So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[ChiTownScion]

And there was me thinking that that attitude was a British phenomenon. They are the type who will spend a working persons month's salary in the supermarket, come out, load the mini tank that is a Range Rover and just leave their trolly/cart for the minion to put away.

My wife laments at my OCD as to this. I see a shopping cart corral that is crammed with different sized carts (four different sizes... including two just for the kiddies: downsized ones so that the darlings can play Junior Shopper.. and oversized monstrosities with steering wheels lest the little brats become bored ), and I will spend 5 minutes getting them all lined according to size. And then, as we drive past the corral on the way out I'll see some prima donna undo my work by shoving her cart in willy- nilly.... and I'll go ballistic.

But I've seen what happens to parked cars when loose carts are blown by our local winds, and it isn't pretty.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Of course, we do have a problem with people hauling their junk out into the woods and leaving it there so they don't have to pay dumping fees at the dump. You'll be walking thru the woods enjoying nature and you'll take a turn on the path and see an old box spring, a broken computer, and a pile of flourescent light tubes lying there in a heap, half covered in rotting leaves. Ah, the forest primeval.

This is far more than trivial to me. Where I live, it's so easy to get rid of trash. I live in one of them subdivided neighborhoods in the county, so we pay for commercial trash pick up. But with that comes "heavy trash" once a week, so you can put out furniture, washing machines, computers, building material, shingles, what have you. About the only thing they won't take are refrigerators. All you have to do is put it on the curb. And if you live in the city, you're allowed two trips to the city dump per month, free of charge. I don't live in the city, so I have to go to a commercial landfill, but even then it's pretty cheap. I've hauled my pickup and a flatbed trailer full of stuff, and the charge is $20. It's not particularly onerous. I'm not a tree hugger, and I work in the oil business, but there is such a thing as being reasonably responsible. I don't get on my environmental high horse often, but illegal dumping will get me there pretty darn quick.

 

[tonyb]

Don't know who said it, but the definitive quote on that is "no one washes a rented car."

I dunno. I don't generally wash rental cars, but I do remove any waste paper and styrofoam cups and such before I turn it in, and, if there's more than a small amount of dirt on the carpets I vacuum it up.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We don't have any kind of municipal trash pickup here, and a dump sticker costs $125 a year, so I can understand the incentive for woods dumping even if I'm distressed by it. All that culch has got to go someplace, which is one reason we have so many hoarders here. It just costs too much to throw the stuff away.

Despite the lack of any pickup service, it's very common for people to put their junk out in front of the house with a FREE sign on it. I've gotten perfectly good computers and furniture that way, and was very upset the time I missed out on an excellent cast-iron sink. But you do have to hurry and get the stuff you want before it rains.

 

[2jakes]

We call them "flea markets".

And when if you want to get rid of trash fast.

Put up a "garage sale" sign in front
pf your yard.
Junk will go "faster than a speeding bullet!"

 

[tonyb]

...

What I don't really get is why some sections of the city are so much dirtier - more litter - than others as I'm reasonably up on the City's budget and rules and they don't change from neighborhood to neighborhood, but you can feel and see the litter difference. ...

Some districts have more litter because they have more litter.

People take cues from their surroundings. As an old girlfriend put it, "a little litter now becomes a lot of litter later."

I'm hardly a model citizen. Back in my cigarette smoking days the world was my ashtray. For some reason I and untold millions of other smokers who would never toss a paper cup out a car window gave no thought whatsoever to doing the same with cigarette butts.

In more recent years I've been the guy who picks up what other people toss out, because I don't wish for littering to become normalized. It took decades for littering to become socially unacceptable. I fear it would take much less time to reverse that.

 

[Fading Fast]

I dunno. I don't generally wash rental cars, but I do remove any waste paper and styrofoam cups and such before I turn it in, and, if there's more than a small amount of dirt on the carpets I vacuum it up.

I think the quote is meant in spirit as, of course for one's own comfort, many of us do the things you noted and I have washed a rental car as it was beyond filthy from a rain mud event and I was going to have it several more days.

This is far more than trivial to me. Where I live, it's so easy to get rid of trash. I live in one of them subdivided neighborhoods in the county, so we pay for commercial trash pick up. But with that comes "heavy trash" once a week, so you can put out furniture, washing machines, computers, building material, shingles, what have you. About the only thing they won't take are refrigerators. All you have to do is put it on the curb. And if you live in the city, you're allowed two trips to the city dump per month, free of charge. I don't live in the city, so I have to go to a commercial landfill, but even then it's pretty cheap. I've hauled my pickup and a flatbed trailer full of stuff, and the charge is $20. It's not particularly onerous. I'm not a tree hugger, and I work in the oil business, but there is such a thing as being reasonably responsible. I don't get on my environmental high horse often, but illegal dumping will get me there pretty darn quick.

My bold of your above reflects how I feel about most environmental things. The extreme views that are out there turns me off and, IMHO, hurts the cause as it angers people when a movement becomes sanctimonious and practices absolutism. I lived through the filthy '70s and am a full-on supporter of many of the things we did / do to clean up the waters, beaches, highways, etc., but there is a cost-benefit (not just in $s, but in quality of life) that needs to be considered.

