PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Driver & Tech App

Skipping a Blocked Porta Potty and Writing Down Why

Every route has them. The unit is behind a stack of trusses. A dumpster is parked against the door. The site gate is locked and nobody answers. The event organizer waves the truck off because the crowd is too thick. The tech cannot do the job, and that is not the tech's fault. What matters is what happens next.

Skip Is Not the Same as Missed

Photos prove the work that gets done, as covered in Service Photos: Proof of Every Pump-Out and Every Placement. Skips explain the work that does not. In the driver app, Skip is one of the three buttons on every job, next to Start and Complete. When the tech skips a stop, they note why.

A missed stop with no explanation is a problem waiting for a phone call. The customer calls angry, the office does not know what happened, and someone has to call the tech who is now four stops down the road. A skipped stop with a clear note is a problem the office can handle before the customer even notices.

What a Good Skip Note Says

Write the note for someone who was not there. The best skip notes cover:

Keep it short. A skip note is not a report, and nobody needs a paragraph. One or two plain sentences that a dispatcher can read out loud to a customer is the right length.

• What blocked the stop: locked gate, unit blocked, site closed, unsafe access
• What the tech tried: called the site contact, waited ten minutes, checked the other gate
• When it happened: the time is useful when the customer says "we were here all morning"
• What would fix it: "need gate open," "need forklift moved," "unit needs to be relocated to reach with hose"

"Unit 147 blocked by a pallet of block. Asked the crew, no forklift operator on site. 9:20 am. Need it moved or we can come back after lunch" gives the office everything.

Take a Photo of the Problem

A photo of the blocked unit or locked gate backs up the note. Customers are much more understanding when they can see the pallet in front of the door. It also protects the tech, who might otherwise be blamed for skipping a stop they could not reach.

What the Office Does Next

When a skip comes in with a reason, the office has options:

• Call or text the customer to clear the problem, and send the tech back later the same day
• Move the job to tomorrow on the dispatch board
• Ask the customer to relocate the unit somewhere reachable going forward, and update the placement notes
• Charge for a trip if that is your policy and the customer agrees

Two-way texting from the office is useful here. A quick text, "Our tech could not reach unit 147 because of a pallet. Can someone move it? We can come back after 1," often solves it in a few minutes.

The faster the office acts on a skip, the better. A skip handled at 9:30 can often be fixed the same day while the truck is still nearby. A skip nobody reads until the next morning becomes a full extra trip, and a customer who has gone a day without clean units.

Skips and the Waiting List

A skipped service still needs to happen. Because the site's service comes due based on its minimum days between visits, a skipped stop stays on the radar rather than quietly disappearing. On the Waiting List, sites show colored by status, with overdue sites standing out after a 7-day grace. A skipped weekly service will not hide for a month.

Repeat Skips Are a Signal

If the same site gets skipped every week, something has to change. Maybe the units are in a bad spot. Maybe the gate is never open on your service day. Maybe the customer needs a different day. Look for patterns and talk to the customer. Moving the service to a day when the site is open, or moving the units to a reachable spot, fixes a recurring headache. Update the site notes so every tech knows the new arrangement. Gate Codes and Site Notes in the Porta Potty Driver App covers keeping those notes current.

Do Not Skip Just Because It Is Hard

Skip is for stops that cannot be done, not stops that are inconvenient. A long walk to the units, a muddy site or a chatty super are part of the job. Set that expectation in training: skip when you are actually blocked, and always say why.

The Short Version

When a stop cannot happen, tap Skip, write what blocked it and what would fix it, and take a photo. For the rest of the tech's tools, visit the PortaPottyBossPro driver and tech app page.