Why an Online Porta Potty Quote Says $199 and the Invoice Says $350

A customer in Meridian called us after booking a unit through a national website. The site showed $199. The confirmation email showed $351.27. Nothing on the site had been wrong; the number was simply the unit line, and five more lines were added after she clicked.

What the extra lines are

Booking sites broker your order to whichever hauler in the area is free, then add their own charges on top of the hauler's. The usual lines are a delivery fee ($35 to $150 depending on the hauler), a fuel surcharge (a percentage of the rental), a card-processing fee (about 3%), a rush fee if you need it before the hauler's normal two-day window ($75 is common), and a removal fee billed at pickup ($29 is common). Sales tax comes last.

None of those are hidden exactly; they are in the terms. The trouble is that the first number you see is the smallest one, and the comparison you make in your head is against that number.

How to read a quote in 30 seconds

1. Find the unit line and the period it covers: a day, a weekend, 28 days.
2. Find delivery and pickup. One line or two? Included in the event price or not?
3. Look for percentage fees: fuel, environmental, card. These scale with the bill.
4. Look for the end-of-rental line: removal, final pickup, cleaning.
5. Check who delivers. If the quote cannot name the yard, it is a broker.

What our invoice looks like

A standard unit for a weekend in Butler is $278: the unit, delivery, pickup and stocking in one line, plus 6% Pennsylvania sales tax on the rental. A 28-day rental is $199 per cycle plus $75 delivery and pickup once. There is no fuel line, no card line and no removal line, because the truck is ours and the yard is a mile and a half from downtown Butler. The pricing guide lists every rate and the add-ons you can choose.

When a broker is the right call

If you need units in three states, a national site is convenient. If you need units in Butler County, you are paying a margin to someone in another state to call a yard you could have called yourself. Call the yard.