They went through my skip!

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Is this a thing? We have a skip outside as we have been doing some decorating/clearing out. I heard a van outside the house which seemed to have stopped so I looked out and two blokes were rummaging in the skip! I went downstairs to ask what they were doing but they had just left. I noticed some metal items had gone out of the skip.
Is this normal? Do people just drive round looking for skips to have a nose in? I’m not bothered by them taking stuff out but surely it would have been polite to ask?!

You were going to get rid of everything, so what is the problem?

When I moved to a new house I did a lot of clearing out and packed all the stuff I wanted to throw away in the front garden. I arranged for a house clearing company to pick the stuff up.

In the couple of days it took the company to come and pick it up the items two neighbours took some the items. The first person did not ask my permission, the second knocked on my door first.

I could not have cared less if people helped themselves. It meant that I had to pay less money to the clearing company if people had reduced the pile of items...and it might as well go to a good home with someone who will appreciate the unwanted goods.

I also got quite a few bits myself from people who had left stuff they did not want outside their house.

It is a small town and quite common for people to just put stuff out with a 'free, help yourself' sign.

I got plant pots, plants, a chair, hand-waved basket and a lamp from people giving things away....

Pretty normal to my knowledge.

My fella often has skips arranged when he’s stripping out bathrooms etc and people always go through them, especially blokes in vans looking for scrap metal.

They are probably Scrap metal merchant's , there is good money in scrap, they will even take old electric cable and strip it down for the copper inside. If you have a traveller site in your area they may be from there. We have a scrappy who comes round regularly and will take anything metal for free, saves a trip to the tip.

Quite a normal thing to happen.
"Where there's muck there's brass."
id not be adverse to a bit of skip diving if I saw something I liked. I'd probably knock and.ask though.
Quite often comes up on Insta/ interior magazines that an item was found in a skip and refurbished.

We still have scrap men who come round looking for metal. They'll often go through a skip ... Just makes more room.

Yes it's a thing but generally polite to ask. I think most people think they are doing you a favourite by recycling stuff you don't want and leasing you more space in the skip, especially if you are paying per skip rather than for a set time.
We used to collect wood from skips when we were young and only had an open fire for heating. We did ask first, as much as we could. Most people are more bothered by people fly tipping in their skips.

My neighbour asked if she could take a few bits out of my skip, which I was fine about, what really annoyed me was within an hour of it being delivered, I had three neighbours asking if they could put stuff in my skip that I paid over £300 for.

Yep, very normal, totters will take anything they want from a skip! Frees up more space, win win.

You were throwing it away, why do you care if they take some stuff out or not?

It's pretty normal for people to rummage in bins and skips for scrap metal to sell, yes. If they are that hard up for cash that they need to do that why would you be angry that they took some stuff off your hands? Now you have more space in the skip! Throw some more junk out and relax.

Looking for scrap metal.

If you think taking stuff from your skip is weird ... we recently had a new sink fitted and the plumber explained that if he took the old one to the tip, he'd be charged £60 as a commercial vehicle, which he would have to pass on to us so would we be able to do it ourselves? No problem.

I must admit, the sink did sit for rather a long time in the front garden while we sorted out a load to take to the tip but on the day we were going to go, the sink was gone! Vanished! (And we have quite a long drive.)

The sink had a great, big crack in it so I don't imagine that anyone wanted it for their bathroom. The only thing we could imagine was that someone thought that they might upcycle it by turning it into a flower planter - but wouldn't you think that they might knock on the door and ask if they could take it? It was very strange. We're still puzzled.

We had a major clear out and put a tv in our skip: it had been top of the range in the 1990s - one of those huge ones on wheels which weighs a ton. Fast forward to the next evening and we are over the road visiting neighbours and we notice someone wheeling our old tv down the road and driving off in a taxi. Next night, we are awoken around 2am and there’s the same 2 blokes emptying the skip contents onto the pavement. Husband goes out to remonstrate with them - and discovers that they were looking for the remote control….

