How to Pick up Junk for Money
One man's trash is another's treasure. Some people who began in a trash hauling business found themselves with expensive goodies that they could sell for a profit. It's not a difficult task to develop a trash business, but it does take some time and perseverance. If you think that this may be a way you'd like to make a living, follow the easy steps below.
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Things You'll Need
- Permit, in some areas
- Advertising, such as brochures
- Truck for hauling
- Canvas cover for the back of the truck to prevent spilling items
- Business plan
- List of places to resell items and metal
Instructions
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Find out what the local requirements are for your service. If licensing is mandatory in your city, get it.
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2
Estimate the cost of gasoline, insurance, maintenance of a vehicle, the actual cost of taking items to the dump and your time per hour. While at the dump, find out which items they will not accept. These will have to be done in an alternative manner, or may need to be disassembled in order to be disposed of.
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Decide the form that your business will take. You may want to focus only on trash removal, or you may want to include debris removal. Debris removal usually involves larger items like trees, and may require a back hoe and chain saws.
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Create brochures and advertise. Craigslist is one way of advertising for free, but a telephone book advertisement is still a still viable method. Most trash removing services that have started small have created brochures or fliers and passed them around neighborhoods near their home.
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Familiarize yourself with antiques, useful items and the cost of metal so you can salvage some items to be resold as scrap metal or at garage sales. If you're lucky, you'll find an item that puts you on "The Antiques Road Show" with a great story to tell.
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Make a list of places to sell items that you pick up that may have some value, even as scrap metal. This is a creation of a business within a business and is perfectly legitimate. Once an agreement is made to remove the trash, and it is removed, it doesn't matter whether it goes to the dump or a metal salvage business.
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Maintain professional standards. Keep noise at a minimum, graciousness at a maximum and prompt professionalism at all times. You may never find the antique to bring a million dollars, but you can most certainly provide a million dollars worth of service to the public. The additional income from resale of items is nothing more than frosting on the cake.
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Tips & Warnings
It is of utmost importance to always check local ordinances before starting any business.
