Guide · 4 min read · updated 2026-09-18
Hauling junk yourself vs. hiring it out: the real math
Gate fees, resident freebies, the truck and your Saturday, added up for a Lodi-area load. Sometimes the honest answer is to do it yourself.
The short answer
If you own a pickup, live in San Joaquin County and the pile fits in one trip, haul it yourself. A quarter load, about 3.5 cubic yards, costs $32.50 (effective 2026-01-01) to tip at North County Landfill on Harney Lane. We charge $225 for the same load.
That gap is real, and we would rather tell you than pretend it is not. What it pays for is the loading, the trips, the scale line and the items that have their own rules.
The rest of this page is the math, so you can see which side of the line your job is on.
What the gate charges for the same load
These are the counties' posted rates applied to our own volume tiers. Weights use the household-junk density we estimate with, so treat them as illustrative loads, not weighed jobs.
The gate bills whichever is higher: the per-ton rate or the minimum for the visit. That is why a small load costs the same as no load at all.
| Load | About | North County, Lodi | Kiefer, Sloughhouse | Our price, loaded and hauled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter load, 3.5 cu yd | 0.35 ton | $32.50 (effective 2026-01-01) | $45 (effective 2026-01-01) | $225 |
| Half load, 7 cu yd | 0.7 ton | $42.65 (effective 2026-01-01) | $45 (effective 2026-01-01) | $375 |
| Full trailer, 14 cu yd | 1.4 ton | $85.30 (effective 2026-01-01) | $85.89 (effective 2026-01-01) | $895 |
The costs that do not show up at the scale
The gate fee is the only do-it-yourself cost with a posted number. The rest are real; they are just yours to price.
- The truck. Free if you own one. If you rent, get the total with mileage in writing before you book. We do not print a rental figure: the per-mile charge is quoted by location and date, and we will not publish a number we cannot source.
- Fuel. Count the round trip to the gate for every load, not just the first one.
- Trips. A pickup bed holds a fraction of a 14-yard trailer. Every visit is weighed and billed on its own, with a minimum each time.
- The tarp. At North County an uncovered or unsecured load pays a double disposal fee.
- Your Saturday. Loading, the drive, the line at the scale, unloading at the tipping area, and the drive home.
What rides free if you live in San Joaquin County
This is where doing it yourself gets hard to beat. With proof of San Joaquin County residency, a household load at North County gets these per trip at no charge:
- up to 10 mattresses or box springs
- up to 2 refrigerators, freezers or AC units
- up to 4 tires
- up to 4 TVs or monitors
Our per-item lines are $45 a mattress, $90 a fridge and $40 a TV, because a business load does not get the resident allowance. If your load is a couch, two mattresses and an old fridge and you have a truck, take it out Harney Lane yourself. Hours, rules and every posted fee are on the North County Landfill page.
In Sacramento County, Kiefer's 2026 sheet lists mattresses from non-business loads at no fee (effective 2026-01-01), the first two large appliances at no fee (effective 2026-01-01) and one to four tires at no fee (effective 2026-01-01). Ask at the scale whether your load qualifies before you count on it.
When hiring it out wins
Hire it out when the load is the problem, not the gate fee:
- There is no truck, or the truck you have cannot take the weight.
- It is heavy or awkward. A fridge off a back porch, a sleeper sofa down a staircase, a piano. That is where people get hurt.
- It is more than one trip. A packed two-car garage is a three-quarter load, $525 with us, and several runs to the gate without us.
- It is a business load. A turnover from a rental you own is not household waste, so the free allowance does not apply.
- You cannot make the gate. North County is open Mon-Sun 7a-4p (strictly enforced). Miss the close and the truck sits loaded overnight.
- There is a deadline. A closing date, a lease end or a code-enforcement letter does not care how many Saturdays you have left.
What we take and how a job runs is on the junk removal page. For a garage specifically, garage cleanouts covers how we price it, and the price book has every line.
The middle option: we bring the trailer, you load it
If loading is the easy part and the truck is the hard part, rent our trailer instead. The day rate is $275, which covers drop-off, pickup and the first ton of disposal. Each ton past that is $125.
A light household load stays close to that first ton; drywall, tile and dirt do not. Dump trailer drop-off and pickup explains the one-day version, and dump trailer rental covers the multi-day one.
Before you rent a truck, ask these
- What is the total with mileage, fuel and any damage coverage, in writing?
- What is the payload? Household junk is light. A bed full of wet yard waste or broken tile is not.
- Does the rental agreement allow hauling debris to a landfill, and what is the cleaning charge if it comes back dirty?
- Which gate are you going to, when does it close, and does it take cash? North County does not.
If the answers make the do-it-yourself total look close to ours, call us for a fixed number and compare. If they do not, go haul it, and use every gate and every rate for 2026 to pick the cheapest one near you.
Related guides
Sources
Every fee above is read from the operator's own published sheet and shown with its effective date. Rates change; call the gate before you load a truck around a number.