Every roll-off load ends at a scale, and the ticket from that scale touches your money twice: it’s the dump fee you owe the facility and, for most customers, the tonnage you bill. A ticket that goes missing or lands on the wrong job costs you on both sides.
What’s on a scale ticket
Layouts differ by facility, but most tickets show:
- Ticket number. Unique at that facility, and the key you’ll match on at month end.
- Facility and scale location.
- Date, and usually the time in and time out.
- Account and truck. Your charge account at the facility, and often the truck number.
- Material or grade. Construction debris, household trash, concrete, yard waste. It sets the rate.
- Gross, tare and net weight, in pounds, tons or both.
- Rate and total. Sometimes with a minimum charge, taxes or surcharges on their own lines.
| Field | Note | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Gross | Loaded truck, weighed in | 26.17 t |
| Tare | Empty truck and can, weighed out | 15.56 t |
| Net | 26.17 − 15.56 | 10.61 t |
| Rate | Per ton for this material | $42.50 |
| Total dump fee (10.61 × $42.50) | $450.93 | |
Gross, tare and net
Gross is the loaded truck on the scale on the way in. Tare is the empty weight, weighed on the way out or taken from a stored tare the facility keeps for that truck. Net is gross minus tare, the weight of what you dumped.
A few things worth checking:
- Pounds versus tons. Many tickets print pounds. A US ton is 2,000 pounds, so 21,220 lb net is 10.61 tons.
- Stored tares. On a roll-off truck the empty can rides out with the truck, so the tare includes the can. A stored tare only holds for the same truck carrying the same size of can. If the truck or its equipment changes, have it weighed again.
- A net that doesn’t fit the can. A small can showing a huge weight, or a large can showing almost nothing, usually means a keying error or a ticket attached to the wrong job.
Why the photo matters
Paper tickets get wet, crumpled on the dash and lost between the scale house and the office, and thermal paper fades. A photo taken at the scale solves most of that:
- It’s your evidence when a customer asks why they’re paying for 10.61 tons.
- The office can enter or check the ticket the same day, without waiting for the paper.
- It’s what you’ll look at when the facility’s statement doesn’t match your records.
Have drivers take the photo before they leave the scale: the whole ticket in frame, flat, with the numbers readable. Then the ticket number, net tons and total go on the job the load came from, and the photo goes with them.
Costing the dump fee to the job
The dump fee is a cost of the job the load came from, not a general landfill expense. Put it on the job as soon as the ticket exists, so the job’s margin is real while it’s still fresh. On a swap, the ticket belongs to the can that was pulled.
In the example, the swap at Harbor Plaza (a sample customer) on Tuesday, September 15 pulled can #30-114 from 1412 Dock St. Ticket A-48812 is a $450.93 cost on job #0419.
Tickets without a job are the ones that go missing. Keep them in one place and clear them daily, not at month end, when nobody remembers which load was which.
Billing the tonnage to the customer
The same net weight is billed to the customer at the customer’s rate, not the facility’s. In the example, Harbor Plaza pays $68 a ton from the first ton:
- Tonnage: 10.61 t × $68 = $721.48
- Haul: $395
- Rental: 8 days past the 14 included × $10 = $80
- Invoice INV-1042: $1,196.48, due October 15
If the customer’s price includes tons, bill only the tons above it. For example (made-up numbers), with 3 tons included and a 4.2-ton ticket, bill 1.2 tons. Charge only rates that are in the customer’s agreement, and send the ticket photo with the invoice line or keep it ready for when they ask. The pricing guide covers setting those rates.
Tickets from a subcontractor
When another hauler runs the job, they pay the dump fee and include it in their bill. Their ticket is evidence: it proves the weight you bill your customer and lets you check the tonnage on their invoice. It is not a cost of its own. Enter it as a dump fee and you’ll count that cost twice. More in the guide to brokering a dumpster job.
Matching the facility’s monthly statement
If you have a charge account at a facility, it sends a statement listing every ticket on your account for the period. Match it line by line by ticket number, and look for four things:
- On the statement, not in your records. A lost paper ticket, a load nobody entered, or someone else using your account. Find it before you pay.
- In your records, not on the statement. It may show up next period, or it was paid at the scale.
- Amounts that differ. A rate change, a minimum charge, a surcharge, or a load the facility graded as a different material.
- Credits. Recycling credits for clean loads should show up as credits.
Pay the statement once every ticket is matched or explained. Then the dump fees on your jobs and the dump fees in your books are the same number.
In the product
How Excern handles this
In Excern, whoever holds the paper enters the ticket. The driver takes a photo with the phone’s camera at the dump, then enters the ticket number, net tons and dump total; the facility is pre-filled from the job. The office can add or fix a ticket from the job.
The dump fee is a job cost the moment the ticket is in. The tonnage becomes a line for the customer’s invoice, queued with the ticket photo for you to approve, never charged on its own. A ticket with no job waits in an unmatched queue with its photo until someone attaches it or clears it.
A subcontractor’s ticket is evidence for the customer’s tonnage and never becomes a cost, because the hauler’s invoice is the cost. Each facility has rates by material, minimums and recycling credits, and at month end you match the facility’s statement against your tickets and the ones that don’t line up are flagged.
See scale tickets and dumps, billing and payments and pricing.