The Waste Management Scandal - A Simple Overview
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- The biggest company behind garbage disposal is also behind one of the biggest accounting frauds. This video talks about the growth of Waste Management and details the fraud.
Note: This video was originally created in May of 2019 but was never released. I'm putting it out now with only minor editing changes as part of the channel's big 5-year celebration.
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Company Declines:
Kmart: • The Decline of Kmart.....
Blockbuster: • The Decline of Blockbu...
RadioShack: • The Decline of RadioSh...
Solo Cups: • The Decline of Solo......
Toys "R" Us: • The Decline of Toys R ...
hhgregg: • The Decline of hhgregg...
Pan Am: • The Decline of Pan Am....
ESPN: • The Decline of ESPN......
Gibson: • The Decline of Gibson....
iHeartMedia: • The Decline of iHeartM...
Bon-Ton: • The Decline of Bon-Ton...
Kodak: • The Decline of Kodak.....
General Electric: • The Decline of General...
Woolworth: • The Decline of Woolwor...
Dell: • The Decline of Dell......
Sears: • The Decline of Sears.....
Payless: • The Decline of Payless...
Hostess: • The Decline of Hostess...
Redbox: • The Decline of Redbox....
Nokia: • The Decline of Nokia.....
JCPenney: • The Decline of JCPenne...
Quiznos: • The Decline of Quiznos...
GameStop: • The Decline of GameSto...
NASCAR: • The Decline of NASCAR....
Shopko: • The Decline of Shopko....
MoviePass: • The Decline of MoviePa...
Reebok: • The Decline of Reebok....
The Gap: • The Decline of The Gap...
Pier 1 Imports: • The Decline of Pier 1 ...
Sbarro: • The Decline of Sbarro....
AOL: • The Decline of AOL...W...
Long John Silver's: • The Decline of Long Jo...
Chuck E. Cheese's: • The Decline of Chuck E...
GNC: • The Decline of GNC...W...
Hertz: • The Decline of Hertz.....
Steak 'n Shake: • The Decline of Steak '...
CiCi's Pizza: • The Decline of CiCi's ...
Boston Market: • The Decline of Boston ...
Yahoo: • The Decline of Yahoo!....
Montgomery Ward: • The Decline of Montgom...
Fry's Electronics: • The Decline of Fry's E...
Souplantation: • The Decline of Souplan...
Gateway: • The Decline of Gateway...
BlackBerry: • The Decline of BlackBe...
Sports Authority: • The Decline of Sports ...
Atari: • The Decline of Atari.....
KB Toys: • The Decline of KB Toys...
Pizza Hut: • The Decline of Pizza H...
MGM: • The Decline of MGM...W...
FYE: • The Decline of FYE...W...
HP: • The Decline of HP...Wh...
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Meadow: are you in the mafia
Tony: No, I’m in waste management
Bada bing!
No, I'm in recycling.
It's a stereotype and its offensive!
No more firesss
I'm only just now watching this show and it's amazing how many references I must've missed in the past: I see them everywhere now
I wouldn't mind more corporate scandal content. I know you asked for feedback on the anniversary vid . Congrats and keep up the good work!
Please don't. There are other channels such as Iluminaughty that does exactly the same content, keep to your usual topics please.
I wouldn't mind it either. In fact, I'd enjoy it. You do this very well and your research is obvious.
@@totallynotsam584 there's people who do the same thing he does now already though. It doesn't matter what they do as long as the quality is better, which it's company man so its going to be lol
Bring it!
Spencer cornelias channel on YT has a ton of that content
I’ve been using WM for about 15 years after they bought out my previous garbage company. They bill me quarterly and in 2017 my bill averaged about $120 every quarter. I started to notice the bill would go up a little every time and by the end of last year the amount due quarterly was $270. So in less than 5 years my bill went up about 125%. I called another local garbage company and they quoted me a price of $90 every three months so I was going to cancel WM. When I called them to cancel they immediately matched the price of the other company which was 1/3 of what I had been paying. They’re really not an honest company.
Thats Comcastic-level shenanigans
We don't have WM here but a State wide company that has the contract for the county for homes. I replaced them after they sent me a 5k bill and told me that my CC expired 3 years ago and you own us back pay and fines. I told them to pound sand, they never called or mailed us. I told them I would pay the going rate for the 3 years they failed to do the job they were suppose to do. In the end I moved to a different company as a commercial account for half the price and have a actual dumpsters (10 times the volume of a single can) now, that I don't even have to touch side from throwing my trash in it.
I hate price match guarantees as I translate that to "we will screw you until you say something about it."
What happen to Buntrock?
that's why you tell them 70 so you can bank a lil some some
Its insane to think a company can do this and then be allowed to continue as a company.
