We live in the suburbs and pay quite a bit for trash and garbage removal services. We’re allowed to put out two large garbage cans a week. If we go over that allotted amount we’re charged more. We make sure that on trash day we haul them out to the curb on time and never put out more than what’s allowed.
Like most households in America we pay for these services. Do I like paying for them? No. Do I think they charge way too much? Yes! With that said, as a home owner it’s our responsibility to pay the bill to have our garbage and trash removed.
A few months ago we installed a video camera system around our home. It covers the entire perimeter and is motion-activated. You can read about our Blink Video Security Cameras on the blog. We love them! We mainly installed them to stop the porch pirates and to be alerted when anyone approaches our front or back doors.
For the past few weeks our one camera has been alerting our phones letting us know that it had detected movement and started recording. Guess what it was? One of our neighbors was walking down our street and dumping some of his household trash in each of his neighbor’s trash cans including ours! Say what??? Yes, you read that correctly.
This was not a one time thing! When it first happened I left it go because I thought he must of done some spring cleaning and his were too full. Perhaps he didn’t want charged for putting out an extra can or two. Well, it kept happening and almost weekly. Oh my gosh, I bet this was going on for a long time and we didn’t catch it!
Hubby wheels the cans around to the front of the house around 8 PM. The garbage truck comes through the next day between 5 AM and 7 AM. The neighbor was dumping off his garbage in our cans between midnight and 3 AM, so obviously we didn’t know it was going on until we installed our video security cameras.
I understand that some people are having a hard time right now but it’s totally NOT FAIR for me or other neighbors to be charged EXTRA because you’re putting your crap in our cans and over-filling them. Our lids have to be closed on the cans or they consider it an over-fill and you’re charged extra. Yeah, all kinds of fun and not so fun rules.
The dude was confronted nicely by my hubby last week and guess what? He admitted it and thought it was funny. He said why should he pay the $69.95 every other month when all of his neighbors were dumb enough to do it. Ugh. Conversation went downhill from there. Let’s just say that he’s been warned that if he does it again the police will be called and video provided to them. It’s trespassing onto our property and we won’t have it.
Have any of you ever experienced something like that? It just burns me up! If one of my neighbors genuinely couldn’t afford trash removal and would come to talk to me about it…I would certainly let them toss a bag or two into my cans if my cans have room. Well, that’s my pissed off vent for this week!
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That is the first time I have heard of this type of theft,. What a terrible neighbor to have! I am lucky with most of my neighbors who look out for one another. Since I now have a townhouse the garbage collection is part of the fee.
You have all kinds of people out there! My sister in law has a bar/food kinda in the country 15 minutes from town. She has the big trash bin by the place for HER trash. Ever time she looks in it there is all kinds of stuff that people have stopped and thrown in it.
That is high but at least you get 2 it looks like 55 gallon (or so) size containers. Ours is three sizes- 15 , 30 ad 55. We only get one unless you want to pay full price which averages about 30 per month pre can for the mid size which we have / Plus we have an optional recycling can- even people who recycle their own pays 10 a month and hose getting pick up pay 20 a month and it is picked up monthly.
All that being said, our town is way overpriced. Here is the fun part- they are going to install TRACKERS on the garbage cans. Yes, so you can tell where it is, if it was picked up etc. Now it might sound like something you want- it is not.
First off, I nearly dropped my teeth when I saw how much you are paying a month. We pay $50 quarterly but have a real bad time with Waste Management just picking it up once a week on the correct day. Back to the neighbor. What a jerk. I am glad you told him you knew. Maybe he can take his to the dump each week and see what they charge.
Theft of Services! Turn him in and then see if he still thinks it’s funny! I have totally been through this where I used to live and it still pisses me off. Our garbage service costs a fortune here and if the lid is not flat it’s an overfill and costs more and and if you ever put out an extra bag it’s a major fortune. I hate sneaks who creep around in the middle of the night doing their crimes.