The Junkluggers Junk Removal Co.

Wee! Wee! Wee! All the way home…

josh — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:56:46 +0000

Each morning I wake up and stare at this bookshelf sitting across from my bed. Yes, I said bookshelf. However, this shelf now carries scads of books, a clock radio, an old lamp from that Swedish furniture company, a piggy bank, ballet shoes, figurines, photo albums, an on-the-go IPod dock and a framed etching of Britney Spears beating in Kevin Federline’s car with her umbrella that I received as a 30th birthday gift. This can pretty much sum up what I’m dealing with in my bedroom and to some degree the rest of my home. I’m a junkie. Not that kind! You know, I just collect and keep and attach myself to things.

Every morning that I wake up and see this “book” shelf is another day I am reminded of how cluttered my life is and what I am putting off and hiding away inside Ingrid Michaelson’s proverbial bookshelf. Piles of letters and bills sit underneath piles of folded (hopefully) jeans and summer shorts. Clean laundry that made it home but never made it to its proper place. There is something to a cluttered home equaling a cluttered mind. If you have no order in your space, how can you have it out there in the great wide open?

This morning when I woke up and stared that piggy bank in the eye for the 1000th time I decided to do something about it. I was no longer going to be hostage to his frozen little smile. Is he laughing at me? Is he a he? Piggy banks are not gender specific. In any case, I wasn’t going to let him and that bookshelf dictate another day! I jumped up from my bed with an energy usually reserved for the pizza delivery man ringing my door bell, stretched and got to work. I started by pulling everything off of the shelves and took a good hard look at those beautiful empty spaces. I was only going to fill them with what the good Lord intended to go there. Books. And only the ones I will read again or use as reference. The ballet shoes and figurines and other non-daily used items could be stored away neatly and tightly into my old steamer trunk. Only to come out IF and when I need them again.

And you know what happened? After I cleaned up that shelf and straightened up the rest of my room I had the vim and verve to get stuff done! I went out and paid bills and even took care of a doctor’s appointment that afternoon that I had been putting off for over a year. These things had been sitting on my shoulders and I let them sit, accumulating, along with those dance shoes and those books and the loose change. Tomorrow, who knows? Maybe I’ll clean out underneath my bed and then get going on those college applications. The possibilities are endless! Now, why do I have an urge to break out those ballet slippers already…

‘Meet Andrew: The Newest Member of the Junkluggers Crew!’

josh — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:01:25 +0000

The Junkluggers are expanding our Customer Loyalty Center, and we’re proud to announce yet another member of our team!
Hailing from Forbes’ 2009 vote for #1 Worst Small City for Job Opportunities in the United States (Give it up for Jackson, Michigan!), Andrew high-tailed it to New York City the day after his college graduation. Who could blame him? Luckily, we were able to snatch him up ourselves and add him to our team.
Just like all other new office team members, Andrew was subject to Junklugger hazing—aka FIVE days in the field of working as a ‘lugger’.
When asked about his ‘opportunity’ to lug, Andrew will typically let out a long, deep sigh. “I’m glad it’s over. Every day I went home, sore and impressed by how tan I was getting. Then I’d get in the shower and the tan would wash away. Apparently, I was just covered in dirt.” Hm. Thanks for that, Andrew. I think what he’s trying to say is that our ‘luggers’ work hard—really hard—every single day. They come home covered in dust and sweat and dirt, muscles sore from all of the heavy lifting, and they still come back in the morning, clean and ready for another day of lugging. We’ve basically got a team of rockstars, if we may say so ourselves.
Needless to say, Andrew is happy being back in the office, and we’re happy to have him!
Welcome to the team, Andrew!

