J&M Sanitation, Inc. Forging a New Path

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): Tim and Belinda Gordon bought J&M Sanitation in idaho in 1986. At the time, Tim was working in retail, and Belinda was working as a part-time office manager. However, they both wanted an opportunity to spend more time with family and decided to take the jump into the waste industry. When they purchased the business, it came with two trucks that were single-axle rear loaders and serviced approximately 450 customers. Tim ran routes three days per week and did the bookkeeping the other two days. Today, the company has grown to 18 employees running 34 pieces of equipment, including rear loaders, side loaders, front loaders, roll-off trucks, transfer trailers, yard dumpsters, and more. They also have at least one backup truck for each of the ones they run.

J&M Sanitation provides all the residential refuse and recycling services as well as all commercial front load and roll-off services for the City of Kuna, and City of Melba, and part of unincorporated Canyon County through franchise agreements, which totals about 15,000 customers. They also operate a vehicle-to-vehicle transfer station for their collection vehicles, where waste is unloaded onto their semis for transport to the landfill. Currently run by Tim and Belinda’s oldest son Chad Gordon, General Manager, and their middle son Todd Gordon, Office Manager, both boys have grown up working in the family company for more than 35 years.

Chad now has three sons of his own and his middle son drives trucks for J&M Sanitation, his oldest son works for the in-laws, and his youngest son works for one of the waste industry trailer manufacturers. While Chad says his dad is semi-retired, he still likes to be involved in the business, especially in financial matters and any major decisions. “When he comes in, we always discuss how things are running and make sure that we’re all on board with daily operations. Todd is in charge of our office and I handle the rest of the operations. Dad likes to be here and see what’s going on. He is passionate about the businesses, our employees, and equipment. He is always trying to think of the next investment.”

Staying Ahead
Over the last few years, Chad points out that labor and supply shortages have had major impacts on the business. “Finding quality employees that have the skill set needed to perform the job is getting more difficult. Parts have become more expensive and take longer to get.” He explains that the good thing about the way they are set up in their area is that all their contracts are franchised, which means nobody else can come in and service their area. “Rather than trying to add contracts for thousands of additional customers, our goal has really been to maintain the ones we have to the highest level possible since we are competing against larger haulers. That said, our growth has been at a manageable pace, and I can forecast pretty well when we’re going to need to hire or invest in equipment, so I can stay ahead of that curve.”

Although, employee turnover is a challenge, Chad points out that they treat their employees really well and that helps with retention—they have employees that have worked at the company for 13+ years. Not only do they focus on paying a good wage, but they also cover 100 percent medical benefits for employees and their family members. The company also provides up to three weeks paid vacation and corporate bonuses. “We try to make it feel like a family here. We have a great crew who understands our goal and vision. I have daily contact with our employees, and they know they can come straight to me with any issues or concerns, and we’ll work through it. We also treat our customers with the utmost respect and provide them with quality service. The key is that our guys take a lot of pride in what they do. They know their customers and who they need to give a hand to occasionally. In fact, my son just recently had a customer who is an older lady, and her trash cans are out every single week. However, this particular week, they were not out, so he got concerned and knocked on her door to check on her. When you have a driver that takes pride in his route, he makes those connections with customers and, in turn, it results in a higher quality service.”

Chad finds that when they are on a search for new hires that word of mouth is most effective. Especially now with the advent of social media, they use their Facebook page and website to their advantage. They have had many people recommend J&M Sanitation as a great place to work. In addition, they post job openings on Indeed. “There is a lot of competition to find quality employees and we make it a point to explain during the interview process about our benefits packages—the health care aspect is huge.” He stresses that as a country we really need to understand that not everybody is college bound, so we should focus on skilled labor trades as well. “You can take some guys out of industries skilled in a particular labor and get them interested in different fields whether it is construction workers, mechanics, or drivers. Unfortunately, the federal requirements for getting a CDL license were changed a few years ago. Now it costs individuals between $5,000 and $8,000. Before I could hire a guy that didn’t have CDL and have one of my senior drivers walking him through the training, study the literature, and pay for the driving test. I could train him the way I wanted him trained and he would make a great employee. Now, it is a long process and much more expensive. In addition, once they get the CDL, there is no guarantee they are going to stay with the company. It makes things a little more difficult, but we need truck drivers out there. At the end of the day, we want to get these guys in and trained.”

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantagemag.com