The Great Covid Excuse

[Diasi]

I've bought an Emma mattress, which arrives tomorrow, & I paid an additional £39 to have the old mattress removed.

However, the hardest part is just one person, me in this instance, getting the mattress off the bed, down the stairs & out of the house.

"For safety reasons our delivery operatives are not allowed to enter your house so your mattress will have to be outside your front door where we will leave your new mattress".

If I'd known that I could have got it taken away for less than £39!

The new mattress isn't a problem as it only weighs 25kg & is vacuum-packed in a box.

[klondike]

Councils will usually take stuff for well less than £39.

It probably doesn't apply to mattresses but there are still folks who will pick up scrap appliances and the like free. I got shot of my old tumble drier that way rather than pay a tenner. Every little helps 

[Diasi]

Councils will usually take stuff for well less than £39.

It probably doesn't apply to mattresses but there are still folks who will pick up scrap appliances and the like free. I got shot of my old tumble drier that way rather than pay a tenner. Every little helps 

I assumed the removal service would be like AO who will remove an old appliance & don't expect it to be already disconnected & outside the front door.

Anyway, tomorrow will give me something to do.

[klondike]

Seems a reasonable assumption to make at £39.

[Diasi]

Seems a reasonable assumption to make at £39.

That's what I thought as the van is already at our house to make the delivery.

[Ashy]

Yes but then they have to pay someone to dump it at commercial rates.

BTW. I admire your social responsibility. Round here they dump matresses on the corner of our street and let the council clear the mess up.

[Diasi]

Yes but then they have to pay someone to dump it at commercial rates.

BTW. I admire your social responsibility. Round here they dump matresses on the corner of our street and let the council clear the mess up.

Yes, it would have cost me £25 to have it collected from our front door by a local guy.

I thought that the £39 included taking it from the bedroom.

[Raven]

We, like many other areas have a local "Free, Swap, Sale" page on Facebook. If you'd put it on there for free it would have been gone very quickly, and the people would have got it down the stairs for you. Gone for no cost to yourself, and someone else less well off gets a better mattress than they have. It's how we get rid of stuff here.

[Cassandra]

Yes but then they have to pay someone to dump it at commercial rates.

BTW. I admire your social responsibility. Round here they dump matresses on the corner of our street and let the council clear the mess up.

I recall a case I once had before me. One of the London Boroughs had prosecuted a man for littering, by allegedly dumping one of those giant egg boxes (70's) on the pavement in Knightsbridge I think it was. The man an ex barrister who'd fallen into hard times, thanks to the assistance of a certain 'Mr Weapons Grades', denied this charge and counterclaimed on the grounds of 'illegal possession' of his home!

[Diasi]

We, like many other areas have a local "Free, Swap, Sale" page on Facebook. If you'd put it on there for free it would have been gone very quickly, and the people would have got it down the stairs for you. Gone for no cost to yourself, and someone else less well off gets a better mattress than they have. It's how we get rid of stuff here.

It's not something I thought of doing because when my neighbour wanted to get rid of a lovely newish settee & two matching recliner chairs we couldn't get anyone to take them.

Some garbage about needing a fire regulations label, but as the items were about 6 years old they complied with all the current fire regulations.

It is a shame though as the mattress looks like new.

[klondike]

I imagine even the needy are not overly keen on a secondhand mattress - especially as social services would probably cough up for a new one.

[Scrumpy]

We have the scrap man who will take stuff we leave at the gate.. The council charged me 40pounds to take a settee from the front of my house about 6 years ago.. Had it been a two seater it would have been cheaper..
I put small furniture or anything that might be of interest to anyone at the front gate.. It usually gets taken..
I doubt a mattress would. 
Covid has much to answer for.. 

[Diasi]

I imagine even the needy are not overly keen on a secondhand mattress - especially as social services would probably cough up for a new one.

Yes, you're probably right, anyway, as I've already paid the £39 removal fee & a two-man delivery team are coming I'll just let them take it.

In this day & age people aren't even interested in a secondhand iPhone.