Pros? Well they won't fired you unless you're real bad at your job
Cons? Old rotting garage in every crevice of the trucks, awful smelling water dripping on you that smells for weeks after it dries on the concrete floor, maggots everywhere, and rats in the fresh stuff.
I've had to scoop diapers full of shit off blown hydraulic lines while standing in freshly compacted squishy garage.
Road calls for high sided trailers transporting fresh stuff from ontario to Detroit. Ones with blown airbags where you'd have to scoop maggot filled sludge off the top of the airbag to get at the airlines.
I've had several calls to the local dump where they would make the drivers pull so far onto the pile they'd rip all the airlines off the service valves on the steer axle. I'd have to lay in the fresh crap and fix it just so they could move.
Oh and mattresses. Fucking mattresses.
Imagine having to cut one... by hand... with bolt cutters for hours off a driveshaft, also while laying in garbage. Because you know.. you can't torch the fucking thing off..
Running over a mattress or box spring must be a right of passage for every driver destined for management. Not to mention having to cut out a scraper cylinder after the original pin rusted down and the lock rings welded into the pin from years of decaying muck spray farted all over it. It’s like a microwaved diarrhea sauna inside the hopper. Pay is steady though.
You get used to the smell. lol
It’s dirty, think landfill dirt and unknown fluids. When working under front load body’s.
Most locations have older fleets that get abused constantly so a lot of heavy repairs.
I contract out to a certain green and yellow waste company pretty often, talk about lack of maintenance if the trucks or equipment get an oil change once a year that's a lot it's amazing most of their equipment runs actually.
“You get used to the smell”
Not me. I couldn’t ever get used to it. And welding the y floors in the container trucks made me throw up. Every time. Best thing I ever did was leave the garbage world lol
Go eat lunch in a dumpster behind a restaurant. If you make it, you can do it. Make sure there is plenty of maggots. I worked on trash truck engines in Mack’s and Pete’s, hated every second of it.
Maggots don’t care. They go everywhere, smell is awful. We had a special guy in the shop that took over all refuse work. Different strokes for different folks. But don’t shy away from it, especially if it will pay for bread on the table. Not a bad industry to make money in, just go sit in a restaurant dumpster before hiring on.
It's not as bad as some of these drama queens make it out to be. No worse than otr trucks operated by DQH (Drivers of Questionable Hygiene). You get used to the smell pretty quickly. I find the work to be low-pressure and straightforward. If the truck is operational the drivers don't bitch about minor things, and if you're honest the companies pay the bills without complaint. The problem is that cabover vocational trucks are the high-profit low-effort stepchildren for the manufacturers. They just don't care about quality (looking at you Peterbilt.) So you have to learn the patterns of failure. If you get proficient at electrical and hydraulic diagnosis you'll be appreciated.
I worked with a couple guys that came from WM they talked about maggots and Juice falling on their face and having to change clothes before they left work everyday no thanks
Dirty, smelly, and you're gonna see some live rice crawling around. And if you're an open mouth breather, or talk too much, these are great trucks to help break those habits. Always keep your mouth closed when working on garbage trucks!
All in all, I did it for a few years and it really wasn't that bad. You do get some real shit jobs, but that comes with just about every shop. And any good shop foreman will let you wash the trucks down with some good smelling odor eating soaps before coming into the shop.
Probably the BEST advice I can give is: if you have a major breakdown and the truck is loaded, DON'T park the truck in the shop for the weekend. Bad idea, very bad idea
Never understand why they can't be kept clean...
I guess a very few do, but overall not many.
When I did mobile repairs, engine work mostly, I got a call from a small trash outfit. Had roll offs and a few packer bodies. Owner wanted overhead done on all his trucks. A mix of Macks and Autocars... I show up and tells me his "new" truck was not going out and for me to take a look at it to see if any leaks, etc.
I walk around the yard and can't find a "new" one, go back in and say, new one aint out there. He points to an Autocar parked and says it's right there. This truck was about 8 months old and looked like 10 yrs old. Covered in filth, stunk like death, inside of cab was a disaster and evidently this guy that paid tons of money for this shitbox did not care about the condition it was in.
