Dear Resident:
As you know, our company has provided consistent and efficient waste removal/recycling services in your community for many years. However, since the presence of COVID-19, our operations in our Delaware Valley Division have been monumentally impacted. We have been aggressively investing time, energy and money in establishing a new network to deal with the “new normal” as a result of the virus.
Although we have made great strides in “righting the ship,” we want to make you aware that in the past several days, members of our upper management team at the Division servicing your community, including executives in our Operations Department, as well as a number of our drivers and helpers, have tested positive for the virus. Our company follows a stringent protocol for the protection of all of our employees coming into contact with the infected individuals, and, consequently, some of our employees are quarantining as I write to you. Unfortunately, this and similar outbreaks in the past have affected our level of service over the past several months.
Our principal challenge outside of the collection of increased volumes of materials related to an “at home lifestyle” has been maintaining a healthy and trained workforce. What was a consistent “known” for years has turned into a daily “unknown” challenge. During the past several months, we invested heavily in new recruitment measures and bolstered our operational management team to assist the daily challenge of maintaining the necessary crews “in the streets.” Up until the last week or so, we were close to our targeted number of drivers and helpers to satisfactorily service all of our residential customers. We were optimistic that by the end of the yard waste season (December 15th), we would be at the full compliment of our employees to return our level of services to pre-COVID.
Although our need for drivers and helpers will significantly lessen after the close of yard waste collections, it is our intention to maintain the current number of drivers and helpers throughout the down period (December 15th to April 1st) so as to be ready for the resumption of yard waste collections on April 1, 2021. This will be costly, but we are committed to taking whatever steps are necessary to deal with the virus and restore our service to pre-COVID 19 levels.
I want to personally thank all the residents for their patience and words of encouragement during these trying times. It is my sincere hope that your “deserved” service levels be restored upon the completion of the yard waste collections around December 15th.
Again, thank you for your cooperation and have a happy and blessed holiday season.
Pasquale N. Mascaro
J.P. Mascaro & Sons President