What’s it like working as a residential waste driver?

I did residential pick up in my early 20s. It was a temp job that lasted a couple months. It was also in Florida, so the mornings were cool and the afternoons were nice. Hanging off the back of the truck I only had to watch out for dogs, snakes and the occasional possum.

 

you "might" get overtime, but what you have to remember is that (at least in my time) the dump closes at x o"clock daily, so all rubbish MUST be in there before they close.

unless one is really slow, like a first time driver doing the route, do not plan on overtime every week. and if a driver is consistently slow, say good bye to driving and hello to the back of the truck.

you will be taught how to properly drive down the streets to pick up the trash in a time conservative way. bad weather may and will slow you down but you still have to hustle.

the job he is offering very well might be a city/town job, under contract, and that means a budget they MUST adhere to.

if you do well as a city driver, and IF the have roll offs or front end loaders, you might be able to transfer over to one of those, and OT will be or could be limitless....

i also STRONGLY suggest you have updated shots to guard against, lock jaw, and TB, typhoid, and other diseases, associated with garbage, ask the boss, or walk into any health care clinic, and ask them what you should have.

you will never fully know, what people are throwing away.

 

Hm. And here I was thinking of those who haul septic waste back to the town or city sewage treatment plant.

One year we had a sewage company show up in a tiny 2000 gallon bobtail vacumn tanker to get our tank cleared out. Believe it or not, they managed to fill it. After the 4th visit we were putting in sewer at a cost of 8500 dollars to the City at that time. So they came back for the 5th and final time for the dallop before the septic tank was destroyed permanently. I think it was 250 dollars fee for a 40 minute visit to load sewage out of our tank and unload into the town or city's treatment plant at searcy. Total of about a 1250 dollars outlay for that truck for that year. They were kept busy with a brand new truck to replace the one they rolled sometime prior. (And no they were not fired.)

Our trash goes out by dumpster. The company that deploys the dumpster also owns the peterbilt garbage truck that empties that dumpster in a few moments with a helper who just puts one hook on the forward edge with cable. Driver then sets brakes and pulls dumpster to unload, sets it back down and then compacts the results into the forward holding bin. There are days that thing is way overgross, particualrly when raining.

The town or city hall council makes the contract with the trash removal people for a set term, say 4 years at a set rate for oh... 14000 households and around 3000 commercial businesses and nursing homes, hospitals etc. The trash removal company covers the whole town by sections every week. And do it again the next week. again and again.

Our church on highway 64 near Elpaso had a complaint in our Deacon meeting about finances when it was learned that the trash collectors for the church account (Two dumpsters, two seperate bills) kept increasing the bill by 3% every month into a 2 year contract. That's what? 15 dollars a month higher than the month before and soon 16.40 higher than this month and the second month 18.something and next thing you know two years from now you are paying god only knows how much to them and for what? They already made their money.

So we fired that trash provider and hired another. As long they are willing to burn a little fuel to get to our Church and back to their landfill with it alls well. Fuel is cheap. Relatively speaking. I think there are about 8 more trash haulers with the ability to unload dumpsters still left to hire. All they have to do is make a qoute lower than what we are currently paying today as a church for this service. So the new contract turns out to be lower than the old one by degrees. Until they start dripping rate increrases every month in small amounts. Don't think we don't notice that. But we do. It matters.

The second option they talked about is to essentially recognize that we are currently pretty small as a membership participation ( down from around 250 to about 30) and that cuts back on the using of all the facilities every week which in turns fills the dumpster. We were able to fire one provider and have the other continue to unload the dumpster at a half price for a while until churching gets going again with many people and more trash that needs to go out.

What I posted is strictly a opinion. Our trash removal services in town or county is pretty... steady. You can almost set your watch to 8:05 am monday when that one green pete shows up with the regular crew. Like clock work on the dot. We like that very much.

 

Yes

 

Do it. Everybody needs drivers. If you don't like it go somewhere else. Hours sound about the same as mine in food service. I also only have to work 4 days and usually can work five if I want to make extra money.

 

under 10 hours. unless you have to help on another route..AFTER...you finish yours.

there are/can be, many jobs with in a trash company, as i said, roll off, front loader, and transfer station trailer work, even regional trash hauling out of state.

the money can be made, once you leave the residential side of it. but like the company i had worked for, they demanded 1 full year of city, before a transfer can happen, then too, there are dozens of people, in the line waiting as well.

 

usually, when you are done, you go home. but you get paid by the hour, so would you want the full 10 hours, or go home after you're done in 8 hours?

i used to go back to the yard, sweep out the trash that did not dump out, and hose it clean.

i got all my hours, each and every day.