Ikr! They can't get in trouble cuz it's not just "one" person so everyone gets a little slap on the wrist
Lies again? Google Drive USD SGD
I used this company and for the first few years the bills were affordable (17 bucks per month) then suddenly they would increase 100 percent every quarter and my bills were reaching 60 bucks a month. This was for a really small trash bin and one recycle bin. Finally I had enough of being ripped off and tried to cancel only to be met by a 500 dollar cancelation threat as per my contract. I asked them to send me a copy of the contract. They forged my contract and added a cancelation fee for bin pickup. Since I consider my self a somewhat smart individual, I had kept my original contract which did not have any mention of this 500 dollar fee. I called them out on this and thankfully they backed off. Never ever use this company, they are evil and greedy.
Verizon tried to hit me with a cancellation fee as well I said I was never notified of it and they canceled it
You should have showed them a forged contract that charges them $500 for cancelling.
I just canceled with them and they tried to sneak 3 trash bins into my property. They had already charged me for late rent on the cans, pick up fee and damage. I caught them unloading and made them pack that shit right up. They tried to tell me the bins were free and everyone was getting some. Yeah right, I can count. 12 houses on my street x3 bins each doesnt equal the 5 I saw on the back of the truck.
Damn, shoulda sued them to hell. That's awful
@@jackbloomer1334if you have a contact with Verizon...I thought they have a early cancellation fee....
A company doing some illegal, immoral and everyone involved getting a slap on the wrist? I'm shocked. Shocked I say.
Aaahhh the horror!
Well the company only became large in the first place because the government killed all their competition. Makes ya wonder...
I hope the shock is sarcasm. I'll be shocked if the big guys get negative justice, unless saving them Is literally impossible
@@innocento.1552 I’m shocked you ain’t shocked everyone was punished, with how things like these usually pan out
Indeed.
The problem with all of these scandals is not enough people go to prison over it and the fees aren't enough to discourage the behavior.
What always goads me about these financial scandals is that the crooks get to have any say in how much of a fine, or restitution, they have to pay in the judgement.
Bruh. Capitalism. No one is liable. The fictitious entity did it!😮
Less than going to prison, most of the crimes are hardly even recorded or remembered. Look at Dean Buntrock's wikipedia entry. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Buntrock Nowhere on it is the word "fraud" even used, and the "SEC Settlement" section is 4 sentence writeup at the very bottom of the page. If you donate enough money to orchestras and art centers, then you are forgiven.
Thats what I think irritates me the most. Businesses are people unless they commit crimes, then theirs just no possible way to hold anyone accountable except in the giant Industry known as the us military then belive you me.... they find someone to throw under the bus. Imo if they can find which asshole made what command in the disaster that is our government then finding out what ceo or boardmember made what shitty cost cutting design should be cake.
Easiest solution to me and would then justify the ridiculous wages of ceos is to have legal liability being part of the job. Board wants something wildly illegal..,better oppose it or its your ass. Maybe cutting that corner won't be worth the murder charges
OK.Tony.
I thought you were above doing trashy scandals.
Ha! Good one! Your blood will now be congealed for that joke.
Ba dum tiss 🥁
I’m 21 years old & i review weed products on my TH-cam channel as my job👀
I was about to go medival on you until i realized it was a garbage bag company.
@@SevenHunnid Nice man! 🙂
I'm 32 years old and I review weed products myself without a camera and/or need for attention while doing such. Want any inputs from behind the scenes?
Companies should be held accountable. How are they even allowed to continue as a company?!
My hometown just dropped WM as the town's garbage collectors a few weeks ago. They were charging to pick up trash but they weren't doing it. Some parts of town would go 3-4 weeks without WM picking anything up and the residents would still be charged for it. Some residents would even sit on the porch and watch WM drive by without picking anything up. When they called to complain, they were basically called liars. This went on for years before the city dropped them and took bids and got someone better.
I think our town is trying to change services as well. I’ve noticed more garbage cans and dumpsters with R2 Rentals on them. I had their garbage services, and they were pretty decent. You could get their basic yellow garbage can or you could pay a little extra and get a pink garbage can to support breast cancer awareness. So we were the only ones on the street with a hot pink garbage can lol. I noticed the people who bought my grandmother’s house were also using a hot pink garbage can (we had to return ours when we got rid of the service), so I guess we inspired them to go with the service as well. Now, I live with my aunt and we use WM. They come every Thursday at 7am sharp
It's crazy how much the service differs city to city. We just dropped WM for a local company. WM would run days late, rain snow or shine. They were late no joke 30% of the year we had them. Local company comes 6am no issues.
Same thing happened with Meridian. They lost their contract in St Louis because they were doing the same thing. So many people were complaining that they had to do something. Now we have Gateway and it's much better. No real complaints.
@@ebonimom6964What is Gateway doing with the trash? WM is at least trying to turn trash into natural gas and investing in green tech.
I just got cans from WM this month and honestly didn’t know they ever had an Enron-style scandal. Inflating a company’s value must’ve been the it-thing for businessmen in the 90s!
Yes, it was actually a common thing at the time. Most of the largest accounting scandals are from around that time period.
