Pinching from a skip. Yes or No?

[Rainyrunway]

My NDN are having renovations done and they have a skip outside their house full of random stuff. I just saw someone drive past, then reverse the car, get out and start rummaging. They grabbed a couple of bits out, stuck in their car and drove off. I found it quite funny (but a bit cheeky) personally and dont think id mind if someone knicked something from a skip outside my house. But it got me thinking. Would you do it? Is it ok? Or is it's stealing?

Just to add - the skip wasn't on private land it was on the road outside my house.

If you're intending on filling it with scrap you're then selling why on earth would you pay for a skip, there's much cheaper ways surely.

Yes it's technically illegal and theft but honestly people are so bloody wasteful I find it refreshing that people still have the mindset to rescue and reuse stuff that people lazily just throw away. I mean it would be much better if people just gave stuff away or stuck it outside with a free sign on it.

How many people come onto private land and steal stuff that they shouldn't ?

I don't believe people should be encouraged to go on private land and take stuff. Whether it is in a skip or anything else. If I want to give something away I will leave it outside the property, or if someone sees something they want on my land and asks me first then it is fine to take by me if they ask permission.

To me the convention should be "ask permission first before taking stuff off private land". And the law seems to agree with me. For the reasons I have already put forward.

You should ask before taking stuff. It belongs to the person who rented the skip. Interesting that you call it 'pinching' rather than anything that doesn't sound a bit dodgy. So yes, doing it without permission is a bit dodgy. Skip-renters could put up a sign - "Please liberate what you fancy" :)

I had one argue that he couldn’t knock as he didn’t know who’s skip it was!
The fact that he had come up my drive to access it should have given him a clue.
I am happy for people to take stuff from my skip but I don’t want them on my property without permission so they do need to knock - or at least gesticulate and shout at me through the window

My first house was a complete wreck and needed completely gutting. The skip I hired was in what is technically the side garden, people were walking across my front garden to get to it. I find it incredibly rude, and would have no issue if they had knocked on the door and asked like some did.

Most scrap metal brokers and some skip firms will provide a skip free of charge if it only has scrap metal put into it.
Our local scrap dealer does this, but their skips are a distinctive dark blue and have clear signs on saying "contents of this skip property of... removal is theft"

I rescued an old pine dressing table and two bedside cabinets from a skip. The owners of the property weren't there but I did ask a builder who was working on the property if it was OK and he told me to go right ahead - he even helped me lift them into the car.

I don’t agree with going onto someone’s private property, but if it’s on the road I don’t see a problem.

Jeez can you imagine the horror! Some people don't even like their family turning up unannounced!

Its fine, quite a normal practice in my country, even our previous President was caught doing it!

I loved it when people came to take from mine. Took really unexpected stuff that I would have never thought to leave out for people to take. Cleared out loads more space. Only thing that annoyed me was ripping black bags open to see what was in them and it scattered the bags and made a bit of a mess. Technically I think it is classed as stealing but I wouldn't class it as, it is being thrown away!

I’m sure I remember reading an article about Jeremy Corbyn taking things out of skips and that it annoyed his wife because he’d accumulated a huge pile of stuff.

Well it’s either going to landfill or going to another owner. Either way the person getting rid doesn’t want it anymore so what difference does it make to them really?

And if the person getting rid wants money then that’s what eBay, Facebook marketplace, Vinted etc.. are for. Skips are for binning stuff.

it's absolutely fine if you knock on the door & ask if it's ok. If it's on someone's driveway it is their property

I love it when we get a skip and people take stuff. It leaves more room for more stuff! We leave the gates open so they can pilfer. Watching them on the ring camera is always very funny.

I had a skip in my front garden and didn't so much object to people taking stuff but did object to them not asking as it meant they came through my gate and into my garden to do it which was unsettling when you're having your breakfast and there's two burly lads standing on the other side of the window having a rummage.

People where I live dump stuff on their drives, front garden fences or even on the pavement with a sign saying "Please take".

Skip owners should do the same.

Though to be fair the skips around me are always full rubble because of this.

My next door neighbour has a skip and I've had someone (another neighbour) just walk casually into my garden, traipse across the lawn and reach over my fence to take something out of it.

My baby bath came off a skip. Recycling is always good, ideally via a charity shop. Just dumping usable stuff is where the problem lies.

It's one of the few times in life where it's ok to take, but not to give.

I wouldn’t mind, but I would be hacked off if someone put something into a skip I’d paid for

Personally I have no problem with it, if I've chucked it in a skip then I don't want it and someone taking it saved it going to landfill

Now people using my empty skip to get rid of their crap? That is a different matter entirely!

We use skips regularly due to work rubbish. It drives DH mad when the skip has been carefully packed, to make sure that there is no empty space, and some idiot comes along, rummages through everything and totally disturbing all of the contents. They remove what they want and leave remaining stuff at stupid angles so that the skip has to be repacked so that you're not paying for the skip company to bin fresh air.

So although there is nothing wrong with taking something you can use, please respect the person who has hired to skip, and don't cost them money!

I love it, had our skip emptied almost 3 times, saved me on paying for more skips. What pisses me off is when people add to my skip.