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People in my Cary neighborhood tend to do a combination...bag some stuff, but they pile plenty of leaves out at the curb. Cary collects three times in the November-January timeframe. They're getting toward the end of the second sweep and will do the third round starting after New Year's.
I scratch my head at all the people who take this time to rake and bag leaves. Run over them with a lawnmower, it makes your grass look great. It's nature's fertilizer. One year I even went out and collected two dozen bags of leaves sitting on the curb, dumped them on my lawn, and mulched them in . Wife thought I was crazy, I'm sure the neighbors did too .
Cannot agree more with this.
I paid $299 for a mulching mower from Sam's Club 7 years ago, and have mulched ALL of my leaves since then. No need to worry about getting them to the curb or street, and your yard will thank you for it.
Like I said, it all depends on where you are and how many leaves you have. Where my parents live on St Mary's St I had to move a 6" carpet of leaves each week when I was a kid just so I could mow. I would have needed an industrial ride on mower to mulch them and it would kill the grass.
My only complaint is that leaves should be raked or blown to the curb...NOT IN THE STREET! It causes all kinds of problems
My neighbors are REALLY good about putting the leaves in the STREET. I live at the bottom of the hill, so I assume those leaves are all going to blow or get washed down into my yard/drainage ditch.
And yes, I've noticed that many have really good piles out there and we have several weeks to go before the collector comes round again. I continue to put out a few cans each week between now and then. (i have a LOT of leaves)
Like I said, it all depends on where you are and how many leaves you have. Where my parents live on St Mary's St I had to move a 6" carpet of leaves each week when I was a kid just so I could mow. I would have needed an industrial ride on mower to mulch them and it would kill the grass.
Actually the most recently research (much of it being done at Michigan State which has their research papers online if you want more details) says weekly mulching a 6" carpet of leaves isn't too much at all and is quite beneficial to the grass so long as your mulching mower cuts it into dime size (or smaller) pieces. Not only does it act as fertilizer is reduces weeds as well.
A foot deep you probably have to do some raking, but 6" is fine and can be done with a normal walk behind mulching mower.
+1 on mulching the leaves. Great for the lawn! And while we don't get a foot of leaves on our lawn, I assume those who do get that much don't get it all at once. A weekly pass with the mulching mower should keep the depth manageable and the leaves from getting thick enough to kill the lawn. It takes the same amount of time as cutting the grass and a lot less than bagging or raking/blowing to the curb. Solves the problems of collection frequency, too.
We have 3 oak trees that are > 150 yrs old in our yard (2 in the back, 1 in the front) and as we only moved in early this fall, I've been following this discussion with interest to see what others do. I was aware of the loose leaf collection, but agree that at least for the volume of leaves we get, they don't collect nearly often enough. Our trees are willow oaks and those leave are pretty dang small, which means they're hard to rake and REALLY hard to bag. A leaf blower makes it slightly easier, but then still having to bag doesn't exactly make it a simple chore because there are just. so. many. leaves.
I see what others are saying about the mulching mowers but am wondering if this is our best option...because the oaks are so big and have wide crowns, we have very little grass to begin with. None in the back yard to speak of and only about 1/3 of the front lawn is grass. The rest is moss, which I actually love.
I wonder if mulching would be as good for the moss as it is for grass, but also question the utility of us buying a mulching mower when we don't have that much to mow in the first place...
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. Wife thought I was crazy, I'm sure the neighbors did too 
I live at the bottom of the hill, so I assume those leaves are all going to blow or get washed down into my yard/drainage ditch. 
