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Return of the Jawas - bulk pickup returns

CleverNickname

By CleverNickname
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CleverNickname

CleverNickname 1316

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Next monday is the year-long delayed return of NW Austin bulk garbage pickup. Hopefully Sunday and Monday will be pretty dry, because I hate to see stuff get ruined that the Jawas would otherwise savage. I'm not even mad, its diverting stuff that otherwise would end in the dump. I've got a propane grill that I fixed up and use at the ranch. This weekend is going to be epic. 

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Updawg

Updawg 2267

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you guys haven't had bulk pickup for a year?  ouch.

Been a year for us in sw Austin. Ours is this week and I put a bunch of shit out last night.

It’s normally only twice a year but Covid shut it down this year for some reason. Austin trash sucks for the amount it costs.
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Red Five

Red Five 40861

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1 hour ago, Updawg said:


Been a year for us in sw Austin. Ours is this week and I put a bunch of shit out last night.
 

Yep that's where I got my new grill. 

I also got a nice new car someone put out. Well, it wasn't really on the curb. More like the driveway. And the stupid people forgot to leave it unlocked so I had to break a window and then hotwire it. Crazy what people just throw out. 

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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How much shit do y'all throw out you need bulk pickup every month?  We're City of Austin, but only 2x per year---usually October and April.  But they told us they won't be doing it this month to divert crews to handle the brush pickup from the downed limbs from the storm 2 mos. ago.  I still have a small forest out front.  But 2x a year for bulk pickup is fine.  Anything small enough, I take in the truck to goodwill.  But the 2x/year pickup of the really big shit is nice to have.  

No jokes about how the Jawas drive around the neighborhood in single file to hide their numbers?  Or did they all take one car?

A conversation I had a with a Spanish-speaking fellow a few years ago still sticks out in my head.  He had just arrived from Mexico with his daughter.  Wife and little ones stayed back home.  He ran three crews of tree trimming guys, 6 days a week, from sunrise to sunset.  I was shooting the shit with him while he was looking through our cul-de-sac bulk pickup loot.  I happen to be out there pulling weeds.  But he's telling me that they go to Church every Sunday morning and then he takes her around from neighborhood to neighborhood (he gets the bulk pickup schedule from City of Austin site, not sure if they still post it there) using his equipment trailer and long-bed.  And he sifts through what he knows he can fix up/clean up and resell.  And he tells me that he does the math, what he spends on gas, what those hours cost him to drive around and then what it costs him to fix up what he finds.  As a small businessman, he knows---in the end---he's only netting a few dollars a week from that bulk pickup side-hustle.  But he tells me he does it for two reasons.  To spend time talking with his girl and showing her that there is an opportunity in everything, even sifting through other people's trash after Church for miles and miles.  And the other reason is he likes driving her around nice neighborhoods to show her what is possible in this country.  And that even after she gets an education and a nice house, she'll remember not to be wasteful.  It's funny the people who you find on your path.  

tl; dr.  Don't be wasteful.  Haul that shit to goodwill.  They actually do an amazing job of rehabbing shit for reuse down the road.  And when the the Jawas come through your neighborhood to pick shit up.  Walk outside and help them load your trash, they have wisdom to share and could probably use a bottle of water.  Beats the inevitable Karen posts on Nextdoor "There's a truck full of brown people casing my house.  Oh wait, I think they're looking through my neighbor's trash."  

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gsoda3

gsoda3 3262

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52 minutes ago, Lobo said:

tl; dr.  Don't be wasteful.  Haul that shit to goodwill.  They actually do an amazing job of rehabbing shit for reuse down the road. 

you'd be surprised at how much goodwill stuff gets shipped overseas or ends up in landfills.  instead, find the buy nothing group in your neighborhood.  they'll have a social media presence.  have something you don't use anymore?  post it on that group and more often than not someone will be interested.  we used to take everything to goodwill but for the past 5 months we've been participating in our buy nothing group instead.  it's a much better use of resources (no tax write off unfortunately) and you can help out your community in other ways when you see specific needs people have. 

