Maybe, just maybe, Mother Nature read my last blog post and my snow dance worked. After my plea for snow, we were graced with a lovely 5-inch rush hour storm here in Pittsburgh. That felt more like the February that we know and love! Normally, you’d hear me complain about the timing or duration of the snow, in a situation like that, but not this year! We were happy to have the snow work, no matter how difficult the storm proved to be.
Rush Hour Snow Logistics
Logistically, the storm was an absolute nightmare, most notably on the timing side of things. Ask any snow removal service provider and they’ll all tell you the same thing, the worst time for it to start snowing heavy is during the weekday, around 7:00am. We understand that everyone has places to go, so we do our best to clear snow as quickly as possible. However, when it snows around rush hour, we get stuck in traffic, just like everyone else. It makes it a nightmare from a logistical standpoint. The most notable issue, is when we finally get through traffic and arrive to a property, the lots are littered with cars. That makes it impossible to completely clear the lots, as you can imagine.
To combat this issue, we try to get our crews out prior to the start of the snow. At some higher end properties, we will even pre-treat with salt, prior to the snow starting. This will hold off the accumulation for a bit, while we make our rounds to other properties. If we have a route where pre-treating is not needed, we have the crews arrive on site as the snow is starting to fall. That way, they can wait until it starts accumulating before they begin. The benefit of this method is that we avoid all the rush hour traffic on our way to the first property on the list. We basically get a jump start on the time it takes to get from place to place. That adds up over the course of the day.
Cleanup Time
Unfortunately, when the timing happens like it did, the lots don’t get cleaned up thoroughly. The main reason is due to the volume of cars in the parking lots. Let’s use the example of one of our high priority customer, Central Catholic High School. If the snow starts falling around 7:00am and the school doesn’t cancel classes, the parking lot is tight and filled with cars. We keep the runways open and clear, but the snow still falls in between the cars. We have to wait until the end of the day to clean those areas up. Normally, we wait until the next evening when there are no cars in the lot. That way, we can scrape it clean and salt the entire lot, including the parking spaces. The next day when the kids show up for school, there is no chance of a slip and fall between the cars, because the lot was fully cleared. Pretty basic stuff, but the details are important if the job is to be completed correctly and safely.
This is the same tactic we use for all of our commercial properties. It makes for long days and nights for our guys, but they don’t mind. Our goal at the end of the day is to keep the properties safe for our customers. When we go into a snow season, our goal is for zero slip and fall accidents to occur. No one should have to worry about falling when they’re going about their normal day. Our team takes great pride in doing our best to keep that number at zero.
Teamwork Makes The Dream Work
I just wanted to give a special shout out to my team for their efforts during the last storm. Not only did everyone bust their butts to get the job done, but some even went outside their job descriptions to help out other team members. Our Director of Sales, Adam, led the charge, along with Sales Managers DJ and Greg. They were more than willing to jump in a truck to go help the Operations Staff get the properties cleared as fast as possible. Our other Sales Manager, Dina was also part of the team effort, by driving from property to property during the storm to keep everyone updated on the status of each property.
I was very happy to see the everyone come together for the good of the company and I know the Operations guys were very appreciative. This was something that I love to see, especially as the one who constantly preaches about our company culture. My team didn’t hesitate and practiced what we preach. Moments like this are why I love what I do. So, for any team members that might be reading this; shout out to you all and THANK YOU for your dedication to our company!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to doing my snow dance again. Hopefully Mother Nature is still paying attention!
-Nate
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