PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Routes & Dispatch

You're Stop 12 of 20: The Customer's View of Your Portable Toilet Route

Every portable toilet office gets the same call a dozen times a day: when is the truck coming? Texts help, and the previous article, ETA Texts on a Porta Potty Route: On the Way, Arrived and the Night Before, covered them. But some customers want to see for themselves. That is what the customer app's route view is for.

What the Customer Sees

On a service day, a customer opens the customer app and sees today's route on a live map, with a line like You're stop 12 of 20 — the crew is 5 stops away. As the crew works through the route, the number counts down.

That one line answers the question better than any phone call. The customer knows the truck is coming today, roughly how long it will be, and that nobody forgot them.

Privacy for Your Other Customers

Customers see where they are in line, not who else is on the route. The other stops are not labeled with names or addresses. A customer knows they are stop 12 of 20; they do not know that stop 11 is a competitor's job site or their neighbor's remodel.

Why the Count Beats a Time Window

Many companies give customers a time window, such as between 8 and noon. Windows sound helpful, but they are a promise that one late stop can break. A live count of stops is honest about where the crew really is. If the crew got held up at a big site, the customer sees the count pause instead of watching the window close with no truck in sight.

The count also works on days when the route changes. If a same-day pump-out jumps in ahead of them, the customer sees one more stop ahead, not a broken promise.

Who Gets the Most From It

Some customers use the route view constantly:

• Superintendents who want to know when service will happen so they can plan around it.
• Event planners who are watching the clock before guests arrive.
• Rural customers who need to drive out and open a gate.
• Property managers who need to let the driver into a locked area.

For them, seeing the crew five stops away is the signal to get ready.

Alerts They Choose

The customer app is also where customers set their alert preferences: a text the night before, a text when they're next, and a text when the tech arrives. Some customers want all three, some want none. Letting them choose means fewer unwanted texts and fewer calls asking for texts they did not get.

More Than the Route

The route view is one part of the customer app. Customers can also request service, sign up for services with pricing, update their card on file, see invoices and pay, and rate and refer you. A customer who opens the app to check where the truck is might also pay an invoice or request an extra pump-out for next week while they are there.

What It Asks of the Office

The route view is only as good as the route behind it. A few things make it work:

• Keep route order sensible, so the stop number means something. Closest First or Furthest First: Choosing Route Order From the Yard covers setting order.
• Keep drivers marking jobs as they work, so the count stays current.
• Avoid shuffling the route constantly during the day, which makes the number jump around.

When the office keeps the route steady, customers learn to trust the number and stop calling.

It also helps when drivers do not skip around the list. If the driver services stop 15 before stop 12 without telling the office, the customer at stop 12 sees the crew pass them by. When a driver needs to change the order for a real reason, a quick word to the office keeps the route in the app matching the route on the road.

Introducing It to Customers

Most customers will not find the customer app on their own. Mention it when they sign up, in the first invoice email, and in the night-before text. A one-line explanation, such as you can see where you are on our route on service days, is enough. Contractors with several sites are often the quickest to adopt it, because it saves them calls too.

Why It Matters for Routing

It might seem odd that a customer-facing screen belongs in a routing guide. But a route is not only about miles and stops. It is about how the day feels to the people waiting on the truck. A route that customers can see is a route that generates fewer calls, fewer complaints and fewer what-happened conversations.

For how the customer's view fits with the Waiting List, route order and live crew GPS, see PortaPottyBossPro portable toilet route software.