TCOS is proud to be your Certified Smart Salter here in the Twin Cities. When it comes to our Minnesota winters, our number one priority is keeping your property and facility open for business while implementing safe, effective snow and ice removal practices. 

Last month, our sidewalk crews participated in the 2022 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Smart Salter Training. During this training they learned best practices to assess salt use and take steps to minimize it while maintaining safety. 

Why is Smart Salter Training Important?

Smart Salting training helps improve operator effectiveness and reduce chloride pollution while keeping roads, parking lots, and sidewalks safe. Participating organizations have been able to reduce their salt use by 30 to 70%. And the training has been shown to prevent chloride contamination in bodies of water. (1)

What makes TCOS different as a Level 2 Certified Smart Salter?

We provide professional sidewalk and snow removal services for large retail and corporate campuses across the Twin Cities. Your property deserves to have one dedicated sidewalk supervisor and team.  Our One Property = One Team approach ensures efficiency, timeliness and consistent quality control. A sense of pride and ownership develops when the same sidewalk team is assigned to your property for the entire winter. Click here to learn more about our snow management services or to request a bid. 

Smart Salter Training Resources

(1) MPCA Smart Salter Training:  https://www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/smart-salting-training

Why? Due to the rapidly rising costs of a much needed winter essential – road salt.

Due to the last two harsh winters, the price of road salt has increased by as much as 66% for snow removal companies, and is quickly turning into a hot commodity.

We aren’t the only ones sounding the alarm about skyrocketing prices. We were interviewed by KSTP’s Jessica Miles on this exact topic, which you can watch below.

So what does it mean for you?

1. Your contractor might quite literally run out of salt this season.
2. What happens when a vendor runs out of salt? They start making compromises. Why worry about whether you will have to choose between salting the side entry or main entry drive lanes?
3. If you don’t plan accordingly…your winter snow removal budget could go up – seriously up. You need to be careful in choosing your snow removal vendor. Many contractors are still focused on their summer business, and might not be aware of the road salt shortage and increased prices. Many contractors will experience the pain in a few weeks, and it will unfortunately get passed on to their customers. Knowledge and timing are power on this one!

TCOS Is Serious About Our Commitment To Our Customers

Don’t worry, at TCOS we have your back. We have taken some unprecedented measures to make sure we have all of our customers covered no matter how severe a winter 2014/2015 brings.

1. We have tons of salt inventory that we carried over from last year, and in addition have bought and paid for an additional 10,000 tons of salt this year. We have more than enough salt we expect to need for this winter.
2. That’s more than $1 million dollars invested in salt prior to the season even beginning – what other company does that?
3. We “own” our salt – so no one else, like the State, can come in and deplete or take from our stores this winter.
4. Extra measures and precautions have been put in place to secure our salt storage facilities.
5. These stepped up measures are in addition to our stepped up recruiting efforts due to the serious labor shortage we first informed you about in August. Read More about that here.

It may be that the record low inventory of salt won’t be an issue this year – but do you want to take that gamble? We don’t.

We have made a commitment to our customers and we intend to keep it. If you want peace of mind knowing that you have your piece of the salt pile give us a call at 763.235.2407 today!

• No two storms are ever the same.
• No two customers are ever the same.
• No two seasons are the same.

The constraints on weather, material, and labor vary year to year.

Avoid the pitfalls of an inexperienced snow removal vendor

So what do you want in a snow removal company? You want a snow removal company that understands and addresses the complexities of the business. Many inexperienced snow removal companies often overlook the following factors:

• Tight Labor Sourcing 
  There is a lot of press around the lack of skilled workers.  We currently face a shortage of labor across a variety of industries from nursing to construction to trucking.  Snow removal companies are no exception. You need the confidence to know that your snow removal vendor isn’t going to throw in the shovel and call it quits in the middle of the season because they don’t have the resources to keep going. We have been watching the impending labor shortage, and have some pretty extreme measures put in place to ensure that no matter the season, we stay well staffed, and ALL of our clients are taken care of on a top-priority basis. We have invested a lot into our staffing division, and unlike many of our competitors, actively recruit snow removal staff and crews year round.
  > Learn More Here
• Understanding your inventory/materials
  A shortage of road salt in the 2012/2013 winter season result in rocketing prices in the cost of road salt for the 2013/2014 snow season. Why do you care? Hiring a snow removal vendor that doesn’t understand or plan for the variations in each season, can have a direct and negative impact on your business. In the case of skyrocketing salt prices, we saw other companies literally run out of salt, make compromises to the properties they services, and contracts exceed budgeted prices. At TCOS we stay ahead of the curve ball, and make sure we are prepared when it comes to inventory and materials, no matter what the season brings.
  > Learn More Here
• Sourcing of the equipment
  Whether owned or contracted. You also need to know what to do with the equipment. You need it optimized. One of the ways you do that is with GPS. GPS allows you to know where your equipment is, and how it is being utilized. At TCOS, we utilize the latest in technology, which has a significant and direct impact on the customer’s bottom line. Every piece of equipment is outfitted with GPS technology, guaranteeing the ultimate in invoice accuracy, efficient reporting, and cost control.

Have Confidence In Your Snow Removal Vendor

Most often snow removal services are delivered in the middle of the night when the customer isn’t watching. You need to have the confidence that your snow removal vendor is doing the job correctly;  so that when morning comes,  whether it is high heels or steel toe boots walking across the parking lot, they won’t have snow on their shoes. You need to have confidence that you chose a company that cares, so that you don’t have to worry, and can avoid that snow-induced headache.