By Robert Kamppi
The business of waste hauling has grown to be extremely lucrative. With the focus on the environment these days, the waste hauler is in a position to charge just about anything they want. After all, according to them, they are the stewards of the environment. They would have us believe that they are working on our behalf to protect and enrich our environment. With television advertising telling us how they are turning landfills into nature preserves and little league baseball diamonds and what a good a neighbor to Bambi they are, could you have any doubt?
Then there are some people like me and possibly you, who ask the difficult questions, the people who have to deal with the waste hauler every week in our business, knowing that the waste hauler is using spin tactics on the public. Is it fair to use that spin to make us feel guilty about producing waste, especially when at the same time they are paying their sales reps top commissions to classify even our recyclables as waste with little regard for recycling, waste reduction strategies, or new compaction technology in order to keep their profits up? (Please see article "Talking Trash - The Waste Hauling Salesperson's Moral Dilemma),
As a matter of fact, one of the big waste haulers sent out an inter-company memo that instructed their employees to "disrupt and stop the sale by any means necessary of new high compaction machinery to their hauling customers".
At the time, when I was working for them, I thought the hauler was just trying to keep their customers. Then, when I thought about it in the context of the operations and sales strategies they were teaching me, it became crystal clear and seemed very insidious, to say the least. (Please see "Waste Haulers and Manufactures-The Truth behind the Story".)
If a waste hauler was to let a new kind of high compaction waste handling machine become available to their customers, it would be a nightmare for them. More compaction, in their eyes, means more weight in the bins which means fewer loads and a big drop in their profits. Without even considering all the time and money they will have lost in developing their strategies and training their sales and operations staff on implementing these strategies. The most frightening part of this nightmare for the waste hauler is that their customers would be educated and not so easily manipulated.
Their greed for higher profits and bigger market share has blinded them to the fact that, if one of them were to work with their customers and help them to acquire the new high compaction machines on the market so they really could be as efficient with their waste hauling as possible, that waste hauler's nightmare would become a sweet money-making dream with a market share that would go through the roof.
They would have less of an impact on the environment with less trips being made by the big diesel trucks, less overhead costs from fuel and maintenance costs and a reputation as a reputable waste hauler with whom companies would want to do business. With that hauler's market share up, reputation clean and less money spent on developing strategies to mislead their potential customers and with customers' lower overhead costs and higher profits, everyone would be a winner: the environment, the customers and the waste hauler.
Unfortunately, as blinded as the haulers are by their greed and set in their way of doing things, we, their unfortunate victims, their customers, will have to endure this nightmare scenario until we open our eyes, educate ourselves and stop blindly trusting that our hauler has our or the environment's best interest at heart.
As business people we have the responsibility to protect our company's bottom line profits from this kind of pilferage, our environment from this kind of abuse and our communities from this kind of environmental impact. Our priorities must change from "whom do we call to get rid of this waste?" to "what waste strategies would be the most efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly way to dispose of our waste?". (Please see "Solid Waste Removal - Prioritizing for the Future".) What resources can we call on to achieve the highest compaction rate possible? How can we lower our waste hauling cost and lessen our impact on the environment?
The answers are out there. It is time we woke up from this nightmare, started educating ourselves, took the time to research, and asked ourselves some not-so-hard questions. "What is currently available in the market?" Is there new high compaction waste handling technology that will help to achieve our goals? Is it cost effective? If implemented, how much of a positive effect will my company have on lowering our environmental impact in our community?
All of these questions can be answered in a positive way. You can educate and shock yourself with the outcome -- just by waking up from the waste haulers' nightmare and seeing that the solutions is not a dream.
Then there are some people like me and possibly you, who ask the difficult questions, the people who have to deal with the waste hauler every week in our business, knowing that the waste hauler is using spin tactics on the public. Is it fair to use that spin to make us feel guilty about producing waste, especially when at the same time they are paying their sales reps top commissions to classify even our recyclables as waste with little regard for recycling, waste reduction strategies, or new compaction technology in order to keep their profits up? (Please see article "Talking Trash - The Waste Hauling Salesperson's Moral Dilemma),
As a matter of fact, one of the big waste haulers sent out an inter-company memo that instructed their employees to "disrupt and stop the sale by any means necessary of new high compaction machinery to their hauling customers".
At the time, when I was working for them, I thought the hauler was just trying to keep their customers. Then, when I thought about it in the context of the operations and sales strategies they were teaching me, it became crystal clear and seemed very insidious, to say the least. (Please see "Waste Haulers and Manufactures-The Truth behind the Story".)
If a waste hauler was to let a new kind of high compaction waste handling machine become available to their customers, it would be a nightmare for them. More compaction, in their eyes, means more weight in the bins which means fewer loads and a big drop in their profits. Without even considering all the time and money they will have lost in developing their strategies and training their sales and operations staff on implementing these strategies. The most frightening part of this nightmare for the waste hauler is that their customers would be educated and not so easily manipulated.
Their greed for higher profits and bigger market share has blinded them to the fact that, if one of them were to work with their customers and help them to acquire the new high compaction machines on the market so they really could be as efficient with their waste hauling as possible, that waste hauler's nightmare would become a sweet money-making dream with a market share that would go through the roof.
They would have less of an impact on the environment with less trips being made by the big diesel trucks, less overhead costs from fuel and maintenance costs and a reputation as a reputable waste hauler with whom companies would want to do business. With that hauler's market share up, reputation clean and less money spent on developing strategies to mislead their potential customers and with customers' lower overhead costs and higher profits, everyone would be a winner: the environment, the customers and the waste hauler.
Unfortunately, as blinded as the haulers are by their greed and set in their way of doing things, we, their unfortunate victims, their customers, will have to endure this nightmare scenario until we open our eyes, educate ourselves and stop blindly trusting that our hauler has our or the environment's best interest at heart.
As business people we have the responsibility to protect our company's bottom line profits from this kind of pilferage, our environment from this kind of abuse and our communities from this kind of environmental impact. Our priorities must change from "whom do we call to get rid of this waste?" to "what waste strategies would be the most efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly way to dispose of our waste?". (Please see "Solid Waste Removal - Prioritizing for the Future".) What resources can we call on to achieve the highest compaction rate possible? How can we lower our waste hauling cost and lessen our impact on the environment?
The answers are out there. It is time we woke up from this nightmare, started educating ourselves, took the time to research, and asked ourselves some not-so-hard questions. "What is currently available in the market?" Is there new high compaction waste handling technology that will help to achieve our goals? Is it cost effective? If implemented, how much of a positive effect will my company have on lowering our environmental impact in our community?
All of these questions can be answered in a positive way. You can educate and shock yourself with the outcome -- just by waking up from the waste haulers' nightmare and seeing that the solutions is not a dream.
Mr. Robert Kamppi has been in the Waste industry here in the United States and in Europe for over 20 years. He has worked with National Waste Haulers, Equipment Manufacturers and as consultant to Manufacturers and industry. He has also become an independent, trusted and valued expert nationally on waste hauling efficiency and reduced environmental impact strategies for many companies. He is currently involved with the introduction and placement of next generation High efficiency waste control equipment. Mr. Kamppi firmly believes that Manufacturers and Industry leaders that are looking to lessen there impact on the environment and lessen the impact of waste removal on there bottom line profits should investigate this new equipment. You can contact Mr. Kamppi at his web site for more information or to ask any questions http://home.comcast.net/~robert_kamppi/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html
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