65,000 Chihuahuas

josh — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:54:08 +0000

Since I’ve been writing for this blog I’ve been thinking an awful lot about junk. Other peoples junk. Especially the amazing things my friends and acquaintances have owned over the years that I have coveted. A childhood babysitter of mine slept in a black lacquered waterbed that I fantasized about nightly while laying in my own pathetic little box spring deal. A good friend owned a fuzzy magenta sofa that featured completely mirrored front and sides. Functional and easy to clean! It goes without saying that if you get me a gift it should be both tacky and reflective.
Thinking of others trash that could be my treasure made me recollect the Collyer Brothers. Homer and Langley, hoarders royale, were a couple of kooky eccentrics that lived in a brownstone up in Harlem on Fifth Avenue. Over the course of several years these gentlemen amassed an impressive 130 tons of trash, tchotchke and other curiosities. 130 tons. For those of you who, like me, took Dangerous Minds math classes in high school because your brain just doesn’t work that way, that is 260,000 pounds. 31,000 gallons of milk. Not skim – ew. Or roughly 65,000 chihuahuas.
Luckily, no chihuahuas were found in the Collyer brothers home. But 25,000+ books, jarred pickled human organs, an old Model T chassis and 14 pianos were. Imagine if Junkluggers had been around to clear and then donate all of those amazing things! Wanna know what else was found? Any guesses? That’s right, the Collyer Brothers. Yes, in late March 1947 Harlemites began complaining of suspicious smells wafting from the home. Poor old Homer, who was a near blind invalid, was discovered dead from cardiac arrest. Langley was nowhere to be found and only days later did police discover the poor guy, long gone, crushed under a pile of suitcases and newspaper stacks. An apparent booby trap he himself had set to capture burglars. Can you imagine if Kevin McAllister had fallen prey to his own booby traps in Home Alone? The world would have been robbed of an amazing sequel.
If only Junkluggers had been around to help the Collyer brothers clear away their impending doom. The moral? Not only is Junkluggers an amazing removal company…they can also save lives!

You are what you keep?

josh — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 22:45:09 +0000

Since the early 19th century Americans have been obsessed with dieting. We take extreme measures to shrink our waistlines and purge ourselves of toxins to create more healthy and happy bodies. We use mantras such as ‘You are what you eat!’ to help remind us to put down that second artisnal cupcake (or that second helping of squirrel pie perhaps if you were said early Americans). As I was doing a spring-clean recently -ok, it was mid-July- I began to look at all of the things I had accumulated over the past several years in my long-term apartment and began to wonder…if we are what we eat are we therefore also what we keep?

Just as those pioneer Americans worried about their ever increasing caloric intake and what it was doing to their figures and health, we early 21st century Americans are beginning to hardcore obsess over our hoarding tendencies and what it is doing to our ever diminishing floorspace and swelling closets. Is hoarding the new fat? At least once a year I try to go through my closets and purge myself of items, big and small, that I no longer really need or use. I’m talking to you BoomBox. What i usually end up throwing out are stacks of old newspapers, way past due bills and the odd piece of clothing that I’ve finally given up on ever fitting into next year. I go in full throttle with the greatest of intentions to PARE DOWN my load yet I still end up with the same junk just now in neater stacks.

What remains makes me question heavily why I’m holding on for dear life to these things. My old home-recorded VHS copy of the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics Ladies Free Skate. Do I need to watch Oksana Baiul dominate then American hero Nancy Kerrigan one more time? I don’t even own a VCR but maybe someone out there will. Maybe time to add that to my list of needs on my online dating profile. Do I need that shattered Fiddler On The Roof figurine I received as a gift in high school? Will I ever piece it back together again or just continue to haul around the sad sack of jingling ceramic shards? The jury is out on that one. How about that giant BoomBox that only still works on FM stations IF you put a brick on the top left side? If I am what I keep, what do these relics say about me?
What does your junk say about you

My Lugable

josh — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:03:53 +0000

On those sweltering summer days when you just can’t bear to leave the house, grab a cold drink and tune in to some of these great movies and TV series about junk.

Sunshine Cleaning(fiction)

Hilarious and touching indie comedy about bio-hazard lugging. Unfortunately, Junkluggers does not offer this service.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862846/

Wasteland (documentary)

There’s a whole village of people who live in the Rio de Janeiro dumps, called “pickers” – they pick through the trash to recover the materials that are worth money. Sustainable materials managers exist at all levels of society, in all corners of the world!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1268204/

American Pickers (TV)

We’ve got pickers in this country, too! Mike and Frank drive all through the back roads of the Midwest, following their guts to treasures buried on old farms and hidden in old barns (and by gut I mean rusted out cars in the front yard). The guys are silly, but they’re just as passionate about sustainable materials management as we are at the Junkluggers!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596786

