Hippobag - update.

Summary: It was crap.

Detail: Took about 10 minutes for me to realise the 1.5m3 bag I had bought was nowhere near close to what I needed. So I bit the bullet, and got a midi skip for £110. Which I filled with some stuff left over.

So an extra £20 over the Hippobag got me a proper skip ... begs the question what the target market for them is ?

Skip driver was not at all surprised to see the Hippobag on the top of the skip - it's not uncommon ;)

At least they didn't charge for collection in advance (although I can now see why they wouldn't. They'd forever be refunding).

With the nice weather yesterday, I finished the job, and took the remainder (mainly loads of MDF, glass bottles, and some paint) to the local tip. Was pleasantly surprised to find it quiet (usually queues onto the main road) and even more pleasantly surprised that the skips I needed were all in a row.

Reply to
Jethro_uk
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I'm planning to use one, or possibly more, where it would be impossible to get a skip in, but a Hippo lorry could draw up on the other side of a wall and lift the bag out with its Hiab.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

That's probably the only scenario where it makes sense.

You will probably need more than you think ... they offer a discount for additional pickups at the same address.

Reply to
Jethro_uk

I bought a few of the 1m^3 jumbo sacks from wickes, fairly handy for bundling shredded garden waste into the back of the car, but I'd never consider one as a substitute for a skip ... and the larger hippo bags seem to say you can't fill them or they'd be to heavy to stand being lifted.

Reply to
Andy Burns

TMH commented a few years ago that his customers sometimes used them. He can't put the rubbish in the van without a waste transportation licence; it won't fit in the normal household waste; he can keep one in the van and just add the cost to the customer's bill.

I can see how that works for him, but I can't see it's a viable business model for hippobag.

Reply to
Martin Bonner

Perhaps it is like mustard - the profit is not in what is used, but in what is bought but not used.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

Put the waste onto sheets of OSB or similar to protect the ground underneath. Be prepared to manually shovel up some and lob it into the grab.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

I'm a big hippo bag fan. They have many benefits.

You can buy one immediately, no waiting for an unreliable (and they all seem the same) skip company to deliver. It can be located off the highway because its collected with a hiab, so you don't need lights or permits.

The bags don't damage block paving or concrete drives either.

When it comes to collection the service is prompt & reliable, again unlike skip companies IME.

Only obvious disadvantage is that you can't use a scaffold board & wheelbarrow to load them.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

I'm not a big skip user (had three in the last twenty odd years) but they've delivered and collected same or next day in all cases.

Reply to
Andy Burns

Last skip I needed collecting (left by the people we bought the house from) took more than a month of regular prodding...

Reply to
Adrian

Sounds reasonable to me. I've had good experiences with them.

I've just had to clear my father's house and garage ready for sale to resol ve the estate. 37 years of stuff going in and not coming out...

The house has a good but fairly narrow drive, and the road is also narrow - getting a skip on to the drive would be very difficult and may well be imp ossible. Equally, getting permission for one on the road could well be out of the question as there is nowhere for one to go which wouldn't obstruct n eighbours' driveway access.

Two HippoSkips of 4.5 cubic yards (plus 6 or 7 tip runs in addition!) have proved invaluable, so I'm a fan. The first one meant that I cleared the hou se in a day and a half rather than spending several days just on tip runs.

Reply to
mark.bluemel

Quite common. I can get a skip the next day and I can get a skip switched for a new one same or next day.

Try to get rid of the last one though...

Reply to
Tim Watts

You were lucky. Some years ago I had to do the same. Took, IIRC, 2 or was it 3 9yd skips!!!

Reply to
Tim Watts

Can't speak for other recycling centres but if I need to dump rubble in quantities greater than a brick's worth, or items that will trigger a jobsworthian frenzy the trick is to go on a rainy day when you can guarantee the waste management executives will be huddled in their hut.

mark

Reply to
mark

I was speaking to a bloke who once worked for a large local skip company. He reckoned they couldn't possibly store every skip they had, which is why they leave the full ones on site & only pick them up when they need one.

The other thing is that they have to pay to get rid of the rubbish & they prefer to do that in the first few days of the month so they get extra credit.

Also, if you can guarantee you will only fill with either hardcore or topsoil, they can sell that instead of paying to get rid of it, so can give you a cheaper deal if you haggle.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

It's possibly like scaffolding. Removed immediately if it's got another job and left in situ for storage if business is slack.

Reply to
alan

Unfortunately, the f'ing thing was right in our way...

Reply to
Adrian

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