Now that the City of Vicksburg and Waste Management’s new contract is in effect, residents are noticing a few hiccups with the service.

Namely, residents on many area streets have seen a notable absence on trash day: Garbage truck riders, the dedicated workers who retrieve garbage cans, empty them into the trucks and hang on for dear life. In their place is a shiny new truck with automated arms that lift the containers, dump them and, well, often miss the mark.

Residents have reported trash cans not being completely empty and, in some cases, have found items they discarded strewn on the ground a few blocks from their homes.

The new trucks were not mentioned in any of the contract negotiations between Waste Management and the City, but their appearance in Vicksburg makes one wonder: are the new garbage rates a product of inflation or a ploy to pay for shiny equipment at the expense of jobs for real people?

The new green garbage cans all households were supposed to get this month are nowhere in sight, compounding this problem. Some households in the City received postcards from Waste Management detailing exactly how their trash cans should be placed on the curb for the new truck to pick them up, but many did not, resulting in confusion.

To be clear, these hiccups (if we’re being kind) are not the fault of the City of Vicksburg. This blunder rests on Waste Management and its lack of open communication.

If Waste Management had been more open with its communication from the beginning, or at least ensured postcards detailing the change in garbage trucks and container placement were evenly distributed, this could have been avoided.