At 123JUNK we want to create a culture where all the employees care about where the junk they haul away ends up. Not only does filling up the landfill harm the environment, but if we dumped everything hauled away, we would be taking thousands of dollars out of the pockets of charities we work with!
Preaching the importance of our Core Values may get some folks on board, but it’s really not enough. One fun tool we use to encourage our whole team to live our Core Values to the fullest is a bonus program called OPERATION DONATION.
This bonus program incentivizes our team to donate every single piece of decent “junk” they pick up by making it into a fun, competitive game. Each foreman competes against each other to see who donates the most throughout the course of a month. They can also volunteer time at one of our Charity Partners to get points towards the program. Whoever tallies the most donations and volunteer hours at the end of the month wins the title of DONATION KING. This not only gives the winner bragging rights – they also get a fairly hefty end of the month bonus!
Although we pay out a notable amount for OPERATION DONATION bonuses – real money that could go towards marketing or some other place that may have a more direct impact on our bottom line – we think that it’s one of the most valuable investments we make every month. Since we implemented the program we’ve seen drastic results in the amount of donations we accumulate on a weekly basis. Also, through volunteering our team has gotten to know the charities we work with much better so they know what kinds of items are donation worthy, and what is just plain old junk.
OPERATION DONATION not only helps us keep more out of landfill. It benefits our charity partners by allowing us to provide them with more merchandise and has given our team a better perspective of how their job can make a positive impact in the community.