Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Knight Transfer Inc. Link

Dumpstr Xpress and Knight Transfer go by different names but are truly one and the same when it comes to outstanding service and exceptional value. Knight Transfer operates in the lower 1/3 of the state in Michigan, providing waste hauling service. They offer 10 yd 20 yd and 30 yd containers and they do have a limited supply of 40 yd containers. Their number 616-748-9878 or 888-386-7787 the link to their web site is: http://www.dumpstr.com/

Gas prices, bad economy and 2009 OH MY!

Good morning everyone!

I have started my day earlier than normal...which is great because that means I will be home to usher in 2009 with my husband and daughter a little earlier too! With only a small numbers of hours left in 2008 I thought I'd hunt around the Internet to see what is making headlines this morning. Here is what I found.

Fox News: Oil Falls to $37, Down More Than 60% in 2008 - The United States saw its worst job market in 16 years hammer consumer confidence to a record low in December, the shopping season was the worst since at least 1970, and prices of U.S. single-family homes in October fell a record 18% from a year earlier.

Fox News: AIG May Ask Fed to Ease Rules On Disposals (take a moment to absorb that one..I won't pontificate on that subject, to put it simply the answer should be NO, it's tax payer money, they should not be allowed to do whatever they want with it!)

CNN: 2009: Nowhere to go but up! (love it!)
2008, witnessed four of the five worst market days ever in the Dow Jones industrial average - but also the three largest increases. Loving it even more! What do we have to learn from this? The market goes up and down! Stay lean, stay alert, stay in BUSINESS! In the second half of 2009, most analysts believe the market will begin to rise more consistently, as economic indicators start showing improvement in key areas of construction, housing, retail sales and credit.

MSNBC: Interesting poll on their web regarding the over all reader opinion on 2008, bear in mind this was not a scientific poll but interesting non the less. (this information was taken from their web @ 09:27 a.m. EST)

How would you describe the past year for you personally? 11298 responses
Great13%
Fine19%
OK28%
Poor21%
Terrible20%

How would you describe the past year for your country? * 11292 responses
Great1.8%
Fine3.9%
OK13%
Poor42%
Terrible40%

How would you describe the past year for the world? * 11321 responses
Great1%
Fine2.2%
OK15%
Poor46%
Lousy36%

What this humble blogger sees is that we are all overwhelmed by 2008 it's up's and down's, the loss of jobs, the financial struggles, the lousy sales for the holiday season (though there were amazing deals out there!) Perhaps realizing that you aren't alone won't make you less stressed when you can't pay your mortgage or when you have to juggle bills to buy groceries, but seeing that there has to be a collective, responsible, well organized plan for recovery from everyone hopefully will put in place a small bit of peace. In closing I wish everyone a safe New Years eve, and let's all welcome 2009 with open arms and make the most of every opportunity we get.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Just a bit of fun!

The full list of Lake Superior State's 2009 list of banished words:
-- green
-- carbon footprint or carbon offsetting
-- maverick
-- first dude
-- bailout
-- Wall Street/Main Street
-- monkey
-- 3 (Emoticon for 'heart' used in text messages and e-mail.)
-- icon or iconic
-- game changer
-- staycation
-- desperate search
-- not so much
-- winner of five nominations
-- it's that time of year again
Sadly I am known to throw the <3 out there and "it's that time of year again"...I use that one all the time!

The sky is falling...

Or is this much ado about nothing? http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/106331/ read the article and you decide. What I will say working in an industry that is driven by construction what we are seeing is, companies large and small have retooled their efforts, case in point is 12/31/08 both Knight Transfer Inc, (based in Michigan) and Dumpstr Xpress, Inc. (based in Arizona) are set to have very heavy days, from previous jobs during the holidays there has been a feeling of "Eh it's the holidays, let's give everyone the day off!" now, what I am hearing more and more is "When we have the work, let's work, because who knows if we'll have it again!" Perhaps a sluggish (if not stalled) economy will help all of us work harder, smarter, and maybe even thin the heard so to speak regarding the "not so go getters" of the world! These are scary times no doubt about it! But one thing to remember we are all in this together, when the dust clears (and it will!) who will be left standing? The people who had the stomach for change and the companies that did everything they could to survive. One more suggestion before I climb down off of my soap box, every business person regardless of what field should read "The world is flat" Thomas L. Friedman. That's all Good day!

Monday, December 29, 2008

A New Twitter"er" looking for some direction!

My subject line makes me wonder if that is even a word? Or will the word Twitter become a part of our language (that is if it hasn't already!) I signed up for a twitter account with the intent of promoting our business and forming some relationships in our service area. While searching around I have found in my short time on the site that what seemed very impersonal is actually quite personable! I am learning a lot about my fellow Phoenix folks and enjoying every second of it! I stumbled upon an interesting blog post from www.chrisbrogan.com on twitter and business...enjoy!

