This past week, I’ve been contacted by several friends and business associates about a new app for iPhone and Android called the Pooper App from www.PooperApp.com. From their website and all media accounts, it appears that this is a legitimate app (currently in alpha or beta stage), backed by some legitimate entrepreneurs and a modern, sharing-style business platform.
Similar to Uber.com or Lyft.com, the Pooper App is designed to match dog owner’s with scoopers. It works something like this: when the owner’s dog poops, they use their smart phone with the Pooper App to take a picture, mark the GPS coordinates and dispatch the next available independent scooper in the neighborhood to scoop the poop…for a Pooper negotiated fee. As a professional pooper scooper myself, I see this as an excellent tool for dog owners and scoopers alike to match up and “take care of business”.
Some might judge that a dog owner shouldn’t own a dog if they aren’t willing to scoop their dog’s poop, but based on my life and business experience, there are many reasons dog owner’s choose to pay others to scoop on their behalf. Quoting from Mathew Osborn‘s e-Book titled “The Professional Pooper Scooper,
People want dog waste removal services for three main reasons:
- Busy people don’t have time. Two-income families, single-parent households, executives and professionals work long hours; and these people are terribly pressed for time. In the precious little time they do get for themselves, there are a great many things they would rather be doing than shoveling dog poop!
- Physical limitations reduce people’s ability. Persons with assistance dogs, those who are ailing or recovering from surgery, elderly and other pet owners with limited physical abilities all need help cleaning up after their animals. For many of these dog lovers, the availability of a pooper-scooper service to clean up their yards on a regular basis be the difference that allows them to keep a beloved animal in their lives.
- “The Repugnance Factor.”: This is the big one. There are plenty of dog owners who have free time and enjoy good health, but who still appreciate the fact that they can call on a service to clean up after their pets. As one customer told me, “Some things you do for yourself, and some things you pay to have done.” It’s just one of those necessary chores so many people simply prefer not to do, and many of those people are delighted to pay you to take care of the problem for them. In fact, I have had many happy clients tell me how grateful they are for this service.
Dog waste pick up or clean-up services are simply customer-centric services, similar to auto repair services, pool services, house cleaning or maid services, hair dressers, landscapers, tree trimmers, dog groomers or pet sitters – they all provide a service that someone can’t or chooses not to do. The Pooper App simply matches someone who can’t or chooses not to pick up their dog’s poo with someone who is willing and able to.
Is This App for Real?
If you still think the app and business are just a hoax, think again. According to an article at DailyMail, Pooper App Co-founder Ben Becker, 32, told the Washington Post the app is real. ‘I am a real human being and a dog owner,’ he said. The app, he claims , has already gotten sign-ups ‘by the hundreds,’ to be both poopers (customers) and scoopers (employees), even though it is only ‘at the tail end of an alpha rather than a fully functional public beta’ testing phase in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City. He said they hope to fully launch in those cities in the fall and then expand Pooper to as many locations as the market demands.
Pooper is working for cleaner city streets, public parks, and neighborhoods just like yours, making for happier people and happier dogs,’ the firm says on its website. ‘Reducing left-over dog waste helps prevent disease and bacterial transmission (not to mention less stinky mess!)” Read more
The Pooper App is currently unavailable to readers outside of the LA, NYC and San Fran areas, but for those in the west Phoenix areas of Glendale, Peoria, Sun City, Surprise, Goodyear, Avondale, Litchfield Park and Phoenix, Arrowhead Pooper Scoopers is ready to serve you. Visit www.ArrowheadScoopers.com/Quote to request a free quote for dependable and affordable poop scooping with a 99.9% Poop Free Guarantee. Feel free to call 602-391-0160 for a private consultation as well.
Watch the PooperApp teaser video here:
By my estimation, the PooperApp will be a big hit in big, metropolitan cities and highly concentrated areas. It represents a service need by the American consumer. Those with the solution to dog waste clean up will ultimately swim to success.