Ramps are nice, provided you don't need to take a wheel off, then you're using jackstands anyway, so, if you're buying one or the other, jackstands are a good option.
Personally, if you have the space for it, a trench is the best option, I had one previously and I miss it alot. Nothing leaves the ground, car just pulls in and is ready to go. Mine was like 2ft deep, so, maybe a little cramped, but very comfortable once you're in there working. You couldn't make a standable trench at home without engineering it anyway, so, a crawlable trench is really the way to go.
This should be drilled into the heads of anyone who touches a jack. It's only a tool for lifting the car onto jackstands.
The actual scary thing is I’m pretty sure way back when I was a kid we’d just dump the oil down the storm drain. I hate to think what that was doing to the environment around us.
The problem is if you've only used a jack 0-1 times in your life, you won't know you haven't done it correctly until there's a car crushing you
That's the factory-recommended procedure for several brands now and works well on my Mercedes and Honda. I was skeptical at first, but did the extraction and then removed the drain plug and the oil I got from the bottom wouldn't have half-filled a shot glass, so that's good enough for me.
As long as the filter is accessible from the top or side, I don't see the need to jack up most wet-sump cars (which is almost all of them).
Video review that seemed legit if anyone interested: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xuYVe-mPsxw
One thing to note: you'll need about 5 CFM @ 90 psi to run the venturi, which is more than a little pancake compressor can give, but otherwise isn't crazy for even a medium portable compressor. If you don't have an air compressor and weren't planning to get one, I think they probably make a powered pump version and that would be a better choice.
I use ramps I built - solid 2x12. Those are extremely safe as there's nothing that can break, bend, or disintegrate. It's way more dangerous to drive than to work on the vehicle.
How much time did you spend changing oil?? It's a 20-30 min job once you have done it coupe of time and know the ropes. I sometimes do it myself not because I want to save few bucks, but because it's sometimes faster than going somewhere.
You can show up with the used oil in any receptacle you like, there's no such thing as a proper container beyond not leaking, they will take the contents off your hands.
HOAs serve a pretty useful purpose: to coarsely/imperfectly segregate people who want to live in an HOA away from people who would never want to live in an HOA and vice-versa.
Those two groups are somewhat prone to having conflicts with each other and HOAs let both be happier than if they were to be annoyed by living next to each other.