Real Music & Real Estate . . .

Yiddishe Cup’s bandleader, Bert Stratton, is Klezmer Guy.
 

He knows about the band biz and – check this out – the real estate biz, too.
 

You may not care about the real estate biz. Hey, you may not care about the band biz. (See you.)
 

This is a blog with a gamy twist. It features tenants with snakes and skunks, and musicians with smoked fish in their pockets.
 

Stratton has written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post.


 
 

TRASH

by Bert Stratton

 
Waste Management wants $2035.24 for taking away my old dumpsters. I rent the dumpsters for trash removal at my apartment buildings. I’m on a lease. (Landlords can be tenants!)

I’ve used WM for 13 years. Do they still love me? No, they regularly overcharge me, assessing extra charges (“overages”) because my dumpsters are too full.

I think I’ll take my dumpster needs and talents to Rumpke. Ever heard of them? Fun name. Rumpke is a regional company, out of Cincinnati. Rumpke say they won’t charge me overage fees or removal fees when my lease is up.

But what to do about the $2035.24 the gonifs in Chicago (WM’s HQ) want? Two grand to take away my 11 dumpsters? Should I ignore Chi? Maybe WM will forget about me. WM is huge; there are even WM dumpsters in Japan; I’ve seen it in the movies.

Garbage haulers and coin-op laundry guys . . . they’re  all originally Mob-related, started decades ago. I remember a coin-op laundry operator from Chicago trying to turn me into an indentured servant. It was almost impossible to get out of the contract with them. (“Coin-op” refers to rental washers and dryers in my buildings.)

I’m not thrilled about sending $2035.24 to Carol Stream, Illinois. Is that a real town or just a Mob post office in the middle of nowhere?

—

Update: WM didn’t forget about me, and I paid half, $1017.62. Matter settled.

 

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2 comments

1 Doug { 04.02.25 at 1:05 pm }

I wouldn’t use Rumpke. I did, and they often skip service. We are switching to Pete and Pete

2 marc { 04.02.25 at 2:20 pm }

Funny you should mention it. I just got over negotiating with WM and a local company. I learned there is no such thing as a contract with them. Its an agreement. You can sign for 3 years but they can raise your price every year. We signed an agreement with a local company and told WM to remove the dumpsters. They came back with an offer we couldn’t refuse about 20% less then we had been paying. The local guy couldn’t match the price so now we have to pay the local guy $150 to remove 2 dumpsters. The local guy says we are unethical because we used him to negotiate a lower price. But thats how business works.

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