I am Gordon Simpson from the Shetland Isles. I designed the Walrus Bracket, and keep refining the design to keep manufactuing costs and therefore retail price as econonical as possible. My background is in engineering, but I always had a flair for entrepreneurship. I was the boy selling cigarettes to the smokers at school, and T-shirts to the guys in the youth club, then the pub. The number one lesson I've learned over the years is Sell Quality. I wish other mass marketeers would take this line. If you spend your hard-earned cash on a product, you want it to work and last. The Walrus Wheelie Bin Bracket is built to last a lifetime. Can I guarantee this? Not really, I'm in my mid 50s, my brackets will far outlive me, I wont be around in 84 years when you come back saying, "Hey, this was supposed to last 85 years!" Joking aside, I am committed to quality in my products.
The idea came about when I had some spare steel from a previous project - galvanised steel tripod brackets to mount Sky satellite dishes. (They're all still there doing their job admirably three decades on) Someone in the shared workshop I was using suggested a bracket that would stop his aged mother's bins from blowing over. Various prototypes were drawn up, some with locking pins, some with hinges, some that could be padlocked shut etc etc. All of these had weak points, I could see that the best part was no part - Sorry Elon I got there in the 90s - so no moving parts, no parts that required a separate part like a key, no User Assembly- just ready to fit, one time only. Originally the hooks were to be U orientated, so you lifted the bin onto the bracket, but I imagined my colleague's elderly mother struggling with this and thought "..what if the hooks were upside down???.." So, there it is, easy to put the bin in, easy to get the bin out. OK a really freak wind might kick the bin out from under the Walrus Bracket, but in the 10 plus years they have been in use in the windiest place in the UK, I have never seen this happen. One customer from the Western Isles - 2nd windiest place I believe - said this had happened to him, but the ground under the base of the bins was sloping away from the back, and the wheels were never off the ground - once this was rectified he says it has never happened again.
Is the Walrus Wheelie Bin Bracket for everybody?
In an ideal world I'd love to say yes, but in reality there are a few things to consider
before committing to a purchase.
1. Do you have something to mount the Walrus Bracket on?
A wall or a fence that is as high as the handles on your bin. If not, some have installed
a wooden post that can hold two bins at once.
2. Do you have the authority or permission
necessary to be bolting on brackets to the wall or fence? Some customers have had some
kickback from landlords or housing authorities for doing just this. It's a pain, but
better than being told to remove the Walrus Bracket just after you start using it.
3.
Is your bin suitable or the right size for a Walrus Bracket? They were designed in four
sizes to fit all the domestic bins I had access to, and I've refined a size to better
fit a new design of bin being rolled out in the north of England. Check out the How To
guides to learn about Walrus Bracket sizes and fitting instructions.
The smallest two sizes W10 and W115 are £19.50 each. The W145 is £20.50 and the largest one, W160 is £21.50. I have managed to keep these prices the same since 2020 by streamlining my processes and costs.
All comes down to shipping costs. Shipping a pallet used to be ~£50, now its more like £300, I'd have to increase my prices a lot to cover this cost increase.
No Paypal? No worries. I can accept cheques, BACS, IBAN for international orders. Simply Contact Us and I'll arrange what ever is best for you.
Different bins have different handles. Some have one long handle with a web hinge in the middle - use the narrowest W10 bracket here, other bins have a gap between the handles, choose the bracket with the neatest fit to reduce lateral movement, and therefore wear and tear.
Returns are expensive. Postage is almost a fiver each way! So, measure twice, order once. 4 sizes are available
When the final design had been chosen, I showed it to my son who was about 7 at the time asking what he thought. He said it looked a bit like a Walrus, the name stuck.