And people say today's generation have the worst trends
🟣OMG 😱 th-cam.com/video/v11I_rm_Ymo/w-d-xo.html
@@ericalorraine7943
I'll advise you lookup Priscilla Dearmin-Turner, she's have been our real investment prodigy since the crash and have also help me recovered my loses
Financial management is a crucial topic that most tend to shy away from, and ends up haunting them in the near future
This one was personal. My daddy worked as a Sanitation Engineer (Garbage man) for them for over 10+ years and when he got injured during the job they treated him like utter trash. 🚮 They're dead to me 😡🔥. But, thanks for the video.
@Rowdy Jr I really appreciate that. Thanks so much.
I feel for your dad. I work for Republic Services been there 20 yrs I recently got hurt. You are correct they treat us like trash when we get hurt.
That's why it's important to get a UNION in the trash business.
@@moisesperez3693 Thanks 👍🏾🍹🥃
@@LegendarySuperVegeta that sucks man, have you guys tried to unionize ?
@@LegendarySuperVegeta I'm sorry that they're doing that to you. You and others don't deserve to be treated like that. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I can’t be the only one thinking about Tony Soprano
If you’re not satisfied with the service, we’ll bring your trash back!
That's a stereotype, and it's s offensive.
Not all Italians are in the Waste Management Business
Alec dorfman, you are correct, the rest are in the mafia.😂
No. More. Fires
You are not😂😭
“I'm in the waste management business. Everybody immediately assumes you're mobbed up. It's a stereotype, and it's offensive.”
- Tony Soprano
Soprano says it all Jon Gotti.. I have a friend that spent three years in a new york-pen working for the New York mob garbage company.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's an organization that commits crimes. That's totally different from organized crime. (Heh, heh, heh)
classic
I use to work for wm sketchy place. If you work with WM and you're defending them you must be part of management.
I had uncle's who owned a small local trash hauling business. Most of my life they were always organizing customers to go to city counsel meetings to prevent waste management from putting together shady back room deals that were designed to push small operators out of business. They held them off until they were ready to retire and then sold out to waste management, because there was no other off ramp. In my experience, this is a mob run company.
Waste Management keeps trying to get my landlord to sign up to service my apartment building, but he's already got a deal with a local company that gives him a better price. Still they keep sending sales reps to talk us up. I had to walk one out of the building telling him he's trespassing and reminding him that they've already been told no.
Tell your landlord to keep them out and to be careful. They are not nice people
**Loads shotgun with malicious intent**
It won't matter how many times you tell them no. The pressure WM puts on their employees (not just sales people) to find new business is unreal. Sales people are also encouraged to pester folks who told them no in the past.
Oh shit big man! Lol. Business is Business my friend. Are they scum? Yes. But again...Business.
Next time trap him in a little bucket and let him out your window (like we do with spiders).
My dad works for the EPA and he was tasked with investigating and shutting down a landfill that was polluting our nearby creek. He was offered bribes to look the other way and when he declined it they gave him death threats so he just brought the sherif with him every time after that. He proved they were polluting the creek and got the landfill shit down and capped so no more pollution went into the creek but the multi million dollar fine imposed on the company became a few tens of thousands of dollars since the owner was friends with people in the state government.
Fuck I can believe this. Shit's bad. We seriously need to reduce our waste in general, and tighten oversight/purge corruption. So many stories like this about waste dams not being maintained and collapsing or toxic/radioactive leaking into the surrounding environment from improper disposal.
Hope he didn't get backlash from his bosses for being honest. Stuff like that leads to some sort of retaliation since huge companies like that are extremely petty and love to flex their power on anyone that gets in their way.
The EPA has been badly crippled, and the fines don't keep up with the record breaking profits companies make now. My Dad worked air quality in Florida until Rick Scott became governor then said *fuck this* and finally retired.
@@magneric I just hope in the future that when the companies try and flex their corrupt power, someone will felx their power in not a nice way to put them in their place.
I'm waiting for the revelation about the same corruption thing at the federal government levels. Pretty sure thats why trump was ousted the way he was as he would not be bought. at least no proof exists to this point.
I never even knew of this scandal until now, makes you wonder how many big companies and corporations are beyond corrupt
Many/most
Every single fucking one. Come'on now, don't be ignorant.
A lot of these high-profile businesses are quite honestly vile, & dangerous.
@@poetryflynn3712 Shareholders sue all the time. When 90% of the money being invested in companies is by institutions, you can be pretty sure that their interests' are being protected by a wall of lawyers.
@@poetryflynn3712 Yes you most certainly can as executives and board members are required by law to act in the interests of shareholders.
I worked at WM's Corporate Headquarters in 2000/2001, when all of this was still being investigated, and the IRS, SEC and financial consultants were onsite. We had blanket preservation orders for EVERYTHING. The reason that it took so long for charges to come was because they actually maintained FIVE separate set of books, and all of them had to be reconciled. Interesting place to work at the time, I'll tell you that. Lots of other fun stories from that time.
This was a fun video to watch. My dad testified on behalf of the SEC as an accounting expert during the WM trial. He passed just over 11 months ago, and when we went through his stuff he still had all the paperwork and notes from his testimony.
