I’m visiting a rural part of the southern US, and I have noticed that about 2/3 of the houses outside the town have yards full of cars and tractors in various states of disrepair, as well as tons of other miscellaneous stuff. Why is that? Is it kind of a culture of self-reliance and a supply of spare parts? Some other reason?
One or more of the following reasons.
- Cost to dispose of it is greater than zero.
- They or someone they know might need it later.
- They plan on doing something with it, but can’t afford to right now.
- They don’t have a garage or shed to store it in, or they do but those are also full.
- Their backyard has an above ground pool, so no room there.
- They are hoping that someone driving by sees something and makes them an offer.
- They are too overwhelmed working 3 jobs to spend the time and effort to get it cleaned up.
- Mental illness
Leaded fuel
Don’t forget drugs!
Rural dweller here. This is correct.
Cost to dispose of it is greater than zero.
I was looking for a comment mentioning this. If it’s a rural area, the local waste management facility might take a trek to get to. If you have to make multiple trips, or rent/hire a vehicle to get rid of something (like having to tow an old car), the time and cost can add up.
So if it’s not accepted with a typical trash pick-up, it’s still gotta be somewhere, even if you don’t want it anymore. Keeping it on your own property is at least more ethical than dumping it in the woods somewhere (though you’ll find plenty of that in some areas, too.)
Probably for the same reason I have a closet full of computer parts, except I can’t fit tractors and cars in my closet.
Not with THAT attitude you won’t!
Can’t speak for the rural people of the US, but when you’re working on a bunch of projects, while the life keeps getting in your way, causing delays, stuff tends to… pile up. For example, I have a car in my living room at this very moment.
Did it seem like a good idea at the time? Sure. 24x7 access regardless of the current weather means more time to work on it.
Did I work on it? Nope.
Was there a wasp nest embedded inside, releasing a steady flow of young wasps inside the house? Absolutely!
Is that a reliant robin? Badass.
Wasp nest was definitely worth it, agreed.
Nope, it’s a CityEL. Originally made in Denmark in 1987. The manufacturer went bankrupt several times. Each time someone else took over up until 2018. The design has never canged much. There has been something like 3 iterations of the top cover and 3 different motors throughout the years. Mine was made in 1995 and utilizes a motor originally intended for a forklift.
When I’m done with it, it will hopefully get a proper registration and will be able to recharge either by connecting directly to the DC output of a solar panel, as well as the standard grid outlet, and a type 2 charging station.
For anyone who’s interested in joining this low power EV cult, check out these videos by @bleeptrack
That’s wild and awesome, TIL, thanks!
That’s awesome. How wide is that and how wide are your doors? I couldn’t image other then maybe French doors
Yes, you can see the french doors in the background. The car itself is a little more than 1 meter wide, with rear-view mirrors sticking out even further. I got something like 5cm to spare on either side.
Junk removal is expensive and if you’re outside of a municipality all trash pickup is done by private arrangement.
A lot of people way out in the boonies with a decent amount of land will dig a trench and just dump their trash in it. Great for groundwater I’m sure.
Among other things, since moving to a more rural part of our state, we have uncovered these items that I assume the previous owners dumped in the woods around us:
- A 1960-ish era chainsaw
- A car battery
- Rusty pipe
- Jugs full of what looks like motor oil
- Empty plastic bottles
- A large roll of some sort of material like landscaping cloth that is overrun with moss & roots now.
- A rechargeable battery for power tools
- What appears to be the bed cover for a pickup truck
- Loads of other smaller plastic scraps
Wow, that’s irresponsible.
Everyone knows car batteries go in the ocean.
Also, burning it in a pit or those big metal barrels.
No, the big metal barrels are all being used by the hobos living under the elevated train lines in the city.
The south, and rural areas, in general tend to be poorer. This often comes with a mindset of “don’t throw that out, we might need it/be able to use it someday”. That’s potential future money saved by keeping that crap on the lawn.
“I know what I got”
Inside of houses are no better just look at Malcom in the middle home. Stuff everywhere.
Most of that is “still good. I’m gonna fix it up when i get a chance.” If there is still room, there will be more stuff.
Its the redneck retirement plan. They’ll fix this stuff and sell it for amazing amounts of money someday.
Someday, that old planter will become a fountain.
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Every time we move house, my office gets smaller. As we have a rule where the work room needs to be self-contained, my space to stash old NICs or HDDs that I need to shred is contracting.
Many of these folks also watch prices of scrap metal. If it gets high enough, you’ll see lots of that disappear and turn into money in their pocket. Prices for scrap, especially steel is extremely low right now compared to a few years ago. Many of them are waiting on the price to recover to cash in.
In the south it’s also more common to either not have a garage at all or have a carport instead of an enclosed garage. It’s just easier to leave your car or vehicle (tractor) out anyway. Combine that with, I need to sell this or work on it at some point, you park it in your yard and will get around to it someday. Or maybe your cousin might need it one day so you’ll keep it. It’s a bit of an ingrained impoverished idea that you “might need it someday” attitude.
I’m also staying with family that are regularly using tractors pushing 60? 70? Years. I’m not even sure how old they are, but it takes a bunch of parts and pieces to keep these things running. Luckily here though the scraps are either off in a barn or not directly in between the house and the street.
That 1970 Farmall can be fixed at home, rather than the 50,000+ John Deere that has DRM/No Right to Repair
Based on my limited knowledge, but knowing a few people with yards like that. One is certainly something you are right about.
But also, least to my knowledge in this area, junk yards, scrap yards etc… are a pretty good distance away. So selling/getting rid of large, heavy junk costs more than the scrap is worth. Hence old washing machines etc… In rural areas a lot of people are scraping by on food stamps, barely keeping the power on etc… would have lost the house years ago if it weren’t paid off by the previous generation.
Obviously no HOA’s, no one worried about how the houses look, and it’s common enough that no one is really embarassed by it.
Old washing machines and ice boxes are great for keeping snakes and other wildlife out of the compost and fishing worms, too.
Just because they look rusty and old doesn’t mean they’re junk, but even if they are, there will be no urgency to dispose of them. Most people who aren’t minimalists don’t dispose of things except for aesthetic reasons, unless they’re out of room. Many rural people have a relatively narrow scope for aesthetics that doesn’t include what you might call the front yard, and being rural, it’s really hard to run out of room. Therefore, there is no urgency to dispose of stuff that has become “junk”, and when you do, you will probably do it all at once, as a project, once you start feeling like you’re running out of room, which takes quite awhile, so you’re very likely to see the development of the junk pile in its intermediate stages.
it might be worth something some day.
Like those beanie babies.
- It’s still in use, but perhaps seasonally or infrequently.
- It’s gonna get fixed just as soon as I have time.
- It’s got parts for the other one I have.
- Might be useful someday. It’s got parts, and the hardware store is 20 miles away.
- Scrap metal value.
- The dump is 20 miles away, gonna get a load built up and do a dump run with Jimmy, just as soon as his trailer gets fixed.
- The dump doesn’t take that thing.
- Redneck decor.
- The dump is closed
My favorite are the old bathtubs stood up and half-buried with statues of the Virgin Mary or Jesus inside.
Who would make the Holy Virgin or Sacred Son stand outside in just any kind of weather without shelter?!
…southern US…
I’d say that fundamentally it’s because it’s culturally accepted in those areas.
“Everyone does it” is a frighteningly strong impetus to do something.
Because the back yard is already full.
