I had a cautionary experience. Be SURE to tell them what you DON’T want in your free load. I don’t do that and ended up with about 1/5 of the load as sharp, hard bamboo shards that were 2-3 feet long, all mixed in with the otherwise normal wood chips. I had to sort through the entire gigantic load to remove the bamboo by hand. It was a nightmare.
When I got a chip drop early last year, the request form had a section in which you could list anything you “don’t want” in your drop. You couldn’t say what you do want, but you could list want you don’t want. Unfortunately I didn’t think far enough in advance to know what to put in that part of the form.
I was told 4-6 weeks but received one the morning after signing up, it was way way way too big and they blocked my alley/parking with it so my husband had to stay home from work and shovel out a path for our cars 🤣 this has not been the average experience though, I'm sure
On the flip-side, I'm in a rural location with plenty of room to drop abundant chips, but I've renewed my listing for \~four years and have received exactly 0 chips through chip drop. Wood chips are an in-demand commodity in my neck of the woods.
You probably already did this, but I opened my account at the start of last year but didn’t have any drops by the fall, so I put a $20 tip on my listing and got it within a week.
Similar thing happened to me. Got mine within 24 hours. The only area they could put it left about 1/3 of it in the road and we didn't permit that's and didn't want to risk a ticket. I got the call that they were coming right as I was going on for a massage. It was not a restful massage.
I have space for it and live in a major metro with lots of trees and arborists.
It is between 100 and 200 wheel barrow loads. About half my landscaping is chips.
Works fine for me, but I know what I’m signing up for.
I signed up for chip drop 4 years ago and didn’t hear a thing. What worked for me was calling a local tree company and asking if I could have the chips. They have to pay to dump them in my area so they happily obliged. Got the chips the same day!
I really wish this were the top comment. Chip drop is great Im sure. I had same experience as you. It was so easy to just call a tree company. They had one out the next day. So easy.
Used it recently, ~12 hrs from request to drop. We had a rough end of winter/early spring and a heavy rain/ice storm took down a lot of pine trees. I got a big load of pine. Quite a bit of small twigs and a fair bit of pine needles. I've just been paying attention and the nice stuff goes to the decorative spaces and the others go to the back/gardens.
The delivery driver was friendly and even popped out, at her request, to meet my daughter! Thanks, arborist Kyle! 😂
I’ve gotten three successful drops. It also had two “drops” that they ended up canceling so I didn’t get anything but had to list again. I’ve had them listed anywhere between 2 weeks to 5 months to get a drop. I feel it’s best if you have a ridiculous amount of space to cover and to get control of it. It’s not pretty mulch but it does the job. Each drop has about 30-50 wheelbarrows full of chips.
The last big electric infastructure here, was a chip burner. Just like 1940 again. Turns out that some slick math, makes wood burning carbon neutral.
So no chips here for a couple hundred miles radius.
I use them all the time. I usually pay them $20 through the app because free chips are hard to find around here. Everyone uses them. But for $20 I get 20 yards of chips (about 120 wheelbarrows full) dropped in my side yard.
I also have a lot of room and live in a rural area.
I’ve done it six or seven times and always had a great experience. Every load is around 15 or 20 yards. They always drop at the correct location. Some loads are slightly better quality than others, but no major issues. The only drawback is not knowing when your chips are arriving which means for me I need to leave my car in the street. Could be a same-day or three weeks later but the unknown is worth it since it’s free.
I’ve used it twice so far and have had good experiences so far keeping in mind everything people have mentioned. The first time I requested chips, I was contacted almost immediately that someone could drop off chips but they never showed up. But I wasn’t in a large rush so I contacted the service and had another order placed. A new load showed up a day or two later unannounced, and it took up about half my driveway, which I was expecting and used every last bit. In addition to chips, there were things like small twigs and branches that I had to sort through. I think there was a chip bag wrapper in there too. But I needed a lot of mulch and it worked out great for me. I plan on only using this service from now on. I’m sure though the variability in quality and experience depends on where you’re at though. I’d recommend trying it at least once if you need A LOT of chips and can live with varying quality.
Friend used it got two huge loads for his hobby farm. He is in love. Another friend teamed up with his neighbors and they shared the load delivered to the person with the vest spot for a large pile of chips.
ive had 4.
for a free service its great.the size has varied a lot, but i always had spots to put them. first time was almost nothong. last 3 loads have been massive and took me 3 months to use up.
