Your Hidden Waste Hauler Contract Problems: What they are and what you can do about them - Part 2

Most hauler contracts are written to ensure that haulers make money - and keep making more.

Typical hauler contracts:

1. Allow for unlimited price spikes 

2. Have inaccurate service levels

3. Charges you for additional fees

4. Makes it nearly impossible to cancel 

5. Has no provision for bad service

If your contract was not adjusted and has these default specifications, you will almost certainly pay more than you need to for your waste expenses.

Today, we’re going to talk about the last two contract specifications that cut into your bottom line.

Waste Contract is Nearly Impossible to Cancel 

What’s worse than a bad contract? Being completely stuck in it.

There are two aspects of contracts that make them difficult to exit. First, most contracts automatically renew for long terms - usually five years. So you may realize you want to change your contract, but it can be almost impossible to do so if you are in the middle of a five year term.

Second, contract termination is de-incentivized since it typically includes hefty associated fees. On rare occasions, it may be worth it for your company to terminate their contract and pay the fee so that they can hire a cheaper (or more reliable) hauler. These fees are usually equal to the past six months of charges, which is likely no small amount.

If you do chose to terminate, you have to send a termination letter within a very specific time frame prior to your contact renewing. Most of the time, this termination letter has to arrive at your hauler no more than 180-90 days prior to your contract renewing.

You must send a certified letter - not an email - specifying that you are terminating the contract and/or cancelling the auto-renewal clause.

Cancelling the auto-renewal clause allows you to create a contract with the same vendor with more favorable terms.

Has no provision for bad service

When there are service issues, you should be able to get them resolved quickly and promptly.

When a hauler misses a pick-up, it should be easy to get in touch with them to resolve it. If they’re leaving stacks of garbage around the dumpsters or make a mess every time they service them, the hauler should only need one request to service more conscientiously. But this isn’t often the case. 

Why pay someone for a service who is actually making your life (and your staff’s lives) more difficult? If you had multiple hauler problems with no resolution in sight, you need to know that you have an out if you need one. 

A thorough contract will include steps for resolution - and what will happen if you continue to be dissatisfied with service levels.

You Don’t Have to Overpay for Waste Services

By default, your haulers are going to let these things happen to your contract. But you don’t have to let them. You can solve current problems and prevent new ones from happening - all it takes is effort, and some persistence.

We help companies across the nation find waste solutions and implement changes on their behalf. Don’t be part of the 95% of companies that are overspending on their waste disposal! Drop us a line to learn how you can fix your contract.

Your Hidden Waste Hauler Contract Problems: What they are and what you can do about them - Part 1

Most waste hauler contracts have hidden problems. Why? Because your haulers don’t have incentive to help you save.

And unfortunately, many vendors in the waste industry are out to make more and more profits. So they’re willing to have you sign contracts that help them do exact that. And many of you have unwittingly signed them.

A typical contract will include the following expensive specifications:

1. Allow for unlimited price spikes 

2. Has inaccurate service levels

3. Charges you for additional fees

4. Makes it nearly impossible to cancel 

5. Has no provision for bad service

Most people simply don’t know that they can ask for additional contract language. They don’t know that they can ask that certain clauses be removed. They don’t know they can edit existing language. So they don’t.

And as a result, they overspend by 10-30% on their waste every month.

This article will help you start saving on your waste expenses by identifying some of the most common contract problems. We’ll go over 1-3 today, and 4 and 5 later in the week.

(Psst! Want to quickly know how good your contract really is? Download our free Waste Hauler Scorecard!)

Price Spikes Allowed On Contract

This is a good example of a contract problem that requires additional language in order to fix. If your contract does not include language that prohibits or limits price hikes, you will almost certainly get them.

Price spikes can occur 1-4 times a year, at rates of 10-15% each time. Most haulers will only increase prices once a year, but some will chose to do so more. And if your contract doesn’t expressly prohibit this there’s nothing to stop them from taking advantage of the opportunity.

If price spikes compound over time, you will pay more than you should. If this happens at multiple properties in a portfolio, you can overpay by thousands of dollars. Don’t let that happen to you.

Take a look in the notes section in one of your contracts. Does it have notes that limit or completely eliminate price hikes? If not, scan the rest of your contract for any similar denotations.

You can read more about these waste issues and others right here.

Inaccurate Service Levels

Service levels tend to be “off” for two main reasons.

First, 70% of companies in the US are paying for too many pick-ups. Why? Because haulers err on the side of too many pickups since more pickups mean more revenue. The more trips to your property that they make, the more they get paid.

So when they’re first evaluating for your needed service levels, they have financial incentive to over-estimate your real needs. Some haulers do this intentionally. Others err on the side of too many pick-ups because too few pick-ups are going to cause major problems quickly.

Second, most haulers don’t tend to re-evaluate your real needs over time. When was the last time your hauler said they should drop service down to twice a week? Or that if you switch out equipment, you could have fewer pickups?

You may have had the correct service levels when your contract began, but your needs may have changed. There may be unnoticed savings opportunities at one or more of your properties because your services have not been thoroughly evaluated in a long, long time - or ever. (This is one of the major reasons why 90% of companies are paying too much for their waste services.)

Haulers simply don’t have the financial motivation to proactively find the solutions that are right for you. They’re there to pick up trash, and they know that more pickups means more revenue.

To make sure you have the right services, find an independent waste consultant who will objectively evaluate every waste stream and find where you’re currently overspending.

Contract Includes Additional Fees

Most haulers will pass on the cost any number of administrative and overage charges to you. A lot companies pay these outright because they think they have to. You don’t.

But unless your contract specifically caps or eliminates these fees, you will need to pay them.

Look for these on your current hauler contract:

• Fuel/environment fees: This fee supposedly helps recoup the cost of gas, but is actually a huge profit center.

• Recycling recovery fee: Covers the fees incurred by hauler to transfer recyclable, but again, is typically a profit center.

• Minimum tonnage fees: Fee charged by the hauler (typically on roll-off or open-top accounts) when a container’s weight upon pickup is below a specific threshold. 

• Administrative fees:  typically charged if a client elects to receive paper invoices instead of electronic delivery of invoices.

• Regulatory Cost recovery fee:  Some haulers, (like Waste Management) will charge this fee to cover costs in other regions - not necessarily yours. They explain it like this:
  “This charge is not specifically tied to such costs to service your account, but instead helps us cover Waste Management’s enterprise-wide costs for host community fees, waste disposal taxes and similar charges to service all WM operating company customers in the United States and Canada, and to achieve an acceptable operating margin.” (From Waste Management, retrieved July 23, 2019.)
  The regulatory cost recovery fee is not “tied to . . . your account.” In other words, you’re helping cover their costs to service other companies. Why should you pay for what you don’t benefit from?

You can reduce or eliminate all of these fees; you don’t have to pay them.  But you have to do it prior to renewing a contract, or getting a new one. It’s extremely difficult to negotiate these fees in the middle of a contract.  

Your Hidden Waste Problems are Costing You

Too many companies don’t realize how prices hikes, inaccurate service levels, and ancillary fees are costing them.

Price hikes are built into the fabric of the vast majority of waste contracts. Inaccurate service levels go unnoticed in most contracts. Ancillary fees are paid without question.

Take the time you need to take to carefully review your contract or contracts. You are likely sitting on significant savings.

Have you ever thoroughly reviewed your contract? Ever heard of any of these waste issues? Let me know in the comments below!

How Hauler Contracts Make You Overpay on Waste Expenses: Part 2

What if news broke tomorrow morning that you didn’t actually have to pay your mortgage? That somehow, a swanky lawyer somewhere figured out that most Americans were not actually obligated to pay their mortgage? 

You’d probably be elated at first. But give it a day or two, and you’d probably start thinking, “Man, think of how much we could have saved if we had known this two years ago!”

At the risk of bursting your bubble, you definitely have to pay your mortgage this month. But you don’t necessarily have to be trapped into paying your hauler invoices. 

Read Part 1 of this series here!

It’s all in what your contract stipulates. We’ve helped a lot of companies significantly reduce or completely eliminate their ancillary waste fees. You don’t have to include them on your contract, and if they’re not on your contract, you don’t have to pay them.  

I’ll show you what I mean. Let’s look at some common contract fees that can be reduced or eliminated.

Your Hauler Invoice: Deconstructed

Take a look at your most recent hauler invoice. You’ll likely see a few fees listed near the bottom of your invoice, like this one. 

You’ll notice there are three fees listed in the left hand column: a container service plan, a fuel/environmental charge and a regulatory cost recovery charge. 

These are just three examples of waste fees that can be reduced or avoided altogether on your contract. 

Pull out your most recent invoice, and see which of the following fees you’re being charged. 

Want to stop overpaying? Download our free Guide to Reducing Your Waste Expenses!

The Most Common Waste Invoice Fees

There are dozens of waste fees that can appear on your invoices, but I’m going to focus on the ones you’re most likely to see. 

Container Service Plan: This is a fee that was automatically added to most Waste Management Accounts a few years ago. Enrollment in this plan (involuntary though it may be) allows you to replace your container ev as necessary. But most people don’t need to replace their garbage container frequently - some of our customers have containers that over 5 years old and still look fine. 

So do you really need to be a part of this plan? Probably not. 

Container Refresh fee: This one is specific to one of the biggest haulers out there, Republic. Republic has a fee called a “Container Refresh” fee that allows the customer to get a no-cost swap out of their container every 2 years. Which sounds great - if your container gets rusted out, you can replace it for free. 

But most containers are good for much longer than that. This is a good example of a service that seems like it’s there to serve you, but is actually in the haulers best interest. Haulers wouldn’t offer it if they didn’t profit from it. They know most of their customers will pay $10 a month for a service they will never use. 

Fuel/environmental fee: Almost everyone gets this charge on their invoice. Basically, the hauler is charging you for the gas it takes to get to your site and deliver your trash to the dump. But here’s the thing - they charge everyone on their route a fuel fee. They are more than recouping the cost of gas. 

And those fuel charges add up. The location that got the invoice above is being charged almost $60 a month, or $720 a year. Supposing this is a three year contract, that’s $2160 they could be saving! 

Recycling recovery fee: This fee is charged by the hauler to transfer your recyclable material from your site to the drop off site. You may rightly ask, “Well, aren’t they charging me already for fuel? What exactly does this fee cover?” Herein lies the problem. This charge often isn’t actually covering anything - it’s just another fee that the haulers often tack on because they can. 

Minimum tonnage fees: The hauler will charge you this fee when the containers weight is below a specific threshold. These fees typically only apply to roll-off or open-top accounts. In other words, they are charging you for not having enough garbage in the container.  

Basically, when you incur this fee, the hauler is saying “I made up this rule, and you broke it, so you have to pay.” The dump site does not charge a minimum fee - this is just something the hauler makes up because, well, they can.  

Psst! See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

Administrative fees: Typically charged if a client elects to receive paper invoices instead of electronic delivery of invoices. Most of the time, this administrative fee is pretty small - less than ten dollars per month. But small does not equal fair! You shouldn’t pay a penny more than you need to on your waste disposal. 

Regulatory Cost recovery fee: Some haulers, (like Waste Management) will charge this fee to cover costs in other regions - not necessarily yours. Your fees go towards paying other people’s garbage disposal. 

You Don’t Have to Overpay on Contract Fees

The fees in the list above - and a whole lot more that we haven’t mentioned - are not required to be in your contract. Local and state governments don’t mandate these; they exist because your hauler wants to make more money. 

If you aren’t interested in overpaying anymore, fill out our contact form! We’d love to hear from you. Or, let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Your Hidden Waste Hauler Contract Problems: What they are and what you can do about them - Part 2

Most hauler contracts are written to ensure that haulers make money - and keep making more.

Typical hauler contracts:

1. Allow for unlimited price spikes 

2. Have inaccurate service levels

3. Charges you for additional fees

4. Makes it nearly impossible to cancel 

5. Has no provision for bad service

If your contract was not adjusted and has these default specifications, you will almost certainly pay more than you need to for your waste expenses.

Today, we’re going to talk about the last two contract specifications that cut into your bottom line.

Waste Contract is Nearly Impossible to Cancel 

What’s worse than a bad contract? Being completely stuck in it.

There are two aspects of contracts that make them difficult to exit. First, most contracts automatically renew for long terms - usually five years. So you may realize you want to change your contract, but it can be almost impossible to do so if you are in the middle of a five year term.

Second, contract termination is de-incentivized since it typically includes hefty associated fees. On rare occasions, it may be worth it for your company to terminate their contract and pay the fee so that they can hire a cheaper (or more reliable) hauler. These fees are usually equal to the past six months of charges, which is likely no small amount.

If you do chose to terminate, you have to send a termination letter within a very specific time frame prior to your contact renewing. Most of the time, this termination letter has to arrive at your hauler no more than 180-90 days prior to your contract renewing.

