How to Price Roll-Off Dumpster Rentals: A Hauler's Guide to Profitable Rates

Here's a conversation I've had with at least a dozen haulers over the past few years. A guy runs three trucks, stays busy six days a week, and at the end of the month wonders why there's barely enough left over to cover a transmission repair. He's moving cans, burning diesel, keeping customers happy — and still not making real money.

Nine times out of ten, the problem isn't volume. It's pricing.

Roll-off hauling is a physical business, and a lot of operators set their rates the same way they got into the industry: by gut feel. They call around, see what the competition charges, undercut by $25, and figure they'll make it up on volume. That math doesn't work. It never did, and it especially doesn't work now — not with diesel bouncing around, landfill tipping fees climbing 10% year over year, and insurance costs doing whatever insurance costs feel like doing.

This guide breaks down exactly how pricing works in roll-off dumpster rentals, what the real numbers look like across different markets, and how to build a rate structure that actually leaves profit on the books.

What Customers Are Actually Paying Right Now

Before you can price intelligently, you need to know what the market looks like. Here's where things stand nationally as of early 2026, based on aggregated data from major booking platforms and industry surveys:

Average Weekly Rental Rates by Dumpster Size

Dumpster Size	Typical Price Range	National Average	Standard Weight Limit
10 yard	$220 – $580	$350	1 – 2 tons
15 yard	$265 – $620	$400	2 – 3 tons
20 yard	$280 – $700	$450	3 – 5 tons
30 yard	$310 – $720	$500	4 – 6 tons
40 yard	$350 – $780	$550	6 – 8 tons

The overall national average across all sizes lands around $596 per rental. But averages are dangerous things to build a business on. The spread between the low and high end of each size is $300 or more — and that gap is almost entirely explained by three factors: your market, your cost structure, and whether you've actually done the math.

Flat Rate vs. Weight-Based Pricing: Which Model Works?

There are two schools of thought in dumpster pricing, and which one you use has a direct impact on both your revenue and how many phone calls you deal with after pickup.

Flat Rate Pricing

This is what most haulers have moved to, and for good reason. You quote one all-in price that covers delivery, pickup, a set rental period (usually 7 to 14 days), and a defined weight allowance. Customer sees one number, says yes or no, and everybody knows what to expect.

Example: "20-yard dumpster, $475, includes delivery, pickup, 7-day rental, and 3 tons of disposal. Additional weight is $65 per ton."

Flat rate is the right move for most residential and light commercial work — homeowner cleanouts, small renovations, roofing tear-offs. Customers want a number they can budget against. They don't want to hear "it depends on what it weighs at the scale."

Weight-Based (Variable) Pricing

Under this model, the customer pays a base haul fee (covering the truck, driver, and fuel) and then gets billed per-ton for disposal based on the actual scale weight at the landfill. This was more common a decade ago, and some haulers in commercial and C&D markets still use it.

It makes sense for jobs where the weight is genuinely hard to predict — heavy concrete, dirt, roofing — or for repeat commercial customers who understand the model. But for residential one-off customers, it creates friction. Nobody wants a surprise bill.

The Hybrid Approach

The sweet spot that many profitable haulers have landed on is flat-rate pricing with a clearly stated weight cap and per-ton overage charge. You get the simplicity of an all-in quote while protecting yourself from the homeowner who fills a 20-yard with wet concrete.

Here's the key insight: your included weight allowance is where the margin lives. If your 20-yard flat rate includes 4 tons but the average residential load only weighs 2.5 tons, you're banking that difference in disposal cost on every haul. That's not being shady — that's building a rate that accounts for variability and protects your floor.

The Real Cost Breakdown: Know Your Numbers Before You Set a Price

I'm always surprised by how many haulers don't know their true per-haul cost. They know what diesel costs (roughly) and what the landfill charges (approximately), but they've never actually built a cost sheet. Here's what goes into every single dumpster delivery and pickup:

Direct Costs Per Haul

• Driver labor: 1 to 1.5 hours per delivery or pickup cycle. At $25–$35/hour loaded (including payroll taxes and comp), that's $25–$53 per trip — and remember, there's a delivery trip AND a pickup trip.
• Fuel: A hook-lift or roll-off truck burns 3 to 6 gallons per haul depending on distance. At $3.50–$4.50/gallon for diesel, that's $10–$27 per trip, times two trips.
• Landfill tipping fee: This is the big one and varies wildly. The national average is $62 per ton, but the Midwest can be as low as $35/ton while the Northeast averages $84/ton. Baltimore just went to $135/ton. A 2.5-ton load at $62/ton is $155 in disposal alone.
• Truck wear and maintenance: Tires, brakes, hydraulics, oil changes. Industry rule of thumb is $0.25–$0.50 per mile.
• Insurance allocation: Commercial auto, general liability, and workers' comp don't pause when the truck is parked. Allocated per-haul, this adds $15–$30.
• Bin depreciation: A new 20-yard container costs $4,500–$6,500. Spread over a useful life of 7–10 years and hundreds of rentals, that's $5–$15 per rental.

