dog poop a scoop business

Errata

There are a number of 60, 70 and 80+ year olds in my village who walk their dog and manage to pick up after it. It's the working age adults who can't bend their backs !

People in rental properties who have dogs will either pick up straight away or leave it for weeks and months, when a heavy duty cleaning firm would be needed rather than a picker upper.

The fact remains, if there are a significant number of customers to be serviced each and every day - where does the crap go ?

geordie_joe

Errata wrote: »

Where wll you dispose of the crap ? Will you wheel a barrow load of it around all day until you've finished your round ?

There must be somewhere to dispose of it. In my town we have loads of dog poo bins and a man from the council goes round emptying them. I expect he keeps it in the back of his van until the end of the day then disposes of it in the "proper place".

Maybe the council have a special "poo tip" somewhere.

Errata

[QUOTE=geordie joe;31549157
Maybe the council have a special "poo tip" somewhere.[/QUOTE]

Quite possibly, but there will be a charge for a business to use it.

poobah

Nice thread! As a professional scooper I'll try to address each question:

>"would people pay to have someone clean up their dog poo?"

Yes they do. Handsomely.

>"what to charge, would I need insurance?"

See your competitors for pricing. Would you run ANY business without insurance?

>"Would someone pay you to walk behind them whilst they take their dog for a walk and as soon as it squats down"

No, ciano, we scoop weekly, twice a week, every other week, monthly, one-time and for special occasions: weddings, graduations, lawn parties. We typically scoop people's yards, however, many of us scoop public areas under contract.

>"in which case, how would you get paid at all?"

Most of us bill in advance for cleanings, some jobs are payable upon completion, most commercial accounts are net 30.

>"but this just sounds like a "crap" idea for a business."

Thousands (yes, thousands) of professional scoopers could argue that point. :-)

>"don't know how many people would actually pay for it."

Enough to pay the bills, buy some toys, and grow the business!

>"Plus can't you catch things from poo?"

Yes, yes you can. Some scoopers clean cat boxes, which is not recommended for gravid females due to toxoplasmosis. Canine waste contains any number of little living doodads which are not friendly and compatible with your circulatory, nervous and digestive systems. Appropriate sanitary measures are recommended.

>"any other thoughts about why this might not work?"

But it DOES work. It's worked for me for almost 7 years.

>Would you be able to do an online survey to find out who woulod pay for this to be done?"

The demand is there. Customer awareness is lacking. After almost 7 years I still hear "I had no idea" at least once a week.

+++++++++++
paulabear has the scoop!
+++++++++++

>"i wouldnt pay for someone to pick up poop and i certainly wouldnt give that job a go! but if you think it works then try it but the thought of it is disgusting."

After a couple of summers you don't even smell it anymore. People clean sewers and gutters, people clean up crime scene houses, people scrub out all kinds of noxious industrial storage tanks. This isn't any different. PLUS, you get to see 200 dogs a week! :-)

>"Where wll you dispose of the crap ?"

You rent a dumpster or negotiate a contract with a landfill.

>or leave it for weeks and months, when a heavy duty cleaning firm would be needed rather than a picker upper."

But that's what we DO! The more the merrier. There are plenty of 2 and 3 hour jobs ($200-$300) to be had.

>"where does the crap go ?"

Short answer, in a landfill. Longer answer, into the water table, where animal crap has been going for hundreds of thousands of years.

More questions? Post them here, I'll be glad to answer.
--
Jeff

geordie_joe

poobah wrote: »

You rent a dumpster

There are plenty of 2 and 3 hour jobs ($200-$300) to be had.

and if YOU want a scooper, chances are I can find one for you, anywhere on the planet.

Just what I need, another yank talking !!!!.

poobah

What's that supposed to mean, Dorset? I was serious. Are you? :-)

blue_monkey_2

My gardener was going to start one of these up and then he moved.

He got, from the US, a pooper vacuum, it works in that a hoover sucks the poo and then a jet of water comes down to clean and disinfect the area where the poo was - it cost him around $1000 to buy.

I've seen that one of the London councils have one on a Moped and it is called a Poover. http://crave.cnet.co.uk/cartech/0,250000513,49304322,00.htm

I laughed when he told me what he was doing but he advertised on our local dog walking routes and at the vets and got 32 replies in 2 days. He also foung the council were interested in it for cleaning the geese and duck poo from around the park ponds.

You could have a portable loo type tank in your property that you put portable loo chemicals in and then you can get them to come and clean it out for you.

Handheld Poover: http://inventorspot.com/articles/dog_poo_goes_walkies_16881
Paddock Poover: http://www.paulhelpspaddockvacuumsales.co.uk/paddockvacuums.html

And yes, every business needs Public Liability Insurance - to cover yourself more than anything else!!

blue_monkey_2

ciano125 wrote: »

How would this work? Would someone pay you to walk behind them whilst they take their dog for a walk and as soon as it squats down, kapow, you're there scooping it up? Or would they tell you where their dog had left a log when they got back from their walk and you'd have to go out and hunt down the offending turd? They could get busted for leaving it there in the first place if that was the case. However, I suppose you could give them some kind of sat nav tracking device and they could press a button on it which recorded the exact position of the poo, so then you would know exactly where it was in order to go and retrieve it. Or would you just go around scooping up any old brown trout you came across, in which case, how would you get paid at all?

I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but this just sounds like a "crap" idea for a business.

I thought so too but busy people have dogs they do not want to clean up after in the week so they arrange for someone to come around on a Friday and clean up so they can use their garden at a weekend. There are times when I wished I had someone to do it for me - especially in the winter.

I am sure that people said the same about car valeting when it first started - people won't do that, they will clean their own cars. And then what about hedge cutting, lawn cutting, ironing, cleaning houses, dog walking, cooking, the list is endless really, jobs that YOU want to do but what someone else with the money/no time does not want to do.

It will work if you market it in the right way.

Errata

poobah wrote: »

I know a few! :rotfl:
--
Jeff

In America

paulabear

blue_monkey wrote: »

My gardener was going to start one of these up and then he moved.

He got, from the US, a pooper vacuum, it works in that a hoover sucks the poo and then a jet of water comes down to clean and disinfect the area where the poo was - it cost him around $1000 to buy.

I've seen that one of the London councils have one on a Moped and it is called a Poover. http://crave.cnet.co.uk/cartech/0,250000513,49304322,00.htm

I laughed when he told me what he was doing but he advertised on our local dog walking routes and at the vets and got 32 replies in 2 days. He also foung the council were interested in it for cleaning the geese and duck poo from around the park ponds.

You could have a portable loo type tank in your property that you put portable loo chemicals in and then you can get them to come and clean it out for you.

Handheld Poover: http://inventorspot.com/articles/dog_poo_goes_walkies_16881
Paddock Poover: http://www.paulhelpspaddockvacuumsales.co.uk/paddockvacuums.html

And yes, every business needs Public Liability Insurance - to cover yourself more than anything else!!

-the handheld one is a joke :rotfl:did you see where it says the poo is propelled in an arc over 200 feet? Funny
-if you wanted to start out on a small budget you can find all sorts of arms-length pooper scoopers and like I said before, I really can't see why people would object to having the poo in their own bin, in a sealed bag - they own the dog, if they cleaned up their own yard or whatever it would go in there, don't see a problem. Speaking as a dog owner anyway