And to piggy back off of Gary, they can't afford to buy tons of pellets either , but he is getting an education on how to build up a stash
No, I wouldn't agree with this...this time of year, bags sales are higher, but most dealers sell about 80% tonnage vs bagged sales ....this time of year, if you are in an area of shortages, dealers may limit customers to probably 10 bags, but the vast majority of sales are just about always tons...vers individual bags....by a good bit.
You are speaking of dealers. Which is probably true considering the per bag price is significantly higher than the per ton price on a bag to bag basis. And if money is a concern to some as Gary was suggesting in his post, one would most likely be buying what was most economical which would be at the boxes. Savings of roughly $2 per bag in my neck of the woods.
well, aren't all pellets sold by "dealers"? many folks do buy bag-wise from the boxes, and believe it or not, there are quite many folks who don't have the funds to buy by the ton, and they come in and buy 3-5-10 bags at a time, every few days.....we get to know those folks pretty well. The problem is, when folks buy basically hand-to-mouth, and they stop over at the Big Box for their cheapest pellet, and said Big Box is out of pellets, or has made the decision to carry potting soil instead because spring is on the way, then what?
Then they buy from you. But if money is tight, then even MORE planning is needed to maximize available cash. And buying by the bag at the dealers (non box) is the least economically sensible way to purchase pellets. Well, Craig's list may be worse.....
Sounds like some people need some lessons in budgeting their money...If you have money to buy single bags on a daily basis...ahhh never mind!!
I guess I am kinda biased.....also, not sure I agree buying from the Big Box is the best way...you're making the assumption that they are always the cheapest...pretty dangerous assumption. I think the best way to buy, with the least likelihood of risk, might be to buy pre-season, looking for specials, etc. Lets face it, the majority of the pellets found in the Big Boxes are, well, not often the best. And off-season, well, they simply aren't available there. There certainly is a market for ok pellets, or cheapest pellets, and that's fine, but that does not fit all buyers. Buying by the bag, at the height of the season is likely the worst time to buy, I think we can agree on that, regardless of where you buy them. Prices generally aren't lower at that time, and you also run the risk of not being able to get any at all.
Show me a dealer price that is even in the ball park of the boxes please. I also was not talking about all buyers. I was talking about those that are trying to maximize their dollar. And buying by the bag at a dealer (non box) is the most expensive way to go, and it's not even close. Agreed that selection is a crap shoot and availability in the off season is non existent. And sometimes they are done with pellets during the burning season.
If my dealer posts his early buy info online I'll post it here, for now you'll have to believe me. He runs an early buy usually March/April. I can get Canadian softwoods from him and have never paid over $225/ton it's usually in the 2 teens range. The box store selection here sucks in comparison, stuff folks from the northeast consider shoulder or better. Box store pellets sometimes go on sale but still aren't a whole lot cheaper then dealer pricing. Regional I'm sure.
$225 Typically the box stores versus the dealers around me are 10-20% cheaper on the lower quality pellets and 20-30% cheaper on the higher end. By the bag the boxes save somewhere in the neighborhood of 40% regardless of brand.
CT pellet will usually have the Maine Choice for around what the box stores are fetchin. BT pellet will usually have something pretty close. But this is usually just during spring pre-deals or in the early fall. Once the seasons starts rolling and all heck breaks loose. They usually raise the price rather quickly. Only seen a few seasons that the price rivaled the BBS's and it was a warm season with high stacks every where you turned!
Speaking of prices, I just got a TSC coupon in the mail. 10% off your entire purchase through March 15th. Timing is perfect, appears they just stopped stocking pellets for the season. Kinda funny how that works isn't it? Smoke, those pellets you are getting for $225/ton are a steal. Up here, the early buy price is right around $290 - $300/ton for the same product. That was last year, sure it will be even more this year.
LW, do you charge a higher price when folks buy by the bag vs. a whole ton? For example, if the ton price is $300 and someone comes in wanting 5 bags, do you charge $6/bag or do you add an extra fee? Different stores do this differently around here. Some charge the same price whether per ton or per bag, some will increase the per bag price by $0.20 or so, and yet others add as much as $1.50 - $2.00 to the per bag price!
so, given the few posts by other non-biased posters above (Smoke show, ttdberg, Jay), I think its been shown you were incorrect. As for folks maximizing their dollar, the issue they have is that they simply don't have the funds onhand to pay for tonnage when the prices are best, at the best time of year, etc. Sometimes you need money to save money.
yup. We offer folks the ability to buy a ton and take their pellets in separate trips, they avoid the less than the ton price. When folks come in for bags, we hand load for them, have to pay someone to do so, spend time waiting for them to clear out their junkwagon, etc. Now, I suppose if I could get away with what the big boxes do (don't help load, just a help yerself situation), then I would support the no charge for less than a ton thingy. But, if I have to pay someone to load you by hand, you'll pay more.
J mentioned near box store prices. Well what is near? I said 10% is the closest. Is that near? Maybe to some maybe not to others. The closest to the $225 TSC pellets offered earlier this year was MWP for I believe was $250. That's over 10%. Those same MWP are $295. TTdberg is close to me, those per bag prices are still 40% give or take more than what the boxes are per bag. Some places may not upcharge as much for single bags, but those pellets are starting off much higher to begin with. Every box store will load the car for no extra cost per bag. So where was I incorrect? In fact, besides smoke, they pretty much confirm the prices
Right now you can get MWP for $244/ton from a (oh noes) pellet dealer. I don't know what the big boxes have at the moment.
