When Barry Hartman broke his ankle playing college soccer, he was bed-ridden for months. At first, he didn’t know what to do with his time. Like a normal college student, he could have honed his video game skills, learned every line from “Animal House” or refined his tastes as a potato chip connoisseur. Instead, Barry did something abnormal. He worked on a business plan that would soon propel him and his future co-founder into the competitive world of professional junk collection.
Barry had a feeling he was onto something big, so he recruited Scott Foran, a Kwantlen Polytechnic University classmate, to join his team. Scott helped finish the business plan—one that would differentiate them from the dozens of existing junk collection companies. Together, they would create a modern, transparent, customer-focused enterprise built around onsite Legal for Trade weighments. Competitors charged based on volumetric approximations (such as half of a truckload). However, this approach is prone to subjective assessments, higher-than-estimated charges and customer dissatisfaction. Using weight for customers’ junk provides a scientific, professional and verifiable method for straightforward transactions. The only thing standing in Barry and Scott’s path was one minor detail: they had no idea if a Legal for Trade onboard scale existed.
Unsure where to look, they hired a team at the university to conduct research, calculate operating costs and present the best options. They returned with only one product: Rice Lake’s TradeRoute onboard weighing system. The only Legal for Trade onboard vehicle scale in North America, TradeRoute was a perfect prescription to bring their original vision into clear sight. Barry and Scott decided to build their company, 505-JUNK, on its sturdy, frame-hugging shoulders.
505-JUNK co-founders Scott Foran (left) and Barry Hartman (right) ride the roads of Vancouver, Canada with TradeRoute.
They contacted Scott Trewella, foreman with Richmond Scale Ltd. in Delta, British Columbia. He worked with a local truck equipment installer to integrate TradeRoute, then performed the calibration. “We went through every possible test to try to make it fail and we couldn’t,” Scott recalls. “We put it through front-back twisting and crazy pitches. The truck was almost tipping over and TradeRoute still worked. It returned to zero every time. TradeRoute’s performance is amazing.” TradeRoute was ready to roll.
505-JUNK was off to the races. Barry and Scott were sure their business would be successful, but it was not easy to break into a market dominated by big-named veterans. A modern company with a modern approach, 505-JUNK embraced social media marketing and search engine optimization (SEO). They made themselves easy to find amongst the sea of search results, as well as easy to book.