Your dad is in hell bro lol
As someone in the accounting field, I really appreciate how accounting focused this video was. While I like your normal videos, this kind of video is nice too.
I was geeking when we got into accounting terms
As someone who's re-taking an accounting course, I felt the same way.
thank you for the comment average white guy
Same, made me cringe. I mean, who would WANT to claim less depreciation? You're going to have a smaller tax obligation with the larger depreciation expense...and it's non-cash, You're just adding it back to the CF figure you'd show investors/directors anyway. Don't get it.
So did you laugh at 7:34, too:? :D
When I was in high school I lived out in the country. There was no trash service offered out there. This old man would do it for folks. He would come around in his pick up truck and trailer, load up your trashcan and leave you an empty one. He had a pretty big client base. He was always riding around hauling trash. Waste management finally made their way out there and pushed him out. He wasn't allowed to run his side business anymore that he had been doing for 20+ years. Waste management came in and complained that he wasn't following certain codes and wasn't a legit business and what not and they got him shut down. They wanted his customers is all there was too it.
Damn that's messed up.
But where was he dumping the trash?
@@ShadowsandCityLights no, word in the street has it that he would chug it and swallow all the garbage and stuff the rest in the fridge
Why not just... Go to the dump? It's FREE.
He would haul it off to the dump in town.
(Paraphrasing) but to quote Rodney Dangerfield in the movie "Back to school":
"And then there's garbage pickup, and I'm not sure if you know who runs that business, but it ain't the boy scouts!"
I hadn't heard of this scandal. The most upsetting bit to me is the two tiered justice system. Normal person steals - jail and restitution. Company CEO steals - fined for less than they stole. And as far as I'm concerned Purdue Pharma (and undoubtedly others) are very much so still benefitting from the lack of corporate accountability.
You forgot the third tier, qualified immunity for government workers.
The Sacklers have a lot of money and will give tons to lawyers to protect their beliefs. They now have civil immunity to opioid cases. Merica out.
Aye, it's disgraceful.
I remember the scandal. I also see that, in my area at least, Waste Management has screwed the pooch again. To the point that starting December 1st, WM is no longer handling my town's trash and recycling. And there are many other towns and cities in my area that are no longer using Waste Management.
I had another "Waste Management Scandal" in my local township growing up. My local township decided there were too many garbage trucks perusing the township, so they made the very unpopular decision that everybody in the township had to use a single garbage disposal company, and they decided that Waste Management would be that single garbage disposal company. Of course, since it technically was a monopoly, they raised prices, which made people unhappy. Needless to say, the idea didn't last too long, and the township eventually let go of the idea that its citizens could only use 1 garbage disposal company. Also needless to say, many people, like my parents, decided to drop Waste Management once the monopoly was lifted.
Same for my city. Surprise, surprise we everyone pays much more for garbage collection now. Been a few years with no end in sight. “Too many vehicles” what a farce!
Los Angeles did that, and they now control the San Fernando Valley (The size of Staten Island) and offer mediocre service at an extremely inflated prize. The residents even went to the news station to report numerous missed collections. Unfortunately, Los Angeles still has this shady monopoly system in place.
Did Waste Management have any influence (economic and/or political) on the decision of who can pick up the trash? By this I mean offering incentives for choosing them, lining politicians pockets or having former WM employees run for office/politicians offered jobs after their time in office.
@@David-qi1ys Too many of the heaviest vehicles that go on those roads.
@@Fractal_32 That NEVER happens. Never, never, never. Nope.
You didn't mention Wayne Huizenga, one of the founders of Waste Management. He had left the company to found Blockbuster by the time the accounting scandal occurred, but still a fascinating figure.
Fun Fact: In the early 1970's, their motto was "satisfaction guaranteed or double your garbage back".
I grew up in Florida! Good call. I payed blockbuster $8 for Putt putt to many times.
Capitalism I guess. He tricked me🤔
I met him a few times. Very nice man and I went to school with his grandkids. They were great people and I hope they don't get any flack for it.
@@imbass8151have never meet someone who hasn’t had great things to say about Wayne sr. Glad we held up the reputation -Tres
Never expected to hear a vid about Trash scandals, but it definitely sounds pretty fascinating.
It is a myth that management's job is to maximize shareholder value. In practice, their role is to keep their own paychecks and benefits coming in. To borrow from Mel Brooks' Governor Lepetomane, "We have to keep our phoney baloney jobs here, gentlemen!" Thanks for another great video.
Every company is trying to maximize shareholder value. They don't keep it up then nobody will invest
There is a trash company in my town that has jacked up prices to ridiculous amounts. Every competitive company that comes in gets bought out then shut down, while the prices keep rising. The latest competitor who offered services at a far more reasonable price was suddenly privately bought then merged with absolutely no word to city residents and customers. We were all automatically switched back to the main company who is $70 above what the old company did. Our town is now gaining petitions and looking into suing the trash company for monopoly practices
I was born in and lived in Jacksonville, Florida in the 70s-2000s.
