TrashCanBossPro Blog — Tech App

Crew GPS on the Office Map: Knowing Where Every Bin Cleaning Trailer Is

A customer calls at 1:30: “I just remembered I put my cans away. Can someone still come today?” The office has three trailers out. Which one is closest? Without crew GPS, the answer is three phone calls. With it, the answer is on the map.

From the Time Clock to the Map

The tech clocked in on the phone, as covered in The Time Clock in the Trash Can Cleaning Tech App. While they work the route, their phone's location shows on the office map.

Crew GPS comes from the techs' phones during the workday. The office sees where each tech is, alongside the stops on the map. It is the crew's location from their phones, not a tracker bolted to the trailer.

What the Office Uses It For

For a bin cleaning company, crew GPS answers a handful of everyday questions:

• Who is closest? A new sign-up wants a first cleaning today, or a customer whose cans were skipped just rolled them back out. The office sees which trailer is nearby and adds the stop to that route.
• Where is the route at? A customer calls asking when the crew will get there. The office looks at the map and gives a real answer.
• Is everyone okay? A tech has not moved in an hour. Maybe a flat tire, maybe a pump problem. The office can check in.
• Can we rebalance? One trailer is way ahead, the other is behind. The office can move a few stops from one to the other on the dispatch board.

GPS Plus the Stop Taps

The map shows where the tech is. The Start and Complete taps show what they are doing. Together they give the office a clear picture without a single phone call: Trailer 1 is at stop 22 of 40 on the north side, Trailer 2 just finished its last Tuesday stop and is heading to the commercial pads.

That also feeds the customer side. The customer app's live route map tells customers their place in line, and it stays accurate when techs work the route in order and tap as they go.

Explaining It to Your Crew

Some techs are uneasy about location tracking, especially on their personal phones. Be straight with them about what it is and what it is not:

• It shows location during the workday, while they are working routes.
• It exists so the office can route new stops, answer customers and help when something goes wrong.
• It is not a tool for picking apart every five-minute stop at a gas station.

Most techs come around once they see that it means fewer calls asking where they are. A tech who is on the map does not get a text every hour asking for an update.

Same-Day Adds Without the Phone Tag

The best use of crew GPS in bin cleaning is filling holes in the day. Skips happen. When a skipped customer texts that the cans are back out, or a neighbor of a current customer signs up and wants to start right away, the office looks at the map, finds the nearest trailer, and adds the stop on the dispatch board. The tech's list updates, and the stop appears in its place in the route.

Without GPS, those adds often wait until tomorrow because nobody wants to make three calls to figure out who is closest. With it, they get done today, which is money that would otherwise slip. For more on skips coming back, see Skipping a Stop When the Cans Are Still Full or Already Put Away.

The same goes for bad days. If one trailer loses its pump at 11am, the office can see where the other trailers are and decide which stops to hand them and which to push to tomorrow. The customers who get pushed can hear about it from the office by text before they start wondering why nobody came. That is a much better conversation than the one that starts with an angry call at 6pm.

For the Owner Who Is Also on a Trailer

Many bin cleaning owners run a trailer themselves. Crew GPS works for them too. From their own phone, between stops, they can glance at the office map and see where the other trailer is. That saves calling a tech who is in the middle of a wash, hands wet, phone in the truck.

Know Where Everyone Is Without Asking

Crew GPS turns “where is everybody?” into a glance at a map. It helps the office route same-day adds, answer customers honestly and help a tech who is stuck. For everything else in the tech app, go back to the TrashCanBossPro trash can cleaning app page.