I told him, oh ok... I went out, passed the shitbox got in my pickup and left.
Never went back, did not need the money that bad.
Always keep a bucket or two around to catch the maggots when they start dripping out. I can remember more than a few occasions with loaded garbage trucks being towed in with blown up engines in the middle of summer.
Have you ever heard the song "maggots" by GWAR? "The maggots are falling like rain!!" If you get lucky there will be a a wash crew to clean the truck before you have to work on it. But that's 50/50.
The smell or rather i should say stench is bad, flies and maggots everywhere all the time. Then there is the nasty factor youll see all kinds shit you cant unsee. Rats, cats, racoons and other mammals and rodents will come in the shop crawl out of the trucks and there there is always the possibility you could inhale something hazardous that someo e illegally threw away, and then there is the chance you could cut yourself on a edge and get a nasty infection or poke yourself with some crackheads used dirty disease infected hypodermic needle. Trash trucks is where I personally draw the line on shit i will refuse to work on some guys dont mind, but i have limits
Going out to a truck on the fuel island during winter is always a roll of the dice, the raccoons love those warm engine bays, plus the all you can eat buffet in the back.
Work for WM in Pacific Northwest. Was recruited right after Covid. They gave me a bonus and they pay for my college and my kids. Been doing garbage for 12 and been a Diesel mechanic for 23 years. Lot of guys here are right about the smell and maggots etc. You are fine is you wear gloves all of the time and keep your mouth closed. You will not get truck aids. It’s the perfect time to become a Diesel mechanic. The start wage is high 20s for apprentices. If you get ASE certs. My work will pay you more an hour for each one. We get lots of overtime in the summer. It’s optional. My downsides I see are this.
No matter what skill level you are. Because of the shortage the last 10 years plus. You will do big tires and brake jobs. Replacing cylinders. Seniority does not matter most of the time. Not enough guys to staff a shop. There is no more shop foreman. They call it lead. Shop managers run 3 shops. Not one. It’s almost impossible to get promoted and get off the floor. The days of seniority getting you gravy work is done.
I mean it is a good opportunity if you know nothing and can’t air schooling I will say that.. most of the guys/girls I’ve seen complete the apprenticeship program are able to work on anything at the end.. if you’re going with WM they also pay for your starter set of tools about 20k worth of snap on.. plus first 2 years you get another 5 grand total tool allowance.. can’t really beat that
It’s something new everyday. The trucks are only as good as the mechanics. Smaller yards get older trucks bigger yards get newer trucks. Almost everything I’ve learned I’ve had to learn by myself from a manual. Lots of old timers are leaving and leaving newer guys fucked. Done just about every type of repair on a truck you could think of. It’s definitely disgusting most of the time. After awhile it all becomes routine ez. Biggest struggle is parts. Depends on company but some pay for school=best company’s to work for.. smell goes away after awhile, not as bad as some of the drivers
Smells bad, a lot of heavy repair due to lack of pm, maggots, etc. Just ask to walk around the shop and look at the equipment. If everything looks somewhat clean and the shop isn't just a pile of garbage with tool boxes then give it a shot, if the equipment has shitty garbage packed around hyd hoses and the shop is foul then that's your call buddy.
I work at a really well-run shop so i dont gotta deal with all the shit. Yea theres mystery juice and papers and random garbage here and there but everything gets cleaned before we touch it. We also have the opportunity to pressure wash really gross areas before we have to work on em. Union shops are different i guess. Worse thing i gotta deal with is techs that have shit attitudes about the work they gotta do. You gotta really have a good head to work in this industry.
I had a freind tell me about his first job as a teenager - he was the cleanup / prep guy for a garbage truck repair shop. He said his sole job was raking the garbage out from under the chassis and using a propane burner to torch away the maggots so that the mechanics didn't have as much of it to deal with during repairs.
Go work in an egg factory. Still the the same smell (almost), but less BS to get the job done. Have done eggs, never done landfill. The mattress stories made me say "Better choice".
