Several different costs are associated with dumpster rentals. In addition to the cost of actually renting the dumpster, businesses often have to pay permit and dump fees. If you run a business that needs to rent a dumpster, you should consider all of these charges when comparing quotes from different dumpster rental services. You should also, however, consider the unbilled cost of your employee's time when setting up a dumpster rental.

Taking Trash to a Dumpster Takes Time

It takes time for employees to bring trash to a dumpster, and that time costs your company money. A five-minute trip to bring trash to a dumpster might seem insignificant, but many businesses have more than one trip's worth of waste in a single day. Depending on the size of your company and how much waste is generated, your employees may need to make a number of trips to the dumpster.

The Labor Costs Are Significant

To see how the costs of these trips add up, consider a company that needs to make 10 trips to the dumpster each day. For the sake of this example, also assume that it takes five minutes for employees to walk to the dumpster and back. Employees would spend 50 minutes a day taking garbage to the dumpster.

Even if the employees were only paid $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum wage, 50 minutes of labor would cost the company $6.04 ($7.25 x 50 minutes / 60 minutes). Over the course of a month, the cost would total $181.20 ($6.04 x 30 days).

CostHelper puts these labor costs in perspective. According to CostHelper, renting a dumpster for one year costs between $15 and $60 a month, although many companies charge an additional $20 to $200 per pickup. If 10 trips are being made each day to a dumpster, then the company likely needs a weekly pickup. This would place the cost of renting a dumpster somewhere between $95 ($15 + $20 x 4 pickups) and $860 ($60 + $200 x 4 pickups) per month.

There is a large variance in how much a dumpster rental costs, but labor costs remain significant in all scenarios. If rental fees are only $95 per month, $181.20 accounts for almost twice the cost of the dumpster rental. Even at high rental rates of $860 per month, $181.20 still accounts for 21 percent ($181.20 / $860) of how much the dumpster rental service charges.

You Can Keep Labor Costs Low

With a little consideration, you can keep the labor costs associated with taking trash to the dumpster minimal. You won't be able to eliminate them completely, but thinking about your dumpster before signing up for a rental could save your employees time. Even if you shave just two minutes off of each trip, that would save your company $2.39 each day (2 minutes x 10 trips x $7.25/hr) and $71.78 each month ($2.39 x 30 days) if your employees make 10 trips to the dumpster each day.

To minimize how long trash runs to the dumpster take, consider the following:

  • locate your company's dumpster as close to your company's back door as possible
  • situate the dumpster so it faces a plowed parking lot
  • rent a dumpster that has a door in the front

The final suggestion, renting a dumpster with a door in the front of it, will let employees dispose of trash without brushing snow and ice off of the dumpster's lid each time they go out to it in the winter.

These small considerations can make a big difference in your labor costs. As you talk with different dumpster rental services and look at quotes, don't just ask about their fees. Also check whether they'd be willing to work with you on selecting an efficient location and type of dumpster. Even if you have to pay a little more for a dumpster rental service like ESP Dumpsters & Waste Services that is willing to work with you, your company could save a lot on labor costs over the course of the contract.

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