WM was involved in a major lawsuit there referred to as the "Hipps Road Dump Site". It was where the US Navy contracted WM to dispose of waste from a nearby base. WM dumped all kinds of waste there including hazardous materials.
After years of dumping at Hipps Road and Exline road, WM simply buried the waste and then sold the land off. Eventually, 100s of families moved to the area and built homes etc.
We were all on well water there. I remember as a child the water would come out yellow or dark brown. Everybodys' water around there was the same, so we all just thought it was normal. I even remember my mom always boiling the water before using it for anything. When she would, a black thick film would form at the top and she would scoop it off.
Eventually, WM settled.
Thats fuckin terrible
I think the underlying issue is that certain utility services should never be publicly traded. Power, water, healthcare, telecom/internet, waste management, EMS, firefighting; these things should be public works, not privatized. Profit motives should never be an interfering factor in basic public necessities.
I dropped their service a few months ago. The bill kept going up, and they picked up when they felt like it. Zero accountability, or specific day of picking up the trash.
Experience the same thing, eventually my whole neighborhood stopped using them
Good for you, man. Hope I had that possibility where I live.
The messed up part is that no matter what they don’t go to jail. Just fined or blocked from running another publicly traded company. I used to work for the first publicly traded well known supplement company and the exec’s blew funds on crazy trips, private jets etc. The ceo had to step down and the CFO is banned from ever doing accounting for a publicly traded company again. Maybe a fine as well but basically a slap on the wrist. So crazy.
Waste management just lost its contract in my city. I've never heard of this scandal and I was a WM customer for decades before our city changed to Edco. Definitely changes my perspective of the company.
This channel needs to have 20+ million subs. This is consistent quality entertainment.
OK Mr. Saget, go back to your dirt nap. There are few channels that deserve 1/10th of that. 1.4M seems about right.
True
he's gonna have to up his editing and presentation if he wants to really blow up like that
@@robertfrost8264 No Mr. Frost, you go back to your dirt nap. Your poetry bores me to tears.
I’ve definitely seen stuff like this in the field of Accounting. WM used to be our town’s residential curbside collector. They charged $80/mo, per household, paid by the homeowner. (I know in some towns trash is collected “for free”, paid by the local taxes.). Another trash company came in, made an agreement with the town, and took over the entire town’s residential service - for only $20/mo! WM actually sued the new company. This new company plans to make these deals throughout the LA area, and could really be a problem for WM.
How can the new company charge 80% less than WM? Well, for starters, I doubt those rates stay that low. Second, they seem to have hired clueless trash collectors - so saving money by hiring minimally skilled employees. They also now require all kitchen waste to go in the green bin, and will be auditing customer’s trash contents. First you get warnings, and then you start getting fined. We’ll see how this plays out.
Sounds shady. Low prices is good, but at what cost :(
We already know how it'll play out. The new company will renege on their promises about the service they provide while slowly but steadily increasing the monthly rate until it's $80+/month.
Low balling is always shady, loads of hidden fees and unrealistic rules to trump up those fees. Then comes to price jack to "replace the fees." Shit is global because here in Trinidad, loads of contract companies pull this stunt
Kitchen waste going in the green container isn't because of the new water management company.
It's because of the new law that was passed and came into effect on January 2022 that requires compostable material to be... composted. This reduces material from ending up in landfills... ideally.
In Idaho it’s paid via property taxes and company that’s used it determined by the county. $80 per month sounds insane to me. My property taxes as a whole are less than $80 per month. $20 per month is more reasonable assuming that they can get their shit together.
Waste-Management sounds likes one of those "Legitimate Businesses" type companies. They'll "manage" your "waste" for a price.
If I remember correctly, on The Sopranos, Tony always said his job was in waste management.
@@toastangler Sounds like something he'd say. He had to "Take out the trash" alot after all.
Not an exaggeration. Pretty much all garbage collection is tied to the mob.
It sounds (exclusive) to a app or something interconnected in my eyes xD
@Dragapult, it's a great show!
Because it's so difficult to prosecute the actual people behind these businesses making these decisions, it's just gonna keep happening.
I was expecting to see a more recent scandal, but this is good too. It was nice to learn more about corporate crime.
Waste management is detestable. We had them back in the early 2000s. There were 9 houses on my dead-end street. I was last house on road. Far from the others. We were also their only customer on the street.
They would constantly pick up my neighbors garbage and then try to bill me. At one point I was actually threatened by the manager over the phone. This man was trying to actually scare me into paying and keeping their service. There are so many stories like mine out there.
Then we couldn't get them to stop coming after we got rid of them. They continued to try and bill us.
They were the most shiesty company that I have ever dealt with. I will never give them business. Nor do our family or friends. Anytime that I see someone using them I tell them about this company and I take the time to find them a better deal.
Once corrupt always corrupt..If you have other options even if it cost a dollar or two more I highly recommend that you make the change. Don't give these people your money. There are some really good companies out there. Look for a smaller mom and pops service. They think about you the customer. They have pride in their service. Screw WM..