You must send a certified letter - not an email - specifying that you are terminating the contract and/or cancelling the auto-renewal clause.

Cancelling the auto-renewal clause allows you to create a contract with the same vendor with more favorable terms.

Has no provision for bad service

When there are service issues, you should be able to get them resolved quickly and promptly.

When a hauler misses a pick-up, it should be easy to get in touch with them to resolve it. If they’re leaving stacks of garbage around the dumpsters or make a mess every time they service them, the hauler should only need one request to service more conscientiously. But this isn’t often the case. 

Why pay someone for a service who is actually making your life (and your staff’s lives) more difficult? If you had multiple hauler problems with no resolution in sight, you need to know that you have an out if you need one. 

A thorough contract will include steps for resolution - and what will happen if you continue to be dissatisfied with service levels.

You Don’t Have to Overpay for Waste Services

By default, your haulers are going to let these things happen to your contract. But you don’t have to let them. You can solve current problems and prevent new ones from happening - all it takes is effort, and some persistence.

We help companies across the nation find waste solutions and implement changes on their behalf. Don’t be part of the 95% of companies that are overspending on their waste disposal! Drop us a line to learn how you can fix your contract.

Your Hidden Waste Hauler Contract Problems: What they are and what you can do about them - Part 1

Most waste hauler contracts have hidden problems. Why? Because your haulers don’t have incentive to help you save.

And unfortunately, many vendors in the waste industry are out to make more and more profits. So they’re willing to have you sign contracts that help them do exact that. And many of you have unwittingly signed them.

A typical contract will include the following expensive specifications:

1. Allow for unlimited price spikes 

2. Has inaccurate service levels

3. Charges you for additional fees

4. Makes it nearly impossible to cancel 

5. Has no provision for bad service

Most people simply don’t know that they can ask for additional contract language. They don’t know that they can ask that certain clauses be removed. They don’t know they can edit existing language. So they don’t.

And as a result, they overspend by 10-30% on their waste every month.

This article will help you start saving on your waste expenses by identifying some of the most common contract problems. We’ll go over 1-3 today, and 4 and 5 later in the week.

(Psst! Want to quickly know how good your contract really is? Download our free Waste Hauler Scorecard!)

Price Spikes Allowed On Contract

This is a good example of a contract problem that requires additional language in order to fix. If your contract does not include language that prohibits or limits price hikes, you will almost certainly get them.

Price spikes can occur 1-4 times a year, at rates of 10-15% each time. Most haulers will only increase prices once a year, but some will chose to do so more. And if your contract doesn’t expressly prohibit this there’s nothing to stop them from taking advantage of the opportunity.

If price spikes compound over time, you will pay more than you should. If this happens at multiple properties in a portfolio, you can overpay by thousands of dollars. Don’t let that happen to you.

Take a look in the notes section in one of your contracts. Does it have notes that limit or completely eliminate price hikes? If not, scan the rest of your contract for any similar denotations.

You can read more about these waste issues and others right here.

Inaccurate Service Levels

Service levels tend to be “off” for two main reasons.

First, 70% of companies in the US are paying for too many pick-ups. Why? Because haulers err on the side of too many pickups since more pickups mean more revenue. The more trips to your property that they make, the more they get paid.

So when they’re first evaluating for your needed service levels, they have financial incentive to over-estimate your real needs. Some haulers do this intentionally. Others err on the side of too many pick-ups because too few pick-ups are going to cause major problems quickly.

Second, most haulers don’t tend to re-evaluate your real needs over time. When was the last time your hauler said they should drop service down to twice a week? Or that if you switch out equipment, you could have fewer pickups?

You may have had the correct service levels when your contract began, but your needs may have changed. There may be unnoticed savings opportunities at one or more of your properties because your services have not been thoroughly evaluated in a long, long time - or ever. (This is one of the major reasons why 90% of companies are paying too much for their waste services.)

Haulers simply don’t have the financial motivation to proactively find the solutions that are right for you. They’re there to pick up trash, and they know that more pickups means more revenue.

To make sure you have the right services, find an independent waste consultant who will objectively evaluate every waste stream and find where you’re currently overspending.

Contract Includes Additional Fees

Most haulers will pass on the cost any number of administrative and overage charges to you. A lot companies pay these outright because they think they have to. You don’t.

But unless your contract specifically caps or eliminates these fees, you will need to pay them.

Look for these on your current hauler contract:

• Fuel/environment fees: This fee supposedly helps recoup the cost of gas, but is actually a huge profit center.

• Recycling recovery fee: Covers the fees incurred by hauler to transfer recyclable, but again, is typically a profit center.

• Minimum tonnage fees: Fee charged by the hauler (typically on roll-off or open-top accounts) when a container’s weight upon pickup is below a specific threshold. 

• Administrative fees:  typically charged if a client elects to receive paper invoices instead of electronic delivery of invoices.

• Regulatory Cost recovery fee:  Some haulers, (like Waste Management) will charge this fee to cover costs in other regions - not necessarily yours. They explain it like this:
  “This charge is not specifically tied to such costs to service your account, but instead helps us cover Waste Management’s enterprise-wide costs for host community fees, waste disposal taxes and similar charges to service all WM operating company customers in the United States and Canada, and to achieve an acceptable operating margin.” (From Waste Management, retrieved July 23, 2019.)
  The regulatory cost recovery fee is not “tied to . . . your account.” In other words, you’re helping cover their costs to service other companies. Why should you pay for what you don’t benefit from?

You can reduce or eliminate all of these fees; you don’t have to pay them.  But you have to do it prior to renewing a contract, or getting a new one. It’s extremely difficult to negotiate these fees in the middle of a contract.  

Your Hidden Waste Problems are Costing You

Too many companies don’t realize how prices hikes, inaccurate service levels, and ancillary fees are costing them.

Price hikes are built into the fabric of the vast majority of waste contracts. Inaccurate service levels go unnoticed in most contracts. Ancillary fees are paid without question.

Take the time you need to take to carefully review your contract or contracts. You are likely sitting on significant savings.

Have you ever thoroughly reviewed your contract? Ever heard of any of these waste issues? Let me know in the comments below!

Your Hidden Waste Hauler Contract Problems: What they are and what you can do about them - Part 2

Most hauler contracts are written to ensure that haulers make money - and keep making more.

Typical hauler contracts:

1. Allow for unlimited price spikes 

2. Have inaccurate service levels

3. Charges you for additional fees

4. Makes it nearly impossible to cancel 

5. Has no provision for bad service

If your contract was not adjusted and has these default specifications, you will almost certainly pay more than you need to for your waste expenses.

Today, we’re going to talk about the last two contract specifications that cut into your bottom line.

Waste Contract is Nearly Impossible to Cancel 

What’s worse than a bad contract? Being completely stuck in it.

There are two aspects of contracts that make them difficult to exit. First, most contracts automatically renew for long terms - usually five years. So you may realize you want to change your contract, but it can be almost impossible to do so if you are in the middle of a five year term.

Second, contract termination is de-incentivized since it typically includes hefty associated fees. On rare occasions, it may be worth it for your company to terminate their contract and pay the fee so that they can hire a cheaper (or more reliable) hauler. These fees are usually equal to the past six months of charges, which is likely no small amount.

If you do chose to terminate, you have to send a termination letter within a very specific time frame prior to your contact renewing. Most of the time, this termination letter has to arrive at your hauler no more than 180-90 days prior to your contract renewing.

You must send a certified letter - not an email - specifying that you are terminating the contract and/or cancelling the auto-renewal clause.

Cancelling the auto-renewal clause allows you to create a contract with the same vendor with more favorable terms.

Has no provision for bad service

When there are service issues, you should be able to get them resolved quickly and promptly.

When a hauler misses a pick-up, it should be easy to get in touch with them to resolve it. If they’re leaving stacks of garbage around the dumpsters or make a mess every time they service them, the hauler should only need one request to service more conscientiously. But this isn’t often the case. 

Why pay someone for a service who is actually making your life (and your staff’s lives) more difficult? If you had multiple hauler problems with no resolution in sight, you need to know that you have an out if you need one. 

A thorough contract will include steps for resolution - and what will happen if you continue to be dissatisfied with service levels.

You Don’t Have to Overpay for Waste Services

By default, your haulers are going to let these things happen to your contract. But you don’t have to let them. You can solve current problems and prevent new ones from happening - all it takes is effort, and some persistence.

We help companies across the nation find waste solutions and implement changes on their behalf. Don’t be part of the 95% of companies that are overspending on their waste disposal! Drop us a line to learn how you can fix your contract.

How to Stop Overspending on Your Waste Disposal

Sometimes it seems like the waste industry is just one big headache. Contracts are difficult to get out of. Pick-ups are often late, or missed completely. Expensive haulers get away with being paid even more. Ultimately, you can end up overpaying by thousands of dollars as the years pass. 

Your disposal services are likely not really serving you. 

But with some effort you can fix that, starting today.

Download our free Guide to Reducing Waste Expenses to help you get started!

To figure out how to stop overspending, you’ll need to

• Review your waste process

• Learn the ins and outs of your contract

• Make strategic service changes

• Monitor those changes

Think of these as the four keys to unlocking savings. 95% of businesses - across all industries - are overspending on waste services. It’s likely that you’re sitting on hundreds or thousands of dollars of waste savings. But use these four keys, and you can find them!

And since you’re likely to be short on time, this post boils it down to the essentials and will walk you through each step.

Reviewing Your Waste Process

You may be looking at your waste stream and thinking, “Where do I even begin?” I recommend that you start with finding support and go from there. Even if you have less than an hour a week to contribute to a review, it is completely doable if you build a team and assign tasks. Your team can support you through the review process.

1. Recruit colleagues. Having a team to support the review efforts will ensure accountability and effectiveness. 

2. Pick a time frame. Take your team’s availability and scheduling issues at your locations. 

3. Conduct the Basic Audit. Familiarize yourself with the details of your waste streams. Are your dumpsters always full when they are serviced? Do your haulers frequently miss pick-ups? You won’t know until you conduct a basic audit.  

4. Review Your Contract. Pay special attention to key sections on your contract like: pricing, service levels, and terms. (Use the next section to help you know what to look for!)

5. Analyze findings. You may find that you need different equipment, or fewer pick-ups, or a new hauler.  

6. Evaluate next steps. Now that you know what to fix, you can take steps to solve on-going issues. Get a new hauler and a contract with better terms. Or adjust frequency of pick-ups. All of these will affect your bottom line for years to come.  

Learn about Your Waste Hauler Contract

Nobody except legal reads contracts, right? But I like to think of waste hauler contracts as maps - what they contain shows you how to navigate your waste process and find savings.

And don’t worry; you don’t have to read it end to end! Below, you’ll learn what sections of your contract to pay the most attention to. 

Terms - This part of your contract discusses how long your contract is in effect. Most hauler contracts are 3-5 years in length. But you’ll also want to check and see how easy it is to get out of these terms. Is there a fee associated with terminating the contract? What options do you have? Answers to questions like these are critical for implementing long-term, ideal waste solutions.  

Fees - Does your contract allow price spikes? How often can your hauler raise prices? An ideal contract will regulate or even eliminate price hikes. 

Service - How often are your site(s) being serviced? You may not actually need as many pick-ups as you think! There is often a lot of savings to be had in reducing the number of pick-ups, or getting different size dumpsters - or both.

It may also be helpful for you to look over your past few hauler invoices. Do you notice any increases to regular fees? Are you paying for services that aren’t in your contract? If the answer is yes to either of these questions, you know you’re overspending!

Making Disposal Service and Waste Equipment Changes 

Every company has at least three options to reduce waste expenses. Once you know your waste process and your hauler contract pretty well, you’ll be able to see where it’s possible for you to make changes.

Suppose, for instance, that you now know that your haulers fees have increased twice in the past year, and that there are other haulers in the area who could do the same service for less. This is valuable information! You could use it to renegotiate your contract with your current hauler, making sure it includes decreased service fees.

Every business is a little different, but at least one of these options will likely be the best one for yours.

Renegotiating Your Contract - Some companies don’t need to get out of their contract completely; they just need different terms or different service levels. Other companies may not financially be able to exit their contract. Either way, for a lot of companies, renegotiating their contract makes financial sense. 

Finding a New Hauler/Getting a New Contract - Some companies, on the other hand, find that it makes more financial sense to exit their contract, and pay out for the remainder. If you find yourself in this spot, send out bids to other area haulers and see if someone else can provide better levels of services. 

Getting New Equipment - Depending on your situation, getting different sizes of equipment can significantly reduce expenses related to waste equipment. If, for instance, you have two four-yard dumpsters that get picked up five times a week, you could upgrade to an eight-yard dumpsters that gets picked up three times a week - and save a nice sum each year as a result. (Learn more about different kinds of waste equipment!)

