Dirty vac money

[chaz]

Hi all, I recently started collecting the loose (dirty) change sucked into my vacs. Quite frankly I am just curious how much I will collect in a months time and at what effort. At this point, I am just picking up the obvious change I see in the debris area that I check twice a week. Looking for any thoughts on some type of strainer or other device that may be a quick and easy way to recover this change. My thought is to then donate this change to a local charity. Thanks.

 

[JustClean]

If you do your maths and check the time how long it takes to pick up a coin from the floor you'll get a great hourly rate - tax free!
However, I wouldn't go through the vacs. To risky getting stung...

 

[MEP001]

I was curious myself and built a sieve - I cut the bottoms out of two pails, cut a circle of 1/2" vinyl-coated hardware cloth about 3" bigger around than the bottom of the pail, bent the edges down over the upside down pail and jammed the other one over it. The only part that took any time at all was cutting out the bottoms.

I went through all the vacs every day and dumped the debris into the sieve - after the dirt was shaken through the light stuff on top was easy enough to pick up, and pretty much all that was left was the coins. After a week I had maybe $4 including the pennies, which was about half the total.

Not worth it to me. I did run a wash about 25 years ago in a different neighborhood where I could easily get about $10 a day just picking up the silver coins lying on top.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

I also built a sieve -- 2x4s and hardware cloth. Tried it for vac coins a few times, was definitely not worth the time, smell and subsequent shower. I keep the sieve in the attic though, so that I can offer to help sift vac dirt when a customer says they sucked up valuables. Side note: after offering to help them sift the dirt, only 1 person has ever wanted to do it.

 

[chaz]

Today I made a siffter and cleaned out all eight of my vacs, last cleaned on Friday. I drilled a series of holes in a Home Depot style bucket. The drill bit was just smaller than a dime. Took me about 45 minutes. Today's take averaged about 1.25 per vac, mostly pennies, but several quarters and a dollar coin. I am committed to this project once a week for the next 60 days. Further info to follow.

 

[Jeff_L]

I just have a retired guy come by once a week to clean out the vacs for me. In exchange, he gets to keep whatever he finds and my hands stay clean.

 

[Kevin James]

I just have a retired guy come by once a week to clean out the vacs for me. In exchange, he gets to keep whatever he finds and my hands stay clean.

I think Jeff L. has the right idea, get someone else to take the risk. The waste that is in the bottom of the vacuums is not worth the Health risk for me or any of our employees to be digging around in the waste from inside the vacuums. I had an employee one time that was told twice to not dig through the vacuum waste looking for coins. The third time I caught him I fired him on the spot.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

I just have a retired guy come by once a week to clean out the vacs for me. In exchange, he gets to keep whatever he finds and my hands stay clean.

We had a forum thread about this years ago, maybe its archived in the old forum database? (I didnt search.)
My recollection of my conclusion (trying not to speak for others ) was that this type of arrangement simply changed the risks. Like what if this "non-employee" who has an arrangement with the owner cuts his hand in the trash and it gets infected? What about the image of somebody going through your vacs/trash regularly? (I've gotten concerned citizen phone calls about that.) What about the slippery slope of this person starting to collect recycle cans, then hanging around offering to help people wash, etc etc. iirc these things happened to several of us in varying degrees.

Anyhow my conclusion was (and is) that I dont want a non-employee doing any type of "work" at my wash.

 

[Jeff_L]

Perhaps I'm just lucky? This gentleman does recycle from the trash cans and dumpster, and in trade he empties the trash and will even clean down my bays. He's retired, widowed, and has nothing to do during the days. My customers love him as they're always asking me about him.

You're right, it's a transfer of risk, but walking out my front door to get the mail is a risk too. I understand your viewpoint.

 

[chaz]

Here's a thought ..... Put the retired guy on payroll with a very minimum pay. He'd likely be thrilled and work even harder keeping the place clean, and he'd be covered under your workers comp, just in case.

 

[lightfoot]

Here's a thought ..... Put the retired guy on payroll with a very minimum pay. He'd likely be thrilled and work even harder keeping the place clean, and he'd be covered under your workers comp, just in case.

ain't it a shame to have to worry about crap like that and cover your ass in every instance?
being in business is just not as fun as it used to be.