The remote was sitting in our mantelpiece! Husband agreed that if they put everything back in the skip they could have the remote.

They left it tidily stacked and off they went with the remote control 😂

Taking out fine and seems helpful to create more space, dumping in it no.

She specifically said she DIDN'T mind. Honestly people are so keen to dump on others that they really cba to read a whole short paragraph?

I live in Spain and people make their living doing this. You even see them digging around in the normal public wheelie bins with their feet sticking out 😂

I find it funny that you are looking down on the people that have taken the stuff, the fact you are shocked by it highlights your ignorance. Skips are for building waste that needs disposing of property that you can't do yourself.
Putting things that can be reused and recycled probably for cash is selfish and snobbish.
You may as well have put a sign on the skip saying;
Here is my unwanted stuff, I am too lazy to take it to a charity shop or post it for free on a selling site, I can't even be bothered to put it at the end of my drive with a sign saying 'free' but the only way you can have it is by knocking on my door and asking me for it as I have enough cash to pay a skip company to take it and smash it to bits and bury it in land fill.
And you look down on them??
This is what a skip of stuff says to me, I wouldn't be knocking on your door either!

Yes it is yours but give your head a shake please!

Quoting myself here before everybody jumps on me claiming I didn't read the bit that says she didn't mind.
My point is by putting it in the skip says you probably will mind to others! It doesn't say I am a nice person who is happy to give my unwanted stuff away to people who may need it. If you don't mind stick a sign on saying, please knock if you want to take something so I am aware you are on my drive! You are expecting the to assume you're not the person you're advertising you are, that's not their fault! Redeem yourself and stick a sign on! Everyone will be happy! A simple solution that would take no time at all!

A skip is rubbish, I would just be grateful. Our local metal collectors were very useful when we were sent 3 bent radiators in a row. The first one outisde they asked if they could take it, the second they knocked to ask if I wanted it brought in as it was raining so "yer new one will rust" and were delighted tglhat was scrap too. I made an appointment for them to check when the third one arrived - they knocked again to double check it was definitely bent rather than just dropped off. Lovely polite men. I would have been really pissed off ny having to make disposal effort otherwise.

Please don’t advise this, they are not going to be interested and if it’s metal, then it’s highly likely to be the scrap metal merchants (all of whom are travellers round our way). Fair play to them, they’re creating more room for the OP. Yes, technically it’s theft, but not really actionable.

Well you’re not storing the items in the skip they are in there to be disposed of why do they need to ask ? It’s good if things get reused instead of going to landfill etc if you want to get rid of it why bother about it ?

She said "isn't it polite to ask first??!" Which to me indicates that she actually did mind that they didn't ask first.

No one is dumping, except for you maybe.

I left our old washing machine by our front door which is about 8 metres from the pavement - was out for 45 mins and it got taken ... good job it wasn't the new one lol

Anyone suggesting calling the police is ridiculous.

You would have to be stupid to put something you want to keep in a skip. Dipping is acceptable by most normal people.

Years ago I had an allotment and my boyfriend and I would check skips for windows - we managed to set up lots of great coldframes to start off fruit and veg early. Far better used for that than dumped into a pit.

It’s pretty common & means you can fit more in the skip. I don’t think it’s rude, you have literally thrown it away & are sending it off to landfill. They are then taking it out of the skip, freeing you up space & recycling it… so better off all round.

You would have to be stupid to put something you want to keep in a skip. Dipping is acceptable by most normal people.

Possibly less so if the skip is on private property. As I said on another post the thieving bastards tried to take the wrought iron gates and some plant pots that were near the skip but certainly not in it. After that I didn't want anyone coming in the garden to rummage as I was worried what else they might take a fancy to

in the eyes of the law this is technically classed as theft so illegal, once in the skip the rightful owner then becomes the skip company so they are stealing from the skip company but like PP’s have said, it gives you more room & someone is going to make use of it so i couldn’t feel too put out and wouldn’t bother reporting personally