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Bagging Success: The Journey of a Dumpster Bag Startup

Writer's picture: Justin HubbardJustin Hubbard

Updated: Nov 21, 2024

Welcome to our newsletter! I want to take you back a few years, nearly six at this point, to a time when we were subcontracted to pick up those green Waste Management Bagster. WM didn’t have a presence in our area, but they sold those Bagster dumpster bags nationwide. People would go to Home Depot or their local hardware store, grab a Bagster, fill it with junk, and then call Waste Management to get it picked up. Since they didn’t operate here directly, they contracted with local haulers like us.

 

During those years we held the contract, we must have picked up a couple thousand bags. The kicker: back then, we didn’t even have roll-off dumpster trucks. We had one regular dump truck, so we fixed a winch system to the back, lowered our ramps, and used that setup to pull up each Bagster. It was labor-intensive and took time, but it worked, and it kept our trucks on the road while we were building the business.

 

I learned a ton about consumer behavior—how some people follow the rules perfectly and others, well, not so much. It became a “law of averages” game. Some bags were packed with heavy junk and pushed the limits, while others barely weighed anything. Over time, it all averaged out, and it was a profitable deal.

 

One big advantage we had was our quick, strategic thinking. Whenever a truck was scheduled to pick up bags, if a same-day job came up along that route, we could divert it. Those small routing adjustments added up and pushed our profit margins higher.

 

But as I went through this, I kept thinking, “Why couldn’t I do this? Why couldn’t I create a better version of this bag?” We had spoken to over a thousand customers who’d used the Bagster, and I’d listened carefully to their feedback. Armed with those insights, I went back to the drawing board and designed my own version of a dumpster bag.

 

Instead of sticking with the small rectangular shape, I created a square bag, over twice the size of the Bagster. Customers could now throw away bulkier items and feel like they were getting more for their money. After running the numbers, I saw that I could sell one-third of my own bags and make the same profit as if I were still picking up 100% of Waste Management’s bags. That meant less work, less wear on our trucks, and a long-term advantage.

 

I started by testing a small batch from a manufacturer in China. We made an identical replica of the Bagster bag just to ensure the quality of the production. Testing on a small scale helped minimize risk, and once we were satisfied with the quality, I went back to the drawing board with a new design. More loops, improved durability—little tweaks that made the bag more user-friendly. We put our own bags out there, got incredible feedback, and just kept it rolling from there.

 

The takeaway here is simple: just because a big corporation is doing something doesn’t mean you can’t step in with your own solution. As a small player, you have an advantage—speed and agility. You can talk directly with customers, collect authentic feedback, and make decisions in real-time. You can test products and pricing barriers on a small scale without all the bureaucracy of a large company. And if you see success, you can double down with marketing dollars and take market share right from under the bigger guys.

 

My journey from picking up Bagsters with a modified dump truck to creating my own dumpster bags wasn’t overnight. It took years, countless small steps, reimagining, repositioning, and learning.

 

But looking back, every single step mattered, and it’s a reminder that sometimes, the best ideas come from simply doing the work right in front of you.✌️

Justin Hubbard

Justin Hubbard


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