What The Trash Will Tell You.
What The Trash Will Tell You.
Welcome to the property management blog, PhoneSmart’s diary of the world of renting space.
On nice days I ride my bicycle to the office. It is about an 8 mile run one way. Much of it is on biking and walking trails and some of it is through shopping and office areas. I cross two or three dangerous intersections, but most of the ride is a joy. I find the view of the world you get from a bicycle is very interesting. You see so many things you miss when you are driving your car. I notice a lot of litter. Of course it is sad that some people think the world is their trash can, but you can discover some interesting things. I noticed today that the two most common kinds of road litter are alcoholic beverage containers and scratch-off lottery tickets.
I understand why people pitch their beer and liquor bottles from their cars. They don’t want to risk being stopped by authorities with open containers in their cars. That could be trouble. Yes it would seem more pleasant to have a few drinks somewhere more comfortable and safer than your car, but I guess that is human nature for you.
But why scratch-off lottery tickets? I imagine people spending a few dollars thinking they are probably wasting their money, but hoping for that five thousand dollar hit. An aunt of a friend of mine won five thousand dollars on a scratch-off ticket when I was a kid and she took all her nieces and nephews to DisneyWorld for a week. Isn’t that a cool story? Well I can imagine all those people who scratch on their tickets and win nothing again are pretty annoyed at themselves and at their luck and pitch the ticket out the window in disgust, so as to not be reminded of their misfortune.
What does any of this have to do with your projects? You staff sees a lot of trashwhile cleaning the building, neatening up the gorunds and getting the trash bins ready for servicing. The kinds of trash you find on your grounds will tell you a lot about your neighborhood, neighbors and tenants. The trash that gets in your bins also tells you a lot about your tenants. Your cleaning staff may know many, many interesting and valuable things about your project and your tenants that could help you manage your property. Ask them to pay attention and report to you.
bye for now,
Tron
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