Monitoring Those Changes

Moving forward, you’ll want to make sure that the changes you’ve implemented are actually working. If you’ve gotten a different contract or a new hauler, you should see a difference in savings almost immediately. The same with equipment - the savings should be evident on the next month’s invoices. 

But in order to make sure you’re getting the full effect of the your efforts, you’ll need to also monitor hauler invoices. We find that haulers make mistakes about 10% of the time - and that adds up fast! Make sure you know what you’re supposed to be charged, and make sure your billing reflects that. 

It’s also worth it to periodically revisit your basic audit. Waste needs tend to change over time in every industry, so you want to be sure that you aren’t overlooking savings you could take advantage of. 

You Don’t Have to Keep Overspending on Your Waste Disposal

With some effort and patience, you’ll see how waste savings can add up. If you carefully review your waste process, your contract and service levels, and make strategic choices, you can reign in overspending. But you can also find relief from waste worries - from price hikes, from awful service, and from terrible contracts. 

You can take charge of your waste worries, and you can start today! 

What questions do you have about your current waste management process? Let us know in the comments below, or shoot us an email.

Your Hidden Waste Hauler Contract Problems: What they are and what you can do about them - Part 1

Most waste hauler contracts have hidden problems. Why? Because your haulers don’t have incentive to help you save.

And unfortunately, many vendors in the waste industry are out to make more and more profits. So they’re willing to have you sign contracts that help them do exact that. And many of you have unwittingly signed them.

A typical contract will include the following expensive specifications:

1. Allow for unlimited price spikes 

2. Has inaccurate service levels

3. Charges you for additional fees

4. Makes it nearly impossible to cancel 

5. Has no provision for bad service

Most people simply don’t know that they can ask for additional contract language. They don’t know that they can ask that certain clauses be removed. They don’t know they can edit existing language. So they don’t.

And as a result, they overspend by 10-30% on their waste every month.

This article will help you start saving on your waste expenses by identifying some of the most common contract problems. We’ll go over 1-3 today, and 4 and 5 later in the week.

(Psst! Want to quickly know how good your contract really is? Download our free Waste Hauler Scorecard!)

Price Spikes Allowed On Contract

This is a good example of a contract problem that requires additional language in order to fix. If your contract does not include language that prohibits or limits price hikes, you will almost certainly get them.

Price spikes can occur 1-4 times a year, at rates of 10-15% each time. Most haulers will only increase prices once a year, but some will chose to do so more. And if your contract doesn’t expressly prohibit this there’s nothing to stop them from taking advantage of the opportunity.

If price spikes compound over time, you will pay more than you should. If this happens at multiple properties in a portfolio, you can overpay by thousands of dollars. Don’t let that happen to you.

Take a look in the notes section in one of your contracts. Does it have notes that limit or completely eliminate price hikes? If not, scan the rest of your contract for any similar denotations.

You can read more about these waste issues and others right here.

Inaccurate Service Levels

Service levels tend to be “off” for two main reasons.

First, 70% of companies in the US are paying for too many pick-ups. Why? Because haulers err on the side of too many pickups since more pickups mean more revenue. The more trips to your property that they make, the more they get paid.

So when they’re first evaluating for your needed service levels, they have financial incentive to over-estimate your real needs. Some haulers do this intentionally. Others err on the side of too many pick-ups because too few pick-ups are going to cause major problems quickly.

Second, most haulers don’t tend to re-evaluate your real needs over time. When was the last time your hauler said they should drop service down to twice a week? Or that if you switch out equipment, you could have fewer pickups?

You may have had the correct service levels when your contract began, but your needs may have changed. There may be unnoticed savings opportunities at one or more of your properties because your services have not been thoroughly evaluated in a long, long time - or ever. (This is one of the major reasons why 90% of companies are paying too much for their waste services.)

Haulers simply don’t have the financial motivation to proactively find the solutions that are right for you. They’re there to pick up trash, and they know that more pickups means more revenue.

To make sure you have the right services, find an independent waste consultant who will objectively evaluate every waste stream and find where you’re currently overspending.

Contract Includes Additional Fees

Most haulers will pass on the cost any number of administrative and overage charges to you. A lot companies pay these outright because they think they have to. You don’t.

But unless your contract specifically caps or eliminates these fees, you will need to pay them.

Look for these on your current hauler contract:

• Fuel/environment fees: This fee supposedly helps recoup the cost of gas, but is actually a huge profit center.

• Recycling recovery fee: Covers the fees incurred by hauler to transfer recyclable, but again, is typically a profit center.

• Minimum tonnage fees: Fee charged by the hauler (typically on roll-off or open-top accounts) when a container’s weight upon pickup is below a specific threshold. 

• Administrative fees:  typically charged if a client elects to receive paper invoices instead of electronic delivery of invoices.

• Regulatory Cost recovery fee:  Some haulers, (like Waste Management) will charge this fee to cover costs in other regions - not necessarily yours. They explain it like this:
  “This charge is not specifically tied to such costs to service your account, but instead helps us cover Waste Management’s enterprise-wide costs for host community fees, waste disposal taxes and similar charges to service all WM operating company customers in the United States and Canada, and to achieve an acceptable operating margin.” (From Waste Management, retrieved July 23, 2019.)
  The regulatory cost recovery fee is not “tied to . . . your account.” In other words, you’re helping cover their costs to service other companies. Why should you pay for what you don’t benefit from?

You can reduce or eliminate all of these fees; you don’t have to pay them.  But you have to do it prior to renewing a contract, or getting a new one. It’s extremely difficult to negotiate these fees in the middle of a contract.  

Your Hidden Waste Problems are Costing You

Too many companies don’t realize how prices hikes, inaccurate service levels, and ancillary fees are costing them.

Price hikes are built into the fabric of the vast majority of waste contracts. Inaccurate service levels go unnoticed in most contracts. Ancillary fees are paid without question.

Take the time you need to take to carefully review your contract or contracts. You are likely sitting on significant savings.

Have you ever thoroughly reviewed your contract? Ever heard of any of these waste issues? Let me know in the comments below!

What We Do and How We Do It

People care less about what you do than how you do it.

Say you have a vendor who does decent work, but is an absolute pain to work with. They’ve been really disrespectful to your staff, and you can never get a hold of them when things go wrong. How long would you put up with them?

No company exists in a vacuum. There will always be other providers who can supply a product or service.

But we really believe that the way we do our jobs is unique. We’ve tailored everything we do to our clients needs. We evaluate the documents appropriate to their industry and we look at your market’s waste providers. But the way we do what we do is tailored to you, too. 

This article will show you how we intend to partner with you - and how you can expect us to treat you and your staff as long as we’re in business together. 

Let’s talk about:

• Transparency

• Experience

• Going the Extra Mile

• Taking Fiduciary responsibility

At the end of this article, you’ll know exactly what to expect when we partner with you. 

First, I want to give you a little background about what we do, so you can have a better context for how we do what we do.

What our waste and utility services are

Let’s take a minute to talk about exactly what we do. We help you find savings in your waste, recycling, and utility expenses. 

Why, you may ask, do they need to be managed? Why should people care about them? 

Simply put: without professional oversight on your management processes, chances are that you’ll overspend (Nine times out of ten, to be precise). Haulers bank on your ignorance - you don’t know what they’re charging other area clients. You don’t know that you can include clauses on your contract to limit price spikes and stop auto-renewals. And because you, like most management professionals, don’t know market rates and contract practices (and a host of other industry norms) you’ll overpay.

And even if you’re like Tad Dolbier and have done a lot to minimize overspending and put cost-reduction measures in place, you’re still likely overspending. Why?

Because you aren’t a waste industry professional. And you don’t have to be. 

You shouldn’t have to know waste and utility industry practices to make sure that you get fair rates and a good contract. Who has that kind of time?

This is exactly why thousands of locations across multiple industries have chosen to partner with us. They want us to find savings (which we do 90% of the time), but in doing so they’re actually employing one of the golden rules of management: delegation. We use our expertise to lock in excellent pricing, and you benefit from the savings. 

Remember Tad? After all that work he went through to implement cost cutting, he wasn’t so sure we would come up with any substantial reductions. But after we made some changes to his waste management vendors, he wrote us: 

When you first approached me about managing our solid waste costs, I was skeptical. When you came back to me with $6,800 per month in savings, I was truly impressed and grateful!

Having expertise on your side can have a huge impact on your bottom line. It’s worth it to have someone else review your waste management process. It’s like buying a lottery ticket, knowing there’s a 90% chance that you’ll win. Who wouldn’t like those odds?

Even better - this process is guaranteed to be cash-flow positive. You only pay us when the savings show up on your invoices. We take on all the risk - if we don’t find savings at your sites, you don’t owe us anything. We take the hit. 

We do everything we can to address any obstacles or concerns you may have when it comes to our ability to exhaustively examine your waste management processes and vendor agreements and invoices. 

How we find substantial waste and utility savings 

Some of you may be thinking, “Okay, I see why it’s a good idea to have an independent, thorough review. But how exactly do you all do that?

After our clients sign our official agreement, one of our Project Managers takes over your account. Tony and Allen are the real deal: they’ve been working in the waste industry for almost forty years between them. That’s a lot of trash. And it’s a lot of know-how. 

You - and any other decision makers for your portfolios - will meet one of them after you sign up for our services. 

Tony and Allen have seen it all. They know all about under-performing waste vendors. They can find the holes in your contract because they’ve seen the very worst of the worst. And they know how to adapt our proven process to fit your industry, your locations, and your needs. 

Want to know if you’re a good candidate for industrial or commercial recycling? They’ll tell you. And they’ll get vendors and equipment in place on your behalf. Not sure why your waste disposal or waste removal fees are suddenly so high? They can tell you. 

But - more importantly - they’ll be able to see all the holes you can’t. On almost every account they manage, they have found creative savings solutions. If you’re in the hotel industry, they’ll look at seasonal occupancy rates. If you have recycling set up in place, they may check to see if your cardboard is being broken down properly (if it’s not - you’ll need more frequent pickups. Translation: you’ll likely pay more than you need to). 

Tony and Allen will leave no stone unturned. (You should see the excel spreadsheet they use to calculate your costs and real needs. It’s a doozy, let me tell you). They excel at finding savings. Between them, they’ve found hundreds of thousands of dollars for companies across the US.  

The audit process looks different for each company, but we follow the same six basic steps for every industry:

• Assign WCI Personnel

• Review Waste Expenses

• Identify Cost Reduction Opportunities

• Develop Recommendations

• Implement Recommendations

• Provide a monthly savings report

Guess how much of this you are responsible for? 0%. While the overall effort is collaborative, we do all the work on our end. Do we ask clarifying questions about documentation or equipment usage? Absolutely. But we’ve fine-tuned our process so that it takes as little of your time - and your staff’s time - as possible. 

After we’ve assigned the WCI PM, the expense review of your waste or utility accounts begin. 

Again, this will look a little different for each client, but the framework remains the same. For every account, we ask that you sign a Letter of Authorization so that we can ask waste and utility vendors to work with us on your behalf. We also ask for utility invoices and current service agreements - or the account log on information so that we can access them. 

Then, the review starts. For waste reviews, we look at your invoice history, and we complete 12-month audits on any equipment that is larger than an 8 yard dumpsters. Right off the bat, our PMs will know if you’re overpaying for a dumpster based on its monthly rate, or if you need to decrease frequency of pick-ups at a certain location.

But other information is not nearly so straightforward. For anything larger than a 8 yard dumpster, we have to evaluate your tonnage, and your frequency of pickup. Do you really need to be serviced twice a week? Or can you get away with bi-weekly service? We’ll also ask you questions about your customer service experience. The hauler you have have great rates, but misses pick-up frequently. This is vital information, and we take it into account when we review your portfolio. 

For utility audits, we look at meter usage and rate structures. Are you overlooking any meters? Is your current service level in line with your business status? Are you taking advantage of every tax exemption available to you?  

For both waste and utility audits, we look for unexplained price hikes, and we look at usage trends. We also look at your service agreements. We’ll note expiration dates, and we’ll check to see if ancillary fees are limited or eradicated altogether. We’ll also look for language that prohibits auto-renewals, and limits price spikes to a certain percentage. 

Then we find other pricing options. This is really where our expertise comes in handy. Do other reputable haulers have better rates? Are you in the right utility rate structure? If your contract has less than ideal terms, we evaluate whether it’s best to try to renegotiate the contract, or terminate it altogether.

Termination is pretty rare - we only recommend doing so if it is in your immediate best interest financially. Typically, our clients stay with their current haulers and we simply renegotiate their current contract. 

We have great success at renegotiating contracts. Allen Banfield, one of our PMs  had a client that had a contract with Waste Management. It had just renewed and had another 2+ years remaining. But the pricing was really less than ideal. He told me: “I  was able to negotiate a new 5 year agreement that provided WM with the longevity they desired and generated significant savings for the client without having to liquidate the WM agreement or wait for it to expire. It was a win-win.” 

