Back in the day, you’d always give the garbos a wave and leave out a six-pack for them – either for Christmas or new year. Small thanks for their work, which used to be quite physical.
But does anyone still do that? Would it actually be an inconvenience as the solo garbo would have to get out of the track to collect the booty?
Tony Roderick, chief operating officer-environmental services of Veolia ANC, says: “Sadly, the tradition of giving your garbo a Christmas beer is now a thing of the past.”
He lays the blame on health and safety rules.
“The reason it’s not possible to leave out gifts on the kerbside for garbos is because of health and safety concerns for drivers and the public,” he says. “Packages of beer become missiles in the cabin of the truck under emergency braking. Emergency braking happens more often than you expect when someone is running to put out a bin at dawn or unexpectedly opening a car door on a narrow street.
“Like many others in our business, we have a company-wide dry workplace policy.”
He says that if people want to leave a small gift for their local driver, they should leave it at the local depot.
Hmmm. Will you do that?
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