You can make money doing this?

[Leonidas]

After dropping the kids off at Taekwondo this morning I saw a sign at an intersection advertising a new service:

Got Poop?
Pest Waste Removal Service - Call xxx-xxx-xxxx

[thefed]

Originally Posted by Leonidas

After dropping the kids off at Taekwondo this morning I saw a sign at an intersection advertising a new service:

Got Poop?
Pest Waste Removal Service - Call xxx-xxx-xxxx

Yes, you can. There's a guy around here who'd done it for quite some time...I've even considered hiring him. He charges soemthing like $5/week...he comes by in a truck,big rubber boots on. He scoops your poop, takes it away and that's it. He even sanitized his boots and tools when he arrives and leaves as to avoid spreading dog viruses.

As an entrepreneur, I've considered starting somethign similar...but I really wouldn't want to be a hands on owner.

I figure at $5 each yard, you must have enough yards ina small enough area to make it worth while (gas, travel, etc).

I figure I'd need at least 20 in the same small town/area to make it worth it. It probably takes about 5 minutes from arrival to leaving x 20 houses plus 5 minutes travel for each. So maybe 10 minutes each x 20 homes =4 hours. Take out gas $10 and maybe you'd clear $90 for a 1/2 day of work? thats $20/hr

Imagine if you had 100 houses....that's 2.5 days of work and I'd clear about 400 bucks. Not too bad.....


Just not my cup of tea.

[JPatrick]

Originally Posted by thefed

As an entrepreneur, I've considered starting somethign similar...but I really wouldn't want to be a hands on owner.




Just not my cup of tea.

I like that "hands on and cup of tea" comment.
If I were back in "posting shape" I could really work with those

[kcowan]

There is lots of money to be made doing sh*tty jobs that no one else wants.

[Martha]

I wouldn't want to leave two dogs' poop in the yard for a week. One days worth is bad enough.

[Leonidas]

The original post should have read "Pet Waste Removal" rather than PeSt. Thanks for not making fun of my keyboard fumbling.

I agree that I wouldn't want to have dog poop littering my yard - especially from a big dog. But when I had a big dog I would take a shovel and remove the offending debris two or three times a week. It took me all of a few minutes and rarely bothered me (hot summer days could be bad). I would have laughed at the idea of paying someone to come do it unless it was incredibly cheap. I was curious that there would be enough people willing to pay enough for this service for anybody to make a worthwhile amount.

But I'm also the guy who used to say: Bottle water and then charge people money for it? Ridiculous!

[Dreamer]

I was right there with you Leonidas. I thought bottled water was the most ridiculous thing that I had heard of when it first came out. I just bought 4 cases of it at Aldi's this week. I am trying to encourage my DH to drink more water and less Diet Pepsi!

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i cleaned up at least once if not twice a day when i had wolfpuppy. he trained early to only go in one part of the garden so that made things a bit convenient. when i had to travel i had a sitting service clean up twice a day.

very bad leaving that stuff out. it brings flies which bring worms which can harm your pet. besides, it smells like crap.

i've recently noticed our tenants don't clean up after their portuguese water dog. their mcmansion should be completed in a month so they'll be moving out soon. i'm going to discuss with my brother charging more for deposit or rent if we rent out again and the next lessee also has a dog.

i'd hate for the neighbors to complain about getting a wif while they are outside trying to enjoy their dock and pool. maybe i can find such a service locally.

[maddythebeagle]

wow, sounds better than "working for the man" At least this job allows you to have boots and a shovel....

[free4now]

I remember in high school my English teacher was a former businessman who had recently changed professions to teach. He was always interjecting interesting observations that you wouldn't expect to hear out of teacher's mouth. I remember him saying there's no use in getting everyone a college education because there will always be jobs that don't require education. The example he gave: shovelling s*%#.

I do think there's some truth to this... there are some jobs that you can't outsource to India, where you've just gotta be there in person. Shovelling dog doo doo is one of those jobs. Although like most things, it seems that self service is how most people are handling it!

[linkerbink]

There are several franchise companies in my area which provide this service. The starting price seems to be about $10 per visit, and going up from there with more dogs per yard. They give discounts for the elderly or disabled, as well as for those with service dogs.