We don't have any kind of municipal trash pickup here, and a dump sticker costs $125 a year, so I can understand the incentive for woods dumping even if I'm distressed by it. All that culch has got to go someplace, which is one reason we have so many hoarders here. It just costs too much to throw the stuff away.

Despite the lack of any pickup service, it's very common for people to put their junk out in front of the house with a FREE sign on it. I've gotten perfectly good computers and furniture that way, and was very upset the time I missed out on an excellent cast-iron sink. But you do have to hurry and get the stuff you want before it rains.

If you don't have any municipal trash pickup, does that mean that all your day-to-day garbage has to be taken to the dump? If so, then, in theory, your taxes (which I'm sure are high) are less high than they would be if you had a sanitation department to support. Just trying to understand this, if one doesn't get a dump permit, then do they literally have no legal way to get rid of their daily trash?

If so, then is $10.4 a month really outrageous? I understand that Maine is not a wealthy state, but stuff has to be paid for. We didn't have municipal pick up where I grew up and paid, I'm doing this from memory from 25 or so years ago, more than that a month for curb side pick up for 2 cans a week. To be sure, curb-side is different from going to a dump, but if you have no other choice, that doesn't sound like a crazy high number. I feel like I'm missing something here.

 

[Fading Fast]

Some districts have more litter because they have more litter.

People take cues from their surroundings. As an old girlfriend put it, "a little litter now becomes a lot of litter later."

I'm hardly a model citizen. Back in my cigarette smoking days the world was my ashtray. For some reason I and untold millions of other smokers who would never toss a paper cup out a car window gave no thought whatsoever to doing the same with cigarette butts.

In more recent years I've been the guy who picks up what other people toss out, because I don't wish for littering to become normalized. It took decades for littering to become socially unacceptable. I fear it would take much less time to reverse that.

I think you are probably right or on to something as I've often wondered if it isn't "cultural" or "norm enforced."

If an area looks clean, then is a person less likely to litter in it? But if an area is already filthy - then does it matter what you do?

Being raised the way I was, I can't litter, to the point that I'll carry garbage around with me for way too long 'till I find a garbage can, but I've often thought that the reason for the difference in neighborhoods is based on nothing more than "what is the norm / what is acceptable."

However, I will admit, I've never been fully satisfied with that answer as it seems to tenuous a thread for the status quo to have held in these two streets for the thirty odd years I've lived in the city.

 

[2jakes]

We have huge trash bins courtesy
of the city in three colors.
Blue= recycling
Brown= trash
Green=brush/leaves

The area in front of my house is own by the city.
It's a large grass field with flowers and trees planted by the neighborhood "do-gooders".
They even built a small shed to store the garden tools.
On frequent occasions they will have a get together with their
families here.
I don't have brats of my own and cannot relate to that.
But I'm happy for them.
I have a basket on my bicycle where I sometimes carry a snack
when I go riding.
There's usually a waste bin on the
block and what ever bread I have
left over from my sandwich, I give
it to the birds.
I've never thrown litter on the streets. When I smoked in my younger days,
I never threw the butts out the
car window.
Same with spitting on the sidewalks.
I don't recall anyone telling
me not to do it.
It's just the way it is with me.

 

[LizzieMaine]

If so, then is $10.4 a month really outrageous? I understand that Maine is not a wealthy state, but stuff has to be paid for. We didn't have municipal pick up where I grew up and paid, I'm doing this from memory from 25 or so years ago, more than that a month for curb side pick up for 2 cans a week. To be sure, curb-side is different from going to a dump, but if you have no other choice, that doesn't sound like a crazy high number. I feel like I'm missing something here.

It's a lot when you have to buy the sticker all at once, every May. I'd much rather be taxed for it spread out over the year than to have to front it up in a lump like that. An extra hundred dollars takes a hell of a chunk out of the budget, especially when your car registration comes due at the same time.

If you don't have a dump sticker you don't get into the dump -- they have a gatehouse checkpoint to keep out the freeloaders. You can opt to buy individual dumping bags for $2.25 each, but that adds up real fast. A lot of people who don't have stickers just take their stuff downtown and dump it in restaurant dumpsters -- after carefully eradicating their names from magazines and envelopes -- or they just toss it out in the woods or into a gully somewhere.

 

[tonyb]

I think the quote is meant in spirit as, of course for one's own comfort, many of us do the things you noted and I have washed a rental car as it was beyond filthy from a rain mud event and I was going to have it several more days. ...

If you don't have any municipal trash pickup, does that mean that all your day-to-day garbage has to be taken to the dump? If so, then, in theory, your taxes (which I'm sure are high) are less high than they would be if you had a sanitation department to support. Just trying to understand this, if one doesn't get a dump permit, then do they literally have no legal way to get rid of their daily trash? ...

