Just curious. I've fallen on hard times, and I have actually heard these people can make over $100 a day for a few hours. I am seriously thinking of alternate ways of making a living.
Essentially you'd need 1000 bottles to make $100, you'd be looking at 300 bottles an hour to make $100 in a few hours (5 bottles a minute). Unless you're at a festival I doubt that's obtainable.
3 large leaf bags nets me about $25 (max). So you're looking at a small pick up load a day to get into the $100 range.
Curious to hear real life experiences.
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At 10 cents per bottle that's 1000 bottles bet day or 120 an hour which is 2 per minute.
Forget that. Too much work for too little. Came across a thread, and it seems old Asian couples in the suburbs are doing it to supplement their pension money:
Seriously, it's hard, competitive work. $100 for a few hours seems about 10x too high per my observation and very brief experience. It's also location and season sensitive ie: long summer days at beaches/parks >>> freezing winters/sidewalks.
I've always wondered how the guy who always comes through my neighbourhood on recycling day does. Seems plausible to eek out a living with all the bins lined up. Give him mad props too. Always cleans up nicely after combing through everyone's bins. I've started trying to make it easy and separate them into a bag on top.
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If you wanted to put effort into it you could contact apartment building members and small offices and offer to collect there bottles. You might get a decent day a week of work out of it.
Worked with a guy years ago his brother had agreements with construction companies to go around and pick up the bottles after work hours he maid something like 800 a week.
I've always wondered how the guy who always comes through my neighbourhood on recycling day does. Seems plausible to eek out a living with all the bins lined up. Give him mad props too. Always cleans up nicely after combing through everyone's bins. I've started trying to make it easy and separate them into a bag on top.
Lucky. Mine, an older Asian woman, dumps garbage on the ground, leaves the bins open and pees in the alley. Kid you not.
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The real thing is that nature finds a way to look after problems. These people aren't bottle pickers but recyclers. They are really carrying out a service.
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Bottle pickers have always fascinated me. I refer to them as "The Oxen of Society".
My "bottle guy" is a deaf mute elderly guy who I see every couple of weeks. Obviously communication is limited so I hardly know anything about him except that he always has a smile and puts in a hard days work. I heard his wife is also a picker but they work separately.
I'd imagine how well a picker does could really vary. My guess would be that the biggest factor would be lifestyle. A guy going for 6 bucks to drink a Big Bear by the river would cash out sooner than the guy who needs 40 bucks for his daily junk.
I've seen so many people lately picking bottles. Visited the Foothills hospital this week and stopped by the Timmies across the street and there was this old white lady (not sure why race matters, but apparently it does in this thread) going through the garbage for cans.
I couldn't help but think what circumstances led her to do this because she seemed very clean and just like an ordinary grandma with white hair. I gave her 5 bucks and she was very grateful. This economy is in the drains, and the energy of this city seems drained as well. I wonder how long this will last because I hope we've seen the worst.
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I remember watching the Alberta addiction episode on Vice and the fentenyl addicts said they can get like $50 a morning standing in front of Tim's panhandling...
Bottle Picking: Can it be lucrative?
