The Pros and Cons of Using a Waste Broker

A waste broker is an entity that companies use as an intermediary between themselves and their trash haulers. Brokers usually take over their clients' trash procedures and become the customer of the waste hauler, and then in turn bill their clients for trash service. Brokers may sign contracts directly with waste haulers, or may instead choose to do business on a month-to-month basis with their trash vendors. Companies use brokers for everything from medical waste to recyclables to grease traps.

Many large corporations and restaurant chains elect to use a waste broker because brokers offer consolidated billing. Consolidated billing allows for accounts payable to receive one itemized statement detailing trash service and price at multiple locations all throughout the country, rather than receiving several different invoices from various trash haulers in different parts of the country. Consolidated billing can simplify things for a company from an accounting perspective, but one of the drawbacks is that there is no transparency – in other words, the broker can mark up the cost for trash service and build in a profit for themselves without the customer realizing it. Brokers typically make their money by either adding a fixed per-location charge to their invoice, or by marking up the amount the vendor charges them.

It is important for a business to realize the pros and cons when deciding whether or not to use a broker. While billing consolidation is convenient, using a broker takes away a business’s ability to decide what trash vendor they would prefer to use and does not allow companies to see the actual invoices for waste removal. What separates Global Trash Solutions from most brokers is that we make the customer’s preference our top priority. While we make recommendations that always yield a positive financial impact, we always leave the decision of what trash vendor to use or what service to utilize up to our clients. We also allow our customers to see their invoices each month, so they know exactly what their costs are.

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