Took me 5 years to realize I was overfilling my dumpster orders

Honestly, I used to always just eyeball how full a dumpster was when it got picked up. Then last month I got hit with a $150 overage fee on a 30 yard roll off because I packed it way too tight and it went over the weight limit. That tipped me off that I needed to actually weigh or measure loads before they left, especially for construction debris. Anyone else have a system for keeping loads under the limit without wasting space?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugobarnes1mo ago

You mentioned getting hit with that $150 overage fee, and honestly I used to think the eyeball method was good enough too. But that changed real quick after I got a similar surprise bill on a concrete load a few years back. Now I just take a few minutes to check the weight ticket or use a simple scale app before the truck rolls out, saves a lot of headaches.

casey8431mo ago

I read somewhere that a guy in another forum started weighing his loads with a cheap truck scale app and found out his usual "full" dumpster was actually over the limit by like 200 pounds every single time. That really stuck with me because I was doing the same thing and probably getting lucky not getting hit sooner. For my construction jobs I started keeping a simple log of each load's weight from the scale ticket and comparing it to what I actually had in there. It turns out concrete and dirt are way heavier than I thought even when the dumpster looks only half full. Now I just make sure to leave at least a foot of space on top for heavy stuff and it's saved me from those stupid surprise fees.