We Haul "We Retrieve...You Breathe" (Since 1995)


  Scan the San Fran-

cisco Yellow pages 

for rubbish haulers 

and you'll see a dozen 

or so very similar ads,

most of them either 

for big,municipal 

haulers such as BFI 

and Waste Management 

or smaller,one-pickup 

truck operations. 

Most give little 

information other 

than a policy on 

estimates, service 

boundaries and a 

phone number. And 

only one is decorated 

with cute little 

shamrocks, and 

announces that the 

business is owned 

by women.


  As what is probably 

San Francisco's only 

female-run rubbish 

hauling company, We 

Haul is something 

of an anomaly, say 

owners Corinne Barreca 

and Anne Murray. "As 

far as I know, there 

are no other women-

owned businesses like 

us in the city,"said 

Barreca, as she 

supervised a two-man 

crew loading an old 

couch into We Haul's

14-foot Ford truck.


  If the gender of 

We Haul's owners 

seems a little unusual, 

so are the origins of 

the company.Barreca,a 

print shop manager,and 

Murray, a home health-

care worker, started 

the business as a side 

project about five 

years ago with an ad 

in the San Francisco 

Independent. Flea 

market aficionados, 

their primary goal 

was actually to get 

ahold of antique 

furniture and 

collectibles in 

exchange for hauling 

them away. What they 

didn't want themselves 

they either donated 

to charity or recycled. 

But demand for their 

service grew so much 

they eventually quit 

their day jobs,and now 

they're devoted to We 

Haul full time. They 

command an all-male 

crew of employees and

continue to recycle

-donate and keep 

some goodies for 

themselves.


  Barreca said 

people are often 

surprised to see 

women running such 

a grungy,labor-

intensive business.

"Why not "Sanford &
Daughter"?


  "Remember 'Sanford

& Son'? That's the


image most people 

have in their heads 

about the junk bus-

iness-a couple of 

guys in a beat-up 

old pick-up truck. 

We're different than 

what most people 

expect in a lot of 

ways. We're women, 

we have a clean,

new truck,and our 

appearance is 

professional. There 

really is a 

difference in the 

way we comport

ourselves."

  She said that a 

sizable majority of 

their clientele are 

women, who are often 

much more comfortable 

dealing with other 

women when it comes 

to negotiating a price 

and having work done 

in their homes.

  Barreca and Murray 

usually take turns going 

out on jobs, supervising 

a crew of two or three 

men(hired through a local 

agency),many of whom are 

having their first exper-

ience with a woman boss. 

Relations can be a little

tense once in a while, 

the women say,but most 

of the guys adjust

pretty easily.

  We Haul's main compet-

itors are similar small, 

independent(though"men-

owned")companies. The 

demand for such services 

is particularly high 

in San Francisco though.

  "There's so much money 

in this city and people 

buy so many new things 

all the time. At the same

time people don't have 

a lot of space," said 

Murray,pointing out that 

it's unlikely We Haul 

would be so busy in other 

parts of the country or, 

for that matter,in Mur-

ray's native Ireland.


  "People will have the 

same sofa for 30 years 

there. If they're moving,

they might have a fire 

in their backyard, or 

else they'll just give 

away hand-me-downs to 

their cousin, nieces 

and nephews."

Got enough stuff?


  Recent economic woes 

have had an effect on

We haul, not so much 

on the volume of jobs 

they're called out for 

but on the type. A year 

ago, Barreca and Murray 

were busy carting away 

refuse from lavish down-

town office parties and 

the discarded furniture 

of twentysomethings 

moving to increasingly 

fancier digs after

cashing in on their 

IPOs.


  "It was pretty crazy 

for a while. We had a 

surge of young 

dot-commers moving to

new homes, remodeling 

their lofts. It was like 

"Take this. Take that." 

One young guy gave us a 

beautiful old billiard

table with carved wooden 

legs and crocheted 

pockets-just for the 

hauling. He'd had it in

his "playroom" and he 

decided he just had to 

get rid of it for 

some reason."


  These days We Haul 

is more likely to be 

called to take away 

desks and file cabinets 

from failed businesses, 

which they then try to 

donate to non-profit 

that need them.


  One thing will pro-

bably always hold true 

about We Haul's 

customers, though. 

They are people in 

transition. "Moving 

in, moving out. Fami-

lies dealing with 

settling the estate 

after the death of a 

loved one. Businesses 

that have failed...

It does keep things 

interesting," barreca 

said.


  And the stuff 

clients want hauled 

off runs the gamut.

Once We Haul was called 

to pick up six used, 

but working,bread 

machines (which they 

donated); another 

time they got a Tiffany 

lamp from the 1940s

(which Barreca kept 

for herself)Other finds 

have included a box of 

collectable Frank 

Sinatra records,two

antique Persian rugs 

and a trunk full of 

silver coins, which 

turned out to be worth 

about $5,000.


  Barreca and Murray 

haven't abandoned their 

original intention-

to get dibs on the 

types of antiques and 

collectibles that are 

usually rare finds in 

the Bay Area's picked

-over antique flea 

market scene.


  "When I moved from 

my two-bedroom apart-

ment to my three-

bedroom house, I 

didn't have to buy 

one stick of furniture

or one picture to hang 

on the wall, " Barreca 

said. Among her finds

were a buffet, a 

dresser and a wooden

frame, shell-backed 

loveseat and matching 

chair, probably from 

the 1940s, which she 

had reupholstered.

Dump is the last resort


  Often, though, 

loads are more 

mundane. Typical 

pickups include 

sofas, futons, 

old exercise equip-

ment and patio 

furniture. Items 

of interest for

charity resale shops 

and nonprofits are 

donated. For 

non-donatable

items, the next 

best option is to 

have them recycled, 

usually for scrap 

metal. As a last 

resort, items are 

taken to the dump, 

something Barreca 

and Murray would 

like to do less 

of in the future.


  "Our dream is to 

have a warehouse 

location where we 

can store things 

(that resale shops)

don't want and then 

sell them or give 

them away to the 

needy. It's such 

a shame that we 

have to dump so 

many sofas and 

mattresses when you 

know there are 

people out there 

who could really use 

them," said Murray.


  For the time being, 

though, We Haul will 

once in a while use a

more direct approach

to make sure useful 

items don't go to 

waste. The time they 

cleansed out the estate

of an extremely zealous 

shopping enthusiast 

who left behind a house 

full of never-worn

designer clothes from 

Saks Fifth Avenue and 

Bloomingdales, Murray 

and Barreca were left

with bags and bags of 

expensive suits and 

coats. After donating 

what they could to

local charities, they 

went down to the 

Tenderloin and began 

giving away coats-which

must have been worth 

thousands of dollars 

each-to local homeless 

people. "And it was great

to be able to give so 

much away," Murray said.

"Why not "Sanford & Daughter"?

Got enough stuff?

Dump is the last resort

"Why not "Sanford &
Daughter"?