The other day I was talking to a woman who runs a septic service and portable sanitation company with her husband. She said demand for their small inventory of portable restrooms has been growing in recent months and they were contemplating buying more units. I asked her what was causing the spike in business.

She explained that a national restroom marketing company has been calling and subcontracting her to provide restrooms regularly for the past few months. The company, based a thousand miles away, handles Internet orders for restrooms and calls her to deliver units to customers in her territory. She was curious why she was receiving these calls, but was happy to get the business. 

I knew from her story that she was being contacted by an Internet company I wrote about in this blog last month. The company operates several generic portable sanitation company websites that pop up on Web searches initiated across the country. They promise the best local service, and then call folks like the pumper I talked to to place the restrooms.

You can read my earlier post here:

http://www.pumper.com/blog/2013/06/what_do_you_know_about_national_portable_restroom_marketers

The more we talked, questions came to mind about taking on these subcontracting jobs:

• When the customer has an issue with the restroom, are they calling the company they rented from, or are they calling the pumper who’s name is on the restroom?

• How will the national company respond if a restroom needs servicing or is vandalized?

• Is the national company or the subcontractor responsible for liability insurance for the restroom placement? 

• Who pays for repairs or replacement if a subcontracted unit is damaged?

• Will these companies start to market for local septic service and then subcontract that work as well?

These were all questions she couldn’t answer. By the time we ended our conversation, the pumper was questioning whether it was a good idea to take on the subcontracted work. She wondered if she was better off serving only customers she dealt with directly.

Do you have similar questions and concerns? Have you worked regularly with these Internet companies? Has the experience been positive and you’re going to continue? Or are you bothered by distant companies with no industry experience marketing to your potential local customers?

Respond below are send me an email at editor@pumper.com