What is this for?

[Kyle Kubs]

Anyone know what this is for/from?

It's an old house, 1920's and there wasn't anything under the cover but dirt. I have a vague recollection of seeing them once in a while when I was a kid but can't remember anything about them.

This is the second house in this neighborhood this week that has turned on up. The other one has a lever to step on to raise the lid Which has me thinking it was a cover for a compost hole or something.

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[Jim Katen]

Garbage can receiver. Tell them to fill it with something inert so that kids don't fall it.

Didn't we have this discussion recently?

[kurt]

It comes up from time to time.

[Bill Kibbel]

https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... IC_ID=2960

[Kyle Kubs]

I thought it could be something like that except it was all the way in the back of the house.. and not very big at all. Maybe a 14" opening.

[John Kogel]

I thought it could be something like that except it was all the way in the back of the house.. and not very big at all. Maybe a 14" opening.

Maybe back in the 20's there was an alley back there, wide enough for a horsedrawn wagon?

Re: the size, the outer ring also has a hinge, possibly for emptying the bin.

[Bill Kibbel]

I thought it could be something like that except it was all the way in the back of the house.. and not very big at all. Maybe a 14" opening.

I've only seen them behind houses, most often just outside the back door from the kitchen. Where would you want it to be?

[Jim Katen]

When I was a kid, the garbage truck would drive very slowly down the street accompanied by two guys - one to work each side of the street. Each guy would sprint behind a house, grab the trash can, sling it over his shoulder, sprint back to the truck, dump the can, sprint back to the house, replace the can, sprint over to the neighbor's yard, and repeat his way though the neighborhood. Most days, there'd be a bunch of us kids following them around. I loved it and idolized those guys. For a while I thought that being a garbage man was the coolest job imaginable.

I remember when they changed their MO. Suddenly everyone had to take his own trash can to the curb. There was a huge uproar among the familes in my neighborhood. People thought it was barbaric that we had to acutally handle trash cans and place them out there in the open for everyone to see for most of the day. I'm sure it contributed to the decline of western civilization.

[John Kogel]

People thought it was barbaric that we had to actually handle trash cans and place them out there in the open for everyone to see for most of the day.

I'm sure it contributed to the decline of western civilization.

I suspect the physical appearance of garbage collectors has declined as well.

Not long ago, I watched a mail truck pull up to each house in a new subdivision. The copilot would get out, measure the distance from the truck door to the house door and punch figures into a tablet. Those people will be paying the posties for every footstep. []

[emalernee]

A community north of me does not allow trash cans to be visible from the street. On trash day a city worker drives a John Deere Gator up the driveway, to the rear of each house, and picks up the trash.

Their taxes reflect that kind of services.

[mlparham]

A community north of me does not allow trash cans to be visible from the street. On trash day a city worker drives a John Deere Gator up the driveway, to the rear of each house, and picks up the trash.

Their taxes reflect that kind of services.

The city that I live in got rid of its last in ground trash receptacles less that a year ago. The city removed the old cans, filled in the holes, planted grass and a left a a large rolling bin that they slide up to the back of the truck. The truck has a do-hickey thing that empties the bin.

They went to from twice a week pick up to once a week. The elderly and disabled do not have to take their bins to the street.

[ericwlewis]

People thought it was barbaric that we had to actually handle trash cans and place them out there in the open for everyone to see for most of the day.

I'm sure it contributed to the decline of western civilization.

I suspect the physical appearance of garbage collectors has declined as well.

Not long ago, I watched a mail truck pull up to each house in a new subdivision. The copilot would get out, measure the distance from the truck door to the house door and punch figures into a tablet. Those people will be paying the posties for every footstep. []

That's odd. For the 6 years, 4 months and 12 days I carried mail for the USPS, it seemed like "they" didn't give a crap how much work we did, just that "they" knew we could and should do more

[Kyle Kubs]

I thought it could be something like that except it was all the way in the back of the house.. and not very big at all. Maybe a 14" opening.

I've only seen them behind houses, most often just outside the back door from the kitchen. Where would you want it to be?

In places where I've seen them in the past & knew that's what they were for, they were in front of the house close to the sidewalk or curb. Sometimes at the corner of the driveway & sidewalk. Still, it makes sense they could have been in the back.

Just got back from a trip to Puerto Rico & the one neighborhood we drove through had them up & down the street at the curb. Nice, ornate, cast iron covers. Guess they don't like the cans flying around in the hurricanes.

When I was a kid, the garbage truck would drive very slowly down the street accompanied by two guys - one to work each side of the street. Each guy would sprint behind a house, grab the trash can, sling it over his shoulder, sprint back to the truck, dump the can, sprint back to the house, replace the can, sprint over to the neighbor's yard, and repeat his way though the neighborhood. Most days, there'd be a bunch of us kids following them around. I loved it and idolized those guys. For a while I thought that being a garbage man was the coolest job imaginable.

I remember that same thing in my hometown when I was a kid. Only last a couple years then the taxes went up, services disappeared and a trend was born.

[Denray]

Around 1966 my mom was a RE broker and found out that trash collectors in San Jose, CA were making around 10k per year, which was close to what my dad made after 20 years at Lockheed.

[John Kogel]

Around 1966 my mom was a RE broker and found out that trash collectors in San Jose, CA were making around 10k per year, which was close to what my dad made after 20 years at Lockheed.

That's $5/hour. Yeah that was good pay. I was getting $1/hr for pulling cylinder heads and grinding valves at the local garage. But I bought my first car for $75 and gas was 45 cents for a big Canadian gallon.

That Chevy coupe had a tube radio that could kill the 6 volt battery in about 20 minutes.

No, this isn't it.

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[inspectprocharlotte]

That's where people buried their money back in the 20's. The lid was so they could find it later!

Andrew Constantine

Rock Hill Home Inspector

[hausdok]

You've all got this wrong.

Those are left over from the cold war.

Back during the cold war every homeowner was issued his/her own surface to air missile system and the government sank tiny missile silos around their homes. The idea was that if every resident of a whole city launched just one surface to air missile at the same time as other residents even without a guidance system they were bound to hit something - preferably incoming pinko commie missiles or planes.

Everyone was forced to get rid of them when liberal gun control whack-a-moles pointed out that the constitution says one has the right to bear arms - not just haphazardly launch them into the air without even touching them and without specific targets.

Danged bleeding heart commie sympathizers are always ruining all the good ideas!

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Neal Lewis]

For a lot of garbage, or a lot of missiles...

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