WTF is wrong with garbage truck drivers when emptying dumpsters?

The BBQ Pit
1

Garbage truck drivers emptying dumpsters, that is. Neither I, nor my coworkers, can figure out why in hell they can’t set the dumpster back down in its original position.

I have watched garbage trucks empty dumpsters many, many, many times in my 30+ years in the foodservice business. It appears, to my untrained eye, to be a fairly straightforward process:

• Lower lift forks and pull forward to slide forks into the tubes on the sides of the dumpster.

• Raise dumpster, empty into back of truck

• Lower dumpster back to original position.

I have seen this process often enough to know that there should be little difficulty in returning the dumpster to its original position. Yet the local Waste Management drivers repeatedly fail at this task.

Three things seem to happen:

  1. If the dumpster is in an enclosure, they drop the dumpster too far forward, leaving us unable to close the enclosure gates.

B) With an unenclosed dumpster like the one at my current place of employment, they drop the dumpster a few feet too far back, encroaching on the parking space directly behind the dumpster.

III) They drop the dumpster to the left of its original position, leaving too wide of a gap between the dumpster and the loading dock, creating a safety hazard when we try to empty our garbage into the dumpster.

This mispositioning seems to be the direct result of the drivers pulling their trucks forward or backward while emptying the dumpster.

Waste Management drivers, WTF are you doing? I can see by watching that your trucks lift the dumpster more or less straight up before moving it backwards to empty it. So why in God’s name do you need to back up your truck or, even more nonsensically, pull forward while/before lowering the dumpster back down? Admittedly, I have never driven a garbage truck or emptied a dumpster, so maybe I’m missing something. But, particularly in the case of my current job’s dumpster, which is not in an enclosure, and where there is nothing overhead to avoid while raising the dumpster, I cannot see any good reason whatsoever to back up or pull forward before lowering the dumpster. I cannot see any good reason why the dumpster cannot be lowered and deposited in its original position.

And fuck you, most-recent dumpster emptier. One of my coworkers spotted you setting the dumpster down too far from the loading dock and asked you to move it closer. So you picked it back up and put it back down so damned close that you knocked a big chunk of of concrete off the edge of the dock, creating yet another safety hazard. Asshole.

2

They normally pick up the dumpster on the front of the forks and it slides to the back of the forks when they dump it. The result being the dumpster inches forward with each dump. The truck itself should remain stationary, but they’d need to move the truck to correct the inching forward.

I understand the complaints but I doubt you’ll get any relief. CDL’s are in demand and it’s hard for the garbage companies to control turn over. Because the job is so lacking in prestige, even paying above average for a licensed drivers, companies can’t keep them. When customer complaints are relayed to the drivers they just get frustrated and quit rather than fix the mistakes, then you have a new idiot making the same or new mistakes.

Thankfully I don’t much care where my dumpster ends up in my lot. They have plenty of room to move around but always manage to hit shit in the area. I put pressure tanks near the dumpster to be scrapped and the garbage guys play dominoes with them or something. I keep meaning to check security footage to see if it’s intentional. If the dumpster ends up too far out of place I push it around with a backhoe.

3

I’ve seen lots of dumpsters on wheels - I wonder if asking your waste management contractor for one of these might be an option? Then, after you’re through cursing the crappy dumpster truck driver, you could just push it around to wherever you need it.

I know it’s a sub-optimal solution, but it might be the closest you ever come to a satisfactory outcome.

Edit: maybe not such a good idea if it’s not on level ground, of course.

4

We had to raise hell with Waste Management because of the replacement dumpster they brought to us. The old dumpster was 15+ years old, and they decided to replace it.

Remember, we have to load the dumpster from a loading dock, which means we have to load the dumpster from the side (via a door on the side).

They replaced that dumpster with a slope-topped dumpster that was designed to be loaded from the front. Except that we couldn’t load it from the front. Loading from the front would have required walking 10+ garbage cans down stairs to get to the front of the dumpster. So we’re trying to empty these trash cans from the side … and, as I discovered, humping a trashcan onto that slope almost yanked me right off the loading dock as the can slid down the sloped side. One of my bosses had to contact Waste Management to tell them that that fucking dumpster didn’t fucking work.

