PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Liz Camerote is on a mission. Well, it's a bit of a stinky treasure hunt.
“It’s like Easter eggs, but with a pile of dogs,” she said with a laugh.
Camerote knows that picking up poop is a job many people don't want to do, especially scavenging through frozen poop.
“I'm sure there's a lot more hidden in the snow,” she said. It will come out when it starts to melt.
But Camerote is by no means a bad place.
“It's such an easy and wonderful job that I couldn't think of a better job,” she said.
Camerote is a pet waste disposal technician at Poop Genie, one of a growing number of businesses scooping pet poop for customers through annual subscriptions or a la carte cleans.
Owner Keith Brandt said the weather was welcome.
“We'll start getting calls in January,” Brandt said. “It's going to be a pretty good year because everything is pretty icy this year. Who wants to shovel snow?”
Brandt was founded two years ago and serves 10 counties. He said his customer base includes millennials, people who adopted pets during the pandemic, and busy parents like Courtney Wilson.
“We need a little help here. We have busy lives,” Wilson said as she held her child on her hip.
Such services save clients time, and their flexibility helps both ways.
“It fit the needs of families where I was the primary caregiver and I took the kids everywhere. This was perfect for me to do that, and it paid really well. '' Camerote said.
So, if you've ever wondered, is there such a job? Yes, that's a poop scoop.
Poop Genie isn't the only one serving customers in the cold. The owner of Poop 911 in Drexel Hill said his company has seen a surge in customers due to the snow.
Bucks County Yard Portroll said its biggest business occurs during the first thaw of spring.
This story was written and photographed by the versatile journalist Eva Andersen.