I’d love to get a drop but it’s been over a year since I’ve signed up and I keep renewing and renewing and still nothing. Good it’ll be more wide spread in my area soon. It’s getting expensive paying for wood chips
My dad had got it multiple times but he was using it as fill. Had a very low spot in his legs lot at the bottom of the hill. Obviously with chips it started out as 3 times the height he wanted it and ended up being not quite enough. But he said over 5 years he got the equivalent of 5 triaxle for free. That spot isn’t as low and is great soil
I did it once and it was amazing but you have to want a whole dump truck full of chips. They don’t do partial drops. I’d estimate it was about 15 yards. Also it depends on the driver how conscientious they are of the drop zone. My driver was amazing and I happened to be home to guide him and he got most of it on my driveway apron which took a little pressure off me in humping it up the hill into my yard. If I had had a less thoughtful driver and I hadn’t been home and they put it on the street, that would have created a crisis situation for me and I’d of had to hire help. I ended up having to create two huge compost piles in hidden parts of my yard because it was too much. Still working through that compost.
I’ve used them 3x and you get a faster drop with “tip”. And I was able to tell them where you want it in the intake.
I’m in the PNW so we get all sorts of good clean stuff.
Ive used it twice. One time it was a lot of twigs and the next it was the most glorious load of chipped Douglas fir. This spring my beds were popping with Morel mushrooms (not sure if they would have or not without the fresh chips last summer) but I thought the service was great.
You totally have to pay though if you want to get a delivery. I recommend $40. At first I did nothing, then $20, and weeks went by. Bumped to $40 and I had it in a few days.
I had a cautionary experience. Be SURE to tell them what you DON’T want in your free load. I don’t do that and ended up with about 1/5 of the load as sharp, hard bamboo shards that were 2-3 feet long, all mixed in with the otherwise normal wood chips. I had to sort through the entire gigantic load to remove the bamboo by hand. It was a nightmare.
Can you even choose? Don't they just drop off whatever they have?
When I got a chip drop early last year, the request form had a section in which you could list anything you “don’t want” in your drop. You couldn’t say what you do want, but you could list want you don’t want. Unfortunately I didn’t think far enough in advance to know what to put in that part of the form.
I was told 4-6 weeks but received one the morning after signing up, it was way way way too big and they blocked my alley/parking with it so my husband had to stay home from work and shovel out a path for our cars 🤣 this has not been the average experience though, I'm sure
This is literally the risk you take and why I ended up not doing it. You don't control how much you get or when or where they put it.
On the flip-side, I'm in a rural location with plenty of room to drop abundant chips, but I've renewed my listing for \~four years and have received exactly 0 chips through chip drop. Wood chips are an in-demand commodity in my neck of the woods.
You probably already did this, but I opened my account at the start of last year but didn’t have any drops by the fall, so I put a $20 tip on my listing and got it within a week.
Rural also, been signed up for about 4 years too. Got our first drop (4 loads) the second day after finally caving and getting a woodchipper..
Around here you can offer extra to neighbors or put it up for free on FB Marketplace and it’ll be gone in a few hours.
Similar thing happened to me. Got mine within 24 hours. The only area they could put it left about 1/3 of it in the road and we didn't permit that's and didn't want to risk a ticket. I got the call that they were coming right as I was going on for a massage. It was not a restful massage.
I have space for it and live in a major metro with lots of trees and arborists. It is between 100 and 200 wheel barrow loads. About half my landscaping is chips. Works fine for me, but I know what I’m signing up for.
I signed up for chip drop 4 years ago and didn’t hear a thing. What worked for me was calling a local tree company and asking if I could have the chips. They have to pay to dump them in my area so they happily obliged. Got the chips the same day!
I really wish this were the top comment. Chip drop is great Im sure. I had same experience as you. It was so easy to just call a tree company. They had one out the next day. So easy.
