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Man Negotiates Own Trash Price

Nicole Ebat

PLATTSMOUTH, NEB.(KPTM)--

Seeing extra charges on any bill can be enough to have anyone seeing red, but instead of stewing about it, have you ever tried just asking for a better price?

"Every trash company I've ever had they get ya a low rate and then eventually they climb or they add a fuel surcharge or something," said John Kool as he pulled his trash bin back toward his house.

That's exactly what happened again. Over the past several months, his bill had been steadily rising. 

So when he got a better offer in the mail from another company, he planned on taking his current company out to the curb.

   "I'm paying like $104 every quarter and I can get it for $56 or $58 every quarter, that's not exactly half price, but it'd save me almost $200 bucks a year,"he said.
  

But when he called them up to cancel:

   "I asked when my last pickup date would be and I said I'm planning on changing and they said, well before you go we'll match the price and lock it in for two years, I said well, I can't really argue with that although I don't know whether to be happy or to be mad that you didn't offer it to us anyways"
  

Of course word spread around the neighborhood.
  

"All of a sudden we had let's make a deal with the trash company," said Judy Pasko.
  

These guys aren't planning on just leaving this newfound technique in the trash.

   "Hey it worked and I'm gonna try it again anytime I get a chance!"said Pasko.
  

They just wish they weren't the ones that had to make the call in the first place.

"It'd be nice if they had called and offered the deal because if they can lower our rates when we call and complain they have to be making a lot of money off of us,"said Pasko.
  

But they admit it was a good lesson.

"Maybe customers need to just know that everything is negotiable," said Kool.
  

And it never hurts to ask.

Companies take note: KPTM did talk to one person whose trash company wouldn't lower her rates when she asked, so she just left for a different one.