Bulk pickup now costs us

The cost seems to vary by item.

We had 3 baker shelves that had rusted together (we used them for plants) and called Patriot to see what the cost of pickup would be. They wanted a picture of the shelves to quote a pickup price. They wanted $75 per shelf. This is more than I paid for the shelves in the first place.

 

Youve got to be kidding me...$75??? That's crazy pricing.

I'd take it down to the Loudoun County Recycling myself and save a whole lotta $$$ myself. Seems like they are profiteering here ... $75 each? Dang.

 

$50 for the mattress and $25 for the chair !!!!!! It's a good business ! I'm might quit my job and by a truck !

 

Well- I just took a load of 400 lbs of used decking wood to the county recyling and only paid $12 bucks to dump it! I have more to take over there but want to cut it into manageable lengths....

Ronald...if you are going to buy a truck, make sure you charge appropriately to account for your business costs, your labor costs, gas, insurance and all. But the county did say that garbage company's like to charge a lot more than what the county is charging us because they can.

Lesson learned....if you have a SUV/Pickup/Truck...take it there yourself and save serious bucks.

 

Several years ago, the HOA built a storage shed on our street to hold multiple trash bins for a string of townhouse owners derelict in removing their bins from the curb. I often see furniture, mattresses and appliances parked outside of this storage shed and wonder who is paying for these items to be picked up. There is no way to know who these items belong to. Last weekend, there were several bags of trash sitting outside of this unit and all it took was a few more steps to drop the bags in a trash bin. I'm not sure who was behind the decision to build this, but it can't be pleasant for the end unit townhouse sitting next to it.

 

Well inflation is up 8% from a year ago. We can't have nirvana forever. It's no surprise they are trying to reduce their costs or charging more to cover the price of practically everything that has gone up.

I didn't realize the dump was that cheap. I'll try that option instead now.

As far as recycling goes, it's only a matter of time before that stops and it all just goes to the dump. I wonder just how much actually does get recycled now. Especially since China stopped taking our trash, it's become a lot harder to recycle.

 

I just took 1,460 lbs of used Pressure Treated Wood to the dump Yesterday and Today-- Only costed me less than $50 to have the county take it off my hands. I shudder to think what the HOA's Trash Company would have charged me = Probably way more than $200 -- County charges $68 per Ton (2,000 lbs)...so Im glad that I took it to the landfill myself instead.

On Saturdays, the line is long in the afternoon (1-3PM) so go earlier in the day to drop it off. I saw TONS of people dropping off lots of stuff including mattresses, furniture, beds, and other large bulk stuff. Im glad I took the stuff there instead of giving my hard earned cold cash to Patriot.

As for recycling....you'd be surprised that ALOT of stuff from the grocery store and other stores are NOT recyclable -- Several friends of mine gave up trying to recycle and they instead throw it all with regular trash because a lot isn't be accepted anymore...so Im with you on the wondering part.

 

So ultimately there are two options, pay the fee for the convenience of placing your bulk items on the curb, which personally I feel, trashes up the neighborhood when people put sofa's, furniture and other "large items" out on Saturday for a Monday pickup. Or two, load it up and take it to the dump located on Evergreen Mills road and pay the fee there which is based on weight and normally less than what you'll pay patriot however you do have to expend a little of your own time and effort. I think for the value we are getting the patriot pick up is pretty good, are there better, probably, at a more increased cost. FYI Elections have consequences.