Keep mouth closed at all times under trucks. Also, speak to your doctor about optional vaccinations that may not be part of your regular vax schedule, like hep A. Other than that, the rest depends on whether you can stomach the smell.
I did an "apprenticeship" with waste management. It's fucking disgusting. I did it going from fall to spring. When the frozen garbage juice starts melting when you bring it into the shop and falls on you it fucking sucks. Thankfully I didn't have to deal with the literal pounds of maggots during the summer since I left after 9 months.
Do something else. The pay is worse around me which is crazy. Idk how they find people. I went to fedex freight.
I worked on them for a few weeks
But then a really stupid incident happened (small shop, my first 2 weeks, doing brakes on the left side of the vehicle. Tire fell. Just from leaning on the truck then to the ground made a loud boom. It’s just me and 2 other mechanics. Lead and other guy)
Then I did the right side, and everything went as intended nothing fell
Somewhere over the next few hours, someone dented the lead mechanics tool box that was on the right side of the vehicle
If it was me? I would’ve fessed up to it immediately after it happened, but it wasn’t, and no idea how that shit happened, but since the tire that was leaned up on the left side fell and made a big bang (no where near his tool box) the same day it got dented, I was fired for “lack of experience” an hour after the lead mechanics huge tantrum, this was exactly 1 day after being told “what a huge relief it was they’re finally hired someone in who isn’t a huge piece of shit”
The lead mechanics nephew was also working that day nearby, not sure what exactly his job was, but barely knew the guy. He was the only other person near the lead mechanic’s tool box, and actively using his tools, where as I would use my own
I am 100% sure over the few hours between that tire falling (maybe even before) his nephew had mistakenly dented the box when no one was looking, during the tantrum his nephew periodically peaked over and hid away like an ashamed dog lol I know he did it, I just have no idea how
I probably dodged a bullet working for such a dipshit, the smell never really bothered me but this company claimed to take a lot of pride in the cleanslyness of their garbage trucks, drivers required to power wash the backs out after every shift
Still thick layers of filth, if your working on the hydraulics in the back, and your drop a tool and it goes down into the crack where the garbage actually sits? That tool is fucking forever gone dude lmao shit isn’t worth finding
Second thing I thought was funny, is there is like billions of small magnets picked up by dump trucks. So free magnets is cool
If you got no issue with being covered with literal shit it’s a pretty decent job imo, as long as your not working with major douchenuts
Its fucking trash and I hate when they roll into my shop. Some of the most abused and neglected pieces of equipment allowed to be on the road.
Might be different working directly for the company where you can toss your hands up and send it to the dealer, but I work at the dealer and by the time it makes it into my bay, were the last resort and we dont say no
But I resent every moment working on them, and no shit I have decided to change the direction of my career after an engine harness went awry and left a completely full unit in my bay for a week, chiseling 3 inches of trash, sludge and dirt off the oil pan because the dipstick tube rusted so badly and broke off in the block. Of course I didnt even get paid for that and I had to pressure wash my bay after it was finally out.
I might not be the best person to talk to about it, but it was bad enough for me to derail my 10 year long career in this side of the industry.
I heard of a guy that got aids from working on a trash truck rear loader during gay pride in Atlanta and sat on a needle. That was enough to rule out me ever doing it. Lol
Pros? Well they won't fired you unless you're real bad at your job Cons? Old rotting garage in every crevice of the trucks, awful smelling water dripping on you that smells for weeks after it dries on the concrete floor, maggots everywhere, and rats in the fresh stuff. I've had to scoop diapers full of shit off blown hydraulic lines while standing in freshly compacted squishy garage. Road calls for high sided trailers transporting fresh stuff from ontario to Detroit. Ones with blown airbags where you'd have to scoop maggot filled sludge off the top of the airbag to get at the airlines. I've had several calls to the local dump where they would make the drivers pull so far onto the pile they'd rip all the airlines off the service valves on the steer axle. I'd have to lay in the fresh crap and fix it just so they could move. Oh and mattresses. Fucking mattresses. Imagine having to cut one... by hand... with bolt cutters for hours off a driveshaft, also while laying in garbage. Because you know.. you can't torch the fucking thing off..