We make sure you don’t leave any savings opportunities on the table - which is why we have a success rate of over 90%. If you’re paying for waste or utilities, you’re probably overpaying. And you don’t need to. 

We do an exhaustive audit and review the appropriate documentation for each and every location in your portfolio. Our process shows us the gaps - those places where you could be saving, but aren’t. So after we have evaluated all the documentation and crunched the numbers, we create a recommendations report for you. We show you the steps we’ll take to make an impact on your bottom line. Usually this happens via a teleconference. 

We’ll show the amount you’ll save on a month to month basis, but we’ll also often show you how those savings compounds over time. Waste and utility expenses are recurring, so whatever you savings we implement adds up quickly. Hundreds saved each months translates to thousands - even hundreds of thousands - for the duration of your vendor contract. 

After we present the report, you give us your feedback. On rare occasions, there are valid reasons for not implementing certain savings. Maybe a location is about to be sold, or perhaps  construction makes immediate implementation impossible. We want to find the solutions that are right for you, so we make it a point to listen carefully. 

But the majority of the time, our clients are thrilled and we move forward with the implementation. SInce so many of our clients have multiple sites and personnel who staff the sites, we anticipate and actively try to prevent communication gaps. We work closely with your and your team to implement our recommendations. 

Where there are service changes, we coordinate with your staff to ensure a smooth transition. We manage contract cancellations and arbitrate any kick-back we get from the haulers. When there’s a really major problem, we’ll bring it to your attention. But for the most part, we are able to do what we do with minimal inconvenience to you and your staff. 

Then we provide a monthly savings report. It looks like this:

The summary page looks like this.

This summary shows the total savings, and our share in the savings. It shows the savings at each and every location. And it shows your bill for that month. (We share in the savings at a rate of 50%.  So we’re motivated to find all possible savings opportunities!) 

And going forward, we audit all of your invoices. We find errors 10% of the time, and those errors can be costly! So we make sure your waste and utility vendors are upholding their end of the bargain; that they’re charging you what they’ve agreed to in your contract. 

We don’t just provide a much-needed service, we do everything we can to ease your mind about your waste and utiltiy management processes. As anyone who has worked with a disposal hauler knows, things go wrong. 

Services can be missed. There may be a sudden uptick in unfounded contamination charges. Haulers are human, too. And sometimes they just make mistakes. 

So when service issues arise, we’re your first line of defense. We stay on top of the situation until it’s resolved. We wait on hold forty-five minutes, and we make multiple calls to your site managers and your vendors. Then we make sure that whatever resolution is promised actually happens.

By now, you probably have a pretty good idea of our values. We don’t believe in leaving your waste disposal problems to chance. And we don’t believe in doing things halfway. We work hard to make sure every possible problem is prevented - and when issues do arise, we’re the ones that arrange for billing credits or complete resolution, depending on the case. In all of our processes, we value transparency, experience, going the extra mile, and fiduciary responsibility. 

Transparency is vital to your waste and utility management

Transparency is important to us because no one likes to be tricked. There’s enough fishy business in the waste industry. We’re not going to add to it; we’re here to confront it. We’re upfront about our pricing - it will be no surprise to you what you’re charged on a month-to-month basis (which is critical for budget projections.) 

Our invoices themselves are made to be transparent. You can see exactly what you’re being charged at each location, and how that differs from your original waste or utility spend. 

And we’re up front when problems arise. We’re not going to hide issues from you or your staff to make ourselves look a little better. Instead, we bring them to your attention and provide solutions options. 

Our experience is your best asset for your waste and utility processes

We’ve seen it all. We know what works, and what doesn’t. And we know what it will take to find all of the savings opportunities in your reach. We know how the haulers work, and we know how to negotiate contracts that are actually in your best interest - not the haulers’. We know where to look for utility savings and what tax exemptions you could take advantage of. 

We know how to find the gaps or problems in your waste and utility accounts. And we know how to fix them. 

Our market knowledge saves our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars because we see what others don’t and provide the solutions that others can’t. 

Going the Extra Mile

By this point, you have a pretty good idea about how we do this. Our audits are exhaustive, and we don’t just find your savings, we protect them. We review your bills, and we hold your vendors accountable to the service levels they’ve agreed to provide. 

When you do get overcharged, we ensure that the situation is rectified. It may mean thirty calls to get an issue fully resolved. It may mean email strings of 60+ messages. But we do everything we can to make sure that you are not taken advantage of - and that your savings are secure. 

Another way we go above and beyond? To find you savings, sometimes our PM come up with creative waste solutions. Tony Perkins, for example, just recent worked with a client that needed an inhouse-compactor, and he figured out a way to make it work. 

Taking Fiduciary responsibility

We apply the value of transparency to our financial interactions with you. We show you exactly what you’re being charged at each location, and how that price has dropped since you’ve started using our services. We make it as easy as possible to see how your waste or utility spend is being allocated. And if you ever have any questions about our invoices or your haulers’ invoices, we’re just a phone call or email away. 

But because of how we write your utility and waste contracts, there’s another layer of fiduciary responsibility that is an added benefit to you. We make it a point to cap price increases and limit or completely eliminate ancillary fees. This means that budgeting for every location in your portfolio is simple. You can know exactly what to expect for your waste and utility expenses for the entire length of your contract term. 

Our waste and utility services are critical for your peace of mind

We’ve tailored what we do - and how we do it - to ensure you have peace of mind. You deserve to know exactly what is and isn’t working in your waste disposal process. You deserve to know whether your utility accounts are operating at maximum efficiency. You deserve to have the relief of knowing that your savings are secure. 

But most of all, you need a waste and utility ally. You need an objective third party to make sure what you’re paying is fair. You need someone who will fight on your behalf when needed and provide accountability measures for your vendors. 

Companies across the nation are benefiting from our services. You can’t afford not to!

Explore your options. Schedule a short, informal consult with our CEO, Tyler Brunson? He’ll shoot you straight about how our services can benefit you - and show you how our services can protect your bottom line for years to come.

What questions do you have about what we do? Let me know in the comments below!

Four Reasons You Need a Waste Ally

Raise your hand if you want to spend time thinking about garbage!

Spoiler alert - no one wants more of their time to go towards managing waste or recycling. No one wants to spend hours poring over invoices. And no one wants to spend weeks unsuccessfully trying to resolve an issue with their hauler.

This is exactly why we’ve tailored our services to ensure you have an ally. When things go wrong - and they can - we have your back. We make the calls, we check the documents - and we make sure the issue gets resolved.

Psst! Check out why solving trash problems can be a waste of your time!

You need a waste ally because:

• Your time is valuable

• What you don’t know shouldn’t be held against you

• Waste mistakes are expensive

• You need market expertise

At the end of this article, you’ll know how to protect all of your resources - and prevent costly oversight.

Your time (and your staff’s) is valuable

Resolving waste and recycling disposal issues are time consuming. Why? For the same reason that it takes so long to resolve any vendor issue: haulers have less incentive to remedy a situation cooperate if you’re already paying them.

And on top of that, they don’t tend to be extremely well organized. The customer service rep we first speak with often has to get in touch with the driver or account manager to resolve this issue. This communication gap is just that - a gap. It means more time has to be spent to find out how to resolve this issue, but it also means that there’s an opportunity for the issue to fall through the cracks. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been told by a rep that they would call me back only (you guessed it) to never be called back.

For waste service or billing issues that I resolve, I often find that at least four communications touches have to happen before the issue is resolved. Touches mean that I reached out to the appropriate person at least four times via email or a phone call.This amounts to at least 15 minutes for each waste issue. I actually find that it takes me closer to 45 total minutes to fully resolve the issue. (I currently have a waste issue sitting in my inbox that has taken 55 emails to address - and it’s still not 100% resolved!)

You can’t afford to spend this amount of time on a waste or billing issue - and neither can your staff.

This is part of the reason why Vic Nussbaum of Southern Foods is so thankful he no longer has to manage his waste disposal issues: “Your thoroughness allowed me to spend time ‘managing’ the operations here at Southern Foods, instead of ‘managing’ our waste bills.”

Your time is your greatest asset - and we’re passionate about making sure yours is protected.

What you don’t know shouldn’t be held against you

Let me put this delicately - haulers do not always have your best interest in mind. In fact, they rarely do.

How do we know this? Among the thousands of clients we’ve helped, we’ve found that 90% of them were overpay on their waste. And so many of our clients aren’t passe about their waste! Many of them, like Tad for instance, are proactive about spending and monitoring their invoices. But they still are overpaying on their waste management.

Why? Because ultimately, they just didn’t know what they didn’t know. And what they didn’t know was being used against them. Their haulers write contracts in their own favor - and they had no idea. Their contracts were auto renewing, or they didn’t limit price spikes. They were paying outrageous fees, or were using the most expensive hauler in town.

Haulers have normalized these practices - but that doesn’t mean that you have to accept them.

Learn how to evaluate your waste services - and fix them.

These practices all but guarantee that you’re overpaying for waste and recycling disposal services.

You deserve to have an industry expert find the gaps in your waste and recycling management. You need an independent party to look for, find, and resolve the gaps in your current waste removal process. When it comes down to it, you can’t afford not to!

Waste mistakes are expensive

Ignorance isn’t bliss, it’s expensive.

Not knowing what a good contact looks like can cost you thousands over the period of your term or contract length.

Not knowing that waste fees are actually optional can cost quite a bit too.

And not knowing market rates for waste and recycling disposal can be exorbitant.

We had a client recently who was overpaying by $60,000 a year because they were using a pricey hauler. They thought that what they were being charged was normal. It seemed normal because they didn’t know what other area haulers were charging - or if that hauler was charging other clients the same rates.

To make matter worse in this instance, the client is a non-profit entity and the hauler actually sponsored some of their programs. The client wrongly assumed that the hauler was providing them with good pricing because they were “partners”.

When haulers contract with you, they plan on charging you increased rates over a certain period of time. Profit margins for the haulers almost always increase every year. We’re talking 99% of the time.

Get our free guide to stop overpaying and reign in your spending today!

This isn’t to say that the whole lot of them are bad, or that they’re all intentionally out to get you. On the whole, rate increases aren’t actually a bad idea. Gas prices tend to go up, dump rates increase, and any perceptive business will likely take this into account.

The problem is, these rates typically go above and beyond standard cost of service increases. We’ve seen haulers increase their rates up to two times per year - with 15% increases each time. If you’re paying $100 at the beginning of a five term, you could be paying up to $440 by the end. That’s a 340% increase!

And most companies aren’t just paying $100 for waste each month. They have by multiple pieces of waste equipment at multiple locations. (This is exactly why we always tell our clients that the more locations you have, the greater the savings typically are!)

Let’s use a real world example. Suppose you have eight locations and two dumpsters each with $100 pick-ups at each location. Initially, you’ll start out paying $1600 for all the waste expenses at all locations. But At the end of that five year term, you’ll have seen a 400% increase. Your new rate? Over $6470.00 each month!

That’s money that could have gone toward any number of costs: bonuses, apartment improvements, upgrades at your properties. But it can’t - because you didn’t know you were overpaying.

What you don’t know is hurting your bottom line. Why let that happen? Book a free, informal consult with our CEO, Tyler Brunson, and learn how our expertise can help you save big.

You need market expertise

Sometimes, you need expertise to help you understand what is going on. If you want to buy a house in the south of France (as we all do), you’d likely need a realtor who spoke both French and English, right? You’d want someone who knew the housing market - and someone who spoke both languages.

In a lot of ways, we’re like that realtor. We know the waste industry, and we speak its language. We know where to look for savings, and we have a 95% success rate of finding them.

We know how to make airtight contracts, how to prevent price spikes, and how to reduce fees. These are things we do for our clients every day, in almost every industry - and it’s what we can do for you, too.

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What questions can we answer for you about being a waste ally? Let me know in the comments below!

"What is a waste hauler contract?"

A waste or recycling hauler contract is a service agreement between you and your chosen vendor to provide waste and recycling service at a location or at multiple locations. You agree to pay them at a particular rate for a 3- or 5- year term, and they will pick up and dispose of any waste and recyclable materials.

99% of haulers will not do business with you unless there is a contract in place. Larger vendors like Republic Services and Waste Management will always require a contract to provide service. Some regional providers will operate on a ‘gentleman’s agreement’, but this is rare.

The agreement itself is typically short - only 2 or 3 pages. The first page specifies your site and billing addresses, service information, pricing, and any special terms of the agreement. The second page usually states the contract terms, any auto-renewal language, and other service information.

Below, you can see an example of a contract one of our clients had with Waste Management. It includes an automatic renewal clause that made it more difficult for them to get better pricing from other vendors at the end of the 3-year term. This clause is in the black square).

