TrashCanBossPro Blog — Routes by Trash Day

When to Add a Second Route Day to Your Bin Cleaning Business

A full route day is a good problem. It means the neighborhoods are filling in and the trailer is busy from the first stop to the last. But a route day that is too full turns into late finishes, rushed cleanings and skipped stops. At some point one day is not enough for a trash day zone, and you need a second.

Signs a Route Day Is Full

The numbers from Stops per Day and Drive Time: Measuring a Bin Cleaning Route are the first clue. Look at one route day over several weeks. Signs it is full:

• The trailer regularly finishes late, or does not finish
• The last stops of the day are skipped because the cans have gone back in
• Due pins in that zone keep turning overdue on the Waiting List map
• The tech is rushing, and photos or notes are getting thin
• You are turning down sign-ups in that zone

Any one of these can happen on a bad week. Two or three of them, week after week, mean the day is full.

The Trash Day Problem

Here is what makes this harder for bin cleaners than for other route businesses. The extra stops cannot just go on Wednesday. Their cans are emptied Tuesday. On Wednesday, the cans are back behind the gate.

So adding a second route day for a trash day zone usually means one of three things:

• A second trailer on the same day. Both trailers run the Tuesday zone, each in half of it.
• A next-day route for nearby customers. The overflow runs Wednesday morning, with customers who agree to leave cans out an extra day or tell you where to find them.
• Moving longer plans off the trash day. Monthly customers, and HOA or commercial stops whose cans are not at a curb, move to another day, freeing room on Tuesday for weekly customers.

Second Trailer vs Second Day

A second trailer on the same day is the cleanest answer for bin cleaners, because every can still gets cleaned right after the truck. It costs a trailer and a tech. If several trash days are full, a second trailer pays for itself quickly. See Two Trailers, One City: Splitting Bin Cleaning Routes Between Rigs for splitting the zone.

A second day for overflow costs nothing new but asks more of customers. It works when the overflow is small, the customers are cooperative and the can location notes are good. It also suits a growing business that is not quite ready for another rig.

Many companies do both over time: a next-day overflow route while a zone is growing, then a second trailer once the overflow is a full day of its own.

Who Moves

When you split a day, pick who moves with care. Good candidates:

• Monthly customers, who have 28 days between visits and more flexibility
• HOA, apartment and commercial stops, where cans are kept in a corral or pad rather than at a curb
• Customers at the edge of the zone, near another route day's territory
• Customers whose cans are always put away anyway, with good location notes

Keep weekly customers in the heart of the zone on their trash day. They are the ones who most need the empty-can-at-the-curb window.

Tell Customers Before It Happens

Moving a customer to a new day is a small change on the board and a big one for the customer. Text them ahead of time with the new day and what you need from them: "Starting next week your cleaning moves to Wednesday morning. Please leave the cans by the curb after Tuesday pickup, or tell us where to find them." Two-way texting brings replies back to the office.

Update the can location notes for anyone whose cans will be put away, and make sure their reminders are on. The night-before reminder will now go out Tuesday evening for a Wednesday cleaning.

Set Up the New Day

On the Waiting List, the moved customers' cleanings still come due on their plan's schedule. When you build the new route day, pick those pins along with anything else that fits, assign them to the trailer and day, and auto-route from the shop. The tech's phone shows the new route like any other. After a couple of weeks, check the numbers again for both days.

The Short Version

A route day is full when it runs late, skips pile up and overdue pins grow. Add a second trailer on the same trash day when you can, or a next-day overflow route while you grow. Move monthly, HOA and edge-of-zone customers first, and text everyone before the change. For more on routing by trash day, return to the TrashCanBossPro bin cleaning route software page.