Junk Haulers to the Rescue

Washington Post:

Junk happens.

Not suddenly, but over time. A few extra cases of Shasta soda stacked in the corner swells into 800 cans. The treadmill becomes a clothesline. A week’s worth of newspapers piles into six years’ worth, causing a full-scale occupation of a normally sovereign place, the basement.

“This is where we come in,” said Mark Rubin, who along with his wife owns the local franchise of 1-800-Got-Junk LLC. It has become the Vancouver, B.C.-based company’s most profitable operation in the United States, according to company officials. “Clutter clutters, but when we come around, we make people feel lighter,” Rubin said.

Money, it seems, begets junk, and the Washington area has a lot of both. Average personal income in the area is about $73,000, which is $23,000 more than the national average, according to government statistics. Growing wealth means increased spending — on clothes, furniture and the latest fitness equipment. Along with the money to redecorate, there’s money to pay people like the Rubins to haul the old stuff away.

The Rubins, who live in Gaithersburg, are refugees from the dot-com collapse. They lost their jobs in what was supposed to be the industry of tomorrow. Now they own a junk franchise raking in $192,000 a month, a truckload at a time. Sixteen percent of their earnings are sent to the corporate headquarters in Vancouver, a place franchise owners call the Junktion.

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