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Guest Lobo

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Yeah, wife started using that for stuff the babies outgrow that we don't want to store for potential cousins down the road.  We like it a lot.  I thought it was a wasteful part of town, but most of the moms are really resourceful and pass along things in good shape from one age bracket to the next.  I was speaking more about small appliances, power tools, some electronics, etc.  But yeah, there's so much community and sharing that goes on in America that gets overlooked with our shitty consumer attitude (much of which is deserved).  Just this morning, I out the two car bases that our smallest one outgrew.  Wife wanted to save it in case her sisters have babies, but I pointed out the entire corner of my garage dedicated to shit like that and I said, "We need to give it someone who needs it now and it'll expire in a year." She posted it this weekend and this morning it was already claimed and gone.  It's not exactly passing the babies around the village to suckle at the nipple of each mother, but it's a helluva lot less wasteful than we used to be.  

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ChickenSandwich

ChickenSandwich 9843

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5 hours ago, CleverNickname said:

Next monday is the year-long delayed return of NW Austin bulk garbage pickup. Hopefully Sunday and Monday will be pretty dry, because I hate to see stuff get ruined that the Jawas would otherwise savage. I'm not even mad, its diverting stuff that otherwise would end in the dump. I've got a propane grill that I fixed up and use at the ranch. This weekend is going to be epic. 

They restarted for two weeks at the start of last summer then cancelled but didn’t send out notice. Had fun hauling a whole section worth of fence materials back from the curb. How the fuck were they going to get COVID?  Why didn’t we receive a credit on the bill?  
 

Fuck COA. Power was out a full 8/28 days during February but my bill was 20% higher than previous month and previous year. When called they just issued a $15 credit and said case closed. WTF

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mdmost

mdmost 43004

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I have a whole wooden playground that I just dismantled in the past couple weeks that I'm hoping an enterprising Jawa will take off my hands before bulk trash trucks get to it. They'll for sure take the metal pillars that served as the framework for it. They can probably get some money for that. I used to be annoyed at the Jawas but I can put out a broken floor lamp at 9am and it's gone before noon. Or an old nasty ass fridge (yes, with the doors sealed shut so kids don't Punky Brewster themselves in it). Watching a Jawa strip an old couch down to the studs was mesmerizing. All to get the coils out. 

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fattyflattie

fattyflattie 4639

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Can someone help me with Jawa?  Never heard that. I do however pick up things that have motors like power washers and weed eaters to fix.  Then they go to deer camp etc. I’ve gotten and fixed several pressure washers and generators.  Anything people rarely use then gas goes bad.  Takes a half hour to fix.  My wife gets tremendously embarrassed. 

Edited by fattyflattie
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Samson's Wig

Samson's Wig 3192

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So is next Monday bulk pick up or not?  I'm a wasteful American and I have a ton of shit for the Jawas.

 

EDIT: Nevermind.  Just pulled it up on the city website. Our neighborhood is schedule for May 31st.  Memorial Day.   Fucking idiots.

Edited by Samson's Wig
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mdmost

mdmost 43004

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This is a Jawa. They roam around place to place to collect the junk others leave out or wayward robots that fall into their traps. They drive around in tiny trucks with way too much piled up in their beds. All I ask is they don't trash up the street while they're tearing through the random items in boxes on the street.  

TrailerOfJunk.jpg

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Updawg

Updawg 2267

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Goodwill will only take certain things unless you are an asshole and use them like a dump. I’ve also posted stuff on Craigslist and next door to get rid of it.

Twice a year sucks because it means you have to plan replacing mattresses, couches etc around that schedule. We just bought my daughter a new bed and also replaced some old couches. I was thinking about how that probably drives business to certain stores.

The jawas are interested in metal they can recycle not old couches and beds.

Im curious what the bulk pickup crew did for a year off due to Covid. I’m sure they were on payroll. How can regular recycling and trash still function but not that?

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Dewey

Dewey 3286

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7 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Holy shit. We have bulk pickup every month.

Here in Galveston,  we call it the "alley" and it's whenever you feel like throwing shit away. One of the few things I'll miss about this place. 

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Guest

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My favorite are the needy/ self-important Jawas who walk up to your door and ask you to hold something until they come back in their sand crawler the next day.  "Bitch, if those stormtroopers show up, we'll let them take anything they want.  I suggest you hurry..."

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rage-a-holic

rage-a-holic 4402

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On 4/12/2021 at 1:04 PM, Updawg said:


Been a year for us in sw Austin. Ours is this week and I put a bunch of shit out last night.

It’s normally only twice a year but Covid shut it down this year for some reason. Austin trash sucks for the amount it costs.

SW/78749 had bulk pickup 3rd week of January.

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