SepticBossPro Blog — Septic Pumping Software

Routing Pump Trucks Around Disposal Site Runs

Routing a pump truck is not like routing a delivery van. The truck gets heavier with every stop, and at some point it has to go unload before it can do anything else. Where that disposal run falls in the day can make the difference between six pump-outs and four. Here is how to think about routing with the dump in mind.

Start With What Is on the Waiting List and the Board

The waiting list from Using a Waiting List to Fill Septic Pumping Gaps gives you flexible jobs to work with. Routing is where you decide the order. Open the SepticBossPro route map for the truck and look at where the jobs fall relative to the yard and to the disposal site you use.

The goal is simple: reach the disposal site when the truck is full and close by, not when it is full and forty minutes away.

Disposal sites usually have operating hours, and some have lines at certain times of day. Factor that in. A route that reaches the disposal site right at closing, with a full truck, leaves you hauling the load home overnight and starting tomorrow behind.

Add Up the Tank Sizes

Tank size in gallons lives on every property record. Before finalizing a route, total the tank sizes for each leg. If your truck holds a certain capacity, plan the legs so that each one ends near the disposal site. Remember that actual gallons can run higher than the rated tank size, so leave some margin.

If the totals do not fit, move a stop to another truck on the dispatch board or push it to the waiting list.

For new customers without confirmed tank sizes, use a conservative estimate. It is better to plan the dump run a stop early than to arrive at a large tank with no room left on the truck.

Order Stops for the Dump Run

A common pattern is to work outward from the yard in the morning, swing past the disposal site mid-route, and finish with a second leg. Another is to work toward the disposal site so the last stop before unloading is the closest one. Which works best depends on where your disposal site sits and how the day's jobs cluster.

The map makes the choice obvious in a way a list of addresses never does.

Traffic and ground conditions matter too. A soft yard after rain can turn a quick stop into a long one if the truck cannot get close. Notes on the property about where to park help the crew decide quickly whether to run extra hose or reschedule.

Mix Job Types With Care

Not every stop fills the truck. An inspection with no pumping, a riser install or a drain field check can be slotted in after a dump run, or at a point where the truck is close to full and cannot take another tank. Job categories on the board make those stops easy to spot.

Grease traps may have their own disposal requirements. Keep them in their own category so you route them correctly.

Let the Crew App Confirm the Plan

The crew sees stops in order on their phone, with notes and directions. If a tank comes in much larger than expected and the truck fills early, the driver can let the office know and the dispatcher can reshuffle the remaining stops. GPS shows exactly where the truck is when that decision gets made.

Photos of the disposal ticket can be attached to a job if your office wants a record in the same place as the work.

Review and Adjust

After a few weeks, look back at completed jobs per truck and how the routes actually ran. Areas you visit often may justify a set day of the week, which makes routing even easier and keeps trucks in the same neighborhoods.

Over time you will learn which areas pair well together and which routes always run long. Write those lessons into how you book jobs in the first place, and the routing gets easier every week.

The SepticBossPro septic pumping software page shows how routing connects to records, dispatch and billing.

Plan the disposal run first and the rest of the route usually falls into place.