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A Day on the Job: Navigating the alleyways

A driver describes the challenges of operating a garbage truck with a mechanical side-loading arm.

By ELLEN MOSES

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 27, 2002

Freddie Smith, 53, driver, Sanitation Department, city of St. Petersburg

How long have you worked for the city Sanitation Department?

Thirty years total. It's been 17 years since I came back, after taking three years to drive a tractor trailer cross country.

What kind of hours do you work?

Usually we get started around about quarter to 7 and run to about 2:30, 3 o'clock most days.

What are your primary job responsibilities?

I drive one of these side-loaders in the residential areas. We pick up at about 1,100 homes per day.

Did you need any special training to operate your truck?

No. When I first started many years ago, a co-worker took me out for one day and I caught on to it right away. When I was here before, I used to work on the trucks as a mechanic.

What is one of your favorite things about being a driver?

This way I get a chance to be among the public, and I get to meet a lot of people. I have a lot of children especially; they almost know exactly what time I'm getting there, and their parents bring them out to watch the truck go.

What do you do on a typical pickup?

When I'm going down the alleys mostly, I keep my eyes aware of what's going on around me, because you've got low hanging lines, you have tree limbs, and when school is out, we have children who try to hide behind containers.

Garbage collectors once walked behind the trucks manually dumping trash. Is the job easier with the side-loading mechanical arms?

It's a lot easier now. This way you can work right on up into your 60s and still be in good health. Plus, you're not exposed to all the chemicals, like when we were behind the trucks.

Is the truck cab enclosed?

It's enclosed and we have our A/C and we can have our radio.

Where do you take the trash when the truck is full?

It goes to the incinerator at 118th and 28th Street N.

How many times a day do you usually go to the incinerator?

The first of the week, Monday and Tuesday, those are my heavy days, so I make three trips Monday and three trips Tuesday.

Do you ever find any weird stuff in the trash?

Sometimes you dump a container and you get a weird smell or some type of fume. Like one time, I guess about 10 or 12 years ago, I was working out on 54th Avenue S and I dumped a container that was full of acid, like they use to clean pools. The whole truckload was smoking, so we called the Fire Department.

What is one of the hardest things about this job?

Some days you may get your truck down, and the spare truck you may have to get to continue on, it may not be working very good. Then if it's a heavy day, then you got a line at the incinerator that's holding you up for an hour or so each time you got to go there, so that kind of puts you in a stress some days.

How much money do you make?

I don't want to say exactly, but somebody in my position, give or take between $40,000 and $45,000 a year.

What other jobs have you had in the past?

I drove a tractor trailer over the road for a few years. I pulled what we called a "refer," a refrigerated truck.

Where is your route now?

I have one route on the south side and I have a route on the north side. You do the same route twice a week.

On a normal day, how much garbage do you collect?

On a normal heavy day, usually about 25 or 26 (tons). Today was a light day and I carried about 16 tons.