Michael Flynn of Flynn’s Bins, a trash and recycling valet service in the Downbeach area.
MARGATE – Real estate salesperson Linda Novelli hates trash day.
“I was struggling putting out the trash one day and the wind was blowing and the lid hit me in the face. I immediately said to myself, I don’t need this aggravation,” she said.
That’s when she called Michael Flynn, proprietor of Flynn’s Bins, a trash and recycling valet and concierge business that has been operating in the Downbeach area for the last 10 years.
“This is my third year with Michael,” Novelli said. “He’s an amazing kid. He is there rain, sleet or snow and never misses a week.”
Flynn’s Bins was started in 2009 by Michael Flynn’s older brother Jack, who started putting out the trash for friends and his elderly neighbors. Jack was 13 at the time and Michael was 7. The idea caught on and they formed Flynn’s Bins, doubling their customer base each year simply through word of mouth referrals. Flynn’s Bins now puts out the trash for more than 200 households in Margate, Ventnor, Longport, and the company recently picked up their first home in the Downbeach section of Atlantic City.
“I had minor involvement in the beginning by just helping an elderly neighbor,” Michael Flynn said. “I would do a few houses and my brother Jack would do the rest. He is not as involved anymore, so it’s mostly me who provides the service.”
Jack Flynn is branching out these days and has started to add power-washing to his repertoire.
Resident Dan Frankenthal said he has been using Flynn’s Bins for the better part of seven years.
“Michael is one of the most dynamic young entrepreneurs I have come across, and frankly, calling him a ‘young’ entrepreneur is a bit of an insult,” Frankenthal said. “He’s a talented and ambitious businessman – at any age – one who understands his market and customers.”
Customers have become enamored with Michael Flynn and his excellent service.
“I like that he’s so trustworthy,” Novelli said. “He’s a great kid doing what other young men should be doing, trying to start a business and earning a living.”
Michael boasts that the Flynns initiated the concept of trash valet service, which has since been emulated by the behemoth Atlantic County Utilities Authority at a much greater cost, he said.
The now 16-year-old junior at Ocean City High School works several weekdays after school to put out the trash for the next morning’s collection and goes back after collection to return the trash containers to the customer’s back yard or garage. And he does it in his own unique style – using a OneWheel motorized skateboard to speed up the process.
“My philosophy is 100% customer satisfaction,” he said. “If there is ever a lapse in service, we will take the trash away and keep it at our house until we can bring it to the dump.”
Now that he is old enough to drive, the family pick-up truck comes in handy during emergencies.
“We do a lot of extra stuff for the elderly and we’ll even water the garden while we’re there,” he said.
The trash valet service fills a big need for residents of Margate, he said.
“We saw people waiting in long lines to take their trash to the Public Works yard before they leave town on Sunday afternoons, and saw that as an opportunity,” he said. “Only a few customers are year-round residents. A vast majority of our customers are weekend residents who are not here on trash collection days.”
Michael Flynn of Flynn’s Bins, a trash and recycling valet service and more.
He said the city appreciates the service he provides because it lessens the amount of trash collected at the Public Works yard, and makes it easier for city employees to keep the yard clean, he said.
Now he needs to use a spreadsheet to keep track of which houses to service on the days the ACUA collects trash and recycling in town. He uses QuickBooks to keep track of his accounts, and mom Charlotte and dad Terrence help out with customer service whenever needed.
And the fees are affordable, he said.
“We charge $15 for a single week or $175 for the full season,” he said. “For multi-family homes, we can negotiate a price.”
“He is highly-responsive, provides a timely and needed product, prices the services appropriately and executes the product to perfection,” Frankenthal said.
Novelli said the price is right and the service takes the worry out of her busy lifestyle.
“Even if I travel, I don’t have to worry. I know my trash will be taken out and the cans returned to where I store them,” she said.
Customers go to the flynnsbins.com website to sign up for the service, pay for it using PayPal or a credit card, and they can email special requests.
“We can pick up the same day if we are notified by email,” he said. “We also keep abreast of recycling changes and can help people get new cans from the ACUA.”
Michael Flynn enlists the support of family members and employs one other collector, he said.
A graduate of the Margate City schools, and a member of the Ocean City High School Honor Society, Michael Flynn also plays lacrosse and finds time for surfing and fishing off his 16-foot Garvey. Although he will be going off to college next year, he plans to continue the business, he said.
“I’ll still be able to do it in summer and will hire someone to do it in the off-season,” he said.
“He is so good at what he does that I utilize him for far more than just our trash collection,” Frankenthal said. “In the off-season, he collects our mail, keeps an eye out for the well-being of our property and generally will do anything I need to be done on the house at any time. Michael’s favorite answer to almost every request is, ‘Sure, no problem…happy to help.’”
In an effort to be a “socially conscious” entrepreneur, Michael Flynn has started to sponsor beach clean-ups conducted by the Surfrider Foundation and local green teams.
“During the spring clean-up we gave away T-shirts and I recruited Honor Society students to help out. We had nearly 100 kids show up to clean the beach. In the fall, we will do the bay clean-up on kayaks,” he said.
Michael Flynn said his customers provide the positive reinforcement needed to become a successful operation.
“They are always emailing us saying how great we are. We try to be very friendly with our services,” he said.
“I would be surprised if one day we don’t read about Michael in the front page of the Wall Street Journal if he continues to run as great as a business as he is now,” Frankenthal said.
For information or to access the services of Flynn’s Bins, visit www.flynnsbins.com.