Any options for oakland ca - i pretty sure WM is a monopoly
WMI is committing fraud now on the Kitsap Peninsula, West of Seattle. It has missed pickups, and still charges the customers. We've been told that obviously as customers, we don't know what our pickup dates are. They are short staffed and have lied about it for months. Not an earth-shattering scandal, but still bad behaviour.
Fellow Washingtononian here, I remember reading they got hit with a whopping 40k fine for that fuckery last year, they made more money breaking the law.
If you have one call the newspaper
Same here in TN. Parents haven't had trash picked up for three weeks. I went and collected it and took it to the local dump. They still got a bill from WM. They're fighting the bill but still, shady stuff.
In PA. they come when they feel like it. If you call trying to get a date, they keep you on an automated hold. They won't answer the phone.
The same thing was happening in South King county shortly after they took the city contract from Republic services. They also lobbied the local politicians to make it illegal not to have a garbage pickup contract. So if you have a property that is vacant you will get fined by king county for not having a garbage pickup even if there isn't anything to pick up. Crooks.
You should look up the Norwegian Waterwerk scandal that broke 2004 . It was a communal plant and the boss there in short had given the people of the county double water bill to cover the slush money fund he ran.
He even via the shell companies bought himself a farm in Africa!
I worked for Price Waterhouse at that time and we were hired to correct their accounting. We were sent out all across the country to their locations to work through the individual ledgers. Definitely saw some interesting things.
sounds like a real hastle to clean up that mess, sometimes I wonder how Andersen even lasted that long with how irresponsible they were with their audits
My X girlfriend's dad owned a street sweeping company and WM bought it off him and he still ran it. He was freaking loaded after they bought the company. Started buying a bunch of expensive cars, added a whole second floor to his house that was a complete guest house with kitchen and all, started going on vacations and cruises, even took me on one 😆.
My city has finally gotten rid of them as the main contractor. They would pick up trash late or a day early, never replace broken trash cans they broke with their trucks, charge extremes on trash collection, and was all around terrible.
"Dean Buntrock"? Sounds like a character from The Flintstones
My takeaway from this is that Arthur Anderson was just a terrible accounting firm lol
They exist no more, correct?
@@drktw2011 the split into two companies, don’t know about the other one but one became Accenture and they focus primarily on IT consulting
Consider if they hadn't done it another firm would have.
I worked at AA... did my two years and got the hell out of Dodge!
That depends entirely on your point of view. For most of their customers, they were unbeatable.
My father Jackie was in waste management. He had a simple slogan... "Satisfaction guaranteed, or double your garbage back."
Never heard of you and have no idea why you were recommended but I loved this topic and I’m subbing
Here's the real scandal. My trash pick up went from 17.88 per month to $49. That's freaking outrageous.. And they say it's due to rising costs
During the '80s and 90's the Suprano Family of New Jersey did well with their independent waste management operation. By focusing on industrial and commercial waste they expanded their empire
Family? They're a glorified crew.
@@anthonyc1629 lol perfect
"waste management consultant " - aj soprano
🤣😉
They made an offer he couldn’t refuse
They used to handle the trash and recycle pick up in my town. They lost the contract to a non union company. They broke my recycle can. I found the part and was going to plastic weld it back together. On their last week picking up the trash, they apparently recycled my recycle can, because I couldn't find it.
Back when they used recycling tubs in my neighborhood they'd pickup a tub at my neighbor's house, dump it, and drop it at my house, and continue the pattern all the way down the street. I painted my tub so they had to stop doing that. It messed up their rhythm plus I called customer service so they had to quit the practice altogether. That was a nasty way to treat people that kept their equipment clean.
Wow. Cool story.
Ultimately, the fines and penalties have to be so high that it never makes sense to do anything like this. If the fines around cooking the books can be written off as "cost of doing business" then there's no real penalty to it.
Big props to Company Man for not making any trashy puns or garbage related jokes during the whole video!
I remember Waste Management was forced to divest some local garbage companies like Rethink Waste after buying out assets of Allied Waste from Republic Waste. Lot of people don’t talk about the near monopoly of waste collect companies!
I hate Republic.
Their employees thought it was reasonable to strike in support of employees in another state, just after we had no pickup for a couple of weeks due to snow.
So we had no pickup here for like a month, some in my city had no pickup for at least 6 weeks.
And Republic doesn't think they should have to refund customers.
@@zeruty those employees are part of the problem, especially if they mostly own the company. If they’re refusing to do their jobs, they should refund their customers money for no garbage service. I hated how they bought out Allied Waste and ruined our local service, there’s no alternatives in our local county!
It is so monopolized. I thought they were a government run agency.
@@honestfriend767 I thought they were owned by public sanitation, but our town doesn’t have enough money to clean all the garbage. I just don’t like one company owning the whole town’s sanitation and waste management!
@@Markimark151 the city pressured Republic into setting up a drop off site for garbage a couple of times, but people would have to transport their rotting garbage to that point. It was ridiculous. I think now Republic thinks that made up for no service.
I read something saying that everyone household is required by law in my city to pay for garbage service with Republic so technically it's illegal to stop service and take garbage to the transfer station yourself. That's absolutely nuts.
