The short answer
Give every can a number painted on it, and make the driver record that number on every drop off, swap and pickup. Then every can has a story: where it is, who has it and since when. Count the yard against that list now and then, and fix what doesn't match right away.
By American Dumpster Software, the software built by American Roll-Offs, a roll-off company in Jacksonville, Florida. Updated .
Number every can, and use the number every time
Tracking starts with a number on the can, big enough to read from the truck. Every job that touches a can records that number: the drop off says which can went to the job site, the swap says which can came back and which went out, the pickup says which can came home.
If the number is only written down when somebody remembers, the list drifts. The driver is the one person standing next to the can, so the driver records it, on the phone, at the stop.
Keep a story for every can
A list of where cans are today isn't enough. When something doesn't add up, you need the history: which jobs the can went on, which driver moved it, how many days it has been out, which customer has it now.
With that story you can answer the questions the office gets every day: Is the 20 at that address ours? How long has it been there? Which can did we swap out last Tuesday?
Count the yard against the screen
Now and then, walk the yard and count what's there by size and number, and compare it with what the list says should be there. Every difference is a question to answer: a pickup that wasn't recorded, a can dropped at the wrong site, a swap done backwards.
Fix differences right away, while people remember. Write down what you found and why, so the same mistake is easier to spot next time. A can that's been in the wrong place for a month is much harder to sort out than one that's been there a day.
Know what you'll have free
Tracking is also about tomorrow. When a customer asks for a 20 on Thursday, you need to know how many 20s will be in the yard that day: the ones there now, minus the drop offs booked, plus the pickups due back. Knowing that number before you say yes keeps you from promising a can you won't have, or buying cans you don't need.
How the software does it
In American Dumpster Software, the driver records the can number on the phone at each stop (it works with no signal, too). Every can has its own page with its whole story. The yard count checks the yard against the screen, and a can found somewhere it shouldn't be is flagged for checking, never quietly moved. The yard forecast shows how many of each size you'll have, day by day, and the call list shows cans that have been out longer than their included days. With a connected truck GPS service, the map shows your trucks too.
Open the live demo and look up any can in the sample company.