Add it all up for a typical 20-yard residential haul within 15 miles of your yard, with a 2.5-ton load at $60/ton tipping:

• Driver labor (delivery + pickup): $70
• Fuel (both trips): $35
• Disposal (2.5 tons at $60): $150
• Truck maintenance allocation: $20
• Insurance allocation: $20
• Bin depreciation: $10
• Total direct cost: ~$305

If you're charging $450 for that haul, your gross margin is $145 — roughly 32%. That's thin. A well-run operation should be targeting 40–50% gross margins to cover overhead (yard rent, office costs, software, marketing) and still leave a net profit of 15–25%.

At a $475–$525 rate for that same haul, you're at 36–42% gross margin. That's the range where the math starts working.

Regional Pricing: Why Your ZIP Code Matters More Than Your Competitor's Rate Card

One of the biggest pricing mistakes haulers make is benchmarking against competitors without accounting for the cost-of-doing-business differences in their specific market. A hauler in Kansas City and a hauler in Boston have completely different cost floors.

Where Prices Run Low

The Midwest and South generally have the lowest dumpster rental prices, running 10–15% below the national median. Arkansas averages $350–$550, Oklahoma $375–$600, and Missouri $350–$650. The reasons are straightforward: lower landfill tipping fees (often $35–$50/ton), cheaper real estate for yard space, shorter haul distances, and lower labor costs.

If you're operating in these markets, your price ceiling is lower — but so is your cost floor. The margin percentage should be the same or better.

Where Prices Run High

East Coast metro areas run 30–40% above the national average. A basic 10-yard in New York City goes for $600, while the same can in Topeka is $300. The Northeast pays more because of limited landfill capacity, stricter disposal regulations, higher labor and fuel costs, and expensive permits ($20–$150 for a street placement permit depending on the city).

Texas is an interesting case — the widest pricing range in the country at $400–$750, with metro areas like Dallas, Austin, and Houston commanding $100–$150 more than smaller cities within the same state.

The Lesson

Price to your cost structure and your local market — not to what a hauler three states away charges. If your tipping fees are $85/ton and the guy posting "competitive rates" on Facebook is in a $40/ton market, his prices are meaningless to your business.

The Fee Structure That Protects Your Margins

Smart haulers don't just have a base rate. They have a complete fee structure that covers the scenarios that eat into profit when they're not accounted for.

Overage Charges

Weight overages are your single most important margin protection tool. Standard overage fees run $40–$100 per additional ton, with most haulers charging $50–$75. If a customer overloads a 20-yard with heavy debris, a 2-ton overage at $65/ton is an additional $130 — which might be the difference between a profitable haul and a money-losing one.

Set your overages high enough to matter. A $40/ton overage when your tipping fee is $60/ton means you're still losing money on every excess ton after accounting for the extra scale time and paperwork. Price overages at 1.5x to 2x your tipping fee cost to make them genuinely protective.

Extended Rental Fees

Your base rate should include a defined rental period — 7 days is standard, some haulers offer 10 or 14. After that, daily or weekly extension fees kick in. Most haulers charge $5–$15 per day or $50–$100 per additional week.

This isn't just about revenue. A can sitting on a job site for an extra two weeks is a can that's not generating another rental. Your bins are your inventory, and idle inventory costs you money.

Fuel Surcharges

Some haulers add a fuel surcharge as a separate line item, typically 5–12% of the base rate or a flat $25–$75 fee. Others bake fuel into the flat rate and adjust quarterly. Either approach works, but if you use a separate surcharge, be transparent about it and actually adjust it when fuel prices drop. Nothing erodes trust faster than a "temporary" surcharge that becomes permanent.

Delivery Distance Fees

Most haulers define a core service area — usually a 15 to 30 mile radius from the yard — where delivery is included in the base price. Beyond that, adding $3–$5 per additional mile is standard. This is straightforward cost recovery: a 40-mile round-trip detour at $0.50/mile in truck costs plus driver time adds up fast.

Dry Run Fees

When a driver shows up and can't complete the delivery or pickup because the site isn't accessible, charging $150–$300 for the wasted trip is fair and necessary. That's a truck and driver pulled off productive work for nothing. Make this fee clear at booking.

Prohibited Items and Special Waste Fees

Mattresses, tires, electronics, appliances with refrigerant — these all carry additional disposal costs at the landfill. Charge $25–$75 per prohibited item, or add a flat hazardous/special waste surcharge when applicable. Don't eat these costs. They're real and they're significant.

Setting Your Rates: A Practical Framework

Here's how to actually build your rate card from the ground up instead of guessing.

Step 1: Calculate Your True Per-Haul Cost

Build a spreadsheet. Include every cost listed in the breakdown above. Do it for each dumpster size you offer, because a 40-yard haul costs more in fuel and disposal than a 10-yard. Don't forget to allocate overhead — yard rent, office expenses, software subscriptions, marketing — across your expected monthly haul volume.

