Oil filter recycling charge drains $ By Tom & Ray Magliozzi/ Car talk Sunday, November 1, 2009 Dear Tom & Ray:       I notice that car businesses that lube and change oil for cars are now charging for recycling oil filters.       Is this a scam, since I never see “recycled” oil filters for sale?       Personally, I think oil filters would be too expensive to recycle.       - Chuck             RAY: You’re right, Chuck, that actually recycling old oil filters and turning them back into new oil filters would be very expensive. But the materials still get recycled.       TOM: Just like when you recycle an empty box of Cheerios, it doesn’t necessarily come back as a new box of Cheerios.       RAY: Based on my most recent visit to a public restroom, I think those Cheerios boxes are coming back - basically unaltered - as toilet paper.       TOM: When you have hazardous waste, like oil, it has to be disposed of properly. So the owner of the garage has to pay a licensed handler to take it away so the handler can dump it in our water supply in the middle of the night when no one’s looking.       RAY: Now, I know your next question, Chuck: “Why are they charging me separately for that - why isn’t it just part of the price of the oil change, like it used to be?”       TOM: Good question. The answer is advertising. If your local Pokey Lube wants to advertise an oil change for $19.95, but it can’t really make money doing oil changes for $19.95, then it adds on additional fees.       RAY: These could include a recycling fee, a waste-oil-disposal fee, a fee for use of shop rags and lubricants, or a fee for the Cinemax the owner is showing in the waiting room. You have to read the fine print, Chuck.       TOM: You’ve probably noticed that the airlines are doing this, too. The fare from here to East Armpit is only $59. But the airport departure fee is $47, the fuel surcharge is $82, the landing fee is $107, the Federal Aviation Administration’s “Oh, You Want Us to Pay Attention While You Land” fee is $68, the peanuts are $5, the blanket is $10, the aisle seat is $35 and checking two bags costs $50.       RAY: There’s also a charge for supplementary oxygen, but only in the unlikely event that the cabin loses pressure.       TOM: Just like with your oil-filter recycling fee, all of these additional charges are based on real expenses. They’re just being separated out of the base price so you think the price of the service is lower than it actually is.             Dear Tom & Ray:       My husband inherited a 1974 Ford F-100 from his dad, and I’d like to use it to pick up a load of rocks for landscaping. I have an acre of land, and I’d like to landscape part of my yard to avoid mowing a large area.       Can a ’74 F-100 handle this?       My husband says it can’t, but he might just be making up an excuse.       I’m only talking about buying a scoop of rocks from a cement company about 19 miles from our house.       They basically scoop the rocks and dump them on the truck. (I’m not sure how much the rocks weigh.)       - Judy             TOM: An F-100 can’t handle it, Judy. First we’ll give you the technical explanation, then we’ll give you the marital explanation.       RAY: We haven’t seen a ’74 F-100 in ages. But the “100” designation meant that it was designed to carry up to half a ton, or 1,000 pounds.       TOM: Or two and a half mothers-in-law.       RAY: So the question is, What does a pickup-truck-bed full of rocks weigh? According to our rock insiders, dry gravel weighs around 100 pounds a cubic foot. That’s heavy.       TOM: I don’t know if your F-100 has a 6-foot bed or an 8-foot bed, but let’s say it has an 8-foot bed. That means the bed is approximately 4 feet-by- 8 feet, or 32 square feet. And if you pile the gravel1-foot high, you have 32 cubic feet. That’s 3,200 pounds.       RAY: Or four broken springs and two broken axles.       TOM: Even with a 6-foot bed, it’s still more than twice as much as the truck was rated to carry.       RAY: And before you start wondering if you could load only four inches of gravel in there, and make three trips, we’ll give you the marital reason for not doing this: If you do, every time the slightest squeak or groan comes from the truck, your husband will forever blame it on “that time you hauled the rocks in it.” So it’s just not worth it, Judy.       TOM: But there is good news. Almost every place that sells really heavy stuff delivers! And as an added bonus, they’ll dump it, so you don’t even have to unload it yourself. What could be better than that?