Panda (again) - This time vs South Dublin Coco

JustSomeone

Hiyez,

Long, boring and number filled post follows... I'm only posting because I don't see how this adds up, and the sales flunkie on the phone was unable to explain the calculation.

Panda have been leafletting my area in Clondalkin, telling me that I could be saving €117 by switching to them for my bin collection. The €117 is asterisked to say it represents an average consumer putting their black bin out 48 times a year.

Panda advises that the black bins have a 20kg capacity. Regardless of whether I go with Panda or the corpo (via Oxigen), I will have to pay per bin, so you can be sure the bin will be stuffed whenever I do put it out.

The corpo charges €8 per bin regardless of weight
Panda charges €64 annually, + €3.20 per bin + 20c per kg.

Assuming 48 x 20kg bins, the annual charges work out as follows:

Panda: 64 [annual fee], + 48*3.20 [pickup fee] + 48*20*.2[weight charge]
= €491.52

Corpo: 48*8
= €384

=> Panda is €107.52 (28%) DEARER

As I say, if I'm paying per bin (either provider) I'm going to wait until it's stuffed before I put it out. Assuming 20kg per bin, I'd have to have my black bin collected 80 times a year before Panda became cheaper. 51-52 is the most collections I'll get from either provider. So that's never gonna happen.

If I crammed 25kg in every time, Panda would never be cheaper. Even if they waived the €64 annual fee.

If we continue the assumption of an average of 48 collections a year, I'd have to restrict myself to putting 17kg in the bin before Panda became cheaper than the Corpo. I'd have to be really sparing and drop to 5kg per bin before I hit the €117 difference. But that means I'd be putting out bins which are only quarter full, which would be costing me way over the odds.

So, my question to you boarders is - "Is Panda's pricing a crock compared to South Dublin County Council / Oxigen's or am I making a balls of the calculations?"

Zzippy

JustSomeone wrote: »

Hiyez,



If we continue the assumption of an average of 48 collections a year, I'd have to restrict myself to putting 17kg in the bin before Panda became cheaper than the Corpo. I'd have to be really sparing and drop to 5kg per bin before I hit the €117 difference. But that means I'd be putting out bins which are only quarter full, which would be costing me way over the odds.

So, my question to you boarders is - "Is Panda's pricing a crock compared to South Dublin County Council / Oxigen's or am I making a balls of the calculations?"

Your earlier calculation is right. But if you were putting 5kg in, you would only have to put the bin out 12 times instead of 48 so your total for the year would be around €150.
Just to compare, I'm with Citybin in Galway. Annual charge is about €180, no charge per bin, just 10c per kg of waste. Green and brown bins lifted FOC.
My average bill is €200 per year, but then I recycle as much as i can, and live alone, so don't have huge amounts of waste.

Scruff

as far as i can see my neighbours panda bin is out for days on end waiting for collection and looks to have a smaller volume that the standard bins.

That and i think a pay by weight system is wide open to abuse by the colletion agent as there is no way visible metering that u can check. would only trust it if they had smart bins with an inbuilt scale and display.

JustSomeone

Galwayguy99 wrote: »

My average bill is €200 per year, but then I recycle as much as i can, and live alone, so don't have huge amounts of waste.

There's three of us - one going through many nappies, so the bin fills quite quickly. You may be relieved to hear that while we didn't go for the reusable cloth nappies, we do use biodegradable nappies

Zzippy

Scruff wrote: »

That and i think a pay by weight system is wide open to abuse by the colletion agent as there is no way visible metering that u can check. would only trust it if they had smart bins with an inbuilt scale and display.

Yes, but I'm always surprised when I get the bill (by email, they save on waste paper too!) at how little I'm charged for. Usually no more than 5kg, when the bin feels heavier and you'd think there was a lot more in it.

Tony

They also take glass in the green bin and no messing with bin tags

JustSomeone

Galwayguy99 wrote: »

Usually no more than 5kg, when the bin feels heavier and you'd think there was a lot more in it.

Is that a full-sized wheelie bin, crammed full of bin bags? They only charge for 5kg for that?

The_Conductor

I'm SDCC too. We're a couple who probably generate more than our fair share of waste. However- we get away with a bin every 2 weeks, sometimes up to 3 weeks- at 8 Euro a go. If you compare this to the Panda nonsense- we're saving a small fortune. Your calculations are right- but I'd hazard a guess that you're even being generous to Panda in them, that you could plug in even more unfavourable figures quite legitimately.

S.

getoffthepot

Tony wrote: »

They also take glass in the green bin and no messing with bin tags

Surprised at that because glass should be streamed separately.
Are you sure they are recycling it?

Tony

getoffthepot wrote: »

Surprised at that because glass should be streamed separately.
Are you sure they are recycling it?

Well they say they are but obviously I cannot be sure

Dodge

saw one Panda bin in my estate the other day (South Dublin CoCo) and looked into it a bit more. Just like a poster above we very rarely have a bin out every week for collection so the SDCC €8 bin tag will continue

ROVER

I live within Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Co Co. Panda provide a much better & cheaper service than rip off DLRCOCO. But if I had the €8.00 bin tag option I would stick with it. In my estate Panda would have about 40% market share.

Krusty_Clown

Dlr. Coco charges a lift charge, a weight charge and an annual service charge, just as Panda does. So your maths is only applicable for Dublin Corporation.

Dodge

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Dlr. Coco charges a lift charge, a weight charge and an annual service charge, just as Panda does. So your maths is only applicable for Dublin Corporation.

His maths is applicable for SDCC, which is the area he lives in.