Monday
25May2009
Forever Lawnmowers
Mon, May 25, 2009 at 6:00
Or, Tired Of Fixing That Old Mower?
At a time when the economy sucks and my lawnmower is busted again (damn thing is only 2 years old) I'm thinking, There's got to be a green business idea and a better way in here somewhere.
So after pondering for a while I thought, We destroy old lawnmowers every day down at the recycling center but if someone were to buy them, fix them up and resell them with a lifetime warranty that person could probably make a very good living.
Think about it: If you have the necessary tools and skills, and are capable of doing some welding and painting you could make lawn mowers last a lifetime. Perhaps you'd need to require each customer to bring their mower in once a year for an annual checkup (for a reasonable fee of course) in order to keep the warranty alive but with all the many mowers that get scrapped every day there is without a doubt a plethora of parts available. And when it comes to lawn mower chassis the oldest ones are the best.
Or perhaps you could lease the mowers to your customers, get them back at the end of the lease, rebuild them and lease them out again. Just make sure you weld a numbered plate onto each mower that let's people know it was bought or leased from you.
And if by chance lawnmowers aren't your thing you can always check our growing list of Green Business Start-Up Ideas.
Update: Forget gas powered mowers and upgrade to solar powered mowers.
At a time when the economy sucks and my lawnmower is busted again (damn thing is only 2 years old) I'm thinking, There's got to be a green business idea and a better way in here somewhere.
So after pondering for a while I thought, We destroy old lawnmowers every day down at the recycling center but if someone were to buy them, fix them up and resell them with a lifetime warranty that person could probably make a very good living.
Think about it: If you have the necessary tools and skills, and are capable of doing some welding and painting you could make lawn mowers last a lifetime. Perhaps you'd need to require each customer to bring their mower in once a year for an annual checkup (for a reasonable fee of course) in order to keep the warranty alive but with all the many mowers that get scrapped every day there is without a doubt a plethora of parts available. And when it comes to lawn mower chassis the oldest ones are the best.
Or perhaps you could lease the mowers to your customers, get them back at the end of the lease, rebuild them and lease them out again. Just make sure you weld a numbered plate onto each mower that let's people know it was bought or leased from you.
And if by chance lawnmowers aren't your thing you can always check our growing list of Green Business Start-Up Ideas.
Update: Forget gas powered mowers and upgrade to solar powered mowers.
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Reader Comments (5)
I got a tune-up this year at Clark's Farm Supply on Summit. The guy there said they'd take my lawnmower when it finally died and use it for parts.
Not as efficient as your idea, but at least it's green!
Bring your dead mowers to my day job and I'll pay you for it and sell it for parts if I can.
Hi, I really like your blog.
Have you thought of doing a post on home exchange as a way to save money and help the environment? I think it would fit in well with your theme :-)
Thanks!
This is a popular biz for many in our area. Some will give a warranty, some don't. There were three regular repair/resale guys before the economy went south. Now they are competing with 2 or 3 other guys for parts from our yard!
I need to have one of them come fix my mower so I can keep my frontage cut, thanks for the reminder...
Home swap asked, "Have you thought of doing a post on home exchange as a way to save money and help the environment? I think it would fit in well with your theme :-)"
In what way does more worldwide travel help the environment? Most people don't walk or swim when they travel across the country or to other countries-- they fly or drive. Neither is good for the environment.
Nay, the city mows our frontage but not nearly as often as we mow it. Thanks for reading.
By the way, Nay's business is A & A Recycling in Gulf Breeze, Fla. She'll buy your junk mowers too.