Miller Waste Systems, a leading waste management company with 37 locations across Canada, could have never foreseen how a global health pandemic could disrupt their business on a dime.
On Saturdays since the pandemic, it's not unusual for Miller Waste Systems to have nearly 200 cars lined up outside its Pickering, Ontario location. Customers are waiting in their vehicles to weigh and dump off trash and recycled materials.
"COVID made our transfer stations busier than ever," said Mike Buchanan, VP of finance at Miller Waste. "And we had to figure out how to service customers quickly while also keeping them safe."
Buchanan recently sat down with Global Payments to talk about how the pandemic has changed Miller Waste's approach to payments.
Safe POS solutions meet a pressing need
With locations from Ontario to Nova Scotia, Miller Waste has up to five point-of-sale (POS) terminals at each station. Pre-pandemic, they had transitioned from hardwired POS to wireless point-of-sale terminals across all of their locations. The switch to wireless was strategic: The mobility of the wireless solutions provided a more efficient customer experience.
They couldn't predict, however, that a global health pandemic would introduce the need for social distancing between customers and employees. Ultimately, the hardwired POS terminals were a better option in a time when customer and employee safety took precedence.
Global Payments, who has partnered with Miller Waste since 2006, helped their transfer stations transition back to hardwired POS terminals within days, which allowed for safer social distancing and little downtime.
