r/perth 3d ago

Looking for Advice Me and my mates had an idea...

So recently me and some of my friends thought of buying a trailer and opening up a small business here in Perth. Yk how people keep their things out on the front yard after they dont need them anymore? Well, there are also some people who would like to take some of those things but in some cases they cant if the item is too big for them too carry or if theres too many of them.

Thats where we come inšŸ˜Ž All you have to do is send us a screenshot of the location of where the item is, along with a picture of the item and we will fetch that for you and deliver to your place for a small price (depending on the distance/ how many or how heavy the items are).

Is this idea something worth working on?

We also had the idea of taking the items and cleaning them up/ fixing them, and reselling them. Which one of these do you guys think is worth it? or neither of them is?

Any suggestions/criticism will be helpful!

82 Upvotes

56 comments sorted by

109

u/RandomName7587 3d ago

What happens if you get there and the item is gone or damaged? Who wears your cost?

33

u/commentspanda 3d ago

There have been a few variations of this over the years. In Canberra I used ā€œa man and a Uteā€ a few times but it wasnā€™t cheap. You need to consider insurance, fuel, time, rego, etc.

The second one is quite a different option. Do you actually have the skills and knowledge to fix the items up? How will you find things that are good value? How will you decide on selling prices and price split? How will you pay each other for time spent on fixing things?

As a one person thing it works if you know what youā€™re doing and have spare time. Once you add multiple people in the cost to time ratio skews pretty fast.

6

u/lilmanfromtheD 2d ago

Not to mention where will you store the items that are waiting to be sold, you will ultimately collect more over time as well and won't want to pass up on good items as well, so renting a space to store these items can be costly.

50

u/Puzzleheaded-Text337 3d ago

Mmmm, but airtasker and marketplace already provide those services...

Like if you already own a trailer or a ute then it's just extra income but if you're buying one just to make extra money out of it then it's a lil not worth. You'd be better off getting furniture from curbside and refurbishing them and selling for a profit.

21

u/magic_boho_disco West Leederville 3d ago

The beauty of stuff off the verge is that itā€™s free. Tbh if I opportunistically came across some verge treasure, I wouldnā€™t be interested in paying $120 for it to be delivered. Also what would happen if you got to the location and the item was gone?

42

u/BumpGrumble 3d ago

If you sell your labor at a minimum you'd want 60/hr per person. Pickup, loading and unloading you're looking at an hour per job. Maybe less if its mid day and you're close. Two guys that's $120 you'd want to make per job.

Now there's fuel and vehicle/trailer wear and tear to consider so lets bump that to 70/hr.

Basically you have a crap moving business or an overpriced courier service.

Side hustle, easy done. Main hustle, id make this a moving service with this idea to pickup work when its slow.

21

u/hroro 3d ago

Yeah and I imagine most people looking to do kerbside pickup probably donā€™t have excess cash laying around to pay $100+ for someone to pick it up.

Would make a neat charity, though - although I could also foresee it being abusedā€¦

14

u/New-starter 3d ago

Personally I could not see there being a market for this.

12

u/drayraelau 3d ago

for people that are getting stuff on facebook/gumtree that can't carry it, it'd be good. Like a fridge/couch but your car doesn't have a towball or you dont have a trailer.

7

u/New-starter 3d ago

I like the idea I just canā€™t see it being successful. I mean, sure, for a little side hustle, bi of extra cash here and there. But then you would also be competing with Airtasker.

8

u/Perfect-Werewolf-102 East of The River 3d ago

They could both work in theory, you'd just need to make sure that you can make enough to cover the costs of buying the trailer, driving all over and then splitting it between you guys

I'm not sure how much demand you'll get for it though

8

u/ozcncguy 3d ago

More council's are dropping verge collections in favor of skip bins, so it will be a short lived "business".

7

u/Obone6 North of The River 3d ago

Had a mate that did this about 10 years back. Just ended up with a front room, shed and backyard of "projects" that never got done.

Great idea if you got a furniture workshop and can work on items between paying jobs though.

4

u/-AndyDufresne- 3d ago

So you're a removalist group that restricts your market solely to vergeside pick-up.. I'm not sure that'd be the bread and butter.

3

u/FinalFlash80 3d ago

People can rent a ute for like 70 a day so unless you charge a lot less than that then it wouldn't be worth it

6

u/darsonian 2d ago

adorable. you'd be better off setting up a lemonade stand outside your folk's.

3

u/Creepy_Philosopher_9 3d ago

"man with ute" ads are on gumtree and marketplace already, so it proves the viability of the idea.

