Trash Men

[Thunder]

They are failing to do the work as paid to do so. We have 20 trash bags filled with leaves and most of them are not heavy. The last couple of weeks, about 2 or 3 bags was left by the trash can, but the Trash Men refused to also pick them up as required. These bags are obviously under the "30lbs" limit. We have to put these bags in nearby neighbors' trash cans when space is available. This morning, I personally watch the Trash Man continued on by failing to pick up the merely 2 bags of leaves. Reports to the city office over the past few weeks had done nothing.

Who else has similar problem with these lazy Trash Men?

[skyrick]

They are failing to do the work as paid to do so. We have 20 trash bags filled with leaves and most of them are not heavy. The last couple of weeks, about 2 or 3 bags was left by the trash can, but the Trash Men refused to also pick them up as required. These bags are obviously under the "30lbs" limit. We have to put these bags in nearby neighbors' trash cans when space is available. This morning, I personally watch the Trash Man continued on by failing to pick up the merely 2 bags of leaves. Reports to the city office over the past few weeks had done nothing.

Who else has similar problem with these lazy Trash Men?

I consider it wasteful to bag leaves for pickup. Instead of cluttering the landfill with leaves in plastic bags that will never degrade I mow the leaves and put them in an ersatz compost pile. Just a mowed pile of leaves in the backyard that gets smaller after every rainfall that will be perfectly good compost in a year, or use it as mulch now.

[easternobserver]

Merry Christmas.

[kevinpate]

Thunder, if your community is like mine, household waste collection is on a separate schedule from yard waste collection. Locally, I don't believe they will collect yard waste outside the specified times. Perhaps your community is similar.

Might be worth asking the city a different question, namely, what day for my address is the right day to set out only yard waste, and what limitations are there on size, weight and containers.

Just a thought, and here is another:


Merry Holidays to all, and please, do not shoot first and ask questions later tonight if the person in your house is fat and wearing red velvet.

[BBatesokc]

My understanding with OKC is that they want you to fill the two 'Big Blues' you are allowed to have and then you can place additional in garbage bags at the curb. We usually wait until the once a month big debris days to rake and pile up the leaf bags and branches. We've had to call the city a couple of times regarding trash pick up - to get an extra Big Blue, to get a wheel on a Big Blue replaced, to let them know they missed our street, they blocked our cul-de-sac when picking up big debris, etc. Each time they responded very quickly.

[TGall]

Midwest City: Items left beside your trash can will not be picked up.

[Thunder]

Del City picks them up. Has been that way for years. No change. It is just those lazy trash men up to no good. Mom blew up at the city office a few time, and every time they would just apologize and deal with it, but those trash men just do not listen.

[Lauri101]

Not bribery or anything - just appreciation. We tip our trashmen generously at least twice a year and they not only pick up anything we leave out - they even roll the cans up the driveway on cold and nasty days. Small price to pay to thank them for a crappy job that no one else wants to do!

[BBatesokc]

That crappy job pays pretty damn well and considering OKC sanitation workers rarely even have to get out of their vehicle, the only real down side is the stigmatism some people put on the position. Sanitation workers in NYC can make $70,000/yr.

[bombermwc]

Cause exploding to them makes them want to do more for you and all.

And I believe once Del City started moving towards the trucks like MWC is and OKC has, where no one actually touches the bin (they just run the hydrolics), they don't pick up stuff outside of the bin....and certainly not 20. it also depends on how full the truck is. If your 20 bags tops them out before their usual trip to empty, they'll probably skip you so they can service more people.....driver's choice. BTW - the move to that truck system is saving a lot of money compared to what it COULD be costing because they don't have to have a crew of 4 people on each truck anymore. Fewer people to do more work and do it more efficiently. That sort of plan also keeps people from piling a whole huge pile of crap out at the curb making it look bad.

I believe a sanitation worker makes more than a rookie cop in MWC (or at least used to).

[Redskin 70]

Its also cutting down on worker comp injuries for the sanitation drivers. Less knee and lower back problems, cuts, and there have actually been reports where stuff fell out of the trash bins and landed on the workers.
Yes DC is going to the fully automated system. $8.75 for basic service and for an extra $150 a second cart for pick up.
They will come to your house for special pickup and have a list of the items they will haul and the price associated with that.
ALso DC provides 12 free yearly trash drop off points around town for all DC citizens.

[bradzilla]

Not bribery or anything - just appreciation. We tip our trashmen generously at least twice a year and they not only pick up anything we leave out - they even roll the cans up the driveway on cold and nasty days. Small price to pay to thank them for a crappy job that no one else wants to do!

I hate this. We pay plenty for trash service and trashmen are actually well paid and with technology and standardized trashcans their jobs are becoming alot less physically demanding. Plus government employees (city, state or federal - heck or even private employees) should not be paid additional amounts to do their jobs.

[bombermwc]

You want something else to scoff at a trashman for? Well think what would happen if we started using a pay-per-pound system. A lot of municipalities are doing this now (you'd be surprised how high the % rate is). So you pay by how much you toss instead of a flat rate. It's an incentive to recycle, or (OH MY GOSH) use less crap. I would really love it if OKC would do that because I put sooo much more (and really i could put more) of my trash in the recycle tub. Most people don't put all their paper in there...but you can. Small things like that add up over the week....glass jars, plastic containers, etc. Take a second and think about how much you throw out that just 100% can't go in the blue tub.....i bet there isn't really that much. And if you're tossing organic matter (like organge peels or something) you can compost that stuff in your own yard (no it doesn't stink to high heaven if you do it right) and BAM, you've got effort and cost free fertilizer.