The Story of Stuff (documentary short)

If you haven’t seen this short animated documentary about the lifecycle of material goods, now is the time. The creators have since expanded their reach with a whole series of “stories” on other topics, such as cosmetics, bottled water, and electronics. Great for kids and adults.

http://storyofstuff.org

By Haley Rogers

Who threw out the Spinach? Boop-boop-de-doop-oop!

josh — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:31:19 +0000

As you can probably imagine, going into people’s homes and removing unwanted items entails a lot of furniture, miscellaneous houseware, and general knick-knacks. Been there, done that—all in a day’s work. However, every once in a while, we come across truly bizarre items that you can’t help shake your head and laugh. We do our best to keep track of these items, taking photos or sending out company-wide e-mails telling about our find-of-the-day. These finds definitely add a little spice to our day, but the part we just can’t get over is how these things got there in the first place…

How did someone manage to collect and store over 100 vintage hats in their apartment? What makes a person look at an eight-foot gong and think: “Yes! That is the perfect piece for my living room!”? Where does one acquire seven-foot high, wooden cut-outs of Popeye and Betty Boop?

Just last week, we removed not one, not two, but five vintage cigarette machines from a basement in Westchester County. And not too long ago, we found the remains of a helicopter in the backyard of a home in a residential neighborhood in Connecticut. And this week we have a job lined up to remove eleven overgrown trees from inside a NYC apartment. Who’d’ve thought?

What we are finding, time after time, is that these items are often the burden of past tenants, and not the belongings of the customers who call it in to get it ‘lugged’ away—or at least that’s what they tell us! Regardless, they are always anxious to get it removed from their home, as these items often have not served a purpose (besides dinner party topics) for years, sometimes decades!

Maybe the time has come to re-think the life-size space-trooper in the living room. Or the six-foot tall birdcage in the garage that… well, used to have a bird— twelve years ago. Or maybe even the wardrobe-full of disco suits and platform shoes that you used to sport back in your “Funky Town” days. You’ll free up some space in your home, and if you’re lucky, your items may even make our ‘find-of-the-day’ Lugger list!

By Teal Frost

Donations, Donations, Donations!!

josh — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:56:49 +0000

An e-mail was sent out company-wide earlier this week letting everyone know Build It Green (a Queens-based donation center) accepted 90% of a full truckload of ’junk’. Moments later, a second e-mail came in from one of our trucks that they were able to donate 75% and recycle the remaining 25% of a truckload, resulting in absolutely nothing being taken to the landfill. If that doesn’t demonstrate The Junkluggers’ mission for eco-friendly junk removal, I don’t know what does!

When I first took the Relationship Manager position with The Junkluggers, I was told the company motto is “to keep as much out of the landfill as possible.” With only a few weeks under my belt with The Junkluggers, it has quickly become apparent to me that our motto isn’t something we just say, but rather a way of life.

And the best part about it? It’s so simple! All it takes is a little conscious effort for you to do your part.

So, how will you contribute?

Will you finally clean out your closet and donate some of those clothes that you haven’t worn for years?
Or is it time to clean out your garage or basement, because you know there are a few items in there that another family would love to have?

That one couch you donate could turn into the place where lifelong memories are created for another family, or that baseball glove you donate could help a shy child learn how to play baseball and make hundreds of lasting friendships.

Do your part to make the world a better place– There are plenty of opportunities for each and every one of us to make a difference, and all it takes to find them is a little conscious effort. Open your eyes and see that the ‘junk’ you have may be another family’s treasure!

By Zak Raffel
Junklugger’s Relationship Manager

Simply Organize It! Radio Interview with Junkluggers CEO Josh Cohen

josh — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:32:16 +0000

Amy Van Arsdale of WSTC/WNLK AM radio in Connecticut is a professional organizer with her own Saturday morning radio show. After seeing the green Junkluggers trucks all over her neighborhood, she did a little research into who we are and what we do, and decided that her listeners needed to know more about Junkluggers!

Click on the link below to listen to the half-hour episode.

Simply Organize It! June 6, 2011

Talking Trash with Haley, the Lone Star Superstar

josh — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:30:35 +0000

This summer there’s a new disposal czar in town, and she’s got a battle plan for the war on indiscriminate dumping!