I don't clean out rental cars "for my own comfort." I've worked the kinds of service jobs that the people at the car rental place have, and I just see it as a matter of simple decency and respect to pick up after myself. Of course, if everyone turned in their rental cars in a spotless condition there would be fewer of those jobs. I just see it as akin to not making a mess of your restaurant table and the area around it because "the busboy will clean it up."

I've lived in places where home trash pickup isn't mandated. One such place had but one trash-hauling contractor, who came once a week. Buy the service if you wish. Take it to the transfer station yourself if you'd rather.

Where we are now there are three or four haulers to choose from, who come on three or four different days. This is terribly inefficient. It has the practical effect of making trash disposal more expensive for everyone.

 

[HudsonHawk]

We don't have any kind of municipal trash pickup here, and a dump sticker costs $125 a year, so I can understand the incentive for woods dumping even if I'm distressed by it. All that culch has got to go someplace, which is one reason we have so many hoarders here. It just costs too much to throw the stuff away.

I just think when you buy something, you're responsible for it's final disposition. Cradle to grave sort of thing. Perhaps I'm naïve.

 

[Fading Fast]

It's a lot when you have to buy the sticker all at once, every May. I'd much rather be taxed for it spread out over the year than to have to front it up in a lump like that. An extra hundred dollars takes a hell of a chunk out of the budget, especially when your car registration comes due at the same time.

If you don't have a dump sticker you don't get into the dump -- they have a gatehouse checkpoint to keep out the freeloaders. You can opt to buy individual dumping bags for $2.25 each, but that adds up real fast. A lot of people who don't have stickers just take their stuff downtown and dump it in restaurant dumpsters -- after carefully eradicating their names from magazines and envelopes -- or they just toss it out in the woods or into a gully somewhere.

The IRS faced the same problem, which is why our income taxes are deducted from each paycheck and not presented to us at the end of the year. The dump should offer a monthly payment plan - they'd probably make more money as more people would be able to budget the expense better as you noted.

 

[Fading Fast]

I don't clean out rental cars "for my own comfort." I've worked the kinds of service jobs that the people at the car rental place have, and I just see it as a matter of simple decency and respect to pick up after myself. Of course, if everyone turned in their rental cars in a spotless condition there would be fewer of those jobs. I just see it as akin to not making a mess of your restaurant table and the area around it because "the busboy will clean it up."

I've lived in places where home trash pickup isn't mandated. One such place had but one trash-hauling contractor. Buy the service if you wish. Take it to the transfer station yourself if you'd rather.

Where we are now there are three or four haulers to choose from, who come on three or four different days. This is terribly inefficient. It has the practical effect of making trash disposal more expensive for everyone.

Sorry, I see how my post - truly unintentionally - sounded a bit offensive. My apologies. And I, too, like you, wouldn't leave trash in a rental car that I returned because that is just rude.

 

[tonyb]

My wife laments at my OCD as to this. I see a shopping cart corral that is crammed with different sized carts (four different sizes... including two just for the kiddies: downsized ones so that the darlings can play Junior Shopper.. and oversized monstrosities with steering wheels lest the little brats become bored ), and I will spend 5 minutes getting them all lined according to size. And then, as we drive past the corral on the way out I'll see some prima donna undo my work by shoving her cart in willy- nilly.... and I'll go ballistic.

But I've seen what happens to parked cars when lose carts are blown by our local winds, and it isn't pretty.

I don't arrange the carts in the return corral, but I do take stray carts there.

Maybe it's different in Chicago, but in the places I've lived for the past several decades it's not unusual for shoppers to leave their carts in the parking spaces. I can see how the physically disabled might have little choice but to do that, but for the able-bodied it's just plain inconsiderate.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Same thing here. People will even park in the space in spite of the carriage, shoving it forward into the car on the opposite side of the line.

 

[tonyb]

As to rental cars and such ...

I rented a 16-foot truck from Budget back last August. Drove a load of stuff about 1300 miles.

The truck was dirty by anyone's standards when I picked it up. The fellows at the rental agency were shorthanded that day and I preferred to get the truck and get to loading it up rather than wait however long it might have taken for them to find time to clean it. But whoever had it before me really should have thrown away their fast food wrappers and tooth flossers (ick) and swept the dried mud off the floor mats before turning it in. Slobs.

 

[2jakes]

Shopping carts are getting so big a driver's license will be required.
Also "speed-bumps" for
the electric carts inside the
store.

 

[2jakes]

You always get more involved with something you own.

So when are you going to become
dictator?
I'm ready to follow you now!

 

[Bruce Wayne]

What is really bothering me at the moment is that i. Looking for a job and I can't even get my foot in the door. I kid you not, a local fast food place paying minimum wage wants 5 years experience and a 4 year college degree to work in the kitchen. Because I have neither they won't even consider me. Then ther is the fact that when I do find a job that I can do I have to get past the computer algorithm that screens my application for buzz words. And when you are applying for said job you have the option to upload a resume and then you still have to manually type in 90% of the information that is on your resume. I'm tempted to run for Congress just so I could get paid to do nothing.