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?

Sorry - knocked a bit out of my post accidentally - It's cheeky, and strictly speaking illegal, but the chances of getting prosecuted for theft are pretty much infinitesimal.

That's shocking - unless it was at the very end of a drive I wouldn't assume that anything was surplus to the householders requirements - personally I've never taken anything without asking, even from a skip (hamster cage)

Skip means a huge bin /stuff they don't want as throwing out

We've had someone knock in the door asking if they can take fence panels

More people take more you can get in😂

I'm in favour.

The true crooks are the people who dump their stuff in your skip.

Aside from the law, that's exactly the reason why I don't think it should be encouraged.

"Why are you taking the kids bikes ?"

"Oh, we saw the skip and we thought the bikes were going in there too".

I would prefer they knock on and ask but I think this is fine. They are saving something from landfill.

Sometimes the law is an ass.

But most of the time, there are good reasons for why it is the way it is. And these reasons are tested on a fairly regular basis, especially in cases like this where there are hundreds if not thousands of skips on sites every day.

Bottom line is, if you are happy or even want people to take your property and it is on your land, you can always put a sign up giving permission*.

*Make sure it isn't metal though or someone will probably make off with the sign.

When I was a kid, my friend got arrested for nicking a bike out of a skip.He thought that nobody wanted it any more and decided to ride it to the local park. It had been stolen and presumably thrown in a random skip by the thief either when they had finished their fun with it or felt guilty. We live in a small town and the bike was quite unique in colour and the tassels on the handle bars. A police officer saw him riding on it and arrested him.

I think it’s ok if you ask first.

Hope your friend was exonerated?

He did the owners a favour, the bike would have ended up in landfill if he didn’t take it out of skip.

gave him bragging rights in the playground no doubt.

I have personally rescued a nice bookshelf from a skip, and have a friend who climbed into one and became the owner of a swivel chair.

I have no problem with it. Items in a skip are being discarded because their original owner doesn't want them any more.

I wouldn't go onto someone's drive or front lawn to rummage in a skip though. The skipnwould have to be parked on the street.

Totally fine as long as you don’t make a mess. No tearing open bags. No leaving anything outside the skip. Really no substantial rearranging because they may have a loading plan. If you spot something useful and easy to grab, it’s better that it be used.

I personally try to leave out anything I think people might find useful and even put a FREE sign on it. Most of the time it gets taken. If not, then I take it to a donation center or dispose of it.

Fine I think. In many areas unwanted items are simply left out the front and people help themselves. Dd was moving and getting stuff together on the driveway ready for the next van run and a passer by helped themselves to her divet ☹️

I would rather people asked. As far as I'm concerned I remain the owner until the skip is removed. Until then I am able to decide that I don't want to chuck an item. So, yes, I consider it stealing. If someone asks, I will in all likelihood agree. I was annoyed a while back when a chap took some electrical items out, I was throwing them because I thought they were unsafe and didn't want to be responsible for the taker to get an electric shock. So,if he had asked I would have refused.

Stuff that gets put in skips does not go straight to landfill. The amount you pay to hire them wouldn’t cover landfill tax and other costs. They get taken to a materials recycling facility or transfer station where as much as possible is recovered and residual waste is then landfilled.

It is technically theft. Items in a skip remain the property of the hirer until the skip is removed then it becomes the property of the skip firm. Waste transfer licences are needed etc etc.

Most hirers are grateful for the extra space in a skip though so it’s highly unlikely to cause an issue

There is no logical reason but you can’t argue with Stupid

If I had a skip, I'd prefer if people took stuff - more space for my stuff and items are getting reused. I'd be v annoyed if people added to it.

@TwoFluffyDogsOnMyBed , it's illegal to take something out of a skip.
I follow the rules because I don't wish to break the law. Simple.

The stuff belongs to the person who hired the skip and the skip company. My neighbour called the police years ago when she seen people stealing from a skip I had. Police knocked and asked did I want to make a statement but I was just delighted to have more space 🤣

My dad was an inverterate skip diver. He insisted on driving me to piano lessons for 6 months (totally walkable) as there was work going on next to the piano teacher's house. He's the kind of man who used to go to the tip and come back with more than he put in. Luckily he had a big garage. Now he only has a shed,.mum is a lot tougher.

It's fine. It's recycling. Better that it's put to use. It's not fine to put stuff in the skip though.

There is, as I said in my post you don't know why stuff is being thrown out. Electricals could be getting thrown out as unsafe. You might not realise that materials you want to repurpose are made out of something potentially harmful - e.g. be contaminated with lead or asbestos. Unless it has a 'take whatever' sign you should ask. Reasonable people will say go for it unless theres a particular reason.

It's not theft if it's obvious that it's been thrown out. There needs to be "dishonesty" for it to be theft. And there's no such thing as " theft by finding" by the way. Why do people who know nothing about the law spout such nonsense.

We had some CF who was rooting through the skip on our drive at 7.30am come and ring the doorbell to ask if we were keeping the bath taps as he could only find the ones for the sink. Honestly 🙄