Scoops Pet Waste Management is fast becoming an East Bay favorite.
PLEASANT HILL, Calif., Sept. 13, 2007 — When Jason Templer was a kid and hated cleaning up after his two labrador retrievers, he never imagined that one day, that would be what paid his bills, and he would be a professional scooper.
"It’s totally ironic," said Templer, 32, who spends his days servicing clients in Contra Costa County from Concord to San Ramon.
He started his business, Scoops Pet Waste Management Services, this year, and although people make jokes about his line of work, Templer has the last laugh — at most jobs he’s making almost $1 a minute.
"In the big picture, it’s just a business, like any other business," he said. "I’m giving people time. They can think of two million things they’d rather be doing."
Templer’s company is based in his Pleasant Hill home, and he runs the company with the help of his ‘Vice President of Operations’ - Harley (a seven-year-old black labrador retriever).
Templer uses a rake and dust pan to collect the waste, which he puts in a bag and takes home to a special dumpster. For weekly service, customers pay an average of $65 a month.
Jason Templer is on to something.
On PuppySites.com (http://puppysites.com), a "dog lover’s online directory," there are 63 companies advertising pet waste removal services.
The Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists, or aPaws, claims over 100 active members.
The 30-year-old industry probably includes about 300 companies in the United States and Canada. New companies are appearing across the country every month.
The group has recently started fielding calls from overseas companies interested in membership.
Pooper-scoopers come together at annual aPaws conventions, where they discuss technology, health concerns and other pressing industry issues.
Americans own about 73 million dogs, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association 2005-2006 National Pet Owners Survey. Twenty-three percent of pet owners have two dogs. Like landscaping and snow removal, hiring someone to cart away doggy doo-doo has more to do with time than laziness, Templer said. "It’s just a convenient service. This business is slowly becoming more common in the public’s eye."
"I’m getting good reception because there’s no one to do it," Templer said. "A lot of people say, ‘I’ll have my kids do it,’ and they don’t want to do it, and it just don’t get done. Consequently health risks to the pets and their families - children in particular, will increase."
The biggest risks, said Templer, are medical. It’s possible to transport parasites from yard to yard and dog to dog, via waste removal equipment or the bottoms of shoes.
However, Templer ensures that all Scoops clients are protected by the company’s policy to sanitize all equipment and shoes between each customer visit throughout the day. This prevents transmission from site to site.
Scoops’ first customer was actually Templer’s own mother Christine, who has been a Scoops customer since its inception, and is more than satisfied.
"I have a yellow labrador, and am so busy all of the time, it’s hard to keep up," said Mrs. Templer, who lives in Antioch. "My husband won’t pick it up — we both work — so we hired Jason’s service to come once a week. Sometimes in the summer, I’ll ask him to come the day before (a gathering) so the yard is cleaned up for company. It is so much easier to have one less thing to deal with. Its been great."
After working for years in public relations and the financial services industry, Templer is thrilled to be his own boss.
"I can honestly tell you that when I wake up every day I love going to work with my clients and seeing their pets. While this it isn’t exactly what I dreamed of doing when I was a kid, I love it and love owning my own business," he said.
Scoops Pet Waste Management Services is based in Pleasant Hill, California and can be reached at 888-736-POOP or on the Internet at http://www.scoopsca.net
Contact:
Jason Templer 888-736-7667
