DumpsterBossPro Blog — Dumpster Rental Software

Placement and Access Notes That Get the Can Set Right the First Time

A can set in the wrong spot is not a small mistake. It blocks a garage, cracks a driveway, sits under a power line or ends up somewhere the customer has to walk around for two weeks. Then somebody has to come back and move it, and the customer remembers.

What a Driver App Should Do for Roll-Off Drivers covered the driver app. This guide covers the few lines of text in that app that decide whether the drop goes right.

Where Exactly the Can Goes

"In the driveway" is not a placement note. Which side? How far back? Facing which way? Should the doors face the house or the road? Write it so a driver who has never been to the property could set it exactly where the customer pictured it.

The easiest way to get it right is to ask the customer to send a photo of the spot through two-way texting. Then the note can say "spot shown in customer photo, left of garage, doors toward house" and the driver can compare what he sees with what the customer sent.

Protecting the Surface

Customers care about their driveways more than their dumpsters. Ask whether they want boards or plywood under the rails, and put the answer in the note. Note any fresh concrete, pavers, soft ground or a slope. A 30-yard full of shingles sitting on a new driveway for a week is a damage claim waiting to happen.

If the surface looks wrong when the driver arrives, he should take a photo before he sets the can and add a note on the job. That photo and note protect both the customer and your company if anything is questioned later.

If you put boards down, decide whether they stay with the can or come back with the truck, and say so in the note. Drivers lose a surprising number of good boards to customers who think they were left as a gift.

Overhead, Gates and Clearance

Roll-off trucks need room to tip the bed and slide the can off, and room to back in. Ask about overhead lines, low branches, carports, narrow gates, parked cars and tight turns. Put all of it in the access notes. "Low wire over the end of the driveway, approach from the right" is the kind of note a driver reads twice.

Gate codes, lockbox codes and who to call to open a site go in the access notes too. A locked gate at 7 a.m. with nobody answering the phone is a wasted trip. The note should tell the driver what to do if it happens: call this number, wait ten minutes, or move to the next job.

Job Sites and Commercial Properties

Construction sites and commercial properties have their own rules. Which entrance trucks use, where the site superintendent wants the can, what hours deliveries are allowed and whether the driver must check in. Contractor and commercial accounts often have the same rules at every site, so write them once and copy them carefully onto each job.

For customers with multiple job sites, keep site-specific notes on each job. The can goes in a different spot at the warehouse than it does at the strip mall, even if the customer is the same.

For a large commercial site, a short note about who signs off on the placement saves a lot of trouble. The person who called in the order is often not the person standing on the site when the truck shows up.

Public Right-of-Way

If the only spot is on the public road or sidewalk, the customer may need a permit. Permit requirements vary by city and county, so do not promise the customer it is fine. Tell them to check with their local office, and put a note on the job about what they told you. DumpsterBossPro does not handle permits; it just keeps the note where the driver and office can see it.

Also note anything the driver should place, such as cones or reflectors, if that is your company's practice for cans near traffic.

Making Notes a Habit

Good notes come from good intake. Put the placement and access questions in your phone script and in your web request form. Review the notes when you assign the job, not when the driver is already in the driveway. After a drop, if the driver learns something useful, like a better approach or a gate that sticks, add it to the job so the next visit is easier.

The next guide covers the photos that go with placement. To see how notes flow from intake to the driver app, visit the DumpsterBossPro dumpster rental software page.