28/01/2007

If the teetering piles of busted furniture, wrecked washing machines and smashed TVs lining the street each inorganic rubbish collection are anything to go by, there’s a lot of junk lying around the average New Zealand home.

Glen Sharpe gives details – an average of between six and eight cubic meters of junk in every home – enough to prompt him to take a successful idea from his Canadian homeland and try it here.

It’s about turning what could be a simple rubbish removal enterprise into a lucrative brand, by using some unconventional marketing tactics and shifting emphasis from transporting junk to customer service.

A former fitness trainer, Sharpe began 0800-JUNK-RUN last year with two garish green trucks – one for picking up the junk, the other to spread the word. Each morning and afternoon the second truck would be parked on Auckland’s busiest roads advertising the service.

0800-JUNK-RUN has grown rapidly since, with plans for regional and possible national expansion now being developed. The business was born when Sharpe was dealing with a load of junk in a property he was trying to sell.

“I did a bit of phoning around and I couldn’t really find anyone who provided the service I was after. I was at a crossroads in my career and I was looking for something else to do, so I went and did some research into it,” he said.

Sharpe is now building his junk removal business into a recognisable, trusted brand that he hopes will remove the need for people to search the local paper or phone book for skip hire, removal companies or trucking firms.

Sharpe charges only for the junk that is picked up and is slightly more expensive than hiring a rubbish skip.
“We’re selling a hassle-free alternative. The commodity is junk removal, the product is peace of mind.”

Anything usable – like furniture, appliances or blankets for instance, is donated to the Auckland City Mission or Woman’s Refuge.

Marketing and brand building is taken seriously, so between jobs drivers drop off $20 discount vouchers in surrounding streets.

He says he is not yet sure how any expansion will be structured but he’s currently planning on growing first at a corporate level, though franchising the operation is also a possibility.

“A recognisable brand is important – we are trying to be the recognized brand in junk removal,” he says.

Sharpe still spends 70 per cent of his time loading up junk, and the rest running and developing the company.

Staying on the trucks and doing heavy lifting with the staff helps him refine the business.

“I can’t expect the guys to do stuff unless I’ve done it… I need to be out there to see what’s happening, so we can work on the system.

A system that he hopes will help 0800-JUNK-RUN grow so big that every kiwi knows where to go when confronted with junk in the attic, garage, shed or basement.

Herald on Sunday – 28th January 2007