Step 2: Set Your Target Margin

Aim for 40–50% gross margin on residential work and 30–40% on commercial/recurring accounts (where volume and predictability offset the thinner margin). If your fully loaded per-haul cost for a 20-yard is $310, a 45% gross margin means pricing at $564. Round to $565 or $575.

Step 3: Check Against the Market

Call three to five competitors in your area and get quotes. Check the aggregator sites. If your cost-based price comes in way above market, you either have a cost problem to solve or you're in a market where everyone is undercharging (more common than you'd think). If you're below market, congratulations — you have room to raise prices.

Step 4: Build the Fee Schedule

Don't just set a base price. Build out overages, extended rental fees, distance charges, and special waste surcharges. These aren't just revenue — they're structural protections for your margin. A tool like Rolloff Amigo makes this easier than managing it on paper — you can build your full fee structure into each invoice so nothing gets missed and every charge is documented.

Step 5: Review Quarterly

Your costs aren't static. Diesel prices shift, landfills raise tipping fees, insurance renewals hit, and you give drivers raises. Review your rates every quarter against actual costs. A lot of haulers set rates once and don't touch them for two years, meanwhile their costs have crept up 8–12% and their margins have quietly evaporated.

Common Pricing Mistakes That Kill Profit

After talking with hundreds of haulers, these are the patterns I see over and over:

"I'll match whatever they charge."

Competitor-based pricing without knowing your own costs is a race to the bottom. Maybe your competitor has lower tipping fees, owns his trucks outright, or is running his wife's phone as the dispatch line. You don't know his cost structure. Price to yours.

Not charging for overages.

Some haulers feel awkward about overage charges. Don't. The customer agreed to a weight limit. If they exceed it, that's an additional cost you're incurring at the landfill. Letting overages slide is giving away money — and once customers learn you don't enforce overages, they'll push it every time.

Ignoring seasonal demand.

Spring and summer are peak season for dumpster rentals. Construction picks up, homeowners start projects, roofers get busy. If you're charging the same rate in May as you are in January, you're leaving money on the table during your highest-demand months. A $25–$50 seasonal bump during peak months is standard practice and easy to justify when availability tightens.

Underpricing to stay busy.

Being busy is not the same as being profitable. Running 20 hauls a week at $50 profit each ($1,000/week) is worse than running 15 hauls at $120 profit each ($1,800/week). Higher prices might mean slightly fewer jobs, but you make more money, put fewer miles on the truck, and your driver isn't burned out.

Sloppy invoicing.

If you're quoting overage charges and extra-day fees but not consistently applying them on invoices, you're setting money on fire. Every haul should be invoiced with the correct base rate plus any applicable surcharges. This is where having a proper system matters — Rolloff Amigo tracks each rental from dispatch through pickup, so when it's time to invoice, all the charges (rental period, weight, overages, extras) are already captured. No more "I forgot to charge the overage" after the fact.

A Quick Note on Pricing Transparency

There's a temptation to hide fees or use complex pricing to confuse customers. Don't. The dumpster rental industry has a reputation problem with hidden charges, and the haulers who are winning long-term are the ones with clear, upfront pricing.

State your base rate, what's included (rental period, weight allowance, delivery, pickup), and what costs extra (overages, extensions, distance, special waste). Put it on your website. Put it in your quote emails. Put it on the invoice. Customers respect transparency, and transparent pricing actually reduces billing disputes and collection headaches.

Sample Rate Card: What a Healthy Price Sheet Looks Like

Here's an example rate card for a hauler in a mid-cost market (tipping fees around $55–$65/ton, moderate labor and fuel costs). Your numbers will differ based on your local cost structure — this is a framework, not a prescription.

Item	Rate
10-yard dumpster (7-day, 1.5 ton included)	$375
15-yard dumpster (7-day, 2 ton included)	$425
20-yard dumpster (7-day, 3 ton included)	$495
30-yard dumpster (7-day, 4 ton included)	$575
40-yard dumpster (7-day, 5 ton included)	$675
Additional weight (per ton over limit)	$75
Extended rental (per additional day)	$10
Extended rental (per additional week)	$60
Delivery beyond 20-mile radius (per mile)	$4
Dry run / trip charge	$200
Mattress / appliance (each)	$40
Tire (each)	$15
Relocation fee	$150

This rate card targets 40–45% gross margin on a standard residential haul. Adjust up or down based on your market and costs.

The Bottom Line

Pricing isn't a set-it-and-forget-it decision. It's the single biggest lever you have for profitability, and it deserves regular attention. Know your costs to the dollar. Set rates that produce real margin, not just revenue. Build a fee structure that protects you from the scenarios that eat profit. And review it all quarterly.

The haulers I see doing well aren't necessarily running the most trucks or the newest equipment. They're the ones who know exactly what each haul costs, price with discipline, and don't leave money sitting on the table because they were afraid to charge what the service is worth.

If you're running your pricing on spreadsheets, sticky notes, or memory, it might be time to tighten that up. Rolloff Amigo is free to start and gives you a clean way to manage dispatch, track rentals, and invoice with your full fee structure built in — so you can focus on hauling, not chasing down charges you forgot to bill. Give it a look at app.rolloffamigo.com.