning less fuel cost.

100 residents might be too small. 100x$40 = $4000 per month. Take out costs, and the remaining $$ might be pretty good for one day's work per week. Do some nitty-gritty calculations to figure out your break-even point.

Go visit a municipal sanitation dept and ask for some help. Make up some BS about neing a student and needing help. Maybe they'll run a LPS senario for you...

First you need an actual garbage truck. Leaking trash causes EPA concerns and the regulations are stiff. Call your local government official which handles waste concerns.

Keep a couple things in mind, if there is a REAL profitable idea someone has or is trying it. Next when starting a business be prepared to put in 100 hours a week.

I have an uncle in law that started a garbage business with 20K and sold for millions 10 years later GOOD LUCK!

Damn
 

Even my small scale un advertised "under the table" operation would need an actual garbage truck? Some type of pickup that garbage is put in would not be good enough for this duty?

I've also looked at a job in the local paper. Twelve hour shifts from 7 in the morning to 7 at night or vice versa. 12 dollars an hour. Baking bread/loading bread in a local bakety. I want to make some SERIOUS cash to make my 240D a meannn machine lol. I need to apply in person tommorow, and hopefully it will work out and this summer I will be adjusting my sleeping patterns.:D

Re: Damn
 

Don’t let me discourage you. If you think you can make a buck, follow your hunch. Passion breeds success, I started 3 companies before I “made it”.

Your on the right track by analyzing a market and building a business plan, but you have to do some legwork and check out the data.

How many residents are there? Did you do a small survey and ask residents if this is something they would be interested in? Go knock on 10 doors and ask, it’s only time. Feel free to give me a call I will help steer you through it if you are serious.

Well I KNOW the residents want this
 

As friends (upper class friends) say their families would pay to have this service done. There are about 800 residents in the town, so if we could service 100 people with this service, it would more than pay for the gas and our own labor. The town is extremely small, so the distance between the farthest point in town and the dump would be approximately 10 miles. Hopefully if we were seriously discuss this endeavour, we could calculate MPG per day, but we hope to have most of the residents within a 4 mile radius in any direction of one another, which is indeed possible. The affluent people live in one section of town, while the "back woodsmen" "rednecks" and "normal people" live in another.
The middle class area is very close to the affluent section of town. The town is very separated along lines of income.
This idea was more of a easy way to make money during the school year and summer scheme, but I see it blossoming into something.
Even if I decided to do this alone, it could still work.

You would be very surprised at the fact that the upper class is very frugal, that’s how they got there! 100 customers @ $50 dollars per month would only be $5000. Even if you double or quadruple it I don’t think it would be a good business decision. 700 on the other hand it might start looking lucrative. Keep in mind that a lean mean business runs on a 10% profit margin and that’s a very generous number. All the little bills kill you.

But if you can figure something out to do Recyclables that you can dump for free and would not be bound by governmental restrictions you might be able to make some extra $$$>

Kyle,

You might want to reconsider the day on which you pick up the garbage. I doubt that the dump is open on a Sunday.

Other than that, my first thought is to maybe try and spread the word that you will remove large/bulky items for these people. Things like refridgerators, or old TV's, etc. I would think that those will be the most inconvenient ones for them to get rid of. This way, you also get some exposure, and people will get used to you being around.
Whatever it is that you end up using, make sure that it looks very nice, clean, and is quiet. (same goes for you and your crew) ;)

Good luck!

-Larry

Howdy Kyle,
How about a trailer?¿

Hey Kyle,

Just a few thoughts:

Another complication may be the need to get all sorts of permits and insurance etc. The family/city dump may or may not allow a business to dump there and the price structure may vary as well.

May be better off going the recyclable route. Where one can find a buyer for certain things and then go out and collect these to a straight flow through. Many places have great prices on Metals, Tires, Glass, shipping pallets, cardboard etc.

One of the low barriers to entry businesses is lawn mowing followed by gutter cleaning and snow removal (A year around model). Even for this however it is best to get insurance and business permits if doing on more than a house or two basis.

Finally an auto wash/detail process may be good as well since you probably maintain your MB in a spotless fashion any way and have a good knowledge of how to do it. Insurance would be important here as well.

Your local university or college probably has a small business center where you can get free assistance, guidance and ideas.


Best of luck in your entrepreneurial ventures.

Kyle,

Hope the business idea process is still under works. I was reading up for a presentation and came across an interesting bit of info.

Hugh Hefner started his business with 600 borrowed plus 8k from stock sold in his corp!! (not that I recommend this line of business but just thought it may interest some folks do note that the man became and died a lunatic mostly due to his chosen business line).

Keep us posted

Huh? I mean Hugh dead?????:confused:

Last time I checked he had 3 blond hotties.

he's thinking about howard hughes...

ps. check with tony soprano about this idea as somebody mentioned earlier...

Having been a former trash collector running a one man, highly modified residential collection truck (95 grand, left and right steering positions, trash can flipper) here is an idea that should work well to start out with. A one ton p/u with a flat bed and stake sides would hold more, meaning less runs to the dump. A dump feature would keep you from handling the trash twice. Don't forget you have to cover the trash with at least a tarp when running to the dump.

I hope your idea is successful, it may not be "glamorous" but it's an honest dollar earned.

Bruce,
I believe the new Unimog comes with a control pod that can be slid! from one side to the other.

It would make one classy dump truck eh!