Murphy’s Law Collection Edition

In Cleaning, Collection, Enforcement, Night Plow, Sanitation Worker, Weather by Samuel RiveraLeave a Comment

They Missed My Stop.
One of my early days as a Supervisor I was assigned to the field, not knowing what I was doing I noticed a bunch of stops still out before lunch, I go in and speak with the crews having their lunch, their answer to this problem was “Late putout”, I never heard this before(I worked mostly nights up to that point, and not on collection that often), so I speak to my shop steward and he acknowledges the problem.

So I trust the problem is for real and the next time I was in the field I monitored the routes a little more closely and sure enough I was seeing people putting out their garbage after I saw the truck service that line already. (SMH)

Over the years I notice this happens almost in every district and I have even caught a few people calling in with a claim that DSNY missed their stop when in fact they put it out after the truck pass their home and no garbage was out for pick up.

This action is really prevalent in early November when night plows starts and it gets better after a little frustration of some missed stops and a few calls to 311.

The public assumes they just put out the garbage and little green men/women pick it up, but it just isn’t that simple, a little work from the public is needed.

Somethings you need to know to help make sure you get rid of that stuff.

  • Put it out on time.
    • Know when DSNY Night Plow begins and ends, because that is when DSNY goes with collection 24/7 and then back to just picking up during the day line (6a-2p).
  • General Rule.
    • Night Plow begins: Early November – Early April put out after 4pm the day before pick up, make sure to put out before midnight!
    • Night Plow ends: Early April – Early November put out after 5pm the day before pick up.
  • Make sure its not hidden(Can or Bag).
    • Remember Sanitation Workers are not always walking the route to see all the stops, they will sometimes get in the truck and ride to the next stop not realizing there is a stop before the next stop, and sometimes even walking the route a stop might not be visible to them and its missed.
    • Check to make sure it wasn’t move after you put it out, sometimes it gets moved by someone other than you to a spot where it might be missed.
  • Make sure it is put out right in the receptacle.
    • Can (not damaged where picking it up won’t cause garbage to fall out or hurt the Sanitation Worker).
    • Bag (Secured and not to heavy where someone catches a hernia including you the home owner/tenant and the bag doesn’t break and the contents fall out).
  • Snow issues.
    • If you put out garbage and it snows and by the time DSNY gets back to picking up garbage the stop may be bury under ice or so much snow that the garbage can not be seen, it will be most likely missed. If ice is so thick that you need a pick to unearth it will be most likely be left. Hint: When you see the snow has stopped and you start salting and/or cleaning your sidewalk unearth your garbage also.

Sometimes you do everything right and it still gets missed 🙁

DSNY is not perfect :/ even though they would like to think they are 🙂

  • Crew are not familiar with the routes. DSNY sometimes has to use Sanitation Workers from other districts and when they come in they have to work in an area where they are just not use to and sometimes mistakes are made because of these arrangements, including miss stops.
  • Crew leaves a stop on purpose because of its mixed contents or some other problem. Note: If you receive a summons on this, DSNY is require to pick up that stop as is(That was the policy when I was there) Double check with 311 as policies do change from time to time.

Whenever a stop is missed, just call 311 or use their app.

Most problems get solved within 24-72 hrs, but there are times where Murphy’s Law comes in and throws a monkey wrench into the process 🙁

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