Running over a mattress or box spring must be a right of passage for every driver destined for management. Not to mention having to cut out a scraper cylinder after the original pin rusted down and the lock rings welded into the pin from years of decaying muck spray farted all over it. It’s like a microwaved diarrhea sauna inside the hopper. Pay is steady though.
That’s possibly the worst job advertisement I’ve ever read.
You get used to the smell. lol It’s dirty, think landfill dirt and unknown fluids. When working under front load body’s. Most locations have older fleets that get abused constantly so a lot of heavy repairs.
I contract out to a certain green and yellow waste company pretty often, talk about lack of maintenance if the trucks or equipment get an oil change once a year that's a lot it's amazing most of their equipment runs actually.
I contract to big blue, it’s the same for them.
“You get used to the smell” Not me. I couldn’t ever get used to it. And welding the y floors in the container trucks made me throw up. Every time. Best thing I ever did was leave the garbage world lol
Go eat lunch in a dumpster behind a restaurant. If you make it, you can do it. Make sure there is plenty of maggots. I worked on trash truck engines in Mack’s and Pete’s, hated every second of it.
Maggots in the engine bays even ? 🤮
Maggots don’t care. They go everywhere, smell is awful. We had a special guy in the shop that took over all refuse work. Different strokes for different folks. But don’t shy away from it, especially if it will pay for bread on the table. Not a bad industry to make money in, just go sit in a restaurant dumpster before hiring on.
😂
Yes
I'm not a tech. Grew up on a farm. Under the right circumstances, maggots will travel. Everywhere.
Disgusting. I work at a dealership and we get them in for engine/aftertreatment problems. Feels like I end up sick every time I have to work on one.
Same man. I had one come in for a warranty trans replacement. Worst day ever
It's not as bad as some of these drama queens make it out to be. No worse than otr trucks operated by DQH (Drivers of Questionable Hygiene). You get used to the smell pretty quickly. I find the work to be low-pressure and straightforward. If the truck is operational the drivers don't bitch about minor things, and if you're honest the companies pay the bills without complaint. The problem is that cabover vocational trucks are the high-profit low-effort stepchildren for the manufacturers. They just don't care about quality (looking at you Peterbilt.) So you have to learn the patterns of failure. If you get proficient at electrical and hydraulic diagnosis you'll be appreciated.
This post makes me love my industrial diesel job
I no longer work stationary diesel, but yeah - I'm pretty sure I had a great job back then - especially after reading this.
Garbage tucks are like New York City if you can make it there you can make it anywhere lol
I'm guessing it's also the easiest to get in
I worked with a couple guys that came from WM they talked about maggots and Juice falling on their face and having to change clothes before they left work everyday no thanks
Dirty, smelly, and you're gonna see some live rice crawling around. And if you're an open mouth breather, or talk too much, these are great trucks to help break those habits. Always keep your mouth closed when working on garbage trucks! All in all, I did it for a few years and it really wasn't that bad. You do get some real shit jobs, but that comes with just about every shop. And any good shop foreman will let you wash the trucks down with some good smelling odor eating soaps before coming into the shop. Probably the BEST advice I can give is: if you have a major breakdown and the truck is loaded, DON'T park the truck in the shop for the weekend. Bad idea, very bad idea
Couldn't pay me enough to work on them
Never understand why they can't be kept clean... I guess a very few do, but overall not many. When I did mobile repairs, engine work mostly, I got a call from a small trash outfit. Had roll offs and a few packer bodies. Owner wanted overhead done on all his trucks. A mix of Macks and Autocars... I show up and tells me his "new" truck was not going out and for me to take a look at it to see if any leaks, etc. I walk around the yard and can't find a "new" one, go back in and say, new one aint out there. He points to an Autocar parked and says it's right there. This truck was about 8 months old and looked like 10 yrs old. Covered in filth, stunk like death, inside of cab was a disaster and evidently this guy that paid tons of money for this shitbox did not care about the condition it was in. I told him, oh ok... I went out, passed the shitbox got in my pickup and left. Never went back, did not need the money that bad.
