Similar for me. I’ve gotten 3 drops in 10 years. Got 2 more separately from an arborist, and paid for 2 off of Craigslist.
They are a hot commodity around here.
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Similarly to the experience some have had here, I put a request in months ago and the arborist canceled my order. There was a crew taking down some spruce trees in my neighborhood and I asked them as I was walking by if they could drop their chips for me, and they did. +1 for contacting the local arborist directly and offering specific directions on where and when to drop.
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similar here - requested a while ago 
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I received another drop yesterday, about 4 weeks since the first drop. 
This time I didn’t notice the email which was sent about 2 hours before they arrived. Fortunately, they rang the doorbell and I was able to direct them to the drop location. Again, they didn’t speak English and didn’t read the drop instructions in my request. So far, they haven’t notified ChipDrop that they made the drop, so I haven’t been charged the $20 fee I offered to pay. No driver tip was offered in this request.
I received about 20 yards of chips of somewhat lower quality than the last drop with many shredded pieces up to a foot or so in length. Happy to have them, but I may run part of this pile through my chipper to use in some areas.
ChipDrop is a great service, but I fear that one day I will find 20 yards of chips in my driveway despite instructions otherwise.
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If you got the contact information of the dropper I’m sure you should be set to interact with them directly. Even if they are not fluent in English chances are it will be a lot easier to communicate via text messages. Once they know where you want them after the first drop there should not be surprise of it being dropped in the wrong place.
If you want a virtual mountain of chips these folks just want to dispose of this stuff, they will be happy to come back rather than hunt down for the next dropping grounds.
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I finally got a drop after maybe 2 years of on and off waiting. It’s not a huge pile, maybe 8-10 yards, and I paid $80. Now that I have some, I’ll reduce the tip to just paying their fee. I’d already bought chips this summer, so no urgent need.
I got an email in the morning, saying the 48 hours, and only after they’d dropped, I noticed I had some texts from the arborist saying that, since we just had rain yesterday, they couldn’t get them all in the grass and would have to put them partially in the driveway, but they’d try to not get them all on the driveway.
About 2/3rds were on the driveway. Not too bad, we have a big drive. I just don’t like them there because on my hilly property, I keep my tractor in 4 wheel drive, and don’t like to drive across the pavement like that, especially with a lot of load on the front wheels from a full bucket. 4WD relies on some relative slippage between the rubber and the ground, especially when turning, but also just because of the front to rear ratio not necessarily exactly matching the tire rolling diameter.
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Wow, they saved money and made money by dropping them off to you! Makes me extra thankful for the tree company we work with who just dropped 3 loads of wood chips and 2 loads of logs last week for free.
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It boils down to supply, demand, AND making the right connections. Even in a place where demand is high you can still find somebody who would be tickled pink at the chance to just get rid of it.
I use several pick up loads of horse manure each year. Even with two good sources I still try to find others in case my favorite one becomes unavailable.
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I think they get half of the money, so they made $40.
If they bring more, I may offer them a $20 tip. Now I have their contact info at least.
We’re at the end of a private road, and there are many others on the main road who can also use chips. Mulching has been popular here for a long time.
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Hey, you have to do what you have to do… I am about to pay for hay to put on the ground. Much more than 80.00 too. 
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They pay $20 so you gave them a $60 actual tip. Regardless $10/yard delivered to your house is still a fair price, especially with the possibility of more in the future.
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I can get free wood chips here too, but the key thing is they drop a truck full in front of my drive way, I have 3 days to clean every up, otherwise I get into trouble with the HOA.
But if you have bigger yard, it’s a good deal.
OP post mentioned Lions Mane, I finally saw some in London, a local farmers market, they are sold £50 for 1 Kg. For that price, it’s worth growing if you can do it.
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Yeah, although I don’t really need them right now. I left a standing order, because who knows how long until the next load is available. I’ve renewed my request, but dropped the payment to $20.
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Well the nice thing is that if it goes bad and rots is not like you can’t use it 
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I have contacted local arborists and used chipdrop and both work, although I never know how long it will take for a load to arrive. Some arborists don’t maintain their machines well and rely on huge engines to chip and strip, and the strips make handling them with a fork and wheelbarrow more difficult. You folks that use your front end loaders of small tractors are probably getting the jog done much more slowly than my Ecuadorian helper, who can spread 10 yards under trees in difficult terrain (tractor couldn’t fit) in a single work day.
Some arborists treat it like an opportunity to dispose of trash with the chips and I’ve gotten almost empty grease containers, old, useless heavy pieced of plywood and other junk in loads, which is annoying.
I may run the rounds and phone local arborists again. I use easily 60 yards a year in my nursery and would like to have a couple arborists who run a tight ship as regular suppliers. Getting dumps establishes contacts but the one arborist who fits this description I know of doesn’t have nearly enough loads for me.
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It can take time to find a good source which is why even when I’m set I’m still keeping an eye for another one. That way comes spring when I’m ready to jump into action I can correct course on the spot if one derails.
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The load I just got had a 4 foot steel crowbar in it, plus a board, and a piece of fiber optic cable or something, but was mostly clean. These relatively fine, fresh softwood chips were much easier to load and spread than the aged hog fuel I used earlier.
Today we spread more than we got, there’s about a yard or so left.
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Jackpot!
Neighbor-across-the-street’s son works for a tree service. He’s brought me loads of chips in the past, but it’s been a few years. Was doing some trees in the neighborhood a few weeks back and brought me two dumptruck loads of chipped Bradford pears, with lots of leaves, so plenty of ‘green’ in there to go with the ‘brown’.
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Thinking of signing up for chip drop after realizing a lot of the property could benefit from a layer of arborist chips…bumping this up to see if there have been any other experiences, especially negative (I worry about things like poison ivy, weed seeds, accidental treated wood, etc.).
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Poison Ivy is native, cant count it as a problem. Ornamental ivy is another story but no one has mentioned it. I understand treated lawn clippings but what would a treated tree be? Wood chips are going to suck up nitrogen and prevent growth for a few years.
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