Is my contract costing me?

If your hauler contract has any one of these five issues, it's almost certainly costing you money. 

1. Allows price spikes.

2. Has inefficient service levels. 

3. Allows ancillary fees.

4. Has inefficient waste equipment.

5. Has an automatic renewal clause.  

Have one of these issues means you're likely overspending on waste and recycling expenses. Having all of them practically guarantees it. 

Most companies don't realize that their hauler contract is set up in their hauler's best interest. The hauler wants to be able to increase your rates at will - this guarantees more revenue. They don't have financial incentive to provide service that meets your true needs. They are more than happy to service your dumpster 5 times a week when you really only need service 2 times a week. They are not going to suggest cost-cutting solutions because it cuts into their profit. 

You can read more about these issues - and their solutions - here! 

Should I sign a waste hauler contract?

You almost certainly need a waste hauler contract; but you need to ensure you have a good one!

Most of the contracts we’ve seen in the 18 years we’ve been in business favor the hauler, not you - their client. They can raise prices at their discretion, and there is often no recourse clause for service issues. As a result, some of our clients have overpaid by 50% on their waste expenses.

You should only sign waste and recycling contracts that:

• Limit price spikes

• Outline the allowable annual % increase on services

• Have no auto renewal clauses

• Include the correct service levels

• Have an unresolved service clause

• Reduce or eliminate ancillary waste fees

Want to learn more about good and bad contracts? Sign up for our free, on-demand webinar!

Sign up now and we’ll redirect you to the video so you can start watching immediately.

How Hauler Contracts Make You Overpay on Waste Expenses: Part 2

What if news broke tomorrow morning that you didn’t actually have to pay your mortgage? That somehow, a swanky lawyer somewhere figured out that most Americans were not actually obligated to pay their mortgage? 

You’d probably be elated at first. But give it a day or two, and you’d probably start thinking, “Man, think of how much we could have saved if we had known this two years ago!”

At the risk of bursting your bubble, you definitely have to pay your mortgage this month. But you don’t necessarily have to be trapped into paying your hauler invoices. 

Read Part 1 of this series here!

It’s all in what your contract stipulates. We’ve helped a lot of companies significantly reduce or completely eliminate their ancillary waste fees. You don’t have to include them on your contract, and if they’re not on your contract, you don’t have to pay them.  

I’ll show you what I mean. Let’s look at some common contract fees that can be reduced or eliminated.

Your Hauler Invoice: Deconstructed

Take a look at your most recent hauler invoice. You’ll likely see a few fees listed near the bottom of your invoice, like this one. 

You’ll notice there are three fees listed in the left hand column: a container service plan, a fuel/environmental charge and a regulatory cost recovery charge. 

These are just three examples of waste fees that can be reduced or avoided altogether on your contract. 

Pull out your most recent invoice, and see which of the following fees you’re being charged. 

Want to stop overpaying? Download our free Guide to Reducing Your Waste Expenses!

The Most Common Waste Invoice Fees

There are dozens of waste fees that can appear on your invoices, but I’m going to focus on the ones you’re most likely to see. 

Container Service Plan: This is a fee that was automatically added to most Waste Management Accounts a few years ago. Enrollment in this plan (involuntary though it may be) allows you to replace your container ev as necessary. But most people don’t need to replace their garbage container frequently - some of our customers have containers that over 5 years old and still look fine. 

So do you really need to be a part of this plan? Probably not. 

Container Refresh fee: This one is specific to one of the biggest haulers out there, Republic. Republic has a fee called a “Container Refresh” fee that allows the customer to get a no-cost swap out of their container every 2 years. Which sounds great - if your container gets rusted out, you can replace it for free. 

But most containers are good for much longer than that. This is a good example of a service that seems like it’s there to serve you, but is actually in the haulers best interest. Haulers wouldn’t offer it if they didn’t profit from it. They know most of their customers will pay $10 a month for a service they will never use. 

Fuel/environmental fee: Almost everyone gets this charge on their invoice. Basically, the hauler is charging you for the gas it takes to get to your site and deliver your trash to the dump. But here’s the thing - they charge everyone on their route a fuel fee. They are more than recouping the cost of gas. 

And those fuel charges add up. The location that got the invoice above is being charged almost $60 a month, or $720 a year. Supposing this is a three year contract, that’s $2160 they could be saving! 

Recycling recovery fee: This fee is charged by the hauler to transfer your recyclable material from your site to the drop off site. You may rightly ask, “Well, aren’t they charging me already for fuel? What exactly does this fee cover?” Herein lies the problem. This charge often isn’t actually covering anything - it’s just another fee that the haulers often tack on because they can. 

Minimum tonnage fees: The hauler will charge you this fee when the containers weight is below a specific threshold. These fees typically only apply to roll-off or open-top accounts. In other words, they are charging you for not having enough garbage in the container.  

Basically, when you incur this fee, the hauler is saying “I made up this rule, and you broke it, so you have to pay.” The dump site does not charge a minimum fee - this is just something the hauler makes up because, well, they can.  

Psst! See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

Administrative fees: Typically charged if a client elects to receive paper invoices instead of electronic delivery of invoices. Most of the time, this administrative fee is pretty small - less than ten dollars per month. But small does not equal fair! You shouldn’t pay a penny more than you need to on your waste disposal. 

Regulatory Cost recovery fee: Some haulers, (like Waste Management) will charge this fee to cover costs in other regions - not necessarily yours. Your fees go towards paying other people’s garbage disposal. 

You Don’t Have to Overpay on Contract Fees

The fees in the list above - and a whole lot more that we haven’t mentioned - are not required to be in your contract. Local and state governments don’t mandate these; they exist because your hauler wants to make more money. 

If you aren’t interested in overpaying anymore, fill out our contact form! We’d love to hear from you. Or, let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

What We Do and How We Do It

People care less about what you do than how you do it.

Say you have a vendor who does decent work, but is an absolute pain to work with. They’ve been really disrespectful to your staff, and you can never get a hold of them when things go wrong. How long would you put up with them?

No company exists in a vacuum. There will always be other providers who can supply a product or service.

But we really believe that the way we do our jobs is unique. We’ve tailored everything we do to our clients needs. We evaluate the documents appropriate to their industry and we look at your market’s waste providers. But the way we do what we do is tailored to you, too. 

This article will show you how we intend to partner with you - and how you can expect us to treat you and your staff as long as we’re in business together. 

Let’s talk about:

• Transparency

• Experience

• Going the Extra Mile

• Taking Fiduciary responsibility

At the end of this article, you’ll know exactly what to expect when we partner with you. 

First, I want to give you a little background about what we do, so you can have a better context for how we do what we do.

What our waste and utility services are

Let’s take a minute to talk about exactly what we do. We help you find savings in your waste, recycling, and utility expenses. 

Why, you may ask, do they need to be managed? Why should people care about them? 

Simply put: without professional oversight on your management processes, chances are that you’ll overspend (Nine times out of ten, to be precise). Haulers bank on your ignorance - you don’t know what they’re charging other area clients. You don’t know that you can include clauses on your contract to limit price spikes and stop auto-renewals. And because you, like most management professionals, don’t know market rates and contract practices (and a host of other industry norms) you’ll overpay.

And even if you’re like Tad Dolbier and have done a lot to minimize overspending and put cost-reduction measures in place, you’re still likely overspending. Why?

Because you aren’t a waste industry professional. And you don’t have to be. 

You shouldn’t have to know waste and utility industry practices to make sure that you get fair rates and a good contract. Who has that kind of time?

This is exactly why thousands of locations across multiple industries have chosen to partner with us. They want us to find savings (which we do 90% of the time), but in doing so they’re actually employing one of the golden rules of management: delegation. We use our expertise to lock in excellent pricing, and you benefit from the savings. 

Remember Tad? After all that work he went through to implement cost cutting, he wasn’t so sure we would come up with any substantial reductions. But after we made some changes to his waste management vendors, he wrote us: 

When you first approached me about managing our solid waste costs, I was skeptical. When you came back to me with $6,800 per month in savings, I was truly impressed and grateful!

Having expertise on your side can have a huge impact on your bottom line. It’s worth it to have someone else review your waste management process. It’s like buying a lottery ticket, knowing there’s a 90% chance that you’ll win. Who wouldn’t like those odds?

Even better - this process is guaranteed to be cash-flow positive. You only pay us when the savings show up on your invoices. We take on all the risk - if we don’t find savings at your sites, you don’t owe us anything. We take the hit. 

We do everything we can to address any obstacles or concerns you may have when it comes to our ability to exhaustively examine your waste management processes and vendor agreements and invoices. 

How we find substantial waste and utility savings 

Some of you may be thinking, “Okay, I see why it’s a good idea to have an independent, thorough review. But how exactly do you all do that?

After our clients sign our official agreement, one of our Project Managers takes over your account. Tony and Allen are the real deal: they’ve been working in the waste industry for almost forty years between them. That’s a lot of trash. And it’s a lot of know-how. 

You - and any other decision makers for your portfolios - will meet one of them after you sign up for our services. 

Tony and Allen have seen it all. They know all about under-performing waste vendors. They can find the holes in your contract because they’ve seen the very worst of the worst. And they know how to adapt our proven process to fit your industry, your locations, and your needs. 

Want to know if you’re a good candidate for industrial or commercial recycling? They’ll tell you. And they’ll get vendors and equipment in place on your behalf. Not sure why your waste disposal or waste removal fees are suddenly so high? They can tell you. 

But - more importantly - they’ll be able to see all the holes you can’t. On almost every account they manage, they have found creative savings solutions. If you’re in the hotel industry, they’ll look at seasonal occupancy rates. If you have recycling set up in place, they may check to see if your cardboard is being broken down properly (if it’s not - you’ll need more frequent pickups. Translation: you’ll likely pay more than you need to). 

Tony and Allen will leave no stone unturned. (You should see the excel spreadsheet they use to calculate your costs and real needs. It’s a doozy, let me tell you). They excel at finding savings. Between them, they’ve found hundreds of thousands of dollars for companies across the US.  

The audit process looks different for each company, but we follow the same six basic steps for every industry:

• Assign WCI Personnel

• Review Waste Expenses

• Identify Cost Reduction Opportunities

• Develop Recommendations

• Implement Recommendations

• Provide a monthly savings report

Guess how much of this you are responsible for? 0%. While the overall effort is collaborative, we do all the work on our end. Do we ask clarifying questions about documentation or equipment usage? Absolutely. But we’ve fine-tuned our process so that it takes as little of your time - and your staff’s time - as possible. 

After we’ve assigned the WCI PM, the expense review of your waste or utility accounts begin. 

Again, this will look a little different for each client, but the framework remains the same. For every account, we ask that you sign a Letter of Authorization so that we can ask waste and utility vendors to work with us on your behalf. We also ask for utility invoices and current service agreements - or the account log on information so that we can access them. 

Then, the review starts. For waste reviews, we look at your invoice history, and we complete 12-month audits on any equipment that is larger than an 8 yard dumpsters. Right off the bat, our PMs will know if you’re overpaying for a dumpster based on its monthly rate, or if you need to decrease frequency of pick-ups at a certain location.

But other information is not nearly so straightforward. For anything larger than a 8 yard dumpster, we have to evaluate your tonnage, and your frequency of pickup. Do you really need to be serviced twice a week? Or can you get away with bi-weekly service? We’ll also ask you questions about your customer service experience. The hauler you have have great rates, but misses pick-up frequently. This is vital information, and we take it into account when we review your portfolio. 

For utility audits, we look at meter usage and rate structures. Are you overlooking any meters? Is your current service level in line with your business status? Are you taking advantage of every tax exemption available to you?  

For both waste and utility audits, we look for unexplained price hikes, and we look at usage trends. We also look at your service agreements. We’ll note expiration dates, and we’ll check to see if ancillary fees are limited or eradicated altogether. We’ll also look for language that prohibits auto-renewals, and limits price spikes to a certain percentage. 

Then we find other pricing options. This is really where our expertise comes in handy. Do other reputable haulers have better rates? Are you in the right utility rate structure? If your contract has less than ideal terms, we evaluate whether it’s best to try to renegotiate the contract, or terminate it altogether.

Termination is pretty rare - we only recommend doing so if it is in your immediate best interest financially. Typically, our clients stay with their current haulers and we simply renegotiate their current contract. 

We have great success at renegotiating contracts. Allen Banfield, one of our PMs  had a client that had a contract with Waste Management. It had just renewed and had another 2+ years remaining. But the pricing was really less than ideal. He told me: “I  was able to negotiate a new 5 year agreement that provided WM with the longevity they desired and generated significant savings for the client without having to liquidate the WM agreement or wait for it to expire. It was a win-win.” 

We make sure you don’t leave any savings opportunities on the table - which is why we have a success rate of over 90%. If you’re paying for waste or utilities, you’re probably overpaying. And you don’t need to. 

