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Letter to the editor

Their job is junk

If you don't want it, there's a good chancethis crew will take it off your hands.

By EMILY NIPPS Times Staff Writer
Published September 7, 2007

Troy White and his north Tampa junk hauling crew won't take your hazardous leftover paint or fluorescent lightbulbs.

But they will take a dozen bags of horse manure from an Odessa farm. Or three truckloads of expired sardines. Or an unplugged freezer full of dead boars. Or a whole back yard of scattered, broken toilets.

The 1-800-Got-Junk franchise, which focuses on north Hillsborough County, has picked up all of these things. Matt LaVallee, who works for White, still shudders remembering the toilet job.

Fortunately, a bulk of White's business comes from New Tampa, where the junk tends to be a little more high end. The "out with the old, in with the new" concept takes on a different meaning in neighborhoods that haven't seen much old.

"A lot of people just upgrade furniture," White said. "They don't need it, don't want it."

So it's not unusual for "junk" to mean "almost new leather sofa." Or last year's, not-so-cutting-edge-anymore plasma TV. Or unwanted golf clubs that are taking up too much space.

"We're in such a throwaway society," said Sandra Hanna, communications manager for the Vancouver-based 1-800-Got-Junk headquarters. "In someplace like New Tampa especially, you see a lot of literally brand new appliances and clothes, you name it."

Around 60 percent of the stuff gets donated to women's shelters and other charities, or it gets recycled the rest goes to the dump. Once in awhile something will catch the eye of the junk hauler himself.

"I took home a dresser once," said LaVallee. "I didn't have one. And, hey, it was really nice."

In his former life, White was a medical sales representative. He sold blood testing equipment to hospitals, did some traveling.

It didn't compare with the life of a junk hauler, though.

"We're just out here relieving people's headaches," White said. "People are usually glad to see us."

Such was the case when the company's little blue dump truck pulled up to Steve Florence's driveway in Arbor Greene. A thousand square feet of builder's grade carpet was rolled up in the garage of the $360,000 home, crowding out the minivan and children's bikes. Florence was remodeling and wanted White's crew to take the scraps off his hands.

"This is the first time I've ever called (1-800-Got-Junk)," Florence said. "I always see the truck parked in front of the old Krispy Kreme building (in New Tampa)."

It was no accident. In fact, White and his eight haulers employ a savvy marketing strategy to get jobs in hot spots like New Tampa and Westchase. They park the eye-catching blue truck in busy parking lots. They keep blue wigs stuffed behind the front seat so they can park along a busy road and do the "blue wave."

And it works.

People often see the number and call, "or they'll just pull up and say, 'Can you stop by my house and pick up this or that?' " White said.

When White bought his north Tampa franchise two years ago, it was the fourth in Florida. Now there are 23 in the state. In the United States, Australia and United Kingdom, there are more than 300.

Apparently, the world demands more junk hauling. The demand doesn't stop at broken lawn mowers and old magazines, though. White's crew has seen and heard it all.

"I've killed a bull ant farm in someone's yard," LaVallee said. "I helped a dog that was hit by a car."

On one of White's recent calls, he and LaVallee were asked to remove some mattresses, lamps and dressers from a room at Hearthstone Assisted Living Facility on Fletcher Avenue. A worker at the home met the men at the front door.

White didn't know if the room's former owner died, or if he or she had moved out, or what. He didn't ask. He never likes to pry into the stories behind people's junk.

Instead, he and LaVallee cheerfully made the several treks back and forth from the room, down the facility's hallway, across the courtyard, through the lobby and to the truck. They walked past the same elderly residents, who seemed curious about the activity. One woman lit up and said, "Good morning," a half-dozen times, and LaVallee smiled and said good morning back.

It's not just about taking people's trash, White explained. They want a friendly face, a chat about the weather, a sweep of the floor to clean up any dust that's left in their wake.

"This job takes a lot of different skills," he said. "I'm not just hiring people that can throw stuff in a truck."

Emily Nipps can be reached at (813) 269-5313 or nipps@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 6, 2007, 07:44:50]