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In the spring of 2016, I took possession of our first dumpster truck and 7 dumpsters. It was a harrowing time. I remember being so excited and having my local welder in Chelmsford, MA take the dumpsters off the tractor-trailer flatbed in his parking lot. Then came the time for me to remove the dumpsters from his parking lot. I backed my truck up trying to get it to match up with the dumpster properly a bunch of times. You see, picking up a dumpster means you need to back up to it straight on. There is a set of rails on the dumpster and a set of rails on the truck. The rails on the dumpster are slightly wider and need to sit on the outside of the truck rails. If you are lined up properly, with the rails in the right place, it’s really easy to do. The Video I watched from the dumpster manufacturer said so. That’s when things went south.
The first dumpster actually went fine, and I started to feel confident about pulling them on the truck. But soon after, I had one that I didn’t line up properly, and in my overconfidence, I pulled it up at an angle and it pulled on top of the rail that it should have sat parallel to and outside of. Then it fell inside of that rail, and got stuck on the safety hook that holds a dumpster from falling off of a truck. So, after a bit of panic, a fork truck driver came out and helped me get the dumpster off the back of my truck. Needless to say, I learned that you need to line straight up with those dumpsters to avoid issues. And obviously, I know now to train all our new dumpster drivers to do exactly that.
Factors to determine if you should get a dumpster or hire a junk removal service
In the five years following, I don’t want to say we’ve perfected dumpsters or anything, but we are doing a pretty good job with them. We’ve delivered them in pretty much every town in our area, from Dunstable and Groton out to Malden and Medford. We have 12 cubic yard dumpsters, which are a good size for a lot of projects, they’re about the size of a car. In fact, they now make up about a quarter of our business. So, the question you might be asking yourself, is should I get a dumpster or have your junk removal service come by? There are quite a few facets to answering this question.
Dumpsters are a round trip
The first thing to keep in mind is that the dumpster driver needs to come to you twice. So, for your smaller jobs, like, just a mattress, or a treadmill, you are best off using the junk removal service. Even though we’re doing the work for you, it’ll be cheaper- and easier on your back!
But if you have more than one, or a couple of items, it might be cheaper to rent the dumpster. Our Mini Dumpsters have 3 levels, ¼ full, ½, and full. As long as you fill it at least a quarter full, a lot of times that’s the most value if time isn’t of concern.
Of course, there’s also that aspect. When you hire our full-service team, you are hiring our guys. Our guys are careful, and they are there to get things done. So, where you might spend the whole weekend agonizing over which items should go, and which should stay, our guys have no such emotional connection. They ask which items you want to leave your presence, and then they get it out into a truck. So, we find that a lot of customers really like that aspect, quick and painless. But in other cases, you really do actually need that time to sort through which items to keep and which to remove.
There are some other downsides to dumpsters too. We include 2000 pounds of disposal in the dumpster, but charge by the pound after that. So, if it’s going to rain or snow, you could have some extra weight, but, with the exception of a blizzard, it’s actually not as bad as you think. With the rain, when we lift the dumpster onto the truck, almost all of the water comes out the back into your driveway. Most of the rest drips out as we drive to dispose of your stuff.
Do you have neighbors?
No, the big main concern is neighbors! Or even just someone wandering by. We’ve had quite a number of occasions where someone will say that they never put a tv or tires in the dumpster. Or that their dumpster was only half full, not all the way. Sadly, it’s a real thing in the dumpster industry. Illegal dumping is a sad but real thing in our world. Our suggestion to minimize this is to get it loaded and picked up as quick as possible. It is not the norm, it’s actually unusual, but it does happen and it’s something to be aware of- Because the renter is responsible for the items that are put in it.
Space – where will you be putting the dumpster?
Oh, and another thing to consider, is, do you have space for a dumpster? Are you going to try putting it in the road? We have people do this occasionally, and in almost every town, the thing you should be aware of is that you need a permit from the town. And you need to request this days or weeks ahead of time. Have I seen people get away without this? Yes. If you are on a small side road, that the building inspector won’t go down, you probably have a good chance. Do I recommend it? No. And also, putting it in the road increases your chance for the dumping I covered in the last paragraph. Of course, I should say, in the area we cover, Middlesex and Essex Counties, the landscape is very different. The closer to Boston, or any of the city areas, this is probably a bigger issue. In Suburban and Rural areas, it would likely not be an issue.
If you have other questions of whether you should rent a Junk King dumpster, or Hire Junk King’s junk removal service, give us a call!
