TrashCanBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

The Month-End Billing Review for a Trash Can Cleaning Business

Billing that runs itself still needs a once-a-month look from a person. Not to build invoices, but to catch the handful of things automation cannot fix on its own: a card nobody updated, a plan that no longer matches the cans, a statement that did not get paid. Twenty or thirty minutes at month end is enough for most routes.

Why Bother If Billing Is Automatic

The case for automatic billing is made in Cash Flow on Small Tickets: Why Bin Cleaning Billing Has to Run Itself. The month-end review is the other half. Automatic billing does exactly what it is told. If what it is told is out of date, it will keep doing the wrong thing, reliably, every week.

The review is where you make sure the instructions still match reality.

Step 1: Open Invoices

Start with what has not been paid. In TrashCanBossPro, unpaid invoices stay open, so you can see who owes what. For each one, ask:

• Was this a declined card? Has the customer been told?
• Is the customer still on the route? Should the next cleaning wait until it is paid?
• Is this an HOA or manager who pays on their own schedule, and is it actually late?
• Is this a small balance that is not worth chasing anymore?

Decide on each one and act: send a follow-up, hold the account, or write it off according to your policy.

Step 2: Monthly Statements

For HOAs, property managers and businesses set to Monthly, check that every statement went out and covers every address. Look for addresses that should have been added or dropped during the month. A property manager who picked up two rentals mid-month and mentioned it in an email will expect those addresses on the statement.

Check last month's statements too. Were they paid? If not, is that normal for that customer, or does someone need a call?

Step 3: Plans That Do Not Match the Cans

Over a month, techs see things. A customer added a recycling can. A yard waste can disappeared. A homeowner sold the house. Those notes should show up in the job notes or with the office. Compare them to the client records:

• Does each address have the right number of trash, recycling and yard waste cans?
• Does the plan's billing match those cans?
• Is the trash day still right?

Fix the record and the next invoice will be right. For more on billing extra cans, see Billing for Extra Cans: Invoicing the Second, Third and Fourth Bin.

Step 4: Add-Ons and Credits

Look for one-time add-ons that accidentally ended up recurring, like a pad wash that was supposed to happen once and has been billed every visit since. Look for credits you promised and have not applied yet. A customer who was told "we'll take it off your next bill" and did not see it come off will remember.

Step 5: The Skips

Review the month's skipped stops. A customer who was skipped three times because the cans were not out might need a reminder about trash day, a change to their alerts, or a different plan. A customer who was skipped because of your own mistakes might need a credit and an apology. Skips often point to a billing or scheduling problem before the customer complains.

Step 6: The Numbers

Finally, look at the month as a whole. Use the reports in TrashCanBossPro to see what was billed and what was paid. Compare it to last month and the same month last year if you have it. You are not looking for perfection, just for surprises: a drop you cannot explain, or a jump in open invoices. For a list of what to look at, read Billing Reports Every Bin Cleaning Owner Should Read.

Send what your bookkeeper needs, including sales tax collected, and you are done.

Keep a running list of what you found each month. If the same problem shows up three months in a row, like techs not noting extra cans, that is not a month-end task anymore. It is a training or setup fix, and fixing it once saves you from finding it every month.

Who Should Do It

In a small company, the owner usually does the review. As you grow, it can move to an office manager. Either way, one person should own it, and it should happen on the same day each month. A review that belongs to everyone tends to belong to no one, and the first month it gets skipped is usually the month something important slips through.

The Short Version

Once a month, review open invoices, Monthly statements, client cans and plans, stray add-ons and credits, skips, and the totals. It takes less than an hour and catches what automation cannot. For more billing guides, return to the trash can cleaning billing software page.