I thoroughly enjoy these scandal videos. It's always interesting to see just how far companies will go to "maintain" profitability and the consequences of their actions.
Wow, I had never heard of this. I live in Houston and took some grad school accounting. A video about the history of Arthur Anderson would be cool. That name has been tarnished but a lot of people don't know Arthur Anderson was actually one of the earliest proponents of accounting ethics like a hundred years ago.
I knew about this scandal because I worked for them (originally as Chemical Waste Management) in the 90s and lost more than half my 401K when the scandal broke in 1999. I didn’t work for them anymore and had tried to transfer my 401K before the crash but the folks running it had no notice I had separated. On the plus side, several years of stock options were *finally* worth something and I cashed them in when I really needed the money.
I’m still bitter about it and it was years before I put money into a 401K again.
Yup. Same here. They increased fees 3x in one frigging year! When will this bs end?!
Always aspired to make a ‘waste management’ in my country. Never knew it was so fraudulent
Wednesdays are good days! Thanks, Mike! Hadn’t heard of this one yet.
Congrats on 5 years
Cheers 😎
I'm a CPA, this was very interesting and very very well explained! Also love how you highlighted AA's conflict of interest, it is a pervasive concern for these firms and general consulting firms in general imo.
WM... the gangsters of garbage. When I finally canceled their overpriced service and went with a local provider they charged me $75 to have their containers picked up... smh. Then their base line fees at the local dump went from $20 to $80... basically what they charge just to drive across the scale, not included the weight of your load.
Very authentic video about shocking secrets of the waste management scandal. Thanks for sharing this knowledgeable story.
In the 1980s I worked for a Silicon Valley high-tech startup company where the CFO/accounting department were notorious for cooking the books. A BS term they used to explain away questionable accounting practices was to use the term "accrual." Such as: "We have to capitalize that item so that our monthly _accrual_ will balance out."
Everyone in the company had a different concept of what "accrual" was suppose to be when used in accounting.
It boggles my mind that Arthur Anderson is still in business after being involved in so many billion dollar scams...
Maybe exactly why they're still in business.
They have a consulting business (Accenture) and I believe do some tax work, other than that they no longer provide audit services. They are a shell of their former self and certainly not part of the Big4.
I had to do a case study on this scandal for my forensic accounting class in university. Great video!
As a company owner with an account, every time I went in to dump in their landfill, they would add $100.00 to my bill. When I took my magnetic sign off and didn't tell them I was a business owner, I was charged $30.00 for same load.
I called to complain and got the usual mumbling and run around.
Thank you for this! There is a lawsuit against waste management by my hometown and we were all shocked how lax they have been about collecting trash. It now takes at least two weeks. The raccoons are loving it. This at least gives some insight.
As a kid in the 90s the only scandal I knew about involving an evil polluter lying to someone was Robotnick lying to Knuckles in Sonic 3, lol. But as someone who lives within smell distance of the Tullytown Landfill when the wind is right, they're someone I do think about these days. Across the river the stank is unmistakable on route 29 as you approach 295.
My ex lives in Levittown and when we went to the tullytown Walmart in the summer the smell was horrible
My old middle school was right next to a landfill that we called "garbage mountain"
Here in Cicero Illinois we have a WM right next to a sanitary plant. Imagine smelling garbage piles of ish and then the smell of poop being dried in Olympic size pools. Doesn’t necessarily smell where I’m renting, but when you get close to I-55 there’s days when that smell is overwhelming.
Company man, have you considered doing a news segment? With the oncoming recession, I’d love to hear how companies are responding to drops in profits
That can be summed up in one sentence. They are raising prices. Except Arizona Tea, because they are the real MVP
Great video. Definitely cover more corporate scandals in the future! We are currently in the midst of an unprecedented white-collar crime wave, so I would love to see more of your videos exposing these companies who are acting unethically
In the 1950s, many people burned their garbage. My parents had a house built in Littleton Colorado in 1961 with an incinerator in the backyard with a pretty sidewalk leading up to it.
This makes me curious how many of these scandals were related to Arthur Anderson. I don't think I realized they had this much history of signing off on fraudulent Financials.
I really enjoy this content. As an accountant, the fraud stuff to me is the most interesting. 🤓
Going over lesser know corporate scandals could be a fun direction to take the channel in if you get tired of doing your usual stuff. Cause people always talk about the big ones like nestle but im sure there are hundreds that arent talked about as much
Whilst regulations have certainly improved over the years, it would be naive to think that the days of such major accounting scandals are over. The relationship between auditors and their clients remains a bit too cosy and the shear volume of audit work conducted by inexperienced staff and the deadlines imposed on them means that it is still not too hard to falsify figures and gain an unqualified audit report.
Plus the DOJ just gives them a slap on the wrist. Must be nice.
I'm just impressed you can make weekly videos
Once you make yourself too big to fail, you're pretty much guaranteed to get away with anything. Regardless if they were fined, no one does any jail time or held responsible
My dad was a manager for one of their transfer stations back in the 90s, and always described the place as a "garbage mafia." Now I know why.