We do an exhaustive audit and review the appropriate documentation for each and every location in your portfolio. Our process shows us the gaps - those places where you could be saving, but aren’t. So after we have evaluated all the documentation and crunched the numbers, we create a recommendations report for you. We show you the steps we’ll take to make an impact on your bottom line. Usually this happens via a teleconference. 

We’ll show the amount you’ll save on a month to month basis, but we’ll also often show you how those savings compounds over time. Waste and utility expenses are recurring, so whatever you savings we implement adds up quickly. Hundreds saved each months translates to thousands - even hundreds of thousands - for the duration of your vendor contract. 

After we present the report, you give us your feedback. On rare occasions, there are valid reasons for not implementing certain savings. Maybe a location is about to be sold, or perhaps  construction makes immediate implementation impossible. We want to find the solutions that are right for you, so we make it a point to listen carefully. 

But the majority of the time, our clients are thrilled and we move forward with the implementation. SInce so many of our clients have multiple sites and personnel who staff the sites, we anticipate and actively try to prevent communication gaps. We work closely with your and your team to implement our recommendations. 

Where there are service changes, we coordinate with your staff to ensure a smooth transition. We manage contract cancellations and arbitrate any kick-back we get from the haulers. When there’s a really major problem, we’ll bring it to your attention. But for the most part, we are able to do what we do with minimal inconvenience to you and your staff. 

Then we provide a monthly savings report. It looks like this:

The summary page looks like this.

This summary shows the total savings, and our share in the savings. It shows the savings at each and every location. And it shows your bill for that month. (We share in the savings at a rate of 50%.  So we’re motivated to find all possible savings opportunities!) 

And going forward, we audit all of your invoices. We find errors 10% of the time, and those errors can be costly! So we make sure your waste and utility vendors are upholding their end of the bargain; that they’re charging you what they’ve agreed to in your contract. 

We don’t just provide a much-needed service, we do everything we can to ease your mind about your waste and utiltiy management processes. As anyone who has worked with a disposal hauler knows, things go wrong. 

Services can be missed. There may be a sudden uptick in unfounded contamination charges. Haulers are human, too. And sometimes they just make mistakes. 

So when service issues arise, we’re your first line of defense. We stay on top of the situation until it’s resolved. We wait on hold forty-five minutes, and we make multiple calls to your site managers and your vendors. Then we make sure that whatever resolution is promised actually happens.

By now, you probably have a pretty good idea of our values. We don’t believe in leaving your waste disposal problems to chance. And we don’t believe in doing things halfway. We work hard to make sure every possible problem is prevented - and when issues do arise, we’re the ones that arrange for billing credits or complete resolution, depending on the case. In all of our processes, we value transparency, experience, going the extra mile, and fiduciary responsibility. 

Transparency is vital to your waste and utility management

Transparency is important to us because no one likes to be tricked. There’s enough fishy business in the waste industry. We’re not going to add to it; we’re here to confront it. We’re upfront about our pricing - it will be no surprise to you what you’re charged on a month-to-month basis (which is critical for budget projections.) 

Our invoices themselves are made to be transparent. You can see exactly what you’re being charged at each location, and how that differs from your original waste or utility spend. 

And we’re up front when problems arise. We’re not going to hide issues from you or your staff to make ourselves look a little better. Instead, we bring them to your attention and provide solutions options. 

Our experience is your best asset for your waste and utility processes

We’ve seen it all. We know what works, and what doesn’t. And we know what it will take to find all of the savings opportunities in your reach. We know how the haulers work, and we know how to negotiate contracts that are actually in your best interest - not the haulers’. We know where to look for utility savings and what tax exemptions you could take advantage of. 

We know how to find the gaps or problems in your waste and utility accounts. And we know how to fix them. 

Our market knowledge saves our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars because we see what others don’t and provide the solutions that others can’t. 

Going the Extra Mile

By this point, you have a pretty good idea about how we do this. Our audits are exhaustive, and we don’t just find your savings, we protect them. We review your bills, and we hold your vendors accountable to the service levels they’ve agreed to provide. 

When you do get overcharged, we ensure that the situation is rectified. It may mean thirty calls to get an issue fully resolved. It may mean email strings of 60+ messages. But we do everything we can to make sure that you are not taken advantage of - and that your savings are secure. 

Another way we go above and beyond? To find you savings, sometimes our PM come up with creative waste solutions. Tony Perkins, for example, just recent worked with a client that needed an inhouse-compactor, and he figured out a way to make it work. 

Taking Fiduciary responsibility

We apply the value of transparency to our financial interactions with you. We show you exactly what you’re being charged at each location, and how that price has dropped since you’ve started using our services. We make it as easy as possible to see how your waste or utility spend is being allocated. And if you ever have any questions about our invoices or your haulers’ invoices, we’re just a phone call or email away. 

But because of how we write your utility and waste contracts, there’s another layer of fiduciary responsibility that is an added benefit to you. We make it a point to cap price increases and limit or completely eliminate ancillary fees. This means that budgeting for every location in your portfolio is simple. You can know exactly what to expect for your waste and utility expenses for the entire length of your contract term. 

Our waste and utility services are critical for your peace of mind

We’ve tailored what we do - and how we do it - to ensure you have peace of mind. You deserve to know exactly what is and isn’t working in your waste disposal process. You deserve to know whether your utility accounts are operating at maximum efficiency. You deserve to have the relief of knowing that your savings are secure. 

But most of all, you need a waste and utility ally. You need an objective third party to make sure what you’re paying is fair. You need someone who will fight on your behalf when needed and provide accountability measures for your vendors. 

Companies across the nation are benefiting from our services. You can’t afford not to!

Explore your options. Schedule a short, informal consult with our CEO, Tyler Brunson? He’ll shoot you straight about how our services can benefit you - and show you how our services can protect your bottom line for years to come.

What questions do you have about what we do? Let me know in the comments below!

Four Reasons You Need a Waste Ally

Raise your hand if you want to spend time thinking about garbage!

Spoiler alert - no one wants more of their time to go towards managing waste or recycling. No one wants to spend hours poring over invoices. And no one wants to spend weeks unsuccessfully trying to resolve an issue with their hauler.

This is exactly why we’ve tailored our services to ensure you have an ally. When things go wrong - and they can - we have your back. We make the calls, we check the documents - and we make sure the issue gets resolved.

Psst! Check out why solving trash problems can be a waste of your time!

You need a waste ally because:

• Your time is valuable

• What you don’t know shouldn’t be held against you

• Waste mistakes are expensive

• You need market expertise

At the end of this article, you’ll know how to protect all of your resources - and prevent costly oversight.

Your time (and your staff’s) is valuable

Resolving waste and recycling disposal issues are time consuming. Why? For the same reason that it takes so long to resolve any vendor issue: haulers have less incentive to remedy a situation cooperate if you’re already paying them.

And on top of that, they don’t tend to be extremely well organized. The customer service rep we first speak with often has to get in touch with the driver or account manager to resolve this issue. This communication gap is just that - a gap. It means more time has to be spent to find out how to resolve this issue, but it also means that there’s an opportunity for the issue to fall through the cracks. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been told by a rep that they would call me back only (you guessed it) to never be called back.

For waste service or billing issues that I resolve, I often find that at least four communications touches have to happen before the issue is resolved. Touches mean that I reached out to the appropriate person at least four times via email or a phone call.This amounts to at least 15 minutes for each waste issue. I actually find that it takes me closer to 45 total minutes to fully resolve the issue. (I currently have a waste issue sitting in my inbox that has taken 55 emails to address - and it’s still not 100% resolved!)

You can’t afford to spend this amount of time on a waste or billing issue - and neither can your staff.

This is part of the reason why Vic Nussbaum of Southern Foods is so thankful he no longer has to manage his waste disposal issues: “Your thoroughness allowed me to spend time ‘managing’ the operations here at Southern Foods, instead of ‘managing’ our waste bills.”

Your time is your greatest asset - and we’re passionate about making sure yours is protected.

What you don’t know shouldn’t be held against you

Let me put this delicately - haulers do not always have your best interest in mind. In fact, they rarely do.

How do we know this? Among the thousands of clients we’ve helped, we’ve found that 90% of them were overpay on their waste. And so many of our clients aren’t passe about their waste! Many of them, like Tad for instance, are proactive about spending and monitoring their invoices. But they still are overpaying on their waste management.

Why? Because ultimately, they just didn’t know what they didn’t know. And what they didn’t know was being used against them. Their haulers write contracts in their own favor - and they had no idea. Their contracts were auto renewing, or they didn’t limit price spikes. They were paying outrageous fees, or were using the most expensive hauler in town.

Haulers have normalized these practices - but that doesn’t mean that you have to accept them.

Learn how to evaluate your waste services - and fix them.

These practices all but guarantee that you’re overpaying for waste and recycling disposal services.

You deserve to have an industry expert find the gaps in your waste and recycling management. You need an independent party to look for, find, and resolve the gaps in your current waste removal process. When it comes down to it, you can’t afford not to!

Waste mistakes are expensive

Ignorance isn’t bliss, it’s expensive.

Not knowing what a good contact looks like can cost you thousands over the period of your term or contract length.

Not knowing that waste fees are actually optional can cost quite a bit too.

And not knowing market rates for waste and recycling disposal can be exorbitant.

We had a client recently who was overpaying by $60,000 a year because they were using a pricey hauler. They thought that what they were being charged was normal. It seemed normal because they didn’t know what other area haulers were charging - or if that hauler was charging other clients the same rates.

To make matter worse in this instance, the client is a non-profit entity and the hauler actually sponsored some of their programs. The client wrongly assumed that the hauler was providing them with good pricing because they were “partners”.

When haulers contract with you, they plan on charging you increased rates over a certain period of time. Profit margins for the haulers almost always increase every year. We’re talking 99% of the time.

Get our free guide to stop overpaying and reign in your spending today!

This isn’t to say that the whole lot of them are bad, or that they’re all intentionally out to get you. On the whole, rate increases aren’t actually a bad idea. Gas prices tend to go up, dump rates increase, and any perceptive business will likely take this into account.

The problem is, these rates typically go above and beyond standard cost of service increases. We’ve seen haulers increase their rates up to two times per year - with 15% increases each time. If you’re paying $100 at the beginning of a five term, you could be paying up to $440 by the end. That’s a 340% increase!

And most companies aren’t just paying $100 for waste each month. They have by multiple pieces of waste equipment at multiple locations. (This is exactly why we always tell our clients that the more locations you have, the greater the savings typically are!)

Let’s use a real world example. Suppose you have eight locations and two dumpsters each with $100 pick-ups at each location. Initially, you’ll start out paying $1600 for all the waste expenses at all locations. But At the end of that five year term, you’ll have seen a 400% increase. Your new rate? Over $6470.00 each month!

That’s money that could have gone toward any number of costs: bonuses, apartment improvements, upgrades at your properties. But it can’t - because you didn’t know you were overpaying.

What you don’t know is hurting your bottom line. Why let that happen? Book a free, informal consult with our CEO, Tyler Brunson, and learn how our expertise can help you save big.

You need market expertise

Sometimes, you need expertise to help you understand what is going on. If you want to buy a house in the south of France (as we all do), you’d likely need a realtor who spoke both French and English, right? You’d want someone who knew the housing market - and someone who spoke both languages.

In a lot of ways, we’re like that realtor. We know the waste industry, and we speak its language. We know where to look for savings, and we have a 95% success rate of finding them.

We know how to make airtight contracts, how to prevent price spikes, and how to reduce fees. These are things we do for our clients every day, in almost every industry - and it’s what we can do for you, too.

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What questions can we answer for you about being a waste ally? Let me know in the comments below!

How Hauler Contracts Make You Overpay on Waste Expenses: Part 1

Say you’re at Thanksgiving, and your sweet great-aunt Hilda offers you a piece of her legendary pumpkin pie. Of course, you say yes.  

But instead of bringing you pie, she brings you a plate full of green bean casserole. Would you be happy? 

Of course not. 

Unfortunately, this describes a lot of people’s experience with their waste hauler contracts. You thought you were getting a good thing! But you ended up feeling tricked.  

This post will show you how to determine whether you’re getting the short end of the stick on your contract. 

A terrible hauler contract:

1. Allows for unlimited price spikes 

2. Has inaccurate service levels

3. Charges you for additional fees

4. Makes it nearly impossible to cancel 

5. Has no provision for bad service

Even if your hauler contract only does one of these things, it could mean a ridiculous amount of overspending. 

And while reading your hauler contract probably isn’t at the top of your to-do list, it’s completely worth it. You’ll likely be shocked with what your hauler is getting away with, but you’ll also know whether you need to consider renegotiating your contract. 

Download our free Waste Hauler Scorecard!

