Workers Sift Through Trash To Find $4,500 AND Great Public Relations

Sometimes doing the right thing earns a company good P.R.:

Talk about customer service.

Employees at a Deffenbaugh Industries Inc. trash facility in St. Joseph sifted through a truckload of garbage Thursday to help a Savannah couple find $4,500 in lost cash.

The St. Joseph News-Press reported that Amy Ezzell frantically called Deffenbaugh after her husband, Chris, told her he had accidentally thrown away an envelope full of cash along with trash from a fast food restaurant.

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Chris had taken the money to Leavenworth, Kan., to look at a camper for a family vacation. He decided not to buy the camper and the envelope got mixed up with other trash. A Deffenbaugh worker knew which truck the money was in and rerouted it to the St. Joseph facility. A team of 10 workers sifted through the trash for about two hours before finding a mass of gooey bills.

“It was really gross, it came out of the envelope and it was soaked with everything,” said Dean Dymond of Deffenbaugh. “In fact, they found it near some cat litter in the trash, so it was pretty bad.”

All of the money was there and the couple said they couldn’t be happier. “I really appreciate everything they did for us,” Chris Ezzell said.

He said he tried to give the employees money as a reward for their efforts, but they declined it.

via Workers Sift Through Trash To Find $4,500 – Kansas City News Story – KMBC Kansas City.

Besides the fact that Deffenbaugh workers did a good thing–the right thing–without expectation or acceptance of a reward–they also earned some great coverage from at least two local TV stations and local newspapers.

If you empower your employees to take initiative (by informing them of policies and of course setting parameters) it will almost always pay off with good customer service and even some great PR.