DumpsterBossPro Blog — Driver App & Routes

Scale Tickets and the Driver: Getting the Weight to the Office So Overage Bills Right

Every roll-off company has found a crumpled scale ticket under the seat of a truck weeks after the job was invoiced. Sometimes the load was under the included weight and nothing was lost. Sometimes it was well over, and the overage was never billed. Multiply that by a year and it adds up to real money.

After Landfill and Transfer Station Runs: The Haul-To Half of the Driver's Day, this article is about the small piece of paper at the end of every haul-to run.

Why the Ticket Matters

Most dumpster rentals include some weight in the price, with overage charged per ton above that. The only way to know whether a load went over is the scale ticket. In DumpsterBossPro, the scale-ticket weight is entered on the job, and overage is billed per ton. That makes the ticket the source of the number the customer pays.

No ticket, no weight. No weight, no overage. It is that simple.

It is also a fairness issue. Customers who load heavy should pay for what they loaded, and customers who load light should not be charged for weight they did not use. Getting the ticket right protects both sides, and it protects the company from the slow leak of unbilled tonnage that most owners never measure.

Who Does What

The driver gets the ticket at the scale. The weight is entered on the job by the office. The overage is billed from there. That split matters: the driver's job is to get the ticket to the office reliably, not to enter weights. Keeping that line clear means one person is responsible for the number on the job, and drivers are not trying to type tonnage at the scale house window.

Getting the Ticket to the Office

There are a few common routines. Some companies have drivers turn in paper tickets at the end of the shift. Some have drivers take a photo of the ticket and save it with the job from the driver app, so the office can enter the weight without waiting for the paper. Some do both. Pick a routine that works for your operation and make it the same every time.

The worst routine is no routine, where tickets end up in a door pocket, a lunch bag or the trash.

Whatever you choose, make it part of the job routine, not an extra chore. The ticket is handled before complete is tapped on that job, or before the next job is started. If the habit is tied to something the driver already does, it happens.

Matching the Ticket to the Job

A busy day might mean five landfill runs. Five tickets that all look the same. The driver should make sure each ticket is tied to the right job. If you photograph the ticket on the job it belongs to, the matching is done. If you turn in paper, write the customer name or job on the ticket before putting it away.

Mismatched tickets cause billing mistakes in both directions, which is worse than no ticket at all.

If a ticket is lost or unreadable, say so the same day. The office may be able to get a copy from the facility, and the sooner they ask the easier it is. A ticket reported missing on Monday is a small task. One discovered missing at the end of the month is a guessing game.

Overweight Loads and Customer Conversations

When a load is well over, the customer is going to ask questions. The ticket, the photo of the loaded can from the site, and the debris type on the job together tell the story. If the customer was told the included weight at booking, the overage should not be a surprise. The office handles the conversation; the driver's part is making sure the evidence exists.

The Driver's Part

Get the ticket. Tie it to the job. Get it to the office the same day. Those three habits are what make per-ton overage billing work. For how the driver's side connects to rental tracking and invoicing, see the dumpster driver app page.