Our research suggests that there are over 17 million containers rented out in the UK each year for domestic use alone! That’s a lot of jumping and if you’ve ever looked in the yellow pages you’ll see that there are plenty of jumping companies to choose from with no real way of knowing what kind of service you’ll get first. appears!
If, like us, you’ve ever hired a dumpster, chances are you’ve had a good experience with a professional, licensed waste collector with no issues or complaints.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case. If you called more than one company before hiring a container, you may have discovered that some of them:
– will not quote prices over the phone
– will not tell you what time you will be dropped off or picked up
– will only accept cash payments to the driver
You may have even had a bad experience where the driver refused to take your container without dumping some of the trash in your yard, demanded more money before taking it away, damaged your property by mishandling your wagon and the container. ..
This guide is for you – it answers all of the most common questions associated with container leasing so you know exactly what you’re getting into when you hire a container and understand the whys and wherefores involved in container leasing so you never have one. bad experience. …EVER!
1. How do I know which Yellow Pages jumping companies are the good ones?
Unless you personally know the company, you can’t do it. Any chump with a wagon and a bin can get an ad designed and printed to entice you to call them, but mostly it’s a lottery not only in terms of pricing and service, but also in terms of what actually happens to your waste, which is depressing. , few of us really think, or even care.
Jump companies are not really regulated at the time of writing this article. The good guys operate their own licensed waste transfer stations (regulated by the Environment Agency) and are members of the Waste Management Institute (a professional body that promotes education and raises standards in waste management).
The bad guys are just cowboys who often dump their waste and thus add to their council tax bill, because the municipality has to clean it up! (Flytipping now costs councils over £2.5m a year! That’s our tax money!)
did you know “Every 35 seconds someone, somewhere is tipping in the UK”
2. Why do jumps cost so much money?
No one claims that container rentals are cheap, but think about the overhead involved:
Skip Wagon £35,000+
Skip £500/each for standard buildersskip
Vehicle insurance £2000/year per vehicle
Civil Liability £1250/year per vehicle
Employer Liability £1250/year per vehicle
Skip Wagon Driver £25,000/yr
Fuel £20,000/year
Office staff £18,000/year per staff member
Landfill taxes of £18 per tonne, increasing by £3 each year until 2010, when they will remain at £35 per tonne.
Recycling costs Purchase cost of crushers, trommels, weighbridges, collection stations, etc. – millions of pounds sterling
Add up soon right? Getting rid of waste is not a cheap business, but it has to go somewhere!
3. Why don’t you drop off and pick up my container when I ask?
This isn’t always the container company’s fault: too many people don’t understand that hiring a container isn’t like hailing a taxi. Just think about what happens in the average day of the dump truck driver: we’re talking about heavy hauling here, and a lot can go wrong in a pickup or delivery that will slow down the entire schedule for the day, like a customer placing toxic waste. in a container, overfills it, or the driver receives incorrect delivery details from a customer.
We publish a national trade magazine for the industry called “The Skip” (www.theskip.net) and through it we are pushing for more container companies to incorporate new technologies such as vehicle tracking to improve delivery schedules and the acceptance of this type of improvement is increasing.
In the meantime, you have to be patient waiting for your jump because rarely is it deliberately bad customer service.
4. Why don’t you remove the bin if the trash is right over the fill line?
It’s not that the dump truck driver is unreasonable, it’s the law! They are legally required not to carry unsafe cargo and sadly many people order smaller containers than they need to save a few pounds. Our advice: order a bigger container than you think you need because you will always fill it up, just don’t go overboard!
5. What really happens to my trash when it’s taken away?
If you’re not asking this question, you should be. Landfill space in the UK is running out fast. It is estimated that by 2010 there will be virtually no landfill space left in Britain and the government is increasing the landfill taxes that waste management companies have to pay each year. The best container companies are investing heavily in new plants and technology to the point that many of them are recycling over 90%! Using these companies will eventually lower prices and greatly increase recycling rates, something we should all be interested in.
The bottom line is that the cheaper the container, the less likely it is that the waste will be managed responsibly.
6. Why won’t my local container company accept a credit card or tell me prices over the phone?
This is mainly a historical thing. Most container rental companies have evolved over the last 25 years from construction and demolition companies, and the traditional way of doing business is by issuing invoices or cash. Also, many companies still charge for waste removal by the ton and don’t always quote an exact price because they don’t know exactly how much it will cost them to dispose of it until it arrives.
7. Why am I quoted so many different prices for the same service from different companies?
The answer is in the question: you don’t get the same service from different companies! You get different levels of service from different companies. Most of the time, you get what you pay for. After you’ve had a bad experience, you’ll wonder if saving £20 was really worth it by choosing the cheapest you could find.
In addition, there are other factors, such as the prices of jumping permits. All container companies are supposed to tell you that you need a permit if the container is going to be on a public road. These permits are provided by the local council; sometimes the company by law has to sort it out for you, sometimes you will have to go directly to the council.
The variations in the price of jumping permits across the UK are staggering – some councils charge nothing and issue them the same day, others charge £70 and make you wait weeks before issuing them.
In the end…
Up to you. You now know just about everything you need to make an informed decision about which container rental company to use.