How Valet Services Overcharge You - And What to Do About It!
Let’s face it, no one likes taking out the trash, right?
In the past few years, valet services have become increasingly popular. No longer do multifamily residents have to haul their own trash to the dumpsters - they can just leave it outside their door! A valet employee collects it and disposes of it. Sounds dreamy, right?
Trash valet services are a fantastic amenity to offer to your residents. But they aren’t always fantastic when it comes to pricing.
As with so many other areas of the waste industry, vendors will often increase prices because they can - or charge fees way above market level!
How can you make sure this doesn’t happen to you?
In this post, we’ll go what valet services are, some ways you might be overcharged, and what you can do to prevent overspending.
Psst! Ever wonder why you should care about waste in the first place?
What exactly is Trash Valet Service?
Valet services are a really fancy way of saying “doorstep trash pick-up.” In most situations, it happens exactly as is described above. Residents leave trash outside their door, and a valet employee picks it up and disposes of it.
Different locations will have different frequency needs. Some will only offer valet waste once a week; others offer it every day during the week.
Most vendors will service your location at night so that your residents aren’t disturbed - and so they have time to place their trash outside their door.
How You’re Overcharged for Valet Waste Services
Your trash pick-up provider can be sneaky - just like waste haulers, unfortunately! In fact, valet services are one of the top ways that multi-family complexes overpay on their waste expenses.
Providers often overcharge you because they think they can. Most multi-family management companies don’t evaluate the valet invoices they receive, or they just don’t know how to ensure their contract is in their best interest.
What you don’t know can cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars over time - but it doesn’t have to!
Your rates may suddenly increase. Every so often, you’ll see an uptick in the rates listed on your invoice. It can be as little as 5%, but it can also be much more. But even a 5% increase compacts over time! If you’re charged an extra $20 each month, during the term of your contract you may overpay by hundreds of dollars.
Rates can increase as much as 1-2 times a year! Your fees can raise whenever your vendor feels like it. Not all vendors will take advantage of this - but some undoubtedly will.
We recently worked with a multifamily developer/manager who offered valet services at their properties. The WCI Project Manager noticed that the price per unit seemed to be awfully high. We were able to introduce a new vendor who was able to save them $28,800/year at just 3 properties!
Rate increases compound over time. Before you know it, you may be significantly overpaying.
Because there’s so little information out there about valet services and how they do what they do, you may think it’s normal. Or even something that you should expect.
But just because everyone else is paying at these rates doesn’t mean you have to as well.
Make Your Waste Valet Contract Airtight
The two best ways to prevent overpaying? Get a feel for the market, and then evaluate your contract.
Find out:
- What are other area trash valet services are charging? Get at least one or two estimates.
- What are other area multi-family complexes being charged? Get in touch with a contact, or just make a cold call - you’d be surprised how far a friendly voice and cheerful attitude can get you!
Then, take a good hard look at your contract and answer the following questions:
- Are price hikes capped or eliminated?
- Are rates locked in?
- How easy is it to get out of my contract?
- Are there provisions for poor service?
It can be expensive to stay in a bad contract - or have continual service issues with no recourse!
In the end, you may need to weigh your options. If you have a terrible valet service provider who is not interested in lowering their prices, it may be worth it to break your contract and get a cheaper service provider.
Protect your bottom line!
Fix your valet contract, and you’ll not only prevent overspending - you’ll know how to budget for years to come because you’ll have fixed rates.
You can have peace of mind knowing that you’re not going to be trapped into paying outrageous prices. And you’ll have a contract to protect your best interests.
Don’t wait until a price spike hits to worry about your valet services!
President | Optimized Waste Removal & Apartment Bulk
3 年This is a great article and unfortunately the scenarios you highlighted are all to common. My company OWR specialized in Valet Trash (North Texas Only) and we try to do everything in our power to be as client friendly as possible. A few extra things to be on the lookout for: 1) National or Corporate Agreements - Although these sound great on the surface, often times they are actually more expensive then the current market rates. Avoid exclusivity agreements wherever possible, these will cause you to immediately lose negotiation leverage. 2) Consumer Price Index Clause - beware of companies that tie their fee structure to the Consumer Price Index. This is a sneaky way for them to charge you more over the life of a contract. 3) Long Term Focus - Don't lock yourself into an excessively long contract. 1 - 3 years is ideal in my opinion. 4) Focus on Value and Not Price - Often times the lowest cost bidder is the worst supplier. Don't risk it when it comes to valet trash. One - two extra vacant units a year could cost you more than hiring the most expensive supplier over the cheapest. 5) Align your interest wherever possible - My company ties our fee structure to our clients occupancy rate. The better they do, the better we do.