Price Spikes Allowed On Contract

Your hauler is assuming that he will raise prices at least once a year. Don’t let him get away with that. 

If price spikes happen at least one a year, think about how much you’ll be paying a year from now, or two, or ten. Eliminating the possibility for price spikes now means you’ll be saving more later. 

Getting your price hike situation under control also means that you’ll be able to budget your waste expenses with more accuracy. If you know what to expect, you can factor that into your company budget. 

Now, dust off your hauler contract, and let’s have a look! 

Look in the Payment Terms of your Waste Hauler contract.  It’s typically titled something like “Charges, Payments, Adjustments.”  If you do not find language that limits or prohibits spikes, you need to re-evaluate your contract ASAP. 

Ensure your contract doesn’t allow price hikes, and you’ll protect your company - and your budget - for years to come. 

See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

Inaccurate Service Levels

If your dumpsters are only half-full when they are serviced, you are paying for too many pick-ups. And if this is the case, you’re in good company: roughly 90% of the companies we’ve worked with over the past seventeen years have containers that are being over-serviced. 

One quick pro tip: even if your dumpsters are full when picked up, you can re-arrange your pick-ups for optimal pricing. If you have five dumpsters, you can reduce your costs by requesting that each dumpster gets picked up at a different frequency.

Contract Includes Additional Fees

Most haulers will pass on the cost any number of administrative and overage charges to you. A lot companies pay these outright because they think they have to. You don’t.

Look for these on your current hauler contract:

• Fuel/environment fees: This fee supposedly helps recoup the cost of gas, but is actually a huge profit center.

• Recycling recovery fee: Covers the fees incurred by hauler to transfer recyclable, but again, is typically a profit center.

• Minimum tonnage fees: Fee charged by the hauler (typically on roll-off or open-top accounts) when a container’s weight upon pickup is below a specific threshold. 

• Administrative fees:  typically charged if a client elects to receive paper invoices instead of electronic delivery of invoices.

• Regulatory Cost recovery fee:  Some haulers, (like Waste Management) will charge this fee to cover costs in other regions - not necessarily yours. They explain it like this:
  “This charge is not specifically tied to such costs to service your account, but instead helps us cover Waste Management’s enterprise-wide costs for host community fees, waste disposal taxes and similar charges to service all WM operating company customers in the United States and Canada, and to achieve an acceptable operating margin.” (From Waste Management, retrieved July 23, 2019.)
  The regulatory cost recovery fee is not “tied to . . . your account.” In other words, you’re helping cover their costs to service other companies. Why should you pay for what you don’t benefit from?

You can reduce or eliminate all of these fees; you don’t have to pay them.  But you have to do it prior to renewing a contract, or getting a new one. It’s extremely difficult to negotiate these fees in the middle of a contract.  

Waste Contract is Nearly Impossible to Cancel 

What’s worse than a bad contract? Not being able to get out of it.

Most hauler contracts are written such that it’s extremely difficult to exit the contract. A lot of haulers probably do this simply because it’s industry practice - not because they’re intentionally unscrupulous. They’re doing what is unfortunately normative in the industry.

But just because it’s normal doesn’t mean you have to roll accept it. This isn’t how transparent people do business. 

And let’s face it: if hauler services were prompt and honest, they probably wouldn’t have to make contracts that trap their clients.

You know what’s best for your business. You should be able to make decisions about which services are the best for your company. If you can’t get out of your contract, you’re powerless to make those decisions.   

Has no provision for bad service

When there are service issues, you should be able to get them resolved quickly and promptly.

When a hauler misses a pick-up, it should be easy to get in touch with them to resolve it. If they’re leaving stacks of garbage around the dumpsters or make a mess every time they service them, the hauler should only need one request to service more conscientiously. But this isn’t often the case. 

Why pay someone for a service who is actually making your life (and your staff’s lives) more difficult? If you had multiple hauler problems with no resolution in sight, you need to know that you have an out if you need one. 

A thorough contract will include steps for resolution - and what will happen if you continue to be dissatisfied with service levels.

You Don’t Have to Overpay for Waste Services

By default, your haulers are going to let these things happen to your contract. But you don’t have to let them. You can solve current problems and prevent new ones from happening - all it takes is effort, and some persistence.

We help companies across the nation find waste solutions and implement changes on their behalf. Don’t be part of the 95% of companies that are overspending on their waste disposal! Drop us a line to learn how you can fix your contract.

How to Get a New Waste Hauler Contract

There are lots of reasons to get a different waste hauler and new contract. Maybe your services provider is awful. Or maybe you’re sick of missed pick-ups. Or maybe they raised your service fees one too many times. 

Point is, you’re done, and you’re ready to move on to greener pastures. 

Getting a new hauler can seem like a daunting process, but these step-by-step instructions below will show you exactly what to do. 

To get a new hauler you’ll need to:

1. Let your current hauler know you are terminating service (if applicable and only after determining that there are other waste hauler options in your area). 

2. Make a list of things to ask potential haulers

3. Get bids for new haulers

4. Compare bids

5. Set up a new contract

A new hauler will do a lot to eliminate your waste headaches, so it’s important to conduct a thorough search.  

See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

Questions for Haulers

Before you do anything else, make a list of everything that bothers you about your current waste management situation. 

Do you want someone who will promptly pick up your trash? Want a contract that precludes price spikes? Whatever concerns you have, you want to make sure that they don’t become a part of your new contract going forward. 

Download our free Waste Hauler Scorecard!

Once you have a list, you can then ask potential haulers what their approach is to each of the issues you have. Whoever you partner with will need to be willing to listen to your needs and act accordingly. 

Get bids for new haulers

To find other area haulers, try googling “waste haulers near me.” Contact them and ask them to provide bids for servicing your locations. You’ll need to tell them:

• The number of locations you have

• The types of equipment at each site and their size 

• How frequently each site and equipment should get serviced

Most waste sales representatives will get back to you with estimates in under a week. 

Alternatively, you can also ask other businesses or companies in your area for recommendations. Since waste haulers can have spotty service records, it’s a really good best practice to employ someone you know has a good service record. 

You’ll want to go over your list of service issues or questions with the haulers and see what their responses are. Some may be a bit cagey about their service reliability. Others may not care to limit their price hikes. Asking questions will root out the bad apples.

Compare bids

The more bids you have, the more you can compare services and find the one that’s right for you. You’ll obviously compare prices, but you’ll also need to compare service levels. You don’t want to go with the cheapest option if they have an awful service record!

Terminate Service 

After you have found a service provider, you will need to let your current provider know that you are terminating your contract with them on a specific date. You may have to pay a termination fee (something you can find out more about on your contract), so be prepared for that in advance. 

A typical termination fee (for prior to expiration) is the average of the most recent 6 invoices X 6. So if you pay $1000 a month, you’ll owe your hauler $6000. This may sound like a lot but for many companies, this is actually the less expensive option in the long run. 

Most contracts require that you give 90-180 days notice if the standard clause is intact. Read your contract carefully to make sure that your termination notice falls within the required time allotment.

And most haulers require notice be given via certified mail and return receipt. So a simple email just isn’t going to cut it, unfortunately. 

Set up a new contract

Your new hauler will send over a service contract for you to look over. This is when you will want to insist on certain language being put in. Go back to your list of priorities, and make sure that each of them are included in your contract. 

Want to learn more about how we evaluate and fix our clients waste worries? Or how you can stop overspending on waste disposal? There are solutions to your waste worries!

How to Renegotiate Your Waste Hauler Contract: Part 2

You’ve done it! You’ve evaluated your waste hauler contract and gathered all the necessary information, so now you’re ready for the next step: the renegotiation process. A successful renegotiation process will significantly reduce your current waste problems and prevent most future ones from occurring. 

This process can be lengthy, but this post will give you an idea about what to expect and how to prepare. You’ll need to:

1. Expect Resistance 

2. Contact Your Sales Rep

3. Negotiate Fair Terms

4. Sign a New Contract

Let’s take a look at each of these below!

Want to stop overpaying for good? Download our free Guide to Reducing Your Waste Expenses!

Waste Haulers Like It When You Overspend on Waste Services

Haulers really like that they get the better end of the stick most of the time.They like that they can raise prices whenever they want. They like that it’s hard for you to get out of your contract. They like that they can get away with charging you extra fees for no reason at all. 

So they’re not going to be thrilled you got smart all of a sudden and want to shake things up. 

Most haulers will do everything they can to keep the status quo. They’re going to make it hard for you to change course and get a contract that is fair. 

But be encouraged - if you know your contract and market rates(LINK), you’ll be in a much better position to renegotiate. 

Prepare yourself for a fight, but also be prepared to compromise. 

Contact Your Waste Hauler Sales Representative

Once you have all the necessary information, get in touch with your waste hauler sales representative via a phone call. You’ll want to follow up with an email. In both pieces of communication, you’ll want to outline roughly the same points. 

What exactly you say will vary based on the situation you’re in. But consider using the email template (to be edited based on your exact situation)  below as a guide for what to ground to cover in your email (and phone call!). 

Dear Sir, 

We have contracted with you the past two years for waste removal services at (your address. While we have appreciated the consistency of service, the price hikes have been increasingly difficult to cope with, not to mention unexpected.  

That said, we would like to renegotiate our contract with you. We propose that a new one include:

• Capping price increases at 5%

• Term of 3 years

• No cancellation fees

• Removal of the auto renewal clause

We have been in touch with several area haulers, all of whom can provide the same levels of service, but at a much lower price point. 

We think the changes listed above would create a contract that is in the best interest of all involved. We’d like it to be effect at the end of next of month. 

Please consider this letter as notice of our cancellation of auto-renewal as well. 

Please contact me directly so that we can discuss the details of this matter.

Signed, 

Tony Stark  

This lets your hauler know the reasons for your dissatisfaction, and how you would like to resolve the issues. It’s polite, but it’s firm. 

It tells the hauler you mean business - and that you’ve done your homework. 

See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

Negotiate Fair Hauler Contract Terms

This letter will result in one of two things. The hauler will either listen, or they won’t. 

If they aren’t going to listen, you’ll have to wait until your contract expires to get favorable terms. 

But if they are willing to listen, he may be open to new contract terms. He may come back with a different set of terms, or agree to part of your suggested terms. If this happens, you’ll want to carefully evaluate the offer. Don’t back down just because you’re tired of the process - make sure you and your company are getting the best terms possible!

Sign a New Waste Hauler Contract

Once you settle on terms and know which hauler you will employ, you’ll need to let your current hauler know that you intend to terminate your current contract. (If yours auto-renews and you know you want to terminate the contract, you will need to send notification of the cancellation of auto-renewal as soon as you know you have found an alternate waste vendor.)

Your new hauler will give you a new contract to sign, which will replace the old one. Make sure that there is no gap of time between when the old one starts and the new one begins! You don’t want to have garbage piling up while you wait for your new service. 

You will also want to coordinate removal of the dumpsters with your old provider. Your new waste hauler will provide their own dumpsters.

Renegotiating Your Hauler Contract is a Critical Part of Your Waste Expense Reduction Strategy

By preparing mentally and managing your expectations, you can have a successful contract renegotiation. You can have a waste contract that has terms that are fair to you, and one that prohibits the hauler from charging nonsense fees! All it takes is some research and persistent effort. 

Want to learn more about how we evaluate and fix our clients waste worries? Or how you can stop overspending on waste disposal? There are solutions to your waste worries!  

How to Renegotiate Your Waste Hauler Contract: Part 1

No one I know reads their waste hauler contract for fun. No one who finds a few hours to spare in the work week says, “You know what? I should really take an hour and look at the fine print on my contract.”

But they should - because they’re overspending.

If you devote some time to your contract, you’ll understand where you’re overspending. You’ll save your company hundreds if not thousands of dollars, and you’ll have peace of mind knowing that you’ve prevented future headaches.

You probably already know something is wrong with your waste spend. and you’ve narrowed it down to your awful contract. And you’ve realized that it’s actually better for you to stick it out with your current waste disposal provider than to get a new contract. 

Renegotiating a contract can sound tricky - but it doesn’t have to be! You’ll first need to gather some information, and then you can renegotiate fully informed. 

Prior to a renegotiation, you need to:

• Know what a good contract has in it, 

• Evaluate your own contract, 

• Decide what you want to change, 

• Know what market rates for services are. 

Set yourself up for success, and spend some time gathering some critical waste disposal information. 

See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

Before you Begin the Renegotiation Process

You’ll need to know what your current contract length is. If your contract is a almost up, consider including some service or pricing addendum in the next contract. It’s much easier to negotiate a renewing contract than a current one. (This is also why those of you with month-to-month contracts actually have the best shot at renegotiating!)

And it’s also important to keep in mind that it’s incredibly difficult to renegotiate a contract that has quite a bit of time left in it. It’s not impossible, but it’s not something that we recommend doing. Haulers are simply not as likely to agree to new terms simply because you want them - there has to be some benefit in it for them as well. And since you’ve already signed a contract with them, they know they can just tell you “no” and go on their merry way. 

