William R. Coffin & Sons, Inc.William R. Coffin & Sons, Inc.William R. Coffin Rubbish Removal started in 1946 with a gentleman's agreement between William R. Coffin and Edgar Speight. Both worked for Hood Milk and in the summer of 1946 decided to start a part-time rubbish removal business in Harwich for extra income. They started the business with a used 1935 Ford dump truck (pictured here) and a goal of good service. William and Edgar agreed that whoever left Hood Milk first would get the rubbish business. William Coffin won the gentlemen's agreement in 1958 when he left Hood Milk and the rubbish business was officially name William R. Coffin Rubbish Removal. Edgar continued to work for Hood Milk.
William Coffin had three sons and one daughter, and in 1961 his first two sons, Lawrence and Robert, started working part time for the father. In 1964, William R. Coffin Rubbish Removal incorporated and became William R. Coffin and Sons, Inc. Lawrence and Robert bought stock in the business. William had promised them that they would not have to work in rain and snow. The two sons later realized it was the father who wouldn't have to work on those rough weather days. The office was run out of William's house from 1946 to 1963, and then from Robert's house, with the help of his wife, Nancy, from 1963 to 1966.
In 1966, William Coffin & Sons, Inc. bought Plum's Package Store. This was done to have a location for customer service. At that time, Plum's was not only a package store, but also a general store. Edgar Speight rejoined his old partner to run the store. The office for the corporation moved into a four foot by eight foot room upstairs at Plum's - with other rooms rented to other town businesses.
Today these two separate businesses are still run by the same family. We continue the same principles of good service, an upstanding business in the community, which is growing every day in keeping with the times. William R. Coffin and Sons currently operates three rear load packers, one side load packer and four pickup trucks. We have grown from our humble roots and now operate, not only in Harwich, but in Chatham, Orleans, Brewster, Dennis, and Yarmouth.
The people with us today are: Robert Coffin, president, can be seen driving the large trucks as well as at night in the store. Lawrence Coffin, director, currently enjoys his semi-retirement and only returns in the summer when needed. Gary Coffin, director, is a full time driver of both the large packers and small trucks. John Coffin, treasurer and son of Robert, is also the manager of Plum's. James Coffin, vice-president, company secretary and son of Robert, is a driver of the large and small trucks and also a clerk in the store. We are happy to service all of our customers and look forward to seeing you on the road or at Plum's.
William Coffin had the first packer truck in Harwich in 1959. Also, William Coffin was the first in Harwich to use large trash containers in 1966. The same year a 13-yard rear-load packer cost $9,100. Today a 20-yard rear-load packer costs over $125,000. Our first customers to use large trash containers were the Cape Half House and Thompson's Clam Bar. And now, we're the first in "end source" recycling in which recyclables are removed from our loads after being collected, saving our customers time (no separation needed) and money (no additional collections needed).