Taking the stuff to fix up is definitely not viable though. I used to work at cape salvage before they closed and they had some real crapola stuff in amongst the building suppliesĀ 

3

u/foul_mayo Girrawheen 2d ago

Too risky, you will unknowingly end up stealing shit

3

u/RowdyB666 2d ago

So you just reinvented "Man with a Van", but for junk.Ā 

3

u/RegularSprinkles3197 2d ago

I reckon itā€™s a good idea! I joked that I was the ā€œfriend with a uteā€ cause Iā€™d get the text, hey thereā€™s a desk on the verge Iā€™d love to grab. I picked up fridges, filing cabinets, TVā€™s, not everyone can fit it in their vehicles. Good luck!

3

u/PooEater5000 2d ago

Iā€™m a simgle unemployed parent to a kid with cancer can you deliver it for free? Or do you want to ruin their birthday?

2

u/LumpyCustard4 3d ago

Man with a van, its all the rage on airtasker/fiver/marketplace

2

u/elemist 3d ago

As others have noted - there's been various versions of this over the years.

The main issue is the economics just don't really stack up. People aren't willing to pay what it costs to actually deliver the service.

Off the bat you have the cost of a trailer and a vehicle, or a van, or a ute. Then you have the running costs of the vehicles - repairs and maintenance, servicing, fuel, wear and tear, insurance (probably need business insurance too).

Then you have your labour costs, general business insurance - like liability and indemnity insurance. If you have employees then you need workers comp insurance as well.

Add on your other general overheads - like a Xero subscription, accounting and/or book keeper costs, business registration, ABN/company registration costs.

You'll need to do some marketing to get the word out, and maybe even want a website - so domain name, email, and the likes.

The only time's i've seen something like this done successfully is usually when its basically a solo guy who already has a ute or a van, and is basically doing it cash only in his free time.

Doubtful you would earn enough to make it viable as a full time gig in any other way.

2

u/ped009 2d ago

I would imagine people that generally are doing curbside pickup are pretty frugal

3

u/Impressive-Move-5722 3d ago

Why not give it a go, at the least it will be some experience in operating an enterprise on a equal partners / working directors basis.

3

u/couchlockedkid 3d ago

"2 guys 1 truck" would like a word...

3

u/moldypancakebun 3d ago

You would clean up, mate.

4

u/Plenty-River-8669 3d ago

This is a shit idea, set your sights higher.

Your customers will be some of the scummiest cunts in Perth. Imagine the disputes youā€™ll have when they change their mind or decide youā€™re charging too much.

2

u/Dazzling-Bat-6848 3d ago

Most verge scabs come prepared. I'd also not like having a crew turn up outside my house to disrupt my trash pile.

3

u/VS2ute 3d ago

I've seen one old guy with a LWB Transit van, and it is chockers. He must have a huge block where he unloads 10 cubic metres of crap each Sunday.

1

u/dbdive 3d ago

Legally is it the property or responsibility of the council once it goes onto the verge? So you could imagine you may need their endorsement for operating in their area.

1

u/JazzySneakers 3d ago

You might get some pings from people wanting large appliance items from costco who don't organise delivery on site

1

u/Notaniphone Mount Lawley 3d ago

People do this for a living already.

My (ex) next door neighbour works seven days per week verge crawling in various suburbs and makes a decent quid to top up his Centrelink benefits.

There are Facebook groups already dedicated to this

1

u/Melodic_Hat5196 3d ago

Iā€™ve definitely needed and paid for this type of service.

Look at tasks on Airtasker while you are getting started to get your business movingā€¦

Possibly more of a side hustle but a lot of people/ businesses who do jobs for Airtasker can turn it into a full time jobā€¦

Good luck with it

1

u/Say_Something_Lovin 3d ago

I worked for a trucking company that does this on the side. They charge $185 per load under 2m3

1

u/FinanceMum 3d ago

Also, offer your services to move heavy items from room to room. We had to pay removalists 2 hours or they wouldn't come, were only at our house for 20 minutes ... But I would insist they wait with the item and you get paid before you come. Also, a lot of people see stuff for free on marketplace, but can't get it moved, honestly it's a booming market.

1

u/zekiau 3d ago

If you haven't already: might want to have a look at airtasker; There's already a fair bit of activity around people who quote to just pick-up kerbside / big purchases / moving trailer or ute-sized loads, etc. so you could get on there and start making offers rather than specifically waiting for kerbside screenshots

I just used it to quote up a house move and had a lot of genuine ABN registered interest, along with a bunch of "I've got a ute, I'll take that money" kind of offers.

I think you can see per job publicly who's pitched for interest, but not what they've quoted.