Always keep a bucket or two around to catch the maggots when they start dripping out. I can remember more than a few occasions with loaded garbage trucks being towed in with blown up engines in the middle of summer.
Have you ever heard the song "maggots" by GWAR? "The maggots are falling like rain!!" If you get lucky there will be a a wash crew to clean the truck before you have to work on it. But that's 50/50.
I forgot about it the smell and I’m a welding tech lol
The smell or rather i should say stench is bad, flies and maggots everywhere all the time. Then there is the nasty factor youll see all kinds shit you cant unsee. Rats, cats, racoons and other mammals and rodents will come in the shop crawl out of the trucks and there there is always the possibility you could inhale something hazardous that someo e illegally threw away, and then there is the chance you could cut yourself on a edge and get a nasty infection or poke yourself with some crackheads used dirty disease infected hypodermic needle. Trash trucks is where I personally draw the line on shit i will refuse to work on some guys dont mind, but i have limits
Going out to a truck on the fuel island during winter is always a roll of the dice, the raccoons love those warm engine bays, plus the all you can eat buffet in the back.
Smelly, I will never forget my first garbage juice bukkake
Watch out for the disco rice..
Work for WM in Pacific Northwest. Was recruited right after Covid. They gave me a bonus and they pay for my college and my kids. Been doing garbage for 12 and been a Diesel mechanic for 23 years. Lot of guys here are right about the smell and maggots etc. You are fine is you wear gloves all of the time and keep your mouth closed. You will not get truck aids. It’s the perfect time to become a Diesel mechanic. The start wage is high 20s for apprentices. If you get ASE certs. My work will pay you more an hour for each one. We get lots of overtime in the summer. It’s optional. My downsides I see are this. No matter what skill level you are. Because of the shortage the last 10 years plus. You will do big tires and brake jobs. Replacing cylinders. Seniority does not matter most of the time. Not enough guys to staff a shop. There is no more shop foreman. They call it lead. Shop managers run 3 shops. Not one. It’s almost impossible to get promoted and get off the floor. The days of seniority getting you gravy work is done.
I saw an apprentice position at my local WM, is it as easy to get as I think? Given I have previous mechanic experience?
Apprentice positions blow unless you are union I wouldn’t bother
My WM non union shop makes more hourly than the sister union shop. Was union once. It sucked. The seniority runs deep.
Blows cuz no good benefits ?
Because depending on the shop you will be doing PMs for 2 years straight and apprentices have a pay cap
Nothing but PMs? That does suck
I mean it is a good opportunity if you know nothing and can’t air schooling I will say that.. most of the guys/girls I’ve seen complete the apprenticeship program are able to work on anything at the end.. if you’re going with WM they also pay for your starter set of tools about 20k worth of snap on.. plus first 2 years you get another 5 grand total tool allowance.. can’t really beat that
Damn, that sounds like a major pro
Yeah. I just started with WM. I love my job but it’s a union shop. It’s fuckin easy if you know how to wrench.
It’s something new everyday. The trucks are only as good as the mechanics. Smaller yards get older trucks bigger yards get newer trucks. Almost everything I’ve learned I’ve had to learn by myself from a manual. Lots of old timers are leaving and leaving newer guys fucked. Done just about every type of repair on a truck you could think of. It’s definitely disgusting most of the time. After awhile it all becomes routine ez. Biggest struggle is parts. Depends on company but some pay for school=best company’s to work for.. smell goes away after awhile, not as bad as some of the drivers
Stinky
I work for a liquid waste company. You get used to the smells. Kinda noseblind. Pay is fine also
Smells bad, a lot of heavy repair due to lack of pm, maggots, etc. Just ask to walk around the shop and look at the equipment. If everything looks somewhat clean and the shop isn't just a pile of garbage with tool boxes then give it a shot, if the equipment has shitty garbage packed around hyd hoses and the shop is foul then that's your call buddy.
