It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it. For a price, though, that somebody doesn't have to be you.
1-800-GOT-JUNK? specializes in removing just about anything you can't bear to live with anymore. Customers book an appointment online or by calling, well, you know - and crew members roll up in a blue dump truck to haul away their stuff. They carry off washing machines that have seen better days and couches that not even the thrift stores will take.
According to 1800GotJunk.com, the company was founded in 1989 in Vancouver and today has nearly 250 locations in Canada and the United States. We recently went for a ride-along with the guys of the northern Tampa Bay franchise.
Miles to go before they sleep
At 7:30 a.m., the four-man crew meets in Tampa and splits into two teams. We climb into a truck with franchise partner Troy White, 36, and driver Joe Dinzeo, 23, as they review the schedule and MapQuest directions for each job.
Today's loads are pretty light, White and Dinzeo say. A woman in New Tampa needs a swivel rocker and tan rug removed from her garage. A lady in Avila has a Cadillac Escalade in her driveway, a pool in her courtyard and a pile of useless junk in her garage. It takes White and Dinzeo about 20 minutes to remove the filing cabinets, carpet scraps and other stuff. Back in the truck, more orders roll in via cell phone: a four-person hot tub, a pile of concrete. Then White gets a dreaded request.
"An upright piano," he reads from his cell phone. "Upstairs."
Trash talk
The ocean of steaming garbage at the Pinellas County landfill smells so bad that it actually suffocates you. But the Got Junk guys are regulars there, unloading truckloads of other people's stuff to be plucked up by an enormous claw like stuffed animals in an arcade game. The claw releases everything onto a conveyor belt, which carries it to the incinerator.
"The majority of the time it's truly junk," White says. But occasionally it isn't. Dinzeo feels guilty about throwing away useful items.
"Sometimes we want to do something with it, but we're just too busy," Dinzeo says. The guys donate secondhand furniture to charities when they can, and they occasionally take things home.
"One of the perks of the job: A lot of the guys have furnished their apartments," White says. "It reduces our dump costs, and plus we're helping people out, so it works for everybody."
White once took home a patio set that he estimates is worth $600. And that orphaned rug from New Tampa? It found a new home in this reporter's apartment.
Spreading the word
Got Junk charges by volume. For example, a load that takes up one-eighth of a truck costs $199, which includes the removal, any related cleanup, taxes and disposal fees. A full truckload costs $436.
It seems people are more than willing to pay, as 1-800-GOT-JUNK? has hauled off more than 1-million truckloads since its inception. But they're not stopping there.
The Got Junk team members are marketing fiends, often using rush hours to do "the wave." Wearing curly, blue wigs, they wave at commuters while holding Got Junk signs in an effort to raise brand awareness. And after a job, they often canvass the neighboring houses with Got Junk door hangers.