Wait-they’re a company? I thought Waste management was just a description!
I thought it was code for the mafia
@@edx21x Oh! It's a legitimate businesses!
Thought it was a gov body!
Me:"how did their auditors not catch this?"
Company Man:"Arthur Anderson was their auditor."
Me:"okay nevermind this checks out."
😭😭😭😭
I didn't even know about this scandal. I think the most interesting part is Arthur Andersen's involvement. You have to wonder, how many other companies they did shady accounting for before Enron drove the final nail in their coffin.
As one of their customers, if I pay a certain amount every month and my garbage magically disappears every thursday morning, I don't care about much else.
Come for the garbage, stay for the breakdown of a depreciation algorithm.
I'm such a nerd
This was the first fraud case we looked at when I was in uni for accounting. I love the fraud videos!
Wait you are telling me garbage hauling is shady, I’m shook. Next thing you’ll be saying municipal towing contracts are often not above board.
Towing is totally fraud. many tow lots are actually illegal, report them to the state and to 311 for a tow refund.
u been hinding under a rock?????u do know most cops etc are crooked what u think a garbage company aint
My mother's second husband owned a small private sanitation company in NYC for many years. When Giuliani took over as Mayor, one of the ways he tried to get rid of the Mafia was by making the industry unprofitable. Part of that was bringing WM and another company into the city to "compete" with the existing firms. Well, once the Mafia largely got out of the business, WM and the other company proceeded to screw over their customers in a variety of ways (often by "forgetting" to make pickups, causing businesses to get fined). Local business owners would tell my mother, "at least the Mafia came and took our trash on time." This was one of many situations in my life that made me realize the... inefficiencies... inherent in American capitalism over the long term.
That’s not capitalism that’s Anti capitalism. Capitalism should promote free markets they did the opposite, trying to get rid of crime, but at the cost of efficient markets.
@@Bellicose0825 The "capitalism" I was railing against was the actual capitalism of collecting money but not the garbage, not the government action that led to the capitalists moving in and providing subpar service. The capitalism of "big business solves everything."
@@Bellicose0825What part of "free market" doesn't allow absolute corruption? None! 😂
Good job! This story exemplifies my annoyance over the focus placed on (criminal)Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. I would love to see a fraction of the scrutiny sent her way, and see it applied to the countless cases of business fraud around the country.
My father was a employee at a Air Force Base in Albuquerque, NM. He was in charge of contracts with contractors. A small contractor had the base garbage contracts for several years. Every year it came out for re-bidding. The small contractor was telling him that he was worried about the bidding one year. He said that his house was burned and he was told not to bid on the contract. He thought it was mob related. The new contract went to Waste Management. The man backed out due to fears for his life and family.
Seeing a video on a Waste Management scandal made in 2019 got my blood boiling. My uncle worked for them for years and got cancer in 2018, dying a year later. There seemed to be some shady stuff where other people in my uncle’s section died/fell ill as well, with the company remaining complicit. They took some actions that seemed like they were covering something up, like dissolving my uncle’s section. This is mostly speculative, but I’ve had a grudge against them for years.
Would love to see you cover Circuit City, you've had the logo on your intro for years and have been hoping for it just as long.
My accounting professor this past semester loved talking about this one during ethics discussions and during the chapteron opinions. Probably because he knew people involved.
As a student who is studying to become an accountant, you did a wonderful job explaining Annual Depreciation.
WM is contracted to my town. It's the first I've heard about it though. I believe that MOST people dont think about their trash disposal beyond the curb. Good work.
There could be a whole series of utility companies with big scandals. PG&E would be another good one to cover.
PGE is a living breathing scandal
So would Lubbock Power out in Lubbock Texas.
I’d be willing to bet that 75-90% of publicly traded companies do these same exact accounting practices. I’d be shocked if not.
I’d like to see a video about ULINE. They seem to be one of those unnoticed companies that do a lot more than people realize.
What do they do?
@@smeshcel3025As someone who does domestic caregiving,I know their name.They make masks,sharps containers and other healthcare related items.
When I was a kid, my girlfriend and I found that if you went in a door that was a service or emergency exit door to the mall, that you could meander down some hallways and into a side door of one of the movie theaters. Then you'd come in the theater (movie showing or not) and just go find the theater you wanted and see whatever movie you wanted to see for free. I was about 15 years old then and once when we entered a theater, there was a movie showing and one of the ladies saw us come in the side door and said as we walked past her, "Cheaters never prosper". That had an impact on me. I felt guilty and se stopped doing it then. However, as an adult, all I see is that cheaters prosper the most. The worst that happens is you pay some of the money that you got but you still become richer than anyone else and have a gaudy amount of wealth, in fact, just by lying a lot.
As a former employee of wheelabraror technology, who was absorbed by WM we lived this scandal , after a lengthy search for a new ceo ,they found one ,within two months he resigned with the statement "the challenges are greater than I anticipated "BAM and so the fall