Who here has looked at commercial waste or building services? I'm curious what surprised you. I listened to Odd Lots with Josh Goodman, deputy commissioner at the New York City Department of Sanitation. The city picks up 24 million pounds of trash a day, every day. Three things stood out for anyone buying a small business: 1. Mandated private demand. Households get collection free, but businesses have to pay private carters. Most buildings also have to hire a professional waste manager. Even inside one of the most public services in America, there's a large private market the rules require. 2. Change creates work. The city is rolling out street bins through 2031, and it had to help design a new side-loading truck because none existed for US residential streets. Equipment, building services and routing all get pulled along. 3. Labor is the pain point. About half of sanitation workers' line-of-duty injuries are sprains and strains from lifting bags. Whoever reduces that has an easy sell. Goodman put it well: people notice piles of trash, but they rarely notice when the piles aren't there. That's a decent rule of thumb for finding good small businesses. Episode: redacted