To our community members
Updated 4/28/20
Retrievr has resumed operations for all customers in NJ and PA as of May 4th
We’re ready to resume operations and serve our customers once again after consulting with state and county officials. Customers that had scheduled appointments between March 13 and May 3rd have already been rescheduled for the week of May 4th or May 11th. As always, we will send reminders in the days leading up to your pickup date.
New appointments can be scheduled at any time. Please have patience during these first few weeks as we open new pickup slots to meet demand.
As we resume serving your community, our top priority is the health of our customers and employees. Our service was already relatively contact-free, and we’ve taken a few additional steps you might notice to make it even safer for everyone involved:
- All pickups will be contactless
- If you requested that we ring your bell, we will reach out to confirm that you have the ability to leave your items on your porch or outside your garage.
- For your safety and the safety of our driver, we will ring your bell and stand at least 6 feet from your door until all of your items are outside.
- All employees must pass a temperature check (under 100.4) before reporting for work
- Employees feeling ill are required to stay home
- Drivers will disinfect the Retrievr truck before beginning their route
- Drivers will carry cleaning and disinfectant supplies in Retrievr trucks to disinfect collected items
- Drivers will use hand sanitizer after each collection
- Retrievr provides drivers with face masks, safety glasses, and gloves
Thank you again for your patience and for recycling with Retrievr!
-The Retrievr Team
Updated 4/7/20
As of this week, the Governors of both PA and NY extended their stay at home orders through April 29. Based on that and other guidance from state and local officials, Retrievr is extending the pause on our collections through May 3. We will reschedule any outstanding collection requests to May 4 or after and notify you of your new date.
Taking a step back from the tactical updates, we wanted to take a deep breath and acknowledge that the situation in which our country – frankly, the world – finds itself has gotten pretty stark. We hope you’re all staying safe and healthy.
About half of our team is based in Manhattan/Brooklyn, and the other half is in Bucks County, PA. Like you, we’re all staying home, staying hard at work, and getting outside whenever we can safely find the social distance. And like many of you, we’re feeling the tension between the desire to take action to help and the realization that the best thing we can do is stay home and wash our hands again.
Many of you have reached out with questions. We thought we’d share answers to the ones we’re hearing most commonly from you.
Why did Retrievr pause collections, when my garbage and recycling still gets collected every week?
Garbage collection is considered an essential service. If your city or town stopped collecting garbage, pretty soon they’d have a whole new health issue on their hands. While clothing and electronics collection is important, Retrievr is not considered an essential service.
Retrievr respects the mandate from the Governors of PA, NJ, and NY for non-essential businesses to stay closed. Even more importantly, we value your health and the health of our employees, and we want everyone to STAY HOME (and wash your hands again).
What can we do in the meantime?
Many of you have told us that you’re using your time cooped up at home to clean out your closets. We get it. When we spend extended periods of time in our homes – especially with no breaks – the stuff we used to ignore stands out a little more every day. Embrace the urge to tidy up, and seize this opportunity to spring clean!
As you neaten and bag up the clothing and electronics you no longer need, you can schedule a collection now for any day after April 20. While we don’t know exactly when it will be safe to resume our collections, we know that day will come. If we need to reschedule your appointment, we’ll take care of that for you. If you prefer, just set aside your bagged clothes and electronics for now.
We will open Retrievr up to resume collections as soon as it is safe to do so. Like you, we’re keeping a close eye on the news, and we’ll follow the guidance of our state and local officials to work out the right timing.
Can Retrievr turn my old clothes into masks or gowns for medical staff?
We spent a lot of time talking to hospitals, local garment workers, and city officials in New York and Philadelphia. While there was initially some thought that hospitals could use masks and gowns made from cotton or other clothing materials, we’ve since learned that hospitals need their protective equipment to be made from FDA-approved materials that have been lab-tested.
Since we often don’t know what materials were used to make the clothes we collect, we don’t want to put anyone at risk. We will continue to keep an eye out for hospitals or other front-line organizations that are interested in clothing donations.
In the meantime, follow us on Instagram @therealretrievr and on Facebook so that you’re notified when we share updates. And if you can, use the time at home to tidy up and set aside the items you want us to collect. As soon as it’s safe for everyone, we’ll be there.
-The Retrievr Team
3/20/20
Based on the evolving situation and direction from state and local officials, we are extending Retrievr’s suspension of service in NJ and PA until at least April 20. As always, we will evaluate news and updates as they come in. Please continue to check this page for updates. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes. The health and safety of the community we serve continues to be our primary concern.
-The Retrievr Team
3/13/20
As of March 13, Retrievr is temporarily suspending our collection operations in NJ and PA for the next two weeks. The health and safety of our customers and employees is our highest priority. We made this decision with that in mind, as well as the advice of local and state officials.
We will use this time to continue evaluating this evolving situation and guidance from local and state government officials, and then determine the best time to resume operations. In the meantime, we will review our policies and practices so that when we resume, we do so in a way that protects the health and safety of our customers and employees.
We will keep this page updated as we have new information to share.
Here are some details for you to know:
- We expect to resume operations no earlier than Monday March 30th
- If you had a pickup scheduled between March 13th and March 27th, we will reschedule your pickup for you to the next available date on or after March 30th
- You will receive a text message with your new pickup date
- If the date provided does not work for you, please let us know by texting “reschedule”
We also believe that our decision to protect the health of the community and employees should not come at the cost of our employees. Retrievr will continue to pay full wages to our drivers, customer service, and the rest of our operations team during this pause in operations.
We thank you for your patience and understanding during this challenging time. Retrievr, first and foremost, wishes you and your community health and safety, and we look forward to continuing to serve you in the near future.
-The Retrievr Team