First Steps
1.Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
2.Add a picture. We want to see you.
3.Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
4.Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
5.Share links to neat things in your community. ( @wholefoods does this well).
6.Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( @jetblue gives travel tips.)
7.Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
8.Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. ( @TheHomeDepot does it well.)
9.Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
10.Talk about non-business, too, like @astrout and @jstorerj from Mzinga.

Ideas About WHAT to Tweet
1.Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
2.Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
3.When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
4.Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
5.Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
6.Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
7.When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
8.Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
9.Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. - Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn).
10.Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too

Some Sanity For You
1.You don’t have to read every tweet.
2.You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).
3.Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation ( got this from @pistachio).
4.Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
5.3rd party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
6.If you tweet all day while your coworkers are busy, you’re going to hear about it.
7.If you’re representing clients and billing hours, and tweeting all the time, you might hear about it.
8.Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
9.If someone says you’re using twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
10.Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.

The Negatives People Will Throw At You
1.Twitter takes up time.
2.Twitter takes you away from other productive work.
3.Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
4.There are other ways to do this.
As Frank hears often, Twitter doesn’t replace customer service (Frank is @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he’s started.)
5.Twitter is buggy and not enterprise-ready.
6.Twitter is just for technonerds.
7.Twitter’s only a few million people. (only)
8.Twitter doesn’t replace direct email marketing.
9.Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping.
10.Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping

Some Positives to Throw Back
1.Twitter helps one organize great, instant meetups (tweetups).
2.Twitter works swell as an opinion poll.
3.Twitter can help direct people’s attention to good things.
4.Twitter at events helps people build an instant “backchannel.”
5.Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens).
6.Twitter gives businesses a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Remember presence in the 1990s?
7.Twitter brings great minds together, and gives you daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks).
8.Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them.
9.Twitter helps with business development, if your prospects are online (mine are).
10.Twitter can augment customer service. (but see above)

In such a volatile business environment we all need to find more inventive ways to "touch" our customers. Twitter seems to be a great way to do this. What are your thoughts?

Friday, December 26, 2008

Follow me on Twitter

www.twitter.com/dumpstrXpress

How do you reach us?

You can visit us on the web for a complete description of services and contact information. Our web page is: www.dxdumpsters.com

You can reach us via phone between the hours of 06:00 a.m. cst and 5:00 p.m. @ 602-252-4300 or toll free @ 800-386-7787

Or via email @ rwilson@dumpstr.com

What can't I put into the dumpster???

What can I put in the Dumpster?

You can place almost anything in our dumpster with the exception of the list below. The following items require special handling and may not be accepted at the landfill, or may be exempt by State law.

-Absolutely no liquids
-Solvents such as anti-freeze
-Tires, lead batteries
-Paint that is not dry
-Explosives
-Ammunition
-Chemicals
-Fertilizers
-Appliances with Freon or CFC's-Stumps-Trees/limbs greater than 4" diameter or 2 feet long.

What size do I need?

What size dumpster will I need?
10-cu. yd. is usually sufficient for those smaller clean up projects around the house that may be too much to place at your curb for your weekly hauler or just your garage, basement or attic. It may be just fine for a smaller home clean up, as well.

20-cu. yd. is a good, all around dumpster that fits well for a number of projects such as new construction, smaller demolition projects, a bigger estate clean up, or a really, really big house that hasn't been cleaned up in years.

30-cu. yd. is typically used for new home construction and larger projects home clean up projects that may have a lot of furniture or appliances involved. Also used for tearing down of porticos, small garages, decks, etc.

40-cu. yd. for construction jobs only

What does it cost?

Pricing is a factor of total time investment (figured on a round trip basis from the landfill to the jobsite and back to the landfill), landfill costs (figured on a tonnage basis….we utilize many different transfer stations and landfills), and equipment (figured on the type and size of dumpster container and the length of time it is required to stay on the jobsite). It is necessary, with all these different variables, to call the office for pricing for your specific job. We therefore consider the waste material from your job, the job location, and the duration of the job.

What Comes After, What Comes Next.....

What comes after...What comes next?

This is not a trick sentence. It is a process of thought that mandates an entire series of considerations before any action is undertaken. Since the beginning of our service, we have strategically innovated around three core concepts. Time, safety, and budget are basic parameters necessary for job success. During the past ten years, we have consistently demonstrated to clients, from the smallest to some of the largest state projects that we deliver exactly what we promise. The overwhelming benefits is shown in the trust our clients place in us daily to help them bring jobs in on time,with an unblemished safety record, and on budget!