You can save 10% on your expenses by critically and carefully examining your invoices. In this video, you'll learn about billing errors and how you can stop them from happening!

1. How Can I Save 10% on
My Waste Invoices?
Presented by:
Andrea Suarez

2. You can likely save 10%
in your recurring waste
and recycling expenses
by carefully and critically
examining your monthly
invoices.

3. In the past 18 years, we’ve
been in business, we’ve
found that this is the rate
that errors occur on average.
How much has this cost you
in the past 5 years?

4. Today you’ll learn:
- Why errors happen.
- What kinds of errors
happen.
- How they can cost you.
- What you can do about it.

5. The more you know
about the billing errors,
the more equipped
you’ll be able to spot
them.

6. Why do waste and recycling
invoices errors happen?

7. There are a couple of
different reasons that
invoice errors happen.

8. Sometimes they
happen when
service changes
occur at your site.

9. Suppose we learn that
you need to reduce your
dumpster from 8 yards
to 6 yards to reduce
costs.

10. It’s possible that your
hauler may continue to
charge you for the 8
yard dumpsters after
your 6 yard
replacements on site.

11. If you don’t carefully
check your monthly
invoices, you won’t
find these mistakes.

12. In the wake of other
more seeming urgent
tasks, this effort may
seem superfluous.

13. But over time, it’s
likely to help you save
hundreds if not
thousands of dollars
on your waste
contract.

14. Other times, your hauler
will charge you despite
certain stipulations in
your contract to the
contrary.

15. We recently worked with a
client who had about a dozen
hotels in the midwest.
They had recently signed a
new contract that prohibited
regulatory fees on their waste
disposal expenses.

16. But we found out they
were continuing to be
charged for this fee - and
were paying for it.

17. We documented the exact
amount of overcharges and
the months they occurred,
then presented it to the
vendor.

18. They couldn’t deny the
charges or what the
contract stipulated. So they
agreed to provide several
hundred dollars in credits.

19. You can follow this exact
process with your hauler.
Hold them accountable when
their charges are not in
accordance with your
contract, and you’ll protect
your bottom line.

20. What kinds of errors can occur on
waste and recycling invoices?

21. As in the previous
example, you can be
charged something
that is prohibited by
your contract.

22. This often occurs by
oversight - we haven’t
found hauling companies
to be the best at
communication between
departments.

23. The salesperson that draws
up your original contract
may not make billing aware
of all of its specifications.

24. As a result, the billing
coordinator may charge you
for fees not in your contract.

25. Typos are another example
of errors. They happen to
the best of us, but they’re
particularly
inconveniencing when they
make you overpay.

26. How much can these
errors cost me?

27. Typically, waste and invoice
errors will cost you about 5%
of the amount invoiced.

28. Waste and recycling invoice
errors will actually cost you
in two ways.

29. They can be expensive
monetarily, but they
can also drain other
resources, like your
time.

30. In my experience, resolving a
waste service issue will take a
minimum of two
communication touches.

31. This is the case for smaller
waste issues, like moving a
dumpster from one spot in a
parking lot to another, or
requesting an additional
pick-up.

32. I will typically make an initial
communication to address
the issue, they will follow up
to ensure the request has
been resolved.

33. These two communications
can take up to an hour,
depending on how long I have
to wait on hold, and how many
people I have to speak to to
get the issue addressed.

34. Similar problems, like a
missed pick-up, can
usually be resolved by the
initial representative I
speak with.

35. Some haulers seem
reticent to disclose their
direct phone numbers, so
it can be a little tricky to
get in touch with them.

36. If the company is one of
the few more
responsive haulers, only
two communications
via phone (or email) will
be necessary.

37. Unfortunately, this is not
necessarily the case with
significant billing errors.

38. Depending on the hauler
and the significance of
the error, it can take
months to fully resolve.

39. If your trash hauler
overcharges you by
several hundred dollars,
it’s likely going to take
more than a few calls to
rectify the situation.

40. When we fight
overcharges on our
client’s behalf in the past,
it has taken up to three
months for the billing
cycle to reflect the
correction.

41. Your staff may not have this
kind of time, which is why
it’s a service that an
independent waste auditor
provide.

42. What can you do about it?

43. When it comes to auditing
your waste disposal and
recycling invoices, there are
two best practices.

44. First, you and your staff need to
carefully review your waste
hauler invoices. Look for price
hikes and inexplicable fees.

45. How different is this
month’s invoice from last
month’s? Are there any
charges that seem high
or shouldn’t be there?

46. When you find these
errors, you’ll need to call
your hauler and ask for a
billing credit for the next
invoice cycle.

47. Prepare to be persistent!
We have found that
many haulers are
reticent to provide
credits to you that may
adversely affect them.

48. Second, you’ll need
to be fairly familiar
with your waste
hauler contract.

49. Are you allowed to be
charged ancillary
fees? Does it prohibit
price or cap them at a
certain rate?

50. Your contract will
specify what can and
cannot appear on your
invoices. Be sure to
look for what is there
in addition to what
isn’t.

51. If you don’t have certain
terms included on your
contract, you’ll get more
surprise price hikes, and
your contract may
automatically renew -
all of which can cause
overspending.