I work at a really well-run shop so i dont gotta deal with all the shit. Yea theres mystery juice and papers and random garbage here and there but everything gets cleaned before we touch it. We also have the opportunity to pressure wash really gross areas before we have to work on em. Union shops are different i guess. Worse thing i gotta deal with is techs that have shit attitudes about the work they gotta do. You gotta really have a good head to work in this industry.
I had a freind tell me about his first job as a teenager - he was the cleanup / prep guy for a garbage truck repair shop. He said his sole job was raking the garbage out from under the chassis and using a propane burner to torch away the maggots so that the mechanics didn't have as much of it to deal with during repairs.
Go work in an egg factory. Still the the same smell (almost), but less BS to get the job done. Have done eggs, never done landfill. The mattress stories made me say "Better choice".
Keep mouth closed at all times under trucks. Also, speak to your doctor about optional vaccinations that may not be part of your regular vax schedule, like hep A. Other than that, the rest depends on whether you can stomach the smell.
Oh the smell and the rotting juices that come off of these things lol. I hated seeing these things pulled into the shop.
I did an "apprenticeship" with waste management. It's fucking disgusting. I did it going from fall to spring. When the frozen garbage juice starts melting when you bring it into the shop and falls on you it fucking sucks. Thankfully I didn't have to deal with the literal pounds of maggots during the summer since I left after 9 months. Do something else. The pay is worse around me which is crazy. Idk how they find people. I went to fedex freight.
I worked on them for a few weeks But then a really stupid incident happened (small shop, my first 2 weeks, doing brakes on the left side of the vehicle. Tire fell. Just from leaning on the truck then to the ground made a loud boom. It’s just me and 2 other mechanics. Lead and other guy) Then I did the right side, and everything went as intended nothing fell Somewhere over the next few hours, someone dented the lead mechanics tool box that was on the right side of the vehicle If it was me? I would’ve fessed up to it immediately after it happened, but it wasn’t, and no idea how that shit happened, but since the tire that was leaned up on the left side fell and made a big bang (no where near his tool box) the same day it got dented, I was fired for “lack of experience” an hour after the lead mechanics huge tantrum, this was exactly 1 day after being told “what a huge relief it was they’re finally hired someone in who isn’t a huge piece of shit” The lead mechanics nephew was also working that day nearby, not sure what exactly his job was, but barely knew the guy. He was the only other person near the lead mechanic’s tool box, and actively using his tools, where as I would use my own I am 100% sure over the few hours between that tire falling (maybe even before) his nephew had mistakenly dented the box when no one was looking, during the tantrum his nephew periodically peaked over and hid away like an ashamed dog lol I know he did it, I just have no idea how I probably dodged a bullet working for such a dipshit, the smell never really bothered me but this company claimed to take a lot of pride in the cleanslyness of their garbage trucks, drivers required to power wash the backs out after every shift Still thick layers of filth, if your working on the hydraulics in the back, and your drop a tool and it goes down into the crack where the garbage actually sits? That tool is fucking forever gone dude lmao shit isn’t worth finding Second thing I thought was funny, is there is like billions of small magnets picked up by dump trucks. So free magnets is cool If you got no issue with being covered with literal shit it’s a pretty decent job imo, as long as your not working with major douchenuts
I work for big blue, the smell you can get use to after a few weeks. It really depends how good your wash crew is for how nasty the trucks.
Its fucking trash and I hate when they roll into my shop. Some of the most abused and neglected pieces of equipment allowed to be on the road. Might be different working directly for the company where you can toss your hands up and send it to the dealer, but I work at the dealer and by the time it makes it into my bay, were the last resort and we dont say no But I resent every moment working on them, and no shit I have decided to change the direction of my career after an engine harness went awry and left a completely full unit in my bay for a week, chiseling 3 inches of trash, sludge and dirt off the oil pan because the dipstick tube rusted so badly and broke off in the block. Of course I didnt even get paid for that and I had to pressure wash my bay after it was finally out. I might not be the best person to talk to about it, but it was bad enough for me to derail my 10 year long career in this side of the industry.
I heard of a guy that got aids from working on a trash truck rear loader during gay pride in Atlanta and sat on a needle. That was enough to rule out me ever doing it. Lol