In response to Trash is Cash (and the economic madness that proves it) I received an email from “FTC” a former trash collector who explains the “unspoken benefits” of being a trash collector.
Hello Mish,
I spent several summers working as a trash collector in Bronxville, NY. Trash collection was non-union and so they could hire high-school kids during the time regular workers would take their vacations. It was the best job, in some ways, that I ever had.
Speaking from experience I could almost guarantee one of two things.
1. The mystery thieves are none other than the garbage workers themselves who front-run the route personally early on special pick-up day to grab any choice goodies before they return in their official capacity. To my mind there is nothing wrong with this as the items get recycled/reused rather than going to the landfill.
2. Someone in the main office is tipping off a ring of friends who are doing this, and the garbage workers are ticked off because they are finding themselves preempted when they show up early and the goodies are gone. I am neutral on this practice but it does take away one of the long-established unspoken benefits of the job. Moreover, it would explain the workers raising heck over this.
Hope this sheds a little insight.
Thank you for all you do every day – I read your blog as an ever-unfolding real-time economics course.
Sign me “Former Trash Collector”
This is just a quick anecdote from a reader while I am working on other things.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List