5

At my store we’ve had the exact same problem. Luckily, we have a forklift, so, from time to time we just pick the whole thing up and put it back where we want it. When it’s empty, it’s pretty light and no big deal to pick up and move around. However, the OP made sense, but about half way through I had the same thought…it’s sliding around on the forks (of the truck) and therefore not landing in the same spot.
A lot of those drivers are pretty nice guys, you could probably just run out and ask them to put it back where it belongs if it’s inching into the wrong spot over time. If they’re consistently dropping it in the wrong spot, each and every time and you can’t close the enclosure doors, a call to WM may be in order.

A few years ago WM added cameras to the cabs, not dash cams that watch the road like you’d think, these are cameras that watch the driver. Further more, they’re designed to to turn on or make some kind of alert when ever it senses and ‘accident’. Apparently, abrupt stops and even pot holes were triggering these to turn on. In and of itself this doesn’t seem like a problem, but a lot of the drivers were getting sick of it and I heard a lot some of them ended up quitting over it. Some of them because they couldn’t smoke in the cab anymore (they weren’t supposed to be to begin with, but now they were getting caught) and there was some other stuff going on around the same time that caused some other people to quit.

I don’t know if a dumpster on wheels costs more, but they do charge more if the driver has to get out, wheel it around, empty it, then get out again to push it back. IMO, the customer shouldn’t have to pay more because the driver can’t set the bin down in the same place it was picked up from.
I’m in the middle of a long running dispute that may end up costing me more money because WM doesn’t feel like giving me a bin that doesn’t have a gaping hole in the bottom of it (which leaks nasty smelling crap all over my lot).

6

Sounds like a communication problem…

Go meet with the supervisor of the waste company. Ask what can be done about this problem. Maybe painting yellow lines on the pavement where the dumpster should go would do the trick? (Along with the supervisor telling the drivers the dumpster must be placed back within those lines?)

Or maybe yellow lines and a sign saying “Waste management driver: Please place dumpster back within the yellow lines. Thank you!”

Or all of the above?

7

They make dumpsters that don’t have wheels? Weird.

8

Yep, you need to communicate. Every December I communicate with the garbage crew by giving them two bottles of bourbon (I asked once what they like). For a $50 investment each year, they treat me royally.

9

We give our guy lunch a few times a year. I’m surprised they’ll take booze, unless they do it off the clock. IME, people with CDLs don’t mess around when it comes to liquor. IIRC, they can’t have it in the cab of their truck*. CDLs, at least in Wisconsin get yanked pretty easily when it comes to alcohol and if you lose your CDL, you’re out of a job.

10

I’ve wondered if the trash guys wouldn’t throw the cans down in the street as hard as they can if I left a six pack on each one once a month.

11

Because they don’t care, and they don’t get paid enough to start caring.

How many steps is it from the loading dock to the front of the dumpster?

12

Maybe my rural location is a factor, but I’ve been doing this for 15 years, never anything but a “Thanks, buddy!!”.

I almost feel like I’m taking advantage of the situation, but I can have my dumpster overflowing yet they never complain. I also stop and say hey and shoot the shit if I happen to be around when they are emptying my trash.

13

Not a commercial dumpster user, but I do live in a rural area with trash pickup. I’m often out when the truck comes by and make it a point to talk to the driver and say thanks, have a good day, etc. The driver always puts my can back where it was, picks up any spills and seems to appreciate the contact.

Sent from my LG-V495 using Tapatalk

14

I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with wheels. All the dumpsters around here are just big green boxes with two lids on top.

15

With wheels.

16

Cement truck drivers are the worstest … they can see the boom is in the boss’ pick-up … he should’ve known my circular gestures were for someone else.

17

Can’t load this one from the front. It’s huge, about seven feet tall, with a flat top. We load it through a sliding door on the side facing the loading dock. Or, if necessary, we can open the lids on top and toss the garbage in that way, while standing on the dock.

When the driver sets the dumpster three feet away from the dock, that creates a major safety hazard, especially when trying to empty a heavy trash can.