JunkBossPro Blog — Crew App

Dump Runs Mid-Route: When the Truck Fills Before the Day Is Done

A window cleaner or a lawn crew can work all day out of the same truck. A junk crew cannot. Every job makes the truck fuller, and at some point the next job does not fit. The dump run in the middle of the day is part of junk removal, and how well you plan it decides whether the afternoon runs on time.

The Stop That Is Not on the List

Recording the ticket after the truck is weighed is covered in Entering the Dump Ticket: Getting the Weight Overage Onto the Invoice. This guide is about getting to the dump at the right time in the first place.

Customer jobs are on the dispatch board and on the crew's phone in route order. The dump run usually is not a customer job. It happens between jobs, when the truck is full or the next job is too big to fit on top of what is already loaded. That means somebody has to see it coming.

Load Sizes Tell You When

The load size on every job card is the best tool for planning dump runs. When the office looks at a truck's day, the load sizes add up:

• Min Load, 1/4, 1/8, 1/4 in the morning. That probably fits in one truck.
• Then a 3/4 load before lunch. Now the truck is full.
• Then a Full Load cleanout in the afternoon. That needs an empty truck.

Reading the day like that, the office can see the dump run belongs right after the 3/4 load, and can tell the crew that in the morning. Reading the card itself is covered in Load Size, Item Count and What's Going: Reading the Junk Removal Job Card.

Using Route Order Around the Dump

Auto-route on the dispatch board orders a truck's jobs Closest First or Furthest First from the yard. Which one you pick can make dump runs easier:

• Furthest First starts at the far end of the area and works back toward the yard. If the dump or transfer station is near the yard, the truck fills as it heads home.
• Closest First starts near the yard and works outward. Useful when the dump is out past the far end of the route.
• By hand when a big job needs to be first thing, so the truck can go straight from that job to the dump and then start the small stops empty.

Whatever order the board settles on, the crew's phone shows the same.

The Go Button When It Is Time

When the truck is full, the crew taps the Go button on the job to get directions to where that load is hauled to: the dump, a transfer station, a donation center or a metal recycler. A new driver who has never been to your transfer station gets there the same way a ten-year veteran does.

If a load is split, say appliances to the metal recycler and everything else to the transfer station, the what's-going description on the card should say so, so the crew can plan both stops before leaving the customer.

Watching the Clock

Dumps and transfer stations keep hours, and some stop taking loads before they close the gate. A truck that is full at 3:45 and fifteen minutes from a station that stops at 4 has a decision to make. The crew and the office should both know the hours of the places you use.

When the day runs long, it is often better to finish the last small job, park the loaded truck and make the first run of tomorrow the dump. That is a choice the office can make on the board, with the crew's input.

Crew GPS Shows the Run

With crew GPS on the office map, the office can see when a truck is at the dump instead of guessing why it is late to the next customer. That helps with customer calls: “The crew is unloading now and you are next.” Customers who have the when-they're-next alert on get a heads-up before the crew heads their way, and the live map in the customer app shows their place in line.

Two Trucks Change the Math

With two trucks, dump runs get easier to plan. A common setup is one truck on single items and small loads, which can often run a full morning before unloading, and one truck on cleanouts and big jobs, which may go to the dump after every job. Sorting the work that way keeps the small-item truck on the road and lets the cleanout truck plan around the scale.

Plan the Run, Not Just the Route

The dump run is part of the day whether it is on the board or not. Load sizes on every card, route order that fits where the dump is, a Go button to get there and GPS so the office can see it make the run predictable. To see how dump runs fit with the rest of the crew's tools, visit the JunkBossPro junk removal app page.