Seems a bit steep to me especially considering what you got.

Good compost, not subsidized by taxes, seems to go for around $40 per yard (variables for bulk orders) with delivery charges on top of that. This guy is in that ball park range. Some municipalities charge less because they use tax money to pay for making the compost. They also tend to not care too much about making a quality product.

Some companies are also somewhat unscrupulous when it comes to their feedstocks for the compost. They will throw anything in that they get paid to take.

Lloyd

$75/cy IS pretty steep for compost, at least compared to commercial product here on the west coast. The largest local supplier offers it at $27/cy picked up.....prices are higher for delivery but decline with volume (the unit price for 10 yds delivered is much less than for 2 or 3 delivered).

FWIW, I would never purchase bulk compost without checking it out first.......to avoid just those issues you have encountered. And I'd want to see the processing operation as well, if at all possible.

The only thing around here that comes close to that pricing is zoodoo from our local zoo (composted herbivore manure) or their mulch product, 'beadspread', which runs about $50-60 per pick-up load and is so coveted by local gardeners, it is only available by lottery.

You were definitely ripped off, at least compared to prices in my area. Here in southern California I can get really high quality compost, double screened, no garbage or rocks or twigs, for $12 a cubic yard plus delivery of from $35 to $85 for a dumptruck load, depending upon the distance. Two years ago it was even cheaper, $8 a cubic yard.
The $85 delivery would be for a location about 30 miles away from where they produce the compost.
Chipped tree trimmings, which it sounds like you got, one can usually get for free as the tree trimmers would have to pay to dump them in a landfill.

If what you got had identifiable bits and pieces of material in it it was not compost, If what you got did not look, feel, and smell like good rich earth what you got was not compost.
Even around here compost, delivered in 5 cubic yard loads is about $29.00 per yard. Given the price of fuel today there might also be a delivery charge added on depending on hte distance you are from the sales outlet.

Wow! Californian, if you don't mind me asking, where in SoCal can you get good stuff for $12/yd? I'm in OC and make plenty, but sometimes big projects require drastic measures. Thanks!

Here in southern New Hampshire you can get what the town calls "humus" at my local dump - made from organic materials people in town drop off - for something silly. I dunno what the actual cost is - we just fill up all the enormous containers we can fit in the station wagon and pay them by weight. It usually ends up being under the $10 minimum. I'm bad with estimates, but it looks like about a square yard. We keep an eye on the pile when we go to the dump, and we've never spotted anything untoward in there.

I just found a local place with great compost for $33/yard. Delivery of any amount is $50, but they'll let me pick it up without additional charge, and sell me as little as 1/2 yard. I'm thinking of getting some, because it looked so awesome. Guess I'll found out how much those bins hold finally.

I'd call the nonprofit. They don't want to be associated with a rip-off.

It proves the point that not all bulk compost is cheaper. Last year a local wholesale plant business had wonderful compost for $35/cubic yard. This year they charged $68. My favorite bagged compost (acidified cotton bur) was $4.35 for 2 cu feet which was cheaper than their bulk. Guess which I purchased?

I bought compost from a place here in town Ron Organics. It was actually Supper compost and cost more then any other brand they had. I layed it out on the garden I have work for 3 years trying to make strictly organic. It rained that night and the next morning I found balls of asphalt, some as big as my hand, pieces of trash bags, pieces of plastic, and glass. I went up the store to complain and the lady offered me some other stuff to replace. I get home with the stuff google and find out its not recommended for vegetable gardens since its made from sewage waste,AAARRRGGGGHHHHH....
Never again will I step foot back in there. It seems most sell by using the name "ORGANIC" and they dont really care whats in there.
I am setting things up to make my own from now on...

Sorry to hear of your bad experience the price was a little high but at any price no one should be selling compost that hasn't been screened you can make your own screen to salvage what you have

If anyone is still following this thread, in SoCal I found organic compost (from wood shavings) for between $25-$30/yard, depending on the ratio of compost-to-topsoil. I went to the site to look at the options, and the 100% compost looked great, the 70% compost mix was great, the "vegetable garden" mix I wasn't thrilled with because the topsoil seemed too heavy and wasn't a nice dark color. Same with the 50/50 mix etc. They only deliver 10 yards or more, so add the price of a rental truck, and it's still a pretty good deal, I think.

As soon as I excavate the current garden soil, I'm ready to get the 70/30 mix!

American Soil in Simi Valley

A local city sells leaf mold compost for $10 a cy. I have seen the compost area and it is all leaves with some twigs. The final product is beautiful...except for 1 thing. It is about 10% small rocks. Probably a one time use without screening would be ok. Yet, when it rains on the product and shows rocks and fine pea gravel, I don't like that.

My leaves
don't have those rocks.

Just in case anybody else finds this, in SoCal, and is looking... I just bought a yard of compost for $22. It's my first load, and I'll probably need 3 or 4 more. But it seems like pretty good stuff. I bought at http://www.sunshinegrowersnursery.com/bulkMaterial.nxg, which is only a few miles from my house. A yard pretty much filled up the bed of my Honda Ridgeline. 5 yard minimum for local delivery, but I didn't need it all at once, so delivery didn't make sense for me.

I'm about 75% of the way through it, and haven't found any rocks, plastic, or other debris that I wouldn't expect to be there.

And my pooch loves it - as soon as I started putting it in the yard, he started rolling around it. So it must be good stuff :-) I'm sure if it were crappy compost (no pun intended) - he wouldn't love it.

Keep in mind that selling compost as well as soil is an unregulated market and is a "let the buyer beware" market. Anyone contemplating purchasing compost or soil should go look at what is being offered before paying and looking again when the stuff is delivered to be sure what you are getting is what you paid for.

kimmq is kimmsr