Working from home today I noticed a pickup truck park in front of my house. He kept looking at my house and typing something into an ipad of some type. I walked outside and watched him from the garage. Eventually he got out and began messing with my Waste Management recycling bin....which was at the end of the driveway.

"what ya doing?" I asked.
"Putting a sticker on the can" he responded.
"why?"
"No clue! Just told I was supposed to."

As soon as he left I went down and inspected the can and found what I could only describe as a 'resistor' glued under the lip. I checked a few of my neighbor's cans and found the same device.

I'm assuming this is someway to track pickups are happening without slowing the driver down to have to enter it somehow?

I didn't have time to fuck with it, but as soon as I get home tonight that fucker is coming out and into the garbage.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
I'm assuming this is someway to track pickups are happening without slowing the driver down to have to enter it somehow?

I didn't have time to fuck with it, but as soon as I get home tonight that fucker is coming out and into the garbage.

That's what I'd think too.

Not sure "the man" is going to gain much insight into your life that can't be known by the fact that he is pulling up to your house, knows your name, etc.

before you do that give us a picture I'm sure we can identify it. OR just call WM and ask about it, after all it is their can.

I would guess that there is a receiver in the garbage truck that reads this device. If the scan shows you have not paid your bill, no trash pick up.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:

as soon as I get home tonight that fucker is coming out and into the garbage.

Better idea: get some two-sided mounting tape and use it to stick the device under the bumper or inside the fender of a randomly selected vehicle in the parking lot at work, or better yet, a Walmart parking lot.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:

as soon as I get home tonight that fucker is coming out and into the garbage.

Better idea: get some two-sided mounting tape and use it to stick the device under the bumper or inside the fender of a randomly selected vehicle in the parking lot at work, or better yet, a Walmart parking lot.

Stick it on a WM vehicle.

You guys are sometimes just a taddddddd over the top. Are we worried The Man's tracking the number of beer cans in can or something? This is as whacky as worrying about someone knowing what appliances I might be running.

Best case scenario is it keeps the driver's honest and on time. What's not like about that?

Worst case is Yooper's and your recycled shit sits there forever under the false impression you're a deadbeat.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I would guess that there is a receiver in the garbage truck that reads this device. If the scan shows you have not paid your bill, no trash pick up.

Hell, it may be a social experiment to see how many folks would actually remove it out of fear of trackeration or just on general get off my lawn principle!

So he destroys it and WM then says we can't verify your paid so we don't pick up your trash. How long until someone comes to replace it? Guy's sitting on 8 months of bud light cans until Jethro shows up and puts the wrong address into the system again.

Uhh why don't you just call WM and get the low down first before you destroy what is likely their property and pay a replacement fee.

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
before you do that give us a picture I'm sure we can identify it. OR just call WM and ask about it, after all it is their can.

If the garbage can belongs to WM, I wouldn't do anything to that device. It might be a way to find a can that has been "relocated" from where it belongs (without authorization). You might go ahead and check with WM about it, though.

flashguy

Rare Earth Magnet.

It's probably a RFID device. Truck has a searcher, knows it needs to pick up your trash, there it is, good, and we did our job. Probably some WM metric management where drivers have to pick up so many per shift.

Be careful tampering with electronics, they may have built in defense systems....

What are you doing Dave...

This is highly irregular....


Mostl Likely it's a part of a smart bin system to help reduce costs on routing, I doubt they are analyzing your recycle contents,

Then again, (tin foil hat on) if you don't recycle, then your city/county might put a non recycle fee on your bill if they see you don't deploy the container each week.. A trash tax...

https://www.smartbin.com/

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Be careful tampering with electronics, they may have built in defense systems....

What are you doing Dave...

This is highly irregular....


Mostl Likely it's a part of a smart bin system to help reduce costs on routing, I doubt they are analyzing your recycle contents,

Then again, (tin foil hat on) if you don't recycle, then your city/county might put a non recycle fee on your bill if they see you don't deploy the container each week.. A trash tax...

https://www.smartbin.com/

We have that here.

When I was deployed to the oilspill, BP installed RFI stickers on each piece of gear they bought...it was used for inventory.

I think your "thingy" is one of two things:

inventory control or

RFID to ensure the truck is doing it's job...

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

I wouldn't worry about it...my big green rolly waste can belongs to the city...so I'm not gonna mess with it.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
before you do that give us a picture I'm sure we can identify it. OR just call WM and ask about it, after all it is their can.

If the garbage can belongs to WM, I wouldn't do anything to that device. It might be a way to find a can that has been "relocated" from where it belongs (without authorization). You might go ahead and check with WM about it, though.

flashguy

I wish we had that here. I've had my big trash can swapped for someone else's small can twice.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
... as soon as I get home tonight that fucker is coming out and into the garbage.

Why? To what nefarious purpose does your fevered imagination ascribe this device?

Once the garbage is at the curb it may be searched. They probably informed you in tiny print on your bill that a new monitoring program will be implemented.

Certainly you have better or more important things to worry about than your trash can inventory.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
... as soon as I get home tonight that fucker is coming out and into the garbage.

Why? To what nefarious purpose does your fevered imagination ascribe this device?

LOL

There has been a recent push in my town to better enforce recycling compliance as folks are being accused of dumping their recycling into the garbage. Somehow being electrionicly monitored by the city pisses me off.