ITD generosity helps create junk removal empire

You never know what will attract national attention. Sometimes you don’t even need to pursue notoriety, it just lands in your lap.

ITD played a minor role in a television segment that aired this week on ABC’s Nightline news magazine program. But you had to listen carefully to hear it.

Nightline was exploring the birth of a new business that specializes in removing accumulations of junk from homes and storage facilities. 1-800-GOT-JUNK began in Vancouver, B.C. and has grown into a multi-million dollar enterprise.

Reporters Neal Karlinsky and Wendy Brundige described the junk hauling firm as the "Starbucks of trash.”

"I’m surprised nobody thought about it,” said founder Brian Scudamore. "I mean, I’m a high school dropout, a university dropout. It’s such a simple idea, how did it become what it is today?”

The junk collection hauler owes a small part of its success to ITD. Apparently, ITD had his number.

“As his business grew, he thought a catchy phone number like 1-800-GOT-JUNK’ (1-800-468-5865) would work better as a company name,” Nightline reporters said. “But at first, the number was taken and actually rang to the Idaho Department of Transportation. Scudamore said 60 phone calls later, he convinced them to let him have the number.”

So, through the generosity of ITD, a highly successful international company was born.

And ITD, along with the department’s logo, found their way onto national television.

See the Nightline story

Published 8-26-2011