By Melinda Orman   

Variety may be the spice of life, but when it comes to collection and transfer vehicles, it often becomes more of a vice.

Dexter White, public works director for the City of Macon, GA, would concur. A little more than a year ago, he helped orchestrate the city's transition from a 32-truck hodgepodge to a streamlined fleet of 17 McNeilus rearloaders.

"We had a variety of trucks that we used before," White says. "It ranged from Heil to Loadmaster, and the ages ranged from 2 to 15 years old. We were buying two trucks per year, and we weren't replacing the trucks that needed to be replaced."

Budget - especially with regard to maintenance - was indeed a large factor in Macon's decision to make the switch. "Let me tell you how it works," White volunteers. "We bought a guaranteed maintenance contract, which means that McNeilus is responsible for the maintenance on the trucks for three years. But since we have a vehicle maintenance department, McNeilus pays us to do the maintenance on their vehicles. So it's win-win for the city."

Now, not only can Macon rest easy when it comes to vehicle reliability, but if any of the new trucks do require maintenance, the city doesn't have to worry about paying for it. In a sense, Macon gets paid to wear out its trucks!

How does this - selling brand-new trucks only to turn around and pay to fix them - constitute a "win" for McNeilus? "Since all of them are new, there's not a whole bunch of maintenance to be done on the trucks," explains White.

In addition, no longer operating unpredictable trucks allows White and his crew a "great deal of uptime" and increases productivity. "We stay out on routes longer now because the trucks are larger - 25-yard, high-compaction trucks - which means they don't have to come into the landfill as often as the smaller trucks. And we went from working 5 or 6 hours a day with the large number of trucks we had to working 10 hours a day. Even though [collectors] worked 6 hours, [they] still got paid for 10 hours. So we were able to eliminate the additional routes and save the city money as well through personnel reductions."

Regarding his satisfaction with the new system, White relates that McNeilus has been "very attentive as far as service is concerned. The trucks are mechanically well built, especially the compactors." To supplement the rearloaders, Macon purchased three McNeilus automated trucks. In the midst of a pilot automation collection study, the city, with White's help, might make another transformation in the coming years’Äîto strictly automated collection systems. "We came up with a creative financing method through the Georgia Municipal Association, which allows us to pay for the trucks over three years. The beautiful thing about this is the buyback program. McNeilus [gave] us a buyback price, and if we decide to replace all 20 of those trucks, that buyback price will go toward the purchase of 20 new trucks in three years. Eventually it will be a program that pays for itself."

How does this compare to leasing a car? According to White, it is similar, "except that - after the three-year period, I still own the trucks, so if I don't have the capital to replace all 20, I can replace 10 at one time, and [McNeilus] will give me a buyback price on 10, and then the next year I can come back and replace the other 10."

If Macon continues to benefit from the McNeilus transaction, which has already saved the city more than $300,000, it might not even need to replace the trucks after three years of wear. "It's too early in the ballgame," White concludes. "The trucks are holding up so well. The expected useful life of a garbage truck ranges from five to seven years, so you don't want to get beyond that scope, but it would be great at the end of the three years if we could trade all 20 of them in and get the higher buyback price toward the next 20 trucks that we buy."

MSW - May/June 2004