Dear Crabby, Why Did My Trash Pick-Up Fees Increase So Much?

Dear Crabby, Why Did My Trash Pick-Up Fees Increase So Much in Rochester Hills?

Sincerely, Carrie McCann

 

Dear Carrie,

Well, well, well … are you really surprised the cost of trash removal went up? All prices go up. But to better answer your question, I dug up the dirt on the new Green for Life deal. You may remember that our previous solid waste removal company sold the contract to GFL Environmental (Green for Life) in 2017. They took over the remainder of the contract. So, this year the contract was up and the City of Rochester Hills decided to keep GFL on the job.

Our single-payer waste services work fairly well. However, the prices did jump, and higher than the normal increase once per year. Well, that’s what you get with contract negotiations. Now, I don’t know all the back-room conversations to negotiate this new deal, but I can tell you what I do know.

Each year the rates go up a small percentage, that’s always been there. But what’s new is they no longer combine discounts. It used to be that every discount – Senior (5%), Annual Pay (3%), and Auto Pay (3%) – could all be combined. So, for example, the current rate is $55.75 per quarter, and yours truly would qualify for all three. Without any discount, the cost would be $223 and with all three discounts, I would have paid $199.33. But now, I can only get one discount, so I take the best discount for being a senior and I pay $211.85. Based on what I paid last year, it went up about twenty bucks and I get fewer discounts so I end up paying about $35 more altogether. That sucks!

Now, they did add a Veterans discount of 5%, so if you’re not a Senior, you may qualify for that one. And, the Snow Bird discount is still available. That’s where you can save up to $30 (just under two months worth) for suspending service for extended vacation time. Mrs. Crabby and I don’t go anywhere in the winter, but we still take the full Snow Bird discount … the bins are so big it takes us two months to fill them up anyway.

All-in-all, it’s still not too bad. Pick the best discount and maybe try the Snow Bird discount as well to save a few bucks. Hope that explains it to you!

Sincerely, Dear Crabby