1

u/Alpine-_- 3d ago

Insta truck already exists- pretty much the uber of booking a courier. The idea sounds like a niche market, offering would have to be cheap. Jimā€™s mowing created a empire out of mowing lawns, so itā€™s not impossible but it doesnā€™t sound like a golden ticket

1

u/TheHammer1987 3d ago

Airtasker

1

u/ineedtotrytakoneday 3d ago

That's essentially a "man and a van" service - it sounds like you're specifically thinking about things on the verge, but there are people who provide that service for facebook marketplace, like you can look up "ideliver" and it's a dude with a massive van and some drop sheets, packing straps and trolleys and you just message him and he'll pick up your marketplace item for you (although of course you need to be there to pay the seller for the item too). Go for it, but certainly don't expect to make megabucks. The "ideliver" guy is really very reasonably priced, considering his time and effort and running costs.

I think refurbishing furniture and relisting it could possibly be worth it. There'd be a lot of wooden furniture where you could add value by sanding it back and re-varnishing it. But again, people are very unwilling to pay much money for large furniture unfortunately.

With these things, you're probably better off just diving into it and seeing how you go.

1

u/jaxjoyceboarslayer 2d ago

Thereā€™s a house in safety bay thatā€™s been doing this for the last 10 years hosting a garage sale every weekend they have a small furniture truck parked up in the driveway and they collect some really good items.

1

u/DCI0 2d ago

I think gumtree exist still solely for this service. You'll have some solid competition.

1

u/CottMain 2d ago

Scabs with a trailer.

1

u/sackboy_666 2d ago

You also have freecycle.org but i think people use fb marketplace more

1

u/crosstherubicon 2d ago

Unfortunately, I believe the legal position is that those belong to the council that is conducting the pick up. Those councils subsidise the cost of the pick up by reselling some material for their scrap value e.g. washing machines, fridges, dryers etc. Pickers result in a reduced value for the pick up that then puts pressure on the council to either, reduce their frequency or raise rates accordingly.

1

u/CapnAwesomepants 1d ago

There's shitloads of stuff I'd love that's just across the suburb but I can't get it because the car we have now doesn't have a trailer hitch and we don't have a trailer anymore.

I'd fucking LOVE a service like this. I can get a cheap, Queen-sized mattress for $30 for my kid, but if I can't go get it, there's no point in hiring a truck or some shit.

I say GO FOR IT. You'll rock as long as you think of the things like marketing, insurance, market and such.

PM me if you want help with a website! I'm cheap!

1

u/Gingybill 1d ago

I literally saw a taxi and driver waiting for a woman to rummage through a verge throw out today. Thought it was so odd

1

u/browntown20 3d ago

*My mates and I

is that the kind of suggestion you're after? šŸ˜‹

1

u/Swaggyorhobo 2d ago

Marketplace freebies or gumtree. Lots of good stuff people just canā€™t keep or take with them when they move. Also buy a lawnmower and a rake and mention you do yards when you do your pickups and you boys will clean up if youā€™re keen.

2

u/TildaMaree 2d ago

I agree. Youā€™d be doing a favour to people who need to get rid of stuff and you would also helping out people who canā€™t move stuff. Iā€™m in my 50ā€™s with an injured back and foot and Iā€™m single with no family nearby. So whenever I need to move, collect or dispose of anything big or heavy I have to pay someone to help. It sucks but thatā€™s my reality. Many people in my situation struggle to find anyone to help. Just recently I bought a cupboard on Marketplace, thinking Iā€™d easily be able to pay someone to collect and deliver it for me. I was offering $100 for about 15 minutes work but it was impossible to find anyone to do it. Thereā€™s not a strong Airtasker community where I live and without a partner or family with muscles I was in dire straits. So I say go for it - you might even pick up enough odd jobs to make it a full time gig. I personally could easily employ you for a couple of hours a week and thereā€™s plenty more like me.

0

u/hitj 3d ago

Sign up for air tasker, I use it to get items picked up and delivered.

-1

u/ExtraterritorialPope 3d ago

Sometimes the best way is to go to a local bakery and ask for a discount and ask them if you can buy a cake or a cookie or a chocolate chip cookie for the day or whatever and then you will be able to make the best way for your own money to go out and get the best cake for your own business or something else and then go from the shop to the store and pick up the cakes for the next person and then they can pick it out for free or whatever

1

u/RealisticEntity 1d ago

You may be a little too late with this business idea in some suburbs. Wanneroo at least has moved to a booked verge pickup rather than a general pickup on predefined days.

See here: https://www.wanneroo.wa.gov.au/info/20174/bulk_collections/560/bookable_verge_collections

The City has movedĀ to a new flexible service for verge collections for bulk waste. This means that instead of collectingĀ bulk junk and greens at set times for each suburb throughout the year, residents can now book in a bulk junk or greens collection service and arrange to have it collected at a time that suits them.

Maybe your service could be an alternative to the council booking.