An incredible waste of time, money and energy…

On my walk this morning I noticed two guys in a car stop in front of a few recycling bins waiting on the side of the road for the recycling truck.

They hopped out and went through the bins looking for bottles worth a nickel when redeemed.

At first I thought..."huh, never seen anyone in a car do that".  Then as I continued my walk I did some quick math.

If they found 1000 bottles they would earn $50.   The car would cost at least $30 to fill up and there were TWO guys!...(not kids...grown men).

Now I have no idea how long it takes them to find 1000 bottles worth a nickel but I can't help but think there are better and more productive ways to earn $50.

Don't get me wrong, I admire these guys for their motivation and drive but if they were to redirect that motivation and drive into something with a longer term benefit it would be much more profitable for them.

Like what?

Well, they obviously don't mind driving.  A paper route comes to mind.  The days of the kid on a bike are long gone...around here any way.  All of them are now delivered by car.  Two guys could deliver a LOT of papers...one to drive and one to toss.

They don't care what people will think of them as they go through trash cans.  Granted this all happened between 7 and 7:30 am so not many saw them but I'd guess you need to swallow some pride to do it.  This pride swallowing ability (or maybe it's high self-esteem) opens up a world of possibilities.

Door to door sales.  Cold calling business people to sell them something.  Any commissioned sales.

They could deliver advertising for small local businesses.  We've all seen those Val-Pak mailings with dozens of coupons that the mail carrier delivers.  Same idea but they could deliver coupons on door hangers in the same neighborhoods.

I hope they read this and get some ideas but at the very least I hope it made YOU think.

Are you wasting time, money and energy on projects with no long-term benefit?

Get thinking!