A man called me and said he is taking down two oaks in a town about 30 miles from me and wanted to know if I want him to bring the trunk and limbs here. I don't know if that means ALL limbs, even 'slash' or what. He has a dump trailer. Regardless, I guess I would be willing to try him out, I could haul off or burn the small stuff. The situation is that for him to come to me, he will turn east off his northern route to his house, where he would burn this stuff and to get to me is 20 miles. So, 20 miles to here and then 20 miles back to his northern route to go to his place, which from that detour point is probably another 20 miles north. Hmmm... wonder why he wants to give it to me? Maybe he has limited room or something. He said if he takes it home he will just burn it, so, not sure what's going on there. The reason he knows about me is because he took down a large oak at a friend of mine's house six months ago and I stopped and spoke with him and told him I would take drops and he took my number. Very nice hispanic guy. At least one of the trees was struck by lightning. I think he said they are green. Which is fine. Good for 2024! I also will have him look at some trees in my yard that I might want someone to take down that I will not tackle. If he is bonded, I could refer business to him, I occasionally come across people who want trees removed that I will not fell. Would you give him a tip if it's a good drop? I have never paid for trees but it would take my labor and gas and such for me to get logs on my yard. But, I might have to haul off his 'slash.' If it's a dump trailer, it's probably not too loaded with slash but if it is one of those huge bobtail trucks, that can be bad news for the slash because I have seen those guys pack it slam full of small limbs and it's a mess, lol.
A case of beer or a bottle of a fine liquor would be a nice tip, where he called you. If you liquid tips are refused, have cash on hand. He might remember you for the next time.
I personally have never paid for a wood drop off nor have i ever gotten one. I tried to get some nice honey locust from a tree service, but due to a mix up they couldnt find my place. I was gonna pay him. HL a rare score for me. If you are pleased a tip never hurts, but if youre doing him a favor i could see not tipping.
Around here the local tree places won’t dump unless you pay them seasoned, processed cord prices estimated off scribner. 200 for softwood, 350 for hard wood dropped at road edge only. Now after some antics, most pay to take it to the vegetation recycling yards or the dump. A tip is a small price in the grand scheme of appreciating their willingness to work with you. Owl
I would tip. We tip wait staff for basically taking an order and maybe refilling cups. There’s way more involved in delivering a tree.
I usually don't pay for drop offs. The tree guys are usually charging for removal/haul, and then save the money when they can get rid of the wood for free. I've become friendly with a couple of tree companies. I will always suggest the company if people (especially on FB) are looking for referrals
Sure, I’d pay him a tip. Why is he willing to bring it to you? Well, looking at it from my perspective, it would take days to burn up a couple big green oaks.
Tip you bet!! take him out to dinner and maybe he will tell a story to a few friends. Oak is heavy and 40 extra miles on a truck and trailer $20 isn’t covering his cost much less time
Yes, I would definitely tip him. Think about the time and effort and fuel for you to scrounge it yourself. I'd love if someone offered to drop hardwoods at my house.
I've gotten a few loads from a local tree service who has done work for me in the past. He'll call or shoot me a text if he's working in the area and ask if I want an oak/maple/birch, whatever he is working on. No limbs, no chips, just bigger stuff. Sometimes I come home and see a load sitting over by my stacks. I tried to give him some cash a couple times, but he won't take it - as he says, dropping it here saves him time and fuel, and I've referred a lot of people to him so he's good with that. The closest thing to a tip he accepted was some cold drinks and snacks for him and his crew when he was working here a couple summers ago.
Here is a pic of first load. Another to come. This is water oak. My app calculated the raw unsplit volume to 97 cu ft, which I would think is over 1 split cord. Two longest logs are 9 ft long. I will stack the splits and find out. I gave him $20. I was pleased he brought me only firewood worthy logs/limbs, no slash. He was going back to load that and dispose of it at his place I guess, to burn it. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
We have a very good tree guy here that I have employed several times for those trees that are either too big/too close to buildings for me to tackle. He has a bucket truck and a chipper and cleans up the site extremely well. Either one or two of his sons (work for fire department) help when they are not on station. They will drop off logs for me if I let them know what I am looking for. I always give the boys some cash as it’s a nice gift to get the logs and not have to deal with all of the limbs
I was going to reply that I'd definitely tip for his time effort and fuel. That was before I saw the logs that he dropped. That's primo stuff, take all you can.
For sure ! You want more right ? I've given my most reliable hauler Christmas cards with a few $50's in there the past 3 years. Also have left him little gifts as payment in water tight containers for when he stops by un-announced. I've moved up on his list of recipients.
Looks like you got a good deal. If he's working next door/nearby, a tip may not be needed. But for the distance he drove to bring you primo wood, it seems like a reasonable thing to do. If you get a load of trash, I'd rethink things.
