# Ask the professional snow removal guy. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 9, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354 "2011-11-09T03:03:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2026, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/61 "2026-01-27T22:53:28Z")
So have you been doing this for the last two decades? How’s the biz doing these days? Any new improvements, like electric snow blowers/throwers worth considering? What about the handheld electric snow shovels? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2026, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/62 "2026-01-27T23:07:41Z")
Well, if you need to scrape ice off your front steps, the metal blade is pretty much a requirement. I’ve lived here long enough that i have a couple of old shovels with solid metal blades. The plastic ones are actually more rigid; metal bends. (My old shovels are a little dented.) Anyway, i do try to keep my front walk ice-free. I put down some salt (calcium chloride) this morning, scraped this evening, and put some traction sand down. I also have some big rubber things for the area where water drips off the roof. (Big rubber mats with big deep holes, to keep some of the rubber above the puddle/ice.) But i used the metal-class shovel to pry the mats loose so i could shake off the ice. There will be more tomorrow, but if i keep on to of it, the steps will remain safe. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2026, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/63 "2026-01-27T23:08:19Z")
> [@Mr.Duality](#): > > Now I have a collection of snowblowers and shovels, from 1 to 3 part time employees depending on conditions, and a list of 60 locations that I service. I don’t have plows so I don’t do parking lots, just sidewalks and driveways. Just out of curiosity, have you ever considered getting rid of the snowblowers and the part-time employees you have to pay and getting a 4WD pickup with a snowplow attachment? I know those things aren’t cheap but the pickup has multiple uses and the whole thing, on balance, could eventually more than pay for itself. My snowplow guy, just like you, does gardening in the summer and snow clearing in the winter, but he doesn’t do commercial parking lots. He just has a roster of residential customers for whom he does driveway clearing. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2026, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/64 "2026-01-27T23:18:35Z")
Hi wolfpup. The plow questioned was mostly answered around post 41, around 2011 > [@Ask the professional snow removal guy.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/42): > > No. I may even be able to steer some business their way, since plow people and I are not direct competitors. They do parking lots and long driveways- I don’t. In this town competition would be cut-throat for them, since their are a large number of people who have snowplows on their trucks. Plow people are almost always unwilling to get out of their warm trucks and do a little physical labor. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2026, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/65 "2026-01-27T23:24:36Z")
Thanks, my bad, I didn’t see that post. Nonetheless, a plow truck doesn’t necessarily equate to doing commercial parking lots, at least not around here. My guy doesn’t do commercial lots. And many commercial lots here are handled by big front-loaders, not plows. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/66 "2026-01-28T12:57:49Z")
What things do your customers do that make you happy you deal with them? What things do they do that make you regret it? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2026, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/67 "2026-01-29T21:23:55Z")
First, I retired 13 years ago. I worked hard and played hard for enough years that I was wearing out physically. Another year or two would have made me actually no shit crippled. The most frustrating thing a customer could do was to leave doormats, rolled-up newspapers or other things in places where they would be pulled into the augers of a snowblower. A wet newspaper mutilated and immediately frozen while stuck in the augers was close to a worst case scenario. Cluttering a porch or back deck with flower pots, chairs or other objects so I’d have to move them around in order to do my job was quite annoying. I mean, put the flower pots and chairs away for the Winter. The flowers are dead, and you won’t be using the chairs until Spring. In 28 years in the business i almost never got a tip. A little extra money during a 3 day whizz-banger of a snowstorm would have been good for morale. Once in a while I’d be offered hot chocolate, coffee or some other treat. _That_ was a morale booster. The people who paid in October for six months in advance were a pleasure to serve. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/68 "2026-01-29T22:29:52Z")
I guess I’ll continue to offer hot chocolate to plow guys. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/69 "2026-01-29T23:32:23Z")
The funniest to me thing about this thread is that there is a poster called “Mr Duality” that I’ve never noticed, and he’s been here at least 14 years! I live in AZ. it snowed in Mesa once, 20 years ago, for twenty minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2026, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/70 "2026-01-29T23:50:39Z")
If the OP needs a supervisor, I used to direct snow removal operations for two active runways when I was stationed in MA. Rollover plows and Swiss snow blowers that kicked some ass. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/71 "2026-01-31T00:57:52Z")
Sold the business to a guy who ran it into the ground in just a few months. I had made it clear to him that I’d make myself available to offer advice and answer questions, but he never even once contacted me for same. He thought he knew it all, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/72 "2026-01-31T04:05:46Z")
> [@Mr.Duality](#): > > Little-known fact: things go better if you whistle while you work. The best whistling tune of all time is [“I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman”](http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=5229). Other good ones are “The Mayberry Theme” and “The Addams Family Theme”. If you whistle ”The Addams Family Theme”, do you have to stop and snap your fingers at the appropriate times? StG ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/73 "2026-01-31T12:12:17Z")
What no Colonel Bogey March? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4k4NEAIk3PU/maxresdefault.jpg "The Bridge on the River Kwai - Colonel Bogey March (HD)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k4NEAIk3PU&t=45s) and I’d give an honorable mention to the whistle section of “Walk like an Egyptian” Brian ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/74 "2026-01-31T21:53:35Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > If you whistle ”The Addams Family Theme”, do you have to stop and snap your fingers at the appropriate times? That many pauses would have been too much of a drag on efficiciency. I grew proficient at making a tongue-clicking noise. > [@N9IWP](#): > > What no Colonel Bogey March? That _is_ a good one. If I was still working I’d add it to my repertoire. New link for [I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AY30CLEJBU) ---
**Author:** ![Rangerdanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/67e7ee/32.png) [@Rangerdanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rangerdanger)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/75 "2026-01-31T22:29:20Z")
Still doing summer work? Skiing, downhill, backcountry or X-C? Still in the same city? How is your local snowpack this year? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354/76 "2026-02-01T22:08:56Z")
I can’t work anymore. Arthritis and cramps in hands, permanent injuries to shoulders. I can’t use a pen for 5 minutes without getting cramps and pain. I sincerely regret all the fingertip pull-ups I used to do as part of workouts to improve my rock climbing skills. I have after-market parts including hips and rotator cuff in my right shoulder. Two tendons in my right shoulder are disconnected and atrophied. So I can’t ski. Donated my ski equipment and climbing gear to the Outdoor Program at the University of Wyoming. I got a pedal-assist mountain ebike so I can still do a little of that. I read recently that snowpack in the Pole Mountain area where the X-C ski trails are is 5% of normal. There was a lot of snow early in the season in the Snowy Range, where there is downhill and X-C skiing, but I don’t think there has been much lately. All ice fishing derbies in southeast Wyoming and at least some in other parts of the state have been cancelled due to lack of ice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-professional-snow-removal-guy/602354.md?page=3)