Move over, Sanford and Son. A new junk operation has come to town. But this one uses online booking for pickups, and drivers use Web-enabled phones to schedule their routes.
1-800-Got-Junk? has opened its first New Mexico operation. The national junk removal franchise company offers a way for customers to get rid of all their accumulated and unwanted stuff, from yard waste to electronic gadgets.
Ed and Barb Putnoki are the state’s first franchisees for the company, which is based in Vancouver, British Columbia and has 320 franchises worldwide (most of them in the U.S.). The Canadian ex-pats moved here from Scottsdale, Ariz., where they first saw the big blue and green 1-800-Got-Junk? trucks.
Ed Putnoki says they usually get calls to remove household items and furnishings or appliances. It’s astounding what people accumulate, he says. He recently removed three truckloads of stuff from a small building near the University of New Mexico that was once a chicken coop. One family, who moved to Edgewood from California, had numerous packed boxes and six weeks later called Putnoki to come get them, still packed.
“We live in a very busy society and there is a lot of sentimental value attached to stuff, but at some point people say ‘I’ve had enough,’” he says.
The Putnokis own franchise development rights for nearly 70 percent of the state and they have plans to expand services into Los Alamos, Santa Fe and Belen. They currently have three trucks and plan to have 10 to 12 trucks by the end of the year. The local offices are at 4801 Land Ave. NE.
The base charge for hauling is $96 and a full truckload costs $478. Loads are pro-rated based on the volume they take up in a truck. Putnoki says they try to recycle about 60 percent of the stuff in their loads. He has created a network that includes a veterans group in Albuquerque for furniture, clothing and appliances, and is trying to set up an agreement with a national company that does electronics recycling.
The company has an account with the U.S. government, so Putnoki hopes to curry more work from the labs and military bases. He has offered to donate trucks and equipment for use in cleaning up roadsides in Sandoval County. That’s a service he hopes to offer in all the communities where the company expands.
By Megan Kamerick for The New Mexico Business Weekly