TrashCanBossPro Blog — Trash Can Cleaning Software

Choosing Trash Can Cleaning Software: Questions to Ask Before You Commit

Picking software is a decision you live with every day. Switch twice and you've lost weeks to setup and confused customers. A few pointed questions up front will tell you more than any sales page, including this one.

Know What Kind of Software You Need

In Bin Cleaning Software vs. Generic Field-Service Software, we looked at why the trade needs software built around the can. This article turns that into questions you can ask of any system you are considering, grouped by the parts of the business they cover.

Questions About Your Customers

• Where do can counts live? On the address, as real fields? Or in a notes box?
• Does it store the trash day on each address? And does it show it where you plan routes and where the tech works?
• Can one client have many addresses? You'll need it the first time a property manager calls.
• Can I import my current list? Ask about CSV import, and try it during the trial.
• Can I tag and filter clients? Monthly, Every-Other-Week, HOA, Commercial.

Questions About Plans and Scheduling

• How do recurring plans work? Fixed calendar dates, or days between visits that count from the last real cleaning?
• Where do I see who is due? Is there a map, so you can see where due cleanings cluster?
• What happens when a week goes wrong? If a route is pushed by weather, does the next cleaning sort itself out?

In TrashCanBossPro, plans are set by 7, 14 or 28 minimum days between visits, and due cleanings show on the Waiting List map colored not due yet, due now or overdue.

Questions About Routes and the Tech

• Can I filter the schedule by trailer?
• Does it auto-route from my shop? And can I change the order by hand?
• What does the tech see? Ask to see the actual job card. Are the cans and can location on it?
• Does it run on the phones my crew already has?
• How do techs log in? Their own PIN, or a shared password?
• Are there photos, a time clock and crew GPS?

Questions About Customers and Texting

• Does it send night-before reminders on its own?
• Do on-the-way and arrived texts go out without the tech typing them?
• Can customers choose their own alerts?
• Can the office text customers back and forth from one place?
• Is there a customer app? Can customers see the route, update their card, pay and request service?
• How many texts are included? Ask how they are counted, sent and received.

Questions About Money

• Does completing a job create the invoice?
• Can it charge a card on file on completion or on a schedule?
• Can the sign-up form capture the card?
• Is there past-due follow-up?
• Can an HOA get one statement for all its addresses?
• Does it bill in my currency?

Questions About the Vendor

• What does it cost, all in? Are you billed per user? Are texting or the customer app extra?
• Is there a free trial, and does it need a credit card?
• Can I try it with my real customers?

For TrashCanBossPro: Start is $59 a month, Pro $89, Crew $199, never billed per user, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card.

Test, Don't Just Ask

The best answer to any of these questions is seeing it work. Use the trial to import real customers, set real plans and run a real route. A one-page version of all of this is in The Trash Can Cleaning Software Buyer's Checklist.

Involve the People Who Will Use It

The owner usually makes the decision, but the owner isn't the only one who will live with it. Hand the tech app to the tech who runs your busiest route and ask what they think after a day. Have whoever answers the phone try converting a sign-up and replying to a customer text. Ask a couple of loyal customers to look at the customer app. If the people doing the work find it clumsy, they will find ways around it, and you'll be back to paper and group texts within a month. Their opinion is worth more than any feature list.

The Takeaway

Ask where the cans and trash day live, how plans come due, what the tech actually sees, how customers get reminded, and how the money gets collected. Then test it. For how TrashCanBossPro answers each of these, visit the trash can cleaning software page.