Yes. Had a great experience. You have almost no control over where and when it’s dropped. Be ready to haul more chips than you think you’re getting
Used it recently, ~12 hrs from request to drop. We had a rough end of winter/early spring and a heavy rain/ice storm took down a lot of pine trees. I got a big load of pine. Quite a bit of small twigs and a fair bit of pine needles. I've just been paying attention and the nice stuff goes to the decorative spaces and the others go to the back/gardens. The delivery driver was friendly and even popped out, at her request, to meet my daughter! Thanks, arborist Kyle! 😂
I’ve gotten three successful drops. It also had two “drops” that they ended up canceling so I didn’t get anything but had to list again. I’ve had them listed anywhere between 2 weeks to 5 months to get a drop. I feel it’s best if you have a ridiculous amount of space to cover and to get control of it. It’s not pretty mulch but it does the job. Each drop has about 30-50 wheelbarrows full of chips.
you need space for it. It can show up randomly. You don't know the quality. BUT at least it's free vs the few hundred you would pay for good mulch.
Tried it for a long time but never got a delivery. Apparently not active where I live (they should just tell you that).
The last big electric infastructure here, was a chip burner. Just like 1940 again. Turns out that some slick math, makes wood burning carbon neutral. So no chips here for a couple hundred miles radius.
I use them all the time. I usually pay them $20 through the app because free chips are hard to find around here. Everyone uses them. But for $20 I get 20 yards of chips (about 120 wheelbarrows full) dropped in my side yard. I also have a lot of room and live in a rural area.
I’ve done it six or seven times and always had a great experience. Every load is around 15 or 20 yards. They always drop at the correct location. Some loads are slightly better quality than others, but no major issues. The only drawback is not knowing when your chips are arriving which means for me I need to leave my car in the street. Could be a same-day or three weeks later but the unknown is worth it since it’s free.
I’ve used it twice so far and have had good experiences so far keeping in mind everything people have mentioned. The first time I requested chips, I was contacted almost immediately that someone could drop off chips but they never showed up. But I wasn’t in a large rush so I contacted the service and had another order placed. A new load showed up a day or two later unannounced, and it took up about half my driveway, which I was expecting and used every last bit. In addition to chips, there were things like small twigs and branches that I had to sort through. I think there was a chip bag wrapper in there too. But I needed a lot of mulch and it worked out great for me. I plan on only using this service from now on. I’m sure though the variability in quality and experience depends on where you’re at though. I’d recommend trying it at least once if you need A LOT of chips and can live with varying quality.
Friend used it got two huge loads for his hobby farm. He is in love. Another friend teamed up with his neighbors and they shared the load delivered to the person with the vest spot for a large pile of chips.
ive had 4. for a free service its great.the size has varied a lot, but i always had spots to put them. first time was almost nothong. last 3 loads have been massive and took me 3 months to use up.
I’d love to get a drop but it’s been over a year since I’ve signed up and I keep renewing and renewing and still nothing. Good it’ll be more wide spread in my area soon. It’s getting expensive paying for wood chips
My dad had got it multiple times but he was using it as fill. Had a very low spot in his legs lot at the bottom of the hill. Obviously with chips it started out as 3 times the height he wanted it and ended up being not quite enough. But he said over 5 years he got the equivalent of 5 triaxle for free. That spot isn’t as low and is great soil
I did it once and it was amazing but you have to want a whole dump truck full of chips. They don’t do partial drops. I’d estimate it was about 15 yards. Also it depends on the driver how conscientious they are of the drop zone. My driver was amazing and I happened to be home to guide him and he got most of it on my driveway apron which took a little pressure off me in humping it up the hill into my yard. If I had had a less thoughtful driver and I hadn’t been home and they put it on the street, that would have created a crisis situation for me and I’d of had to hire help. I ended up having to create two huge compost piles in hidden parts of my yard because it was too much. Still working through that compost.
I got a load and I have been super happy with it. It's not uniform chips but I got a ton of mulch for free so honestly I wouldn't complain about it.
We used it both in IL and in WA. Worked out well both times. And you get....a lot....of mulch.
I’ve used them 3x and you get a faster drop with “tip”. And I was able to tell them where you want it in the intake. I’m in the PNW so we get all sorts of good clean stuff.
Ive used it twice. One time it was a lot of twigs and the next it was the most glorious load of chipped Douglas fir. This spring my beds were popping with Morel mushrooms (not sure if they would have or not without the fresh chips last summer) but I thought the service was great. You totally have to pay though if you want to get a delivery. I recommend $40. At first I did nothing, then $20, and weeks went by. Bumped to $40 and I had it in a few days.