It's 1993. I have just opened my first recycling center on a hope and prayer because I sure don't have any money. I'm borrowing a friend's old, beat-up 1976 dually. To move product? You ask. Well yes, but more importantly, this was my first baler! We would pour our cans out in front of the recycle center and drive back and forth until we had a bunch of aluminum pancakes, then scoop them all back up and load them into trailers. Not the most elegant space-saving solution.
Located in the Southern California San Bernardino Mountains, forty miles from the nearest broker, I quickly realized only too well the economic inefficiency of shipping "air tainted with just a touch of aluminum, plastic, or glass". I began canvassing all the leading recycling equipment catalogs, considering super sacks, roll offs, can flatteners. These products just didn't seem to make much sense. The closest solution was a baler or densifier. However, both of these machines are designed to deal with more product than a small operator generates. Furthermore, they are priced in the $40,000 and higher range. Asthe owner of a small recycling center, affording these pieces of equipment was just way out of reach.
Move forward 6 years to 1999. I have just discovered TSI's TC700 Baler. I contacted Randy Kindel, (in those days that mean't a telephone call). Priced less than a quarter of the other machines, I made my first baler purchase. Within the week, I was accepting delivery of my first shiny TC7000 baler (for which I would soon coin the term "minibaler").
Today, thirteen years later, I own 11 TC700 and TC710's. As a member of TSI put it, I am their "biggest small customer". Because of this machine, I was able to expand my recycling endeavor and have opened other recycling centers in Southern California and as far away as the Central Coast of California. I have become friends with numerous members of the company. They have elicited my comments on their baler and made modifications on the basis of my experience with the machine. Based Solely on my belief in this machine, for several years I have attended many of their trade shows testifying to the efficiency of the machine.
TSI often refers customers to me to answer "hands on" questions and I am happy to respond. I eventually became an authorized distributor servicing the Pacific West Coast and have hopes of extending services to Latin America.