We are moving house soon, so we are starting to go through all of our stuff, working out what to keep, and what to trash. Given the amount of stuff we have, I expect to be making a few trips to the local tip in coming weeks.
Tips are strange places aren't they? Even though our local tip is more of a recycling centre, is is still utilitarian and industrial at best. I remember going to the tip as a little kid; visions of feral-looking dogs patrolling razor-wire fences while men in dirty jeans and stained t-shirts, smoking Winfield Blues, attempt to direct you where to go and laugh at peoples attempts to back their trailers.
It's not really a great image to help sell a valuable service: after all, at one time or another everybody has stuff the Salvation Army won't take.
But check this out: 1-800-Got-Junk has managed to transform junk removal from industrial and unappealing to convenient, friendly, and fun. Now billed as 'North America's Largest Junk Removal Company', 1-800-Got-Junk got its start when CEO and Founder Brian Scudamore had a tough time getting a summer job in 1989. He bought a used pick-up truck and started a junk removal service he christened 'Rubbish Boys'. By 1996, Rubbish Boys hit $1 million in annual revenue; in 1998 Scudamore changed the name to 1-800-Got-Junk, and the first franchise was opened in 1999.
1-800-Got-Junk combines a tech-savvy structure with aggressive grassroots marketing to bring reasonably-priced junk removal to the masses. Snappy blue service trucks are designed to double as moving billboards, and employees wearing trademark blue Afro wigs attend local fairs, ride Segways through the streets, and even stand by the side of the road and hand out discount coupons called 'JunkBucks'.
Customers can arrange for pick-ups via their website or by phone (prices range from a minimum of US $99 up to $498 for a full truckload: removal fees are the company's main source of income, and the only junk the company won't handle is hazardous waste). Internal coordination of pick-ups is done via JunkNet, their web-based booking system that is accessible to their drivers while on the road via WAP-enabled mobile phones. 1-800-Got-Junk is also eco-friendly: up to 60% of the junk they remove is recycled.
What a great idea! It just goes to show that it is possible to turn something mundane (and not too much is more mundane than rubbish!) into something 'premium' by making the whole customer experience quick and easy.
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