Our new hire Haley started her training with Junkluggers right on the front lines. In her words, “I was lucky enough to pass the hazing (er, I mean lugging) where I met many hardworking Luggers!” Haley’s firsthand experience with the day-to-day mission of Junkluggers will be the foundation for the next phase of her engagement with us, supporting the team by reinforcing one of our core values, “keeping it green”:

1) to evaluate Junkluggers’ current waste stream and disposal strategies

2) to expand and improve our donation and recycling efforts

3) to create a customer and employee education program on recycling

The bottom line? In her own words, Haley is, “so happy to be here, to help [Junkluggers] sustainably manage the hell out of those materials!”

She will be assisting the team by researching answers to all the recycling, donating and disposal questions that come up this summer. But Haley isn’t just improving our efforts to divert materials from landfills for the next three months – she’ll catalog that information in an extensive database on disposal centers and strategies that will help us year-round.

Before we give you the impression that she’s all business and no fun, read this note, from Haley to you!:

Just to give you a little background about myself, I am originally from north Texas (woo Mavs!), but lived and worked in Austin, California, and Mexico City before moving to New York City one year ago. I just finished a masters program in environmental science and policy, where I focused on solid & hazardous waste management. What can I say? I love trash!

A little tidbit: “Don’t Mess With Texas” is actually an anti-litter campaign (get it?) started in the 80′s, not an unchecked show of bravado. Good stuff: http://dontmesswithtexas.org/view-ads.

Thank you to everyone for making me feel like a part of the team. I look forward to many more exciting adventures with The Junkluggers!

Big Jewcy: The Junkluggers – Lug Life Ain’t Easy

josh — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:56:37 +0000

By Merisa Fink / June 6, 2011

Josh Cohen, Josh Krisher and Asher Fink are the CEO, CFO and COO of The Junkluggers, LLC. The Junkluggers is a junk-removal company that focuses heavily on donations and recycling to keep as much junk out of the landfills as possible. The business is growing rapidly without compromising its integrity. These menches make all our mothers proud.

Despite a very-real long-standing Ramah-camps rivalry, these three Ramah Palmer guys sat down with this Ramah Berkshires girl, offering an olive branch and an interview for the sake of common ground: The Big Jewcy.

You three met at Camp Ramah Palmer (eyeroll). What camp activity do you think best prepared you for junk lugging?

JC: Definitely pre-visiting day nikayon. (Translation: Cleaning time.) Those bunks accumulated an impressive amount of junk over the course of one month. Plus, we had to make room for all the stuff we were preparing to steal from your bunks on our visit to Ramah Berkshires.

Charming. Nice Jewish boys in the junk-lugging industry is kind-of perplexing; how did The Junkluggers get its start?

JC: During college, a family friend needed a couch removed from her house, and enlisting my parents’ pick up, I helped her out. She gave me cash. A light-bulb went off.

The Junkluggers does a lot of mitzvahs – it donates and recycles tons – literally – keeping lots out of the landfills. Would it be fair to call Junklugger trucks “mitzvah-mobiles”? If so, can we graffiti them as such?

JC: We employ really big guys. We’ll come after you.

Josh Krisher -word on the street is that you’re single. What kind of girl would you like to lug?

JK: Someone who appreciates my occasional sexy caveman beard.

Josh Cohen – you’ve recently begun calling yourself “Shuki” – the Israeli nickname for Josh. This reminds me of when our forefather Jacob adopted the alternative name “Israel”. How are the two stories similar?

JC: I’m reconnecting with my Jewish roots. Don’t hate.

Asher, you served in the US military before becoming the COO of The Junkluggers. How do those army skills serve you in this capacity?

AF: I was surprised to find that many of the same skills apply – leadership, small and large scale operations, sometimes dirty jobs, big picture thinking, and team work. I love the challenge of it.

JC: We actually love working with army vets because of those skills, and are always looking for new luggers with military experience. If you know one – send them our way!

Nu? Are the Junkluggers going to take over the world?

One lug at a time.

Thank you, Jewcy.com!

Asher Fink, Josh Cohen and Josh Krisher