I'm not some super big green hippie or anything, but we are excessively wasteful in the U.S. because it's easier to be that way, and there's no incentive to NOT be that way. As long as we still see extra room for a landfill, we'll keep tossing the kitchen sink in the can every week. Hell, you even get a 2nd big blue in OKC for free! I use that one for yard stuff myself (which all decomposes), but i see plenty folks all winter with 2 completely full big blue's and zero recycle tubs.

[TaoMaas]

Midwest City: Items left beside your trash can will not be picked up.

Even if the items were within your trash can to begin with and fell out while it was being dumped.

[BBatesokc]

Well think what would happen if we started using a pay-per-pound system. A lot of municipalities are doing this now

"A lot" - I can't find hardly any. Can you post some links? I'd like to read how this is working. I think it is an idea that would be full of abuse. Imagine waking up to find someone just filled your containers with their crap. Let me guess, I'd have to buy locks for my Big Blue. I'm sure we would be at whatever the minimum level is however. I sometimes don't even take our can (we have two just in case) to the curb because in a week we may only generate a single trash bag worth of garbage. We used the recycle tubs a couple of times, but it never failed that either someone would come by to take the cans out and throw the rest on the ground or the wind would blow it down the street - so the tub is in our attic.

[bombermwc]

NPR had a story about that last week. I believe it was as high as 40% nationwide. As early as 2000, it was 20%. Even that is higher than I bet you thought it was.
It's called "pay as you throw". Some cities start it, and then stop after complaints (ie people vote out the people that approved it...literally).

I should note that most of the cities are not large cities, but rather smaller towns or suburbs.

[BBatesokc]

Does the truck weigh your can as it empties it?

[bombermwc]

Yup, so it's much like the water bill, you get a graph of how much you tossed each week.

[Lauri101]

I hate this. We pay plenty for trash service and trashmen are actually well paid and with technology and standardized trashcans their jobs are becoming alot less physically demanding. Plus government employees (city, state or federal - heck or even private employees) should not be paid additional amounts to do their jobs.

Pulling the cans (some over 100 lbs) to truck, putting back on driveway, in all weather, all year isn't physically demanding? You hate "showing appreciation"? My EWAG is that you're a white collar management desk jockey.

Do you tip your waitstaff or think they're paid to do job?
I'll shut up before I say something I'll regret later.

[BBatesokc]

Pulling the cans (some over 100 lbs) to truck, putting back on driveway, in all weather, all year isn't physically demanding? You hate "showing appreciation"? My EWAG is that you're a white collar management desk jockey.

Do you tip your waitstaff or think they're paid to do job?
I'll shut up before I say something I'll regret later.

Guess it depends on the city. I'm in OKC and its a single truck with a single person on board driving. He doesn't pull the cans anywhere - he drives up, picks it up with the trucks arms, dumps it and moves on. If a car is blocking access, he moves on and skips you.

[kevinpate]

Guess it depends on the city. I'm in OKC and its a single truck with a single person on board driving. He doesn't pull the cans anywhere - he drives up, picks it up with the trucks arms, dumps it and moves on. If a car is blocking access, he move on and skips you.

Same process is used in Norman for quite a spell now. There used to be two special weekends a year when bulk items could go curbside and a crew would come pick it up. Budget cuts killed off one or both of those for this current calendar year, not recalling which off hand. Sometimes, due to bulk weekend scavengers, the crews did not have a lot to pick up. I might be wrong, but I think they probably appreciated the scavengers, the non-messy ones anyway.

[Redskin 70]

Pulling the cans (some over 100 lbs) to truck, putting back on driveway, in all weather, all year isn't physically demanding? You hate "showing appreciation"? My EWAG is that you're a white collar management desk jockey.

Do you tip your waitstaff or think they're paid to do job?
I'll shut up before I say something I'll regret later.

Hats of to ya Sister Lauri..........It is a thankless job and the truck drivers do appreiacte little acts of human kindness.......

[Lauri101]

Midwest City hasn't put the full system in place - they are still dragging trash cans, putting them on lift, taking off, etc. I don't care how much money they make - anyone who works under those conditions deserves some appreciation. And the service we get is outstanding - $40 a year is a small price to pay to make someone feel better about job.

[bradzilla]

Lauri - Its really not worth it to argue with you and i dont want to insult a neighbor - I do realize that they do have a hard job even though they have mechanical arms that lift the standardized trashcans. But I also pay a rather large amount for trash, water, waste water, etc each month and their pay rates are above competitive for the area so i dont feel a need to pay them more. After moving here from another part of town I learned very quickly that they will only pick up things placed inside of the trash bins WITH the lids closed and i abide by all their rules. After moving here I made the mistake of leaving a single piece of particle board (4ft long x 6 inches wide x 1/2 inch think) standing up next to the trash can and they just left it there in the yard. So the next week i broke it down and placed it inside the bin and it was gone the next trashday.

I follow their rules and dont feel like paying someone extra to break their company rules (and possibly get fired) for doing me special favors when they were hired to do a specific job. To each his own.

(we wont get into the whole realm of public servants accepting gifts for performing their job)

[jmarkross]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fruHQhNe-UM