Case Study: How PGC Supported SafeWaste in Their US Expansion
United States
Canada
Challenge
SafeWaste, a New Zealand-based company that produces wheelie bin latches to reduce fly-away litter and improve environmental outcomes, faced significant challenges when expanding to the North American market:
- Scale difference: The US market represented massive volume potential compared to New Zealand, where Wellington city could fit into a small LA district town
- Need to plan for rapid expansion on a massive scale if they gained traction in the US market
- Cash flow and resource management challenges due to potential rapid growth
- Distance barrier: Being based in New Zealand created service and logistics concerns for US prospects
- Payment processing issues: US customers wanted to send cheques, which New Zealand banks don't accept
- Lack of local expertise and presence in the US market
- Complex regulatory and employment law requirements for setting up US operations
- Administrative burden of employment compliance that could make US market entry untenable
- Need for local support and credibility to overcome distance-related customer concerns
My biggest piece of advice for US expansion is to not look at the states as one individual market. The logistics in the US are quite hard and I don't think we would have been able to do it without a partner like PGC to help and essentially take that employment burden off us. — Richard Ussher, CEO at SafeWaste Global
Solution
PGC provided SafeWaste with a comprehensive Employer of Record solution that enabled their US market entry:
- Acted as legal employer for SafeWaste's US salesperson Monte, who had 25 years of waste industry experience
- Handled all employment compliance and administrative requirements
- Managed payroll, tax obligations, and regulatory filings
- Provided local expertise and support for US employment matters
- Eliminated the need for SafeWaste to set up a legal entity in the US
- Enabled clean entry into the US market with compliant employee hiring
- Offered ongoing support for employment-related queries and compliance updates
- Allowed SafeWaste to focus on core business operations and product sales
- Provided credibility and local presence to address customer concerns about service and support
Results
Through PGC's EOR solution, SafeWaste successfully established their US operations and achieved key expansion objectives:
- Successfully hired experienced US salesperson with 25 years of industry expertise
- Eliminated administrative burden of US employment compliance
- Avoided costs and delays of setting up US legal entity
- Gained local credibility and presence to address customer service concerns
- Enabled focus on core business growth and product development
- Successfully managed time zone differences with workable overlap hours
- Achieved clean market entry without regulatory compliance issues
- Established foundation for potential rapid scaling if market traction develops
- Overcame distance-related barriers through local representation
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