Portable Sanitation Association International

ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT Portable Sanitation Association International News BIWEEKLY EDITION MARCH 17, 2021 Page 16 Continued on page 20 As far as whether this will be permanent or temporary, I think it's going to be a little bit of both. We see sinks and three services a week almost becoming normal for large sub sites. Stefania Demczak, Approved Toilet Rentals, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As far as what's here to stay, I think the increased servicing will continue. I also think that the evolving expectations and cost calculations are something we're going to have to watch. Phil hit the nail on the head with his comments on the consumables and sinks. Previously customers would say, "Oh, I'm just going to get the toilet." And now it's just one of the things they need. This is changing not just how we spend our money, but where our resources are going in general. I really think that the biggest thing for 2021 is that we're going to be looking at the cost of soap, hand sanitizer, and paper towels, but also at how the cost to run our routes is changing as service expectations evolve. I already mentioned the hidden time costs for all the temperature checks. Currently we are redoing our routes heading into spring and summer, re-analyzing them and trying to optimize them, especially in light of the fact that our oil and gas customers are really far from each other. These are all things for us to all look at when it comes to maybe adjusting rates and how we talk about what we're charging. Tim Petersen, Northwest Cascade Honey Bucket, Puyallup, Washington. For us, on the consumables, it's not so much that we have to have them in stock, but customers are going through them at four times the rate that they used to. In the past you could put a cartridge of hand sanitizer in the dispenser and it probably lasted four to six weeks. Now it is often used in the week between services, and many are getting stolen as well. As far as PPE, we've always been big on safety, so the only thing we had to add was the mask. And I can tell you here in beautiful Seattle, they expect you to have a mask on as long as you're outside the truck, period. Even if no one is within 50 feet of you, you still have to have a mask on. That seems to actually slow the drivers down a bit. Other than that, moving to latex gloves has been a big evolution for our team. Everyone went from thinking the rubber gloves we formerly used were great, and now they're not good enough. The workers need latex gloves, and they wear them all day, usually with route gloves on over the top of them. We've also had the guys sanitizing the trucks probably four times a day. So any time there's somebody moving from a truck to a truck, it's treated the same as a workstation in the office. Whenever you get up and move, make sure you wipe down that truck or workstation in case somebody else comes and sits down. I do think the service levels have leveled out. The sinks and the consumables are really the things that are the price changers—or, at least, that we really need to pay attention to for our revenue and cost, because customers are going through twice as much now, if not more than that. What we had for stocking levels last year is nowhere near enough for this year. Joe Payne, Terry's Pumpin and Potties, Elko, Nevada. As far as changing expectations on worksites, I do think a lot about what that means for our company's revenue and cost calculations. Quite simply, we need to do this more often. We're in an ever-changing world, with ever-changing customer situations. Costs go up. You've got to raise your prices. Costs go down. You can drop your prices back down. Evolving Expectations on Worksites, Part 1…continued from page 15

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