However, if your contract is about to expire, you have some leverage. The haulers know that if they don’t give you at least some of what you want, you’ll likely switch to a different provider. So they have incentive to bend a little more than they would otherwise. 

Determine if your contract is month to month. If it is you have more leverage and should get pricing from 1-2 other waste haulers if possible to determine the market pricing in your area.

Know What a Good Contract Looks Like

Most people don’t really know what a good contract includes. A good contract is one that has terms that are fair to the client as well as the hauler. 

Good contracts:

• Limit price spikes

• Has accurate service levels

• Limits ancillary fees

• Is easy to cancel

• Has provisions for poor service

A contract that includes these things will actually prevent waste headaches before they start. If you have a haulers who keeps missing pick-ups, you’ll already have a penalty in place. If a hauler tries to raise prices above a certain percentage, you can point to your contract and kindly say, “Not today, amigo.”

In short, you’ll have immediate recourse for when things do go wrong. 

Download our free Waste Hauler Scorecard!

Know What You Want to Change About Your Current Contract

Make a list of things you want to change about your current contract. Some of these things may include:

• Service levels (the number of pick-ups made by the hauler per week)

• Term (the length of the contract)

• Price Increase Caps - language that limits or eradicates price hikes

• Fee Caps - language that limits or eliminates ancillary fees.

• Auto-renewal - cancelling your auto renewal puts you in the driver’s seat when it comes to whom you entrust your waste disposal.

Now, prioritize that list. You have to be prepared to not get everything you want - especially if you’re trying to renegotiate in the middle of a term. Having clear top priorities will help you let smaller issues go, if need be. 

Know the Waste Market Prices

Even if you’re not intending to switch haulers, it can be exceedingly helpful to have a few bids from other area haulers. Some bids may be higher than your current service fees, but some are bound to be lower. 

Knowing waste market prices will give you an additional bargaining chip. Unfortunately, a lot of times haulers are banking that you don’t know what other haulers charge. If you’re blind, you’re more likely to accept the prices they’re charging you. 

But if you know market prices, you’ll have a pretty good idea about what’s fair and, well, what isn’t. 

If you know what you don’t like about your contract, what a good contract includes, and what area haulers charge, you’ll be well armed to renegotiate your contract. 

Renegotiating Your Contract Is a Critical Part of Your Waste Expense Reduction Strategy

Your contract can play a huge part in protecting you and your bottom line from waste expense increases. Renegotiating your contract can be time consuming, but you’ll reap the benefits for years to come. 

Ignoring waste problems don’t make them go away, unfortunately. Strategizing about how to stop overspending on your waste disposal and coming up with a plan of attack can yield surprising savings - and peace of mind!

Take a step towards savings: schedule a free consult today with our CEO Tyler Brunson today!

What to do About Your Terrible Waste Services

Are your waste “services” really serving you? 

Most of the folks we talk to would answer a big fat “no!” If you’re like them, your haulers can be impossible to deal with, and can leave you feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. 

A lot of people dread dealing with their waste haulers. But they don’t know what to do. 

You aren’t powerless when it comes to your waste services. This post will show you how to evaluate whether you’re overspending on your waste services. Then we’ll look at the two best options to fix your waste hauler contract - one of them is likely right for you!

How to Evaluate Your Waste Services

You can’t fix problems you don’t know about. So evaluating your waste management process by doing a basic audit will pinpoint problem areas. You’ll see the holes in your contract and current service levels. (It will also give you leg up when it comes to evaluating your equipment efficiency!)

Another really good way to evaluate your disposal process is to take a close look at your hauler contract. 95% of companies are overspending on waste - and much of that overspending stems from awful contracts. You can also look over your invoice history and see where there are suspicious price hikes. 

All of these suggestions will give you a much clearer picture about the real status of your waste disposal process. 

Download our free Waste Hauler Scorecard!

How to Fix Your Waste Services

The two main ways to fix your contract are:

1. Renegotiate with your current hauler provider

2. Get a new contract

The option you choose depends on contract stipulations, your waste spend, and your satisfaction with your service provider. 

After we run the numbers for some of our clients, we find that it actually makes more financial sense for them to stick with their current waste hauler and renegotiate their contract. But other clients have truly awful service - and that isn’t okay! So for others, we recommend they switch to a different hauler.  

How to Renegotiate A Waste Hauler Contract

Renegotiating a contract can sound tricky - but it doesn’t have to be! The most important thing is to know what your waste hauler contract specifies. You are more likely to have a successful renegotiation if you know some knowledge a head of time!

1. Determine your current term and expiration date. These facts will help you evaluate when to renegotiate your contract. If your contract will expire in six months, there’s really no reason to go forward with a negotiation.  

2. Determine if your contract auto-renews. If it does, you need to send out a notice of cancellation ASAP. If you know your contract is bad, you don’t have to stay in it! Let your hauler know that you don’t want your contract to auto-renew under its current terms. 

3. Determine if your contract is month to month. If it is, you have more leverage and should get pricing from 1-2 other waste haulers if possible to determine the market pricing in your area.

Lastly, prepare yourself for some resistance. You likely aren’t going to get everything you want from your hauler if you are in the middle of your contractual term. Be prepared to stick to your guns, but also know when to compromise.

If you are under contract you can absolutely still negotiate, but you cannot get out of it without paying liquidated damages.   Be prepared for the hauler to essentially tell you to “go play in traffic” if you are still under contract and inquire about a new term or better pricing. 

If your contract favors a renegotiation and the timing is right, move forward with the renegotiation. Get other bids for hauler service, then present the facts to your hauler. Let him know where his service and pricing is lacking, and let him know that you have received bids that undercut his prices (if this is in fact true!). Ask that he decrease his prices to a more reasonable rate - the worst he can say is no. 

If he does say no, make sure that it’s in your best interest to stay in your current contract. Does it make long-term financial sense for you to stay in this contract? If not, you consider getting a new one, as described below. 

How to Get a New Waste Hauler Contract

If you remember nothing else about this post, remember this: 

A good waste hauler contract:

• Makes provisions for bad service

• Reduces, regulates, or eliminates ancillary fees

• Provides the right levels of service

• Regulates or eliminates price hikes

• Is easy to cancel

If you include these things in your hauler contract, your rates will be much more reasonable! And you’ll have recourse if your hauler consistently under-performs. 

Prior to getting a new contract, make sure you have a good idea about exactly what you want to be in yours. Being specific about what is and is not allowed in your contract will eliminate waste headaches for you, your staff, and your own customers. 

Once you know what you’re willing to agree to, begin the search for vendors. To find other area haulers, try googling “haulers near me.” Contact them and ask them to provide bids for servicing your locations.  Alternatively, you can also ask other businesses or companies in your area for recommendations. 

After you have found a service provider, you will need to let your current provider know that you are terminating your contract with them on a specific date. You may have to pay a termination fee (something you can find out more about on your contract), so be prepared for that in advance. 

You Can Eliminate Your Waste Worries By Fixing Your Waste Contract

Your waste contract is the cornerstone of your waste management. It will affect your bottom line, your staff’s sanity, and your own customers or clients. Making sure your waste services work - and is working for you - is critical. 

By ensuring your contract sets you up for success, you can have freedom from waste worries. You won’t have to worry about price spikes or what to do if a pick-up is missed; you’ll have eliminated those problems through your contract. 

Find yourself low on time and resources? See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

How to Stop Overspending on Your Waste Disposal

Sometimes it seems like the waste industry is just one big headache. Contracts are difficult to get out of. Pick-ups are often late, or missed completely. Expensive haulers get away with being paid even more. Ultimately, you can end up overpaying by thousands of dollars as the years pass. 

Your disposal services are likely not really serving you. 

But with some effort you can fix that, starting today.

Download our free Guide to Reducing Waste Expenses to help you get started!

To figure out how to stop overspending, you’ll need to

• Review your waste process

• Learn the ins and outs of your contract

• Make strategic service changes

• Monitor those changes

Think of these as the four keys to unlocking savings. 95% of businesses - across all industries - are overspending on waste services. It’s likely that you’re sitting on hundreds or thousands of dollars of waste savings. But use these four keys, and you can find them!

And since you’re likely to be short on time, this post boils it down to the essentials and will walk you through each step.

Reviewing Your Waste Process

You may be looking at your waste stream and thinking, “Where do I even begin?” I recommend that you start with finding support and go from there. Even if you have less than an hour a week to contribute to a review, it is completely doable if you build a team and assign tasks. Your team can support you through the review process.

1. Recruit colleagues. Having a team to support the review efforts will ensure accountability and effectiveness. 

2. Pick a time frame. Take your team’s availability and scheduling issues at your locations. 

3. Conduct the Basic Audit. Familiarize yourself with the details of your waste streams. Are your dumpsters always full when they are serviced? Do your haulers frequently miss pick-ups? You won’t know until you conduct a basic audit.  

4. Review Your Contract. Pay special attention to key sections on your contract like: pricing, service levels, and terms. (Use the next section to help you know what to look for!)

5. Analyze findings. You may find that you need different equipment, or fewer pick-ups, or a new hauler.  

6. Evaluate next steps. Now that you know what to fix, you can take steps to solve on-going issues. Get a new hauler and a contract with better terms. Or adjust frequency of pick-ups. All of these will affect your bottom line for years to come.  

Learn about Your Waste Hauler Contract

Nobody except legal reads contracts, right? But I like to think of waste hauler contracts as maps - what they contain shows you how to navigate your waste process and find savings.

And don’t worry; you don’t have to read it end to end! Below, you’ll learn what sections of your contract to pay the most attention to. 

Terms - This part of your contract discusses how long your contract is in effect. Most hauler contracts are 3-5 years in length. But you’ll also want to check and see how easy it is to get out of these terms. Is there a fee associated with terminating the contract? What options do you have? Answers to questions like these are critical for implementing long-term, ideal waste solutions.  

Fees - Does your contract allow price spikes? How often can your hauler raise prices? An ideal contract will regulate or even eliminate price hikes. 

Service - How often are your site(s) being serviced? You may not actually need as many pick-ups as you think! There is often a lot of savings to be had in reducing the number of pick-ups, or getting different size dumpsters - or both.

It may also be helpful for you to look over your past few hauler invoices. Do you notice any increases to regular fees? Are you paying for services that aren’t in your contract? If the answer is yes to either of these questions, you know you’re overspending!

Making Disposal Service and Waste Equipment Changes 

Every company has at least three options to reduce waste expenses. Once you know your waste process and your hauler contract pretty well, you’ll be able to see where it’s possible for you to make changes.

Suppose, for instance, that you now know that your haulers fees have increased twice in the past year, and that there are other haulers in the area who could do the same service for less. This is valuable information! You could use it to renegotiate your contract with your current hauler, making sure it includes decreased service fees.

Every business is a little different, but at least one of these options will likely be the best one for yours.

Renegotiating Your Contract - Some companies don’t need to get out of their contract completely; they just need different terms or different service levels. Other companies may not financially be able to exit their contract. Either way, for a lot of companies, renegotiating their contract makes financial sense. 

Finding a New Hauler/Getting a New Contract - Some companies, on the other hand, find that it makes more financial sense to exit their contract, and pay out for the remainder. If you find yourself in this spot, send out bids to other area haulers and see if someone else can provide better levels of services. 

Getting New Equipment - Depending on your situation, getting different sizes of equipment can significantly reduce expenses related to waste equipment. If, for instance, you have two four-yard dumpsters that get picked up five times a week, you could upgrade to an eight-yard dumpsters that gets picked up three times a week - and save a nice sum each year as a result. (Learn more about different kinds of waste equipment!)

Monitoring Those Changes

Moving forward, you’ll want to make sure that the changes you’ve implemented are actually working. If you’ve gotten a different contract or a new hauler, you should see a difference in savings almost immediately. The same with equipment - the savings should be evident on the next month’s invoices. 

But in order to make sure you’re getting the full effect of the your efforts, you’ll need to also monitor hauler invoices. We find that haulers make mistakes about 10% of the time - and that adds up fast! Make sure you know what you’re supposed to be charged, and make sure your billing reflects that. 

It’s also worth it to periodically revisit your basic audit. Waste needs tend to change over time in every industry, so you want to be sure that you aren’t overlooking savings you could take advantage of. 

You Don’t Have to Keep Overspending on Your Waste Disposal

With some effort and patience, you’ll see how waste savings can add up. If you carefully review your waste process, your contract and service levels, and make strategic choices, you can reign in overspending. But you can also find relief from waste worries - from price hikes, from awful service, and from terrible contracts. 

You can take charge of your waste worries, and you can start today! 

What questions do you have about your current waste management process? Let us know in the comments below, or shoot us an email.