Poo Police protects yards
<p>Tim Eide is taking on a side job as a canine refuse technician, also known by his business name of Poo Police. Eide is supplementing his income with the dirty chore which most of his clients say they are more than happy to pay him to clean up after their animals.</p>
POST FALLS - Tim Eide loves to take crap from people.
Dog doo-doo, that is.
The Post Falls 26-year-old operates Poo Police. He takes care of your stinking chore - those backyard gems that accumulate the longer you wait.
"I've been going at it hard core in the last two months," said Eide, adding that he has built a Web site and placed brochures in pet shops for the part-time business that he hopes to eventually take full time.
"I hope to have 100 customers by the end of the year."
Shauna DeMerritt is among those who have tapped Eide's services. She said, as a single mom, full-time student at North Idaho College and an editor on the school newspaper, she doesn't have much time to deal with dog dung.
"I'm constantly on the go and it's one of the areas I really don't have time for," she said. "With him coming here, I have more opportunities to spend time with my daughter and don't have to worry about scrubbing her shoes."
DeMerritt said she has seen Eide's strong work ethic.
"My yard had gotten really bad and what would have taken me 10 hours, he was done in two," she said. "He doesn't come in and dilly-dally. He always goes above and beyond to make sure I don't have anything to worry about."
Eide charges $10 per week for one dog and an additional $2 for every dog thereafter. He offers discounts to veterans, the disabled and senior citizens.
"I'm just trying to help as many people as I can who need it," he said. "There's a lot of older people out there who just can't do it."
Or maybe it's a way of treating yourself or someone you know, Eide said.
"Do you know anybody who likes to clean up poop?" he said.
Eide has three regular customers, but he said interest has recently grown with information at www.PooPolice.Goods.officelive.com and in pet stores. It's the continuation of a job he started while living in Oregon.
"One guy always told me to have a crappy day," Eide said. "You can have a lot of fun with it."
Eide said he and his fiancee, Lisa Chacon, tag-team the project to supplement their incomes as customer service representatives - she for Liberty Mutual, he for T-Mobile. Chacon has assisted with Poo Police business matters, while Eide gets to be outdoors.
"We do it because of the economy and we want to be free," Eide said. "It's nice to have a business in which you can be your own person when you want."
Eide's duties are tried and true - pick up droppings with a "pooper scooper," dispose of it in trash bags and throw it away in the customers' garbage can. Not that he hasn't learned tricks of the trade along the way.
"There's a way to get the nasty ones that don't come out of the grass, but I don't want to give away the secret," Eide said.
Eide said he has always tried to think of ways to earn money without working for someone. About two years ago, his father made the suggestion after learning about a similar successful venture in Texas.
After moving here from Oregon to be closer to his son, Eide has decided to resume the job in this area.
He said if he builds a clientele of 100, he could work outside, not have to punch a time clock and support his family.
"We plan to get as big as possible," he said.
Eide said while some would be red-faced to offer such services, his two dogs, Biff, a Jack Russell terrier, and Buddy, a black lab, remind him at home that dog poop is just a fact of life that needs to be dealt with. There's no other way around it.
"I don't worry about what people think of it," Eide said. "I just know it's a good service that a lot of people need."