With 2025 drawing to a close, the time is nigh to review PRO's greatest hits of the year. Sifting through the data, it's clear portable restroom operators had several common topics on their minds — winter weather, current events, management conundrums and the like. Take a moment this holiday season and catch up on what your peers have been reading. Already read the articles? Great! Share the list with your team; remember, this season's rookie service tech may aspire to be your right-hand, so give them that chance.
Topic: Winter Weather Prep
1. Health Risks of Wearing Too Much Cold-Weather Gear
“When the temperature drops on the job, the instinct is simple: bundle up. However, when working in cold environments, piling on extra gear can backfire, leaving workers feeling cold instead of feeling comfortable.
“Over-bundling doesn’t just make you sweat. It can lead to dehydration, fatigue, restricted movement, and in extreme cases, even hypothermia. Staying safe and comfortable in cold weather isn’t about how much gear you wear — it’s about how you layer and regulate heat throughout the day.”
2. 7 Articles to Prepare Your Portable Restroom Operation for Winter
“The seasonal change in weather can profoundly impact your portable restroom operation’s ability to function safely, warmly and effectively. However, with planning and consideration, your staff and equipment can easily take on the challenges of winter weather.”
Topic: Business Management Tools
3. The Art of Sniffing Out Business Inefficiencies
“When it comes to time leaks, there are two main sources in business: broken systems and disconnected people. How does a business owner become the hound dog on the time leak trail?”
4. Why Customers Dump You and How to Keep Them Engaged
“Mistake 1: A business assumes longevity equals happy in the relationship. The truth is more complicated, however. There are a lot of “blah” service marriages out there. Just because someone has stuck around a long time, that does not mean he or she is committed to the service or the service provider. If another business says it can do better, a breakup may be imminent.”
5. Crafting Toolbox Talks That Stick
“Toolbox talks work best when they’re presented as mutually beneficial to all — contractors, workers, and the public — not as a threat or punishment. Stories and statistics are powerful tools for making safety personal. Stories can come from official sources or your own experience, as long as they’re relevant to the work at hand.”
Topic: Current Events
6. California PRO Tests the EV Waters With 4 New Service Trucks
“Eric de Jong knows that new ideas make Diamond Environmental Service run more efficiently. In December 2024, he hosted an event at his San Marcos, California-based dispatch facility to highlight one newly enacted idea: The purchase of four new Class 4-5 medium-duty, battery-electric e18L trucks by RIZON, engineered by Daimler Trucks North America.”
7. Navigating Tariffs: A Survival Guide for Contractors
“The tariff wars that are affecting the world economy are having an impact on contractors everywhere. The ongoing uncertainty is pushing up prices on necessities such as copper and steel, making it difficult for contractors to find the supplies they need at prices they can afford and on schedules they can live with.”
Topic: Human Interest
8. For Wisconsin PROs, Reputation is the Best Kept Secret to Success
“For Chad and Melissa Hasz, the value of the name goes beyond the legal and financial implications. The words themselves — Best Kept Portables — imply an operating philosophy that the Haszs took to heart. It succinctly describes how they want to conduct operations. It’s a standard to live up to and permeates all aspects of the business.”
9. Take It From a PRO: The Young Guns of Portable Sanitation
“This isn’t a sexy business, but it’s mine,” Chad Howard, owner of Halftime Rentals in Charlotte, North Carolina. It seems many PROs were eager to see how newer entries into the industry are faring.
Topic: Championing Portable Sanitation
10. Key Sanitation Facts Stress the Importance of Portable Restrooms
“Since 2013, World Toilet Day has been held on Nov. 19, and is marked by the Portable Sanitation Association International and the United Nations. … World Toilet Day celebrates a different theme each year, and this year's campaign, ‘We’ll Always Need the Toilet,’ calls for action to protect and expand access to sanitation despite its challenges — such as aging infrastructure, rising demand and low investment.”
