Deathtrap Dryer

[terriko]

I said on twitter:

It appears someone may have stolen our broken dryer from the backyard. The gas-powered one that was going to burn down the house. Not sad.

But someone asked on fb what's up with that, so here's the longer story:

It's a slightly longer story than fits in a tweet: The broken dryer was in the backyard since they replaced it yesterday, and we'd been told someone was coming to pick it up, so when someone rang the doorbell John showed them the dryer in the backyard and they carted it off.

But then the friend/cousin of the landlord's who'd been helping with this showed up and was all "someone's coming to pick up the dryer" whereupon John said "he's already been and gone" and Cousin was all "uhh... I hope not" and it turns out that apparently they'd arranged on fb for this guy to show up and give the cousin $20 for the dryer. But he didn't give us any money, and we didn't know to ask for it (also, I'm not sure I'd ask anyone for money for Deathtrap Dryer anyhow, but that's another story about how I think gas-powered appliances with broken shutoffs shouldn't be in use).

So then Cousin was all upset and phoning the dude because we don't even know if it's the *right* guy who came to get the dryer or whether they had this whole conversation on someone's public facebook wall and some stranger was all "huh, free dryer in the backyard!" or what. John helpfully pointed out that it could, technically, be reported as theft.

Meanwhile, I am thrilled that Deathtrap Dryer is gone, and if it burns down a thief's house, so be it. ;)

In short: We didn't have to pay someone to haul away the dangerous old dryer! No matter what the landlords call it, I figure that's a win.

Comments

[puzzlement]

In Sydney at least it would have been taken for scrap metal, especially copper, to be stripped out, so the chance of it burning down a house in its death throes is negligible.

If you leave stuff made out of metal in the street visible here it will be gone within hours without prior arrangement: my sister got rid of her washing machine and dryer by having them out the front for literally 2 minutes and a ute full of dead ones pulled over and the driver asked if he could take them.

Not that I do dump stuff in the street here, but if it's made of metal, its dumping life is short.

[terriko]

What John heard of the phone conversation implied that the "thief" was going to try the dryer out before paying the $20, so we're actually reasonably sure the person intends to use it (and now reasonably sure that this was the person who had been invited to pick it up).

But yeah, the thing was in the backyard and probably not very visible from the street. People around here also have seeming entire scrap metal repositories in their lawns, though, so I'm guessing the pricing for such things isn't so good that people feel a need to lock 'em up.

Strangely, I have no idea how long things on the curb last here. We have these giant bins and things won't be taken if they're not in the bins, so I seldom see junk on the side of the street with a "free" sign on it the way I expect in other places.

[puzzlement]

There's a once-a-month kerbside large rubbish collection that doesn't require bins here. At other times, in theory stuff isn't taken if it isn't in bins here either. Just, people move in and out a lot and when moving out they don't especially give a toss about whether their former neighbours have to deal with their junk in the street.

Abandoned cars are actually a huge problem for this council. Apparently what happens is that backpackers buy a car on its last legs, drive it to death, bring it to Sydney, dump it near their last youth hostel, and catch a taxi to the airport. (They can't stick a "free" sign on it etc, because they need to do a bunch of paperwork to transfer the registration properly and are responsible for paying for a roadworthy check before the transfer.) We have one out the back of our place right now, I should give the council a ring about starting the process of having it declared abandoned.

[ivy]

That is both fascinating as a phenomenon, and must be incredibly aggravating to everyone there. Externalized costs issues are so often like that, and one of the biggest sources of political fighting here.

[puzzlement]

There's actually probably a fairly decent fine* awaiting the car owners should they ever return to Australia, and many Europeans at least will eventually come multiple times. But it's not really a lifestyle that attracts people who worry about things like "what about if I get fined on re-entry in 7 years time?"

I don't think the car thing in particular is an especially fraught political issue. It's just a bit expensive: the council ultimately needs to pay for the car to be towed away, and for its storage during the period before it can be declared completely abandoned and sold for scrap. (Which is I think 4 weeks from being towed.) Backpackers in general can be a bit fraught, because they are noisy and as short-term visitors they naturally have lower investment in the health (general health that is, happiness and neighbourliness) of the community. But they spend money. So people interested in living in a pleasant neighbourhood end up opposed to those interested in selling services to tourists.

* In addition to littering, the vehicle is unregistered, and unregistered cars aren't supposed to be parked on the street because they lack third-party injury insurance. The fine for being caught driving such is well over $1000, I don't know what the fine for merely parking one illegally is.

[ivy]

That sounds rather like an overblown case of poetic justice waiting to happen... apparently small $20 sized explosions that don't actually hurt anyone are hard to come by, but death traps are cheap. Eek. But hey, at least they've definitively made it not your problem any more!