This Is Truly An Incredible Human Interest Story From The Bakken

Link here to the Bismarck Tribune. More at the link.

By-line: Alexander, North Dakota.

Entrepreneurial start-up: mobile shower, laundry facilities

Seed money: $15,000; selling muskrat pelts to Chinese firm at $10/pelt; past two years

He pitched the idea to his parents back at their farm near Lake Preston in eastern South Dakota. His father and other relatives helped him convert a 53-foot semitrailer into a five-stall shower center with an office and laundry facilities.

A 6,000-gallon semi tanker alongside the trailer provides fresh water and collects the graywater.

Jensen paid for the renovation with $15,000 he earned in the past two years trapping muskrats, whose fur is sent to China to be fashioned into coats, slippers and earmuffs. Each pelt fetches about $10.

“That’s a pile of muskrats,” Jensen said after the construction was done.

The mobile venture, called Better Showers, rolled into an RV campground in the heart of the oil patch in June. A shower costs $10, with a half-price discount for residents of the RV park where the business is located. Towels and washcloths are $1 extra. The water pressure is strong, the soap is free and there is no time limit.

The business is parked along U.S. Highway 85, the busiest two-lane highway in western North Dakota, where about 100 trucks pass by every 10 minutes. The showers are open from 4 to 11 p.m., the time when most people are getting off work.

Throw in a mobile office: laptop, scanner, printer, internet connection, and it will be complete. Oh, and soft drinks. No beer.

By the way, the target audience carries a fair amount of cash; $10 for many of them is nothing.