 

Sorry, Chsalas...I disagree, Not a good deal...especially when they told a resident "Oh 75 bucks each Baker's Rack". 75 bucks is A LOT of money for 1 of them! They couldn't do $75 for three? I gather to think that they probably will take it and then sell it somewhere else (I've seen some businesses make extra money selling stuff to someone/ a company that collects good stuff that resells it for even much more.) Sure convenience is what some people will want but at what price? Im sure some people don't want to pay THAT much and do it themselves -- People will balk at a certain price point and feel that the company charges too much. I don't think we are getting value that we were used to in the past. Guess the company is now trying to lower their business costs as much as possible by charging more and doing less. That's my take on it. I was told awhile back that they wouldn't pick up the Pressure Treated Lumber unless I cut it all up in 6 feet lengths....so if I did that myself, might as well haul it myself and keep most of the $$ myself - Why give it to Patriot if they only just "pick it up" at the curb. Might as well pay myself FIRST. *Shrugs*

IF you know....Trash/recycling companies make very good profits - Just ask Wayne Huizenga....He made MILLIONS through trash/recycling companies in Florida...Worth $2.8 Billion now.

 

Nowadays, people shop at Goodwill and The Salvation Army and then flip and sale their purchases on e-bay or their own website. Nothing wrong with that - at least it doesn't end up in the landfill. It takes little effort to donate good or gently used items. Some one will find a home for it.

 

True that- I’ve seen people making a business doing that!

Friend of mine that lives in Winchester said county doesn’t charge ANYTHING to take anything but tires to the dump!

 

What we've been doing is to take donations that are easy to transport to a donation center. Clothes are an example.
If something is clearly junk and easy to transport, we will take it to the dump.
If if is too large to transport easily or we don't have any idea if it has any value to anyone, we get together a load and pay 123junk to take it. They are cheaper than Patriot and the 123 in their name means they first donate what can be donated; if it can't be donated (i.e., no group they work with wants it), they will recycle it; if it can't be recycled it goes to the dump.

One of our kids lives in Norfolk and Norfolk has donation centers that will come and pick up usable furniture, etc. Does anyone know of organizations around here that will pick up furniture and so on for free? Part of our problem is we don't know how to reliably determine what is usable by others and what is too far gone to reuse, some things are obvious but others are not.

 

You could try FreeCycle https://www.freecycle.org/town/VirginiaMN/info

 

Wow that really stinks

 

Goes to show you that cheaper isn't always better. Bet they are wishing they kept Patriot!

 

I checked that link out on Reddit and WOW, what a fiasco that was with that trash company-

so the company took on way too many customers and got busted by the county breaking a number of rules? That totally sucks-

I learned something when I went to the loudoun county landfill- They're having a huge problem with contractors and trash companies that are coming from Fairfax and Prince William to dump their trash in our facilities because Loudoun is ‘cheaper’ than Fairfax and Prince William. They are trying to stop them from dumping their trash here but trash companies claim the trash is COMING from clients in Loudoun.

Basically, these trash companies/contractors are trying to keep their costs low so they can turn a decent profit is what In being told by Loudoun. They are trying to fix the problem of trying to block trash companies/contractors coming here from out of county. It’s strange that they would waste so much gas and time to drive alllll thr way out here- I wonder how much more the other counties are charging over Loudoun that makes it worthwhile for them to trek out to Loudoun to dump thr stuff off there?

Guess it’s not a profitable business anymore like it was eons ago- I remember Wayne Huizenga who made millions in trash business - he went onto buy the Miami Dolphins team and now is a Billionaire- go figure.

 

Earlier today, I was talking with my coworker about Patriot and discovered he lived in Ashburn Farms….he said the reason they dumped Patriot is they got tired of their “laziness” of and they were not picking up all the trash, especially in the cul de sacs and end of the long streets….plus from what I understand from him, they were ractching up the prices higher so that HOA got fed up with the owner of Patriot and went with a newer company and thee rest is history.

 

And that worked out well, didn’t it?

 

well this is unsettling. it sounds like the Loudoun County landfill is facing a problem with out-of-county contractors and trash companies dumping their waste at their facilities because it is cheaper than disposing of it in their own counties. it is not uncommon for companies to try to minimize their costs in order to increase profits, but it can have negative impacts on other communities, as is the case with the landfill in Loudoun. it is important for communities to address these types of issues in a way that is fair and sustainable for all parties involved.

